Disclaimer: As sad as it makes me, I do not own any Maximum Ride characters or anything of James Patterson's creations. But I do own the plot.
I try not to lie to myself. It's one of my life rules. Don't judge a book by its cover. What others think of you is none of your business. Don't be an asshole. Just some of my basic laws to live by. But I sure as hell would be lying to myself if I just ignored the girl who walked by outside. She was tall and tan, with her chest out and head turned up like she owned the place. She was also absolutely beautiful.
She paused for a second outside the door, and a small part of me wanted her to strut on in so I could at least see her up close. Instead, she looked up at the sign before turning to face the street. I caught a glimpse of her face: she had smooth tan skin which was complimented by her light brown eyes. Even from inside the ice cream shop where I worked, I could tell there wasn't a trace of makeup on her. It was refreshing to find someone who didn't look like a Barbie.
However, my initial impression of her changed the second she pulled a box of cigarettes out of her bag. So she was a smoker. Okay I'm not a total nerd who is against anything bad for you, but two of my grandparents and my young cousin died of a lung cancer. All the long term effects of smoking. Despite this, I was mesmerized as she held the cigarette between her teeth. She inhaled deeply, smiled a little and then blew the smoke out in a perfect stream. I hate to admit it, but she looked so cool while doing it. Like the perfect girls they use in those 80s movies and those old smoking commercials. She looked powerful, like she was in control of everything around her. A few minutes later, a tall, scrawny boy walked up and they immediately started talking. It looked like she offered him a cigarette but he quickly turned her down. A second later she tossed the cigarette on the pavement, and ground it in with her shoe.
Before I knew it, they had opened the door and stepped in to the little shop. I spun around, quickly pretending to be cleaning dishes in the sink. I didn't need them thinking I was watching them through the window the whole time. I acted like I didn't notice them for a second. I had to play it cool with this girl.
She cleared her throat loudly, obviously wanting me to turn around. "Hi, welcome to Scoops. What can I get you?" I asked, wiping my hands on my apron. Yeah, I had to wear an apron. Normally I didn't mind it, but it made situations like these much more unfortunate.
The boy ruffled his hand through his strawberry blond hair. "Can I get a single scoop of mint chocolate chip." I nodded. "In a waffle cone," he added.
I handed him his ice cream, and turned my attention to the girl who seemed to be studying me intently. "I'll have a double scoop. One scoop lime sherbet and the other..." She paused, "Make the other scoop moosetracks."
I wrinkled my nose. Never heard that one before. "In the same cone?"
She nodded. "Is that a problem?" she asked calmly. I held up my hands in the universal "I surrender" gesture before getting to work on her order.
"How old are you?" Her eyes were piercing; it was impossible to break away from the intensity of her stare.
"Seventeen," I replied, handing her the ice cream as the blond boy handed me the money. Maybe he was her boyfriend?
"Me too," she said. "How come I haven't seen you around before? It's not like this town's very big."
"I just moved here last spring, but I finished school before I moved," I explained, putting the ice cream scoop in the pile of dirty dishes that was growing bigger and bigger.
"So where'd ya move from?" she asked, licking her ice cream, leaning on the counter a roses from me.
"Chicago."
"Why the hell would you leave to come here?" she asked and the guy next to her snickered.
I just shrugged. "My dad's job. Besides I didn't live in the city, just a suburb."
"Yeah, but at least you were near civilization," the boy cut in. I guess he had a point; we were in the middle of nowhere Wyoming. Sure it was absolutely beautiful here, but if you wanted to see your neighbor's house you had to get in the car. Back home, if you wanted to get to see your neighbors you could see them while lying in bed.
"So have you met any new people-" she hesitated, not sure what to call me.
"Nick," I said.
"So Nick, have you met anyone since you got here?" In all honesty, no. I had not met many people people since I'd moved here, but I didn't want to sound like a total dork.
"A few, no one super interesting," I said casually. She raised her eyebrows. I realized I still didn't know her name. "I don't think I caught your name."
"So Nick," she began, ignoring my question. "Have you ever rode a bull?"
"What?" Was that actually a thing? Like in rodeos?
"You know, where you hop on a bull and whoever stays on the longest wins!" Her friend said excitedly.
"You don't know what fun is until you've tried it," she said. "Talk about adrenaline rush."
"Isn't it kind of dangerous?" I asked. I know I'm not very cultured, but considering they probably weren't trained professionally it couldn't be safe. Trampled by a bull? Not on my list of things to do.
"I laugh in the face if danger, ha ha ha!" She snickered, but her friend just rolled his eyes.
"That's from Lion King," I said stupidly.
"No shit Sherlock," she said, wiping a stray drip of ice cream off with her finger. I just rolled my eyes and started sorting through the dirty dishes. "Well, I need a smoke," she said to her friend and he nodded.
They were at the door when she turned around. "Wanna smoke with us?"
"No," I said. As tempting as her offer was, I'm not a smoker.
"Why, scared?" There was a slight edge to her voice, daring me to contradict her.
I did anyway. "No, smart." She glared at me for a second before smirking. It was a smirk that made you nervous. Like she wanted to mess with you. The smirk of a nine-year old boy who just pulled a dumb prank on you. However, I didn't think she was gonna pull some dumb prank on me.
"Hey Nick, wanna come to a party?" her smirk had disappeared and was replaced with a smile.
"I barely know you, or anyone in this town," I said but she just rolled her eyes, pushing a piece of her hair out of her face.
"That's the point of the party, genius. It's called socializing, maybe you've heard of it." She was obviously being sarcastic, but I couldn't decide if she was being mean or funny. It was bothering me. A lot.
"I'll think about it," I said. I didn't want to sound overly excited. Besides, I didn't know if I even liked this girl. Sure she seemed nice enough, but she was also kind of rude. She seemed arrogant. I don't like arrogant. But on the other hand, she was really pretty.
"You should come, it'll be fun," her friend said as he opened the door and stepped out.
"But I don't even know your name. Or where the party is," I said, pointing out the obvious.
She opened the door, but turned back towards me at the last second. "The name's Max. The address is 221 N. Clark. If you don't see it, you'll hear it."
She closed the door behind her leaving me with a bunch of unanswered questions to go along with the big pile of dishes waiting for me.
_(LINE BREAK) _
Even after my shift ended, I couldn't help but think about my encounter with Max. There was something about her that was just intriguing. I liked that about her. She was new, different. Normally figuring people out is easy, but Max was not easy to figure out. She snapped at me one second, then invited me to a party he next. It was enough to make a guy crazy.
By the time I walked home, I had made a decision: go to Max's party. It would probably start at 8 or a little later, so I figured I would make my casual appearance at 9 or so. That was the plan at least.
"Hey mom," I said as I walked in the door, making sure to leave my shoes by the door. My mom was a clean freak and to be honest, a little (okay a lot) OCD about this kind of stuff. But thanks to her, the house was always spotless.
"Hey sweetie," she said from the kitchen. "How was work today?"
I shrugged as I walked into the room. "Fine."
"Sounds like you had a blast," she said smirking, the same way I did.
"Actually, someone stopped in and invited me to their party," I paused.
"Oh good!" My mom had been skeptical about moving because no one in my family is very good at making new friends. We're all more of the strong and silent type. Since we'd moved here, I hadn't done much in the socializing department. It was the middle of summer and I worked every day, so it wasn't like I had tons of free time to go walk around and try to meet new people. Not that there even were that many people here. Our old town had at least 60 thousand people, but our new town was only 15 thousand and that might be pushing it. "Whose party is it?" She asked casually. My mom trusts me and gives me a lot if freedom, but she wasn't just going to send me off without at least asking a few questions.
"Max," I said. As much as I love my mom, I wanted to keep this kind of vague. I didn't want to make it seem like I was going off to some random girl's party, which I was. But she would get curious and start prying to get the information out of me.
"Was he alone?" she asked. Perfect, she thinks Max is a boy and I didn't lie at all. I really don't like lying. I'm terrible at it; I always stutter. I can't lie my way out of a box. I'm just not very convincing I guess.
"Another guy named Jeff was there," I said. Also completely true. For all I know, Jeff could be his name. "I think I'm going to head over there around 9 or so," I said, wanting to change the topic.
"Take your car, just make sure you are home before 12," she said, as she finished loading the dishwasher.
I nodded and she smiled before reaching out and ruffling my black hair. 12 was definitely fair, considering I had to drive alone. Another thing that was absolutely foreign to me was the abundance of wildlife. Back in the city, the most wildlife we saw was a squirrel or the occasional chipmunk if you were lucky. Here, deer and moose crowded the sides of the road, especially at night. Apparently people saw bears in the woods pretty frequently too.
A few minutes before 9, I put on a new black shirt and a pair of gray khaki shorts. Casual, but classy. Okay not really, but it was an improvement over my basketball shorts and t-shirt that we're covered in ice cream. I added a touch of cologne and ran a hand through my hair, giving it a messy, just out of bed look. I grabbed my keys, wallet and phone before getting in the car and pulling out of the driveway.
I squinted at the little map I held in my hand. Alright, this was it, according to the address Max gave me. I didn't see anyone, but it was so dark I could barely see the steering wheel right in front if me.
I got out of the car and climbed the sloping hill. Once I got to the top, I saw no one. Why did I come to this dumb party? Since there was no one here but me, I figured it was just a prank. But it wasn't a very good one. Like "come to this really fun party! Surprise, there is no party!" I'm sorry, but that's lame. And then all at once a few streetlights turned on, dimly yellow. I heard a familiar sound but didn't recognize what it was until a stream of icy water hit my face. In the next instant, water started spraying out of the ground like crazy. It must have been a very elaborate irrigation system.
My hair had flattened and was stuck to my face. My shirt was soaked through by the time I walked down the hill again. I wouldn't be surprised if they were hiding in a free or something filming this moment, so I made sure to keep my cool and not do anything stupid.
I got into my car, slamming the door shut, before driving off into the darkness. I didn't know what to do. My mom would be worried and think I was being bullied or something extreme like that so I couldn't go home. I didn't exactly have any friends that I could call either. So I stuck with my only other option: drive around for a while.
I drove through the national parks, admiring how everything was so calm and peaceful. It was so relaxing here. In the city, everything was so fast-paced, stressful and high maintenance. It was kind of nice to not have any worries here. I could get used to it.
Now if I could manage to make some friends, that would be splendid. So far, I had made two...I didn't know what to call Max and the guy I told my mom was Jeff. Definitely not friends, but it's not like we were enemies either or something. I guess acquaintances was a fair word, but I felt like there was more of a connection than that. An acquaintance is someone you meet at the urinal. Okay, not a perfect metaphor but whatever. Nevertheless, I had a feeling that I would see her again. Whether or not I wanted to was another matter, especially considering what happened just now.
I heard a softy grinding noise but ignored it at first. But then it started getting louder and louder until I pulled off the road onto the shoulder and stopped the car. I heard a big rush of air come out of something and instantly got nervous. If this car broke down, I was dead. It was nearly 11:30. My parents would be asleep but expecting me before 12. They would definitely know if I was much past midnight.
I know they always tell you not pull the hood of the car up in driver's ed, but I did it anyway. I jumped back as steam poured out of the hood. Awesome.
All of a sudden, a dark pick-up truck slowly drove up to me. Speak of the devil, Max and her friend (the guy I decided was Jeff) were sitting in the front. I knew I'd see Max again, but didn't realize it would be this soon.
"Need a ride, cowboy?" I couldn't help but smile. Only Max, the girl I barely knew, would happen to find me stranded in the middle of nowhere.
"Sorry but I don't get in vans with strangers," I said, feeling a smile spread across my face.
"We have candy," Jeff (you know who I mean) said with a grin.
"Oh boy!" I pretended to get all excited.
"I guess we can drive you home," Max added.
"And leave my screwed up car right here? Yeah, my parents would be thrilled." I hadn't meant to sound mean, but it came out kind of rude.
"This has a tow cable, dumbass," she said, looking at me like I was a five year old.
I couldn't take it anymore, "Stop looking at me like that!"
"Like what?" She asked, hooking my car up to her truck.
"Like you feel sorry for me or something," I said frustrated.
"I'll consider it." She winked at me before hopping back in the driver's seat.
"Just take me home," I muttered, slumped against the window. I was exhausted, mentally and physically. Being with Max took a lot of concentration. I could never figure out what she meant, even though we'd had two conversations total.
She was confusing, but confusing doesn't mean bad. Confusing doesn't mean good either. Just different, and god knows I could use different.
So I hoped you like the first chapter! I know I've been kind of MIA but I broke my computer but I finally got an iPad to use to start writing again so hopefully I can update my other stories soon. Any reviews on those would helpful because I'm dealing with some unfortunate writer's block.
But review, review, review! I hate to say it, but the more reviews the faster I'll update! Let me know if you like it, love it or absolutely hate it. I'm completely open to constructive criticism and am also looking for a Beta reader so if anyone is interested, let me know!
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