I Won't Let You Go

Max threw everything she had into a small plastic bag, suddenly thankful she didn't own much and could leave quickly.

Knowing her father and her ex-friends were waiting outside impatiently, she tried to conjure a plan to bust out of her bedroom and dive toward the front door. Then she could run and this would all be a tragic memory that she could add to the queue she needed to forget.

Max thought to herself, Where the hell am I supposed to go?

She couldn't just join her acquaintances in Queens because the crazy people in her living room would OF COURSE try to find her and get cops involved. It had to be as far away as possible — it had to be out of New York or even out of the country. Maybe she could finally make the jump to Europe like she'd always wanted to: go somewhere far enough away in the States to buy her time, make some money singing, and fly. Those jerks would never find her there.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an annoyingly soft, warm voice. "Max." She was growing angrier once again because she knew he was attempting to calm her down. "I know you don't want me here—"

"So go then," Max said sternly through the door.

"Please Max," Anna tried to interject, but Max met her with harsh anger.

"You shut your mouth, Anna. You no longer have the right to speak to me—"

"Please sweetie," Jeremy interrupted. "Anna just wanted to help you."

Max gritted her teeth while she clenched her fists, causing the almost healed scabs to bleed once again. "I don't want to talk to you! Please leave!"

Jeremy, Anna, and Chris fell silent, undoubtedly in fear of Max taking off once again.

"You leave or I leave. Those are our options right now." The silence ripped through the tension, filling the air as Max cocked her head to the right waiting for an answer. "Great, I'll be leaving, obviously."

She decided to go for it.

Max grabbed hold of her bag containing her wrinkled clothes and swung the door open. She made a break for it, unaware that her father was positioned between her and the door.

Max ran right into him, dropping her bag. He put his arms around her. They were wrapped tight, but somehow still felt kind and loving.

She tried her hardest to pull away, but couldn't seem to overpower his grasp.

"I'm sorry, Max." Jeremy was lightly crying and sniffling. "I love you and I can't let you go. I will not let you go."

Max continued to try and push her way out of the embrace, but it proved too difficult.

"What the hell do you mean?" She raised her voice in outrage, her mind still racing, trying to figure out a Plan B. She had worked hard the past two years to gain her independence, but she felt very far away from the independent girl she'd been before today.

"I'm still your father and I will not lose my daughter again."

Max scrunched her face, still trying to pull away with no success.

"I will stand here and hold you until the end of time if that is the only way I can have you back."

Max's breath slowed as she hesitantly stopped fighting him.

"Look, dude," she said, gritting her teeth once more. "You really need to let go of me."

She tilted her head back to look at him, feeling engulfed by shock and frustration. She'd told him very clearly earlier that she didn't want to talk to him and somehow she was now close enough to head butt. Not that she was considering that. Kind of.

She'd forgotten what it was like to have a parent boss her around, and truthfully, she didn't hate it.

"I am going to let you go, sweetie, but promise me you will not leave."

Jeremy stared desperately into Max's eyes as she managed to mumble, "Uh . . . okay."

He smiled and let out a huge sigh. "Also, don't call me dude." He let out a weak laugh.

Max furrowed her eyebrows. "Okay . . . sorry."

She stood there like a statue, but her eyes were moving back and forth. Max had no idea what to do next; standing still seemed to be the only thing she could manage to do.

Jeremy's fear appeared to be lightening up, but Max sensed an exhaustion was setting in from trying to get her to stop moving frantically for two seconds.

"Max, you don't have to talk to me, but if you wouldn't mind, I would love to just sit with you."

Max raised her eyebrows. Unfortunately, her brain found no reason to deny him his request. She didn't reply, but turned slowly and walked toward the couch.

Jeremy followed suit and sat on the right end, while Max sat down to the left, making sure she was at least a few feet away from him. Her head was forward, looking at him out of the corner of her eye, as he looked at her briefly before blinking and turning his head away.

Max sat up straight and defiant, prepared to win a lengthy standoff.

She thought to herself, Wish I had those damn Skittles.

The minutes went by as the Redding family sat without speaking or looking at each other.

Max decided to break the silence. "This is really friggin' boring."

Jeremy perked up, smiling. "It doesn't have to be."

He was looking at her and she didn't like that at all.

"Well, I think I would rather just sit here anyway."

His smile remained. "That's okay, too."

She snapped her head to grimace at him for a brief moment before returning to her position. Her knee was shaking, the obnoxious tension was killing her.

"Look, I just don't know what you want from me."

Jeremy's smile fell. "I don't want anything from you, Max. I really am okay with just sitting here."

Max snorted. "Everyone wants something from someone. It's just how it is."

With a concerned look on his face, he simply said, "Not me." Jeremy tilted his head to the side. "Well, I would love for you to not look at me like I'm the grim reaper, but beyond that! Nothing."

Max widened her tired eyes. "Well, you basically are, so . . . yeah."

"Why? I don't get this at all."

Max could tell that he was trying his best to wrap his head around her words.

"Because everything is ruined now."

"I don't want to hurt you, Ma—"

"Well I hate to break it to you, but this hurts. None of this was supposed to happen. I never should've gone to see you—"

Jeremy swiftly interrupted, "So why did you?"

She locked her jaw, feeling more irritated by the second. "Because Anna said you were all screwed up and miserable, so I guess I wanted to see for myself. I wanted to know she was exaggerating . . ." Max's voice trailed off as she looked down. "She wasn't."

Jeremy's smile returned. "That doesn't sound like someone who doesn't care and wants to run." He shrugged his shoulders. "But what do I know?"

Max turned her head toward him, not amused. "Whatever. None of this matters anyway."

"Why do you say that?"

She rapidly cut him off. "I'm not the little girl you remember," Max began to stutter. "And I might never be."

"I underst—"

"I don't want to talk about what happened. I absolutely WILL NOT, okay?"

Jeremy gave her another smile. "Of course."

He began tearing up again and shaking his head. "I'm sorry," he laughed, wiping his eyes. "My god, kid. You look just like your mother."

For the first time, Max let out her famous smirk, but it fell just as quickly. "I miss her."

Jeremy's soft smile remained. "Me too."