growing up, paxton maxwell never had a true parental figure. his father had never been in the picture, and his mother was cold and distant because of it (he assumed), offering pessimistic life views in place of nurturing and hope. but somehow, despite her attitude, paxton was a social child. he made friends easily and was often the one to stand up for his more reserved twin sister. paxton refused to allow their home life to turn them into clones of their mother. instead, he channeled his negative home life into a positive force through sports. he tried everything at least once, but it was obvious that running was what he did best at.
life seemed to be going great for him. while he didn’t excel academically, he was an exceptional track star and was approached by college scouts during his last year of high school. he had his pick of any college in the state of massachusetts and settled on boston university. between his mother’s financial situation and his running statistics, he was guaranteed a full ride.
leave it to a maxwell to fuck it all up. the day after they graduated high school, his twin sister was nowhere to be found. he'd been drunk the night before and barely remembered the conversation they'd had about leaving town to be with their cousin. paxton had refused, reminding her of his scholarship. when he got home the next morning and saw all of her things were gone, he knew she had been serious. he was too furious to make use of the bus ticket she had bought him. it didn't matter that all they had wanted for years was to leave; in his mind, she had made a selfish call by not thinking about his future. he had his future to think about, yet she had left him all alone with their mother. as the only child left in the home, he suffered the brunt of her verbal attacks. without track meets to distract him, he went on runs, and this landed him with the wrong crowd. good at making friends, it didn’t take him long to fall in with a group who enjoyed a different kind of speed.
somehow, he made it through his first semester of college without anyone finding out about his drug habit. but a random drug test during his second semester earned him a great big expulsion. goodbye scholarship, goodbye aspirations. paxton was on his own. he moved away from his mother and stayed the hell away from his sister, who he stubbornly blamed for his problems.
he wandered the country, taking whatever odd job he could find. paxton has done it all, from convenience store clerk to drug dealer. because he never stayed in one place for more than a few months, he learned to bend the rules to keep a roof over his head. if he needed to steal to eat, he would do it. he knew he was in a bad way and thought of his father, wondering if this was exactly what the man had been like. maybe he had been destined for a shitty life.
despite his anxiety and the knowledge that he’s a complete fuck up, paxton is arrogant. he can lay on the charm and has often used that to his advantage. he met his fair share of women in his travels and isn’t aware that he fathered a child through one of them. though he doesn’t know it, he did to someone the exact same thing his father had done to his mother.
when his mother passed away unexpectedly, something compelled paxton to come home. the thing that had driven him away was gone, which meant he finally had a chance to make things right. he could stay in one place and try to make up for the stupid shit he had done in his twenties. okay, so maybe it was the inheritance that had lured him back, but he knew, deep down, underneath his desire to let his anxiety rule everything, he needed to get his act together and prove everyone wrong.
