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Max headed up toward Bloor,over the issue Okay, he’d decided to invite Jeremy for the holidays That part of the plan was settled And even though Max had surprisingly strong feelings for him, it was clearly far too soon to introduce Jere so official

Since he’d never actually brought anyone he was seeing home for so much as dinner, let alone weeks at Christ about it Max cringed They’d reed to co around It would be much easier for everyone to simply be friends

Besides, Max had a ton on his plate with deciding about law school He’d been in li for the results, but even if they came in before Christmas, he should take the holidays to really consider it He’d worked toward law school for alure out what he was doing one way or the other before he threw even more of a wrench into the plan Even if the Jeremy-shaped wrench was so damn kissable…

This nal counted down Hit pause on sex over the holidays and just be friends In January, they could re-evaluate

Besides, Jere and having fun He ht want to date around Why shouldn’t he now that Max had hopefully given him some confidence and helped him rip off the Band-Aid? It would be selfish to stand in the way, no ht of Jereuy That wasn’t his call

If they went home to the farm for Christmas strictly as friends, it would be the perfect time to put on the brakes so they could both take a step back It made sense to take a breather, didn’t it? This snowball was careening downhill way too fast

Sure, it was a rush knowing he was the first to touch Jeremy, but it was more than that That Jeremy felt safe with him satisfied Max in a way he hadn’t known he craved It was addictive, and he had toJeremy somehow He was the older, experienced one He had to be sure he did the right thing

First ti boundaries would be best for both of theet his head on straight, and they’d have a nice, wholesome family Christmas on the farm

He reached hoet this done, his thu

Hey Hope studying is going well Don’t want to bug you, but I had an idea Do you want to come home to Pinevale withon campus alone in your shoes Or new boots

He paused and re-read, deleting the weak boot joke before continuing

No pressure or anything If you want to come, it’s probably best to hit pause on sex stuff until January My dad and Valerie are old-fashioned and have dumb rules And we just met, so it’s not like we’re a couple at this point Is it cool with you to take a breather onanyway

Taking a deep breath, he sent it Then waited And waited And waited

Shivering, he was just about to give up and escape inside when the reply bubbles wobbled To his surprise, his heart raced He really, really wanted Jeremy to say yes And maybe this was partly a distraction fro as much time with Jeremy as possible

The bubbles appeared and disappeared, appeared and disappeared Then nothing Max paced the creaky porch Maybe Jereotten distracted Or maybe he wasn’t sure what to say It definitely fit his MO to overthink a response Max al: Just a yes or no will do the trick, dude He s that text too

Then the response came:

Hey! Are you sure? That would be awesome if it’s okay with your fa a break with the other stuff until January, that makes sense Totally cool with me!

Max frowned He didn’t want Jereroaned aloud, , “This is what you wanted, Maxwell This is the new plan” He typed back:

Cool I’ll get you a bus ticket for Thursday et back to studying I’ll text you the details Crush that last exam, Cherry