They had known each other forever. Like, since he was born three months after her. Their parents had gone to college together and her mom dated his dad at one point. Obviously, that didn't last. They went to preschool together. Their families were always together, thus throwing them together. It went without saying that their families wanted them to get married someday.
"Maxine, wouldn't you like to marry Nicholas?" His mom asked one day.
"Anne, boys have cooties. You told me that." Max told her. All of the adults laughed, and Max and Fang did, too.
As they grew up, more and more people asked them. "Fang, why don't you just ask her out already? We know you want to." Some boys at school would taunt.
"Nah, girls are annoying." They would always come up with some excuse. But deep down, Max knew she loved Fang. It started to come to the surface in second grade, when she had a sleepover with her younger sister and a couple of friends for her birthday.
"Ella, who do you like?" Nudge asked.
"Hmm. How about Iggy?" Max's younger sister responded.
"Ooo, he's cute." Nudge responded. All of the girls burst into giggles.
"Why doesn't anyone ever ask me who I like?" Max complained.
"Because, we know that you like Fang. Everyone does." Ella explained, the other girls nodding.
"But-" Max started.
"Nope. You like Fang, and that's final. Now let's go to sleep." Nudge said. And they did.
A few weeks later, on the playground, Fang came up to Max, who was swinging by herself. The other girls didn't like to swing with her, because she always went so high she shook the set. She liked feeling like she could fly.
"Hi, Fang." She said, smiling at the boy.
"Hey, Max. Come down from your flight. I want to ask you something." He said. She slowed down and got off the swing. Fang was the only one she would stop flying for.
"What?" She asked.
"Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked her. Her eyes got really big and she tried to hide her smile.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because I want you to." He said.
"Okay."
"Good."
"Can I go back to flying now?"
"Sure. See you after school."
When they got back into the classroom, Max announced it to the whole class. They started laughing. She looked over at Fang, who was also laughing. "Why are you all laughing?" She asked.
"Do you know what day it is, Max?" Sam, another boy said.
"It's April… Fools Day." She said, her face falling. The rest of the class kept laughing. When the teacher came in, Max asked to go to the nurses office. The teacher granted her permission. Since she didn't have a temperature or anything, the nurse just kept her for a while and then sent her back to class. By then, the students had all but forgot about it.
After school, when she and Fang were supposed to walk home together, she walked way ahead of him. When they got to Fang's house, she charged in, slamming the door behind her.
"Maxine, you know better than to slam my door. What's wrong?" Anne asked.
"Ask your son." She said, walking into Fang's room and shutting that door.
"Nicholas, why is Maxine so upset?" Anne asked when Fang walked in.
"I played an April Fools joke on her." He responded, shrugging.
"Did you apologize?" Anne asked.
"Not yet. She won't talk to me." He said, plopping onto the couch.
"I'll try talking to her." Anne said. She walked to the locked door of her son's room. "Maxine, will you talk to me? I know you're mad at Nicholas."
"No. Go away, please." She said.
"Maxine. Open this door right now or I will call your mother." Anne said, taking a different approach. Max threw the door open.
"Did he tell you why I'm mad?"
"He just said he played an April Fools joke on you. I take it you didn't like it very much." Anne prompted.
"He asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes."
"Oh, honey. Come here." Anne said, opening her arms to the girl, who walked into them and cried into the blouse the woman was wearing. "I'll go yell at him as soon as you've calmed down." Max nodded and wiped her tears, following Anne into the living room where Fang was watching TV.
"Nicholas Carter Ride. You do not mess with girls' feelings as jokes. It will never end well for you. Go to your room and you can come out when Maxine says." Anne said, taking the remote from Fang and giving it to Max. Fang looked from his mom to Max with wide eyes and his mouth agape.
"But-" He tried.
"No. Go." Anne ordered. Fang did as he was told, slamming the door behind him.
After watching two shows, Max got bored. She walked over to Fang's bedroom door. "Fang?" She asked.
"What do you want?" He asked. It sounded like he was sitting on the other side of the door, so Max sat down. They would have been back to back without the door.
"Why did you do that?" She asked in a small voice.
"Because."
"That's not good enough! You made a fool out of me in front of the whole class." She said.
"Iggy dared me. I can't back down from a dare, you know that. I thought you would be okay. You're normally strong. I didn't even think you'd agree. You always say boys have cooties." Fang said through the door.
"But you embarrassed me!" Max said.
"I'm sorry, Max. Please forgive me." He said. She thought about it for a minute, then realized how bored she was without him.
"Fine. You can come out." She said. He flung open the door. "But no more talk about dating. It makes me angry. Let's go play Pokemon." And they did.
A couple of years later, when they were getting ready to start band instruments, they found out they picked the same one without talking about it.
"She said I have a perfect brass embouchure, so I'm going to play the French Horn." Max declared on their walk home.
"Well, she said I have really good pitch and could easily find the notes, so I'm going to play the French Horn." Fang said, walking in the door to Max's house.
"What are you two bickering about now?" Valencia, Max's mom, asked.
"We are both going to play the same instrument in band next year." Max told her.
"Well, that's great! You can practice together and play duets and stuff. It'll be fun. And if you really don't like it, you can always switch."
"I guess. We can try it for a year." And they did.
After a year, they both really enjoyed it. They had both played piano before, and both were in chorus, so it was just one more thing to enjoy doing together. By the end of the next school year, they were the best horn players in their grade, and the two above them. They practiced together and played duets all the time.
Through middle school and their freshman year of high school, they stayed friends, through music and their families, but they hung out with a lot of different people. Fang started hanging out with some of the athletic boys, while Max stuck more to music girls. Fang started playing bass, along with his other two instruments, so he could be in a rock band. He played for the show choir, while Max sang and danced. He would never admit it, but he enjoyed watching her dance.
Their parents had always warned them that if they weren't careful, their friendship would strain because they would neglect it and take it for granted. And they did.
By the time marching band camp came around sophomore year, Fang wanted to quit. He didn't like playing mellophone, he didn't like their section leader, he didn't like their director, and he claimed that he didn't have any friends in marching band. It seemed to Max, he didn't like much of anything anymore. Valencia told her that teenage boys just were that way. That didn't make Max like it much more.
On the first day of school, she checked her schedule. Each class had highlights on it depending on which friends she had in the class. She was walked into one that had a black ying yang next to it. That meant Fang was in this class, which got her excited. But when she walked into the classroom, he was surrounded by three other girls, with no empty chair for her. She walked across to the other side of the room to sit by herself, feeling rejected by the boy she once called her best friend.
They no longer walked home together. They rode the bus, but he didn't sit by her. He sat in the back with the "cool kids" while she sat in the middle, listening to their conversations and wishing she was involved. When she got home the first day of her sophomore year, she plopped face down on her bed.
"Max? Are you okay?" Ella said, walking into the room.
"Just tired."
"Are you sure?" Ella asked.
"No." Max responded, sitting up. The sisters sat facing each other, criss crossed on the bed. She recounted the class she was supposed to have with Fang.
"Well, are you going to tell him you're upset?" Ella asked.
"No! Why would I do that? He wouldn't even care." Max said.
"Yes, he would. Once upon a time, you were inseparable best friends. That's not something one can just forget, no matter how hard they try. I think you should talk to him. Just shoot him a text." Ella suggested.
"Okay, fine."
MM: Hey, how was your first day?
He responded surprisingly quickly.
FR: It was good. How was yours? Are you excited for Singers?
They had both made the top choir, which was another of their shared classes.
MM: Yeah. The other girls seem pretty cool.
FR: I wish we had more than two classes together.
Max looked at her phone suspiciously. They had three. Band, Choir, and English.
MM: We do?
FR: What? Just band and choir, and they don't really count, amirite?
Max rolled her eyes.
MM: You didn't even notice, did you?
FR: What? Max, you're mad. What did I do? If I call you, will you answer?
Her phone rang immediately after that. She answered it. "Hello?" She said, sighing.
"What did I do this time, Max?" Fang said.
"You didn't even notice I was in your English class, did you? You were too caught up in Lissa, Brigid, and whoever that other girl was." She said, picking at her fingernails. There was a sigh on the other end. "That's what I thought. It doesn't matter anyways. It's fine. We each have other friends, and that's okay. We knew it was going to happen. We can go our separate ways, and that's cool. See you around, Fang." She said, ending the call before he could respond. She threw it on the floor, and plopped back face down on her bed. They needed to let each other go. And they did.
Over the next year, she noticed a change in Fang. He was at least pretending to care more about music, their shared interest. While he still hung out with the select group he had been with, he opened up to others, too. He allowed their marching band section leader to drag him into a horn quartet with the section leader, the other junior, and her. They got top ratings at solo contest.
He invited her to some of his band's gigs. He also invited her family, so it wouldn't be weird. Between Ella and Valencia, Max was dragged to each and every one. On the first day of junior year, when she showed up to chemistry, knowing Fang was also in the class, she expected to sit on the opposite side of the room again, but she sat down before he got there, and just in case, she left a spot next to her open, while Nudge sat on her other side. A minute after the bell rang, Fang ran in, smiled in her direction, and went to sit in the saved seat.
He made the All State choir their junior year, and she was in the band. They had a fun time at the festival. They gradually became friends again. They started hanging out together, combining their groups and inviting each other when they were hanging out. Their families were ecstatic. Instead of sitting on their phones when they got together, their kids were talking and having conversations with the adults.
That spring, they started looking into colleges. The university their parents had attended had a phenomenal school of music, and hosted a horn day. They went up together, with their moms. Fang was looking into music education as a major, while Max didn't know what she wanted to do, just knowing she wanted music to stay a part of her life. Max wanted to get out of the state, however. Fang wanted to stay closer to home. Fang loved their parents alma mater. Max thought it was okay, but wanted to go to a private school a few states away. They had a fun time at the festival and both fell asleep on each other in the backseat on the two hour car ride home.
"They argue like a married couple." Anne said one day.
"She texts him when rehearsals happen so he doesn't miss them." Valencia said.
"He will be lost without her next year." Anne told her friend at Max and Fang's shared graduation party. Max decided to go to the private school and Fang stayed at the closer university. Fang would be majoring in music education and Max still didn't know what she was going to do, but was going as a bachelor of arts major in music.
"I'm going to miss you, Fang." She said. He had helped her and her family load up the two cars they were driving her to school with.
"I'm going to miss you too, Maxie." He said. They hugged, and she got into her car that she was driving. He waved from the driveway as Valencia drove away, followed by his reinstated best friend. Then he got in his car and drove home, trying not to think about the way she felt in his arms. As he loaded up to leave for college, he told himself he would see her in a few months, at Thanksgiving. But they knew they had to say goodbye to their old lives. And they did.
"Hey." He said, answering the Skype call.
"Hi, Fangiepoo!" She greeted.
"Don't call me that." He said, but he was smiling and rolling his eyes.
"So, how's school?" She asked.
"It's good. Theory is a pain, but I love being able to do music all the time. What about you? Is Oberlin everything you dreamed it would be?" He asked.
"Oh yes. There are awesome concerts every night."
"Have you figured out your major yet?"
"Nah. I'm thinking either horn performance or English teaching." She said.
"Those are two very different things." He teased.
"I know. But I really have no clue. I miss you." She said.
"I miss you too." He said.
"I liked your gift. When did you put that in there?" She asked. He remembered the picture frame he had put into one of her bags going in Valencia's car. It was a picture of them sleeping in the back of Anne's car coming back from the horn festival.
"Sometime when you weren't looking. I thought you could use something to decorate your desk. And what better than my face?" He asked. They loved catching up, and they did.
She didn't come home for Thanksgiving, and his family spent the whole winter break with extended family in Florida. She called him again at the end of February.
"Maxie, what's up?" He asked.
"Not much, what about you?" She responded.
"Same."
"So, I'm auditioning at your university in three weeks." She said.
"WHAT?" He asked, very surprised.
"I love it here, but I miss my family. I want to be able to come see Ella through her senior year, and my grandma is slowly fading. I can't be much help from here. I can get an English teaching major and a BA in music where you are. So, I'm auditioning. If they accept me, I'm coming to school with you in the fall!" She said.
"I don't believe you. But, it's not April Fools…" He said. They hadn't talked about that bad day voluntarily since that day.
"It's not. Fang, I'm actually coming." Neither spoke for a few moments.
"I'm so happy I could kiss you." He said, jumping up and dancing around his dorm room.
"Well…"
"I'm not going to. That would be weird." He said, catching himself.
"Sorry, I don't have a lot of time to chat. I'll have to hang up soon." She said, and they did.
"Max!" He yelled, seeing her car pull into the parking lot of his dorm.
"Hey, Fang." She said, getting out of the car. She popped the trunk, and he grabbed her bags before she could. He lead her to his dorm room, where she was staying for the weekend that she was auditioning. They chatted amiably and then went to ate. They both had fun walking around campus, which they both knew fairly well, but Fang showed and told her about everything she would need to know.
Her audition went great, but Sunday morning she had to go back to Oberlin. He wished her goodbye, and waved from the steps to his dorm until he couldn't see her car anymore.
"FANG! I GOT ACCEPTED!" She yelled into her computer.
"I knew you would! So, you're transferring?" He asked.
"Yep! Make room, because I'm going to walk all over you, next year." She teased.
"I'm ready. I'm really happy for you, Max." He said, seriously.
"I'm really happy, too." She said. "Will you help me move in?" She asked. He promised. They continued talking for a while, and then they both said they had to go practice and needed to hang up. And they did.
That summer, he was waiting in her driveway when she and Valencia pulled in. She ran out of the car to hug her best friend. "I missed you." She whispered.
"I missed you too. Let's get your stuff inside." He said. She released him and helped her and Valencia carry her things inside. Once everything was inside, she started putting her clothes away, and he made her bed. Then they plopped down on it, laying so they could look at the ceiling.
"Fang." Max said.
"Max." He said.
"This year was so hard without you. I felt like sophomore year all over again."
"But I was there for you this time, we were just physically separated." He said.
"I have to tell you something." She said.
"Go ahead. You can tell me anything." He responded.
She took a deep breath and then spoke quickly. "As much as I want to be here for Ella and my grandma, I really wanted to come back for you." She admitted, blushing.
"What?" He asked.
"You heard me." She said.
"Yeah, but I don't believe you. I thought you loved Oberlin. I can't let you do that."
"I know. That's why I didn't tell you." She said.
"But-"
"But nothing, Fang. You're my best friend. I can't live without you. We tried that, and I hated it."
"I hated it too. I have something to admit, too." He said.
"Wh-" Before she could get the word out, he kissed her, hard. She melted into it. After they pulled away, she asked, "What did you want to tell me?"
"That was it." He said.
"But those weren't words." He quirked an eye at her. "Okay, but what did that mean?" She asked, not understanding.
"It means I love you and I always have and I always will. Maxine Elizabeth Martinez, will you go on a date with me?" He asked.
"This isn't an April Fools joke, is it?" She asked.
He blushed and said, "No. I've regretted it since you stopped talking to me that day."
"Okay. Good, because I would love to go on a date with you, but not get embarrassed this time." She teased. He kissed her again, and when Valencia called them down for dinner, she noticed the mussed up hair and swollen lips, but decided not to comment on it. They would have to tell her eventually. And they did.
During the spring break of their senior year of college, they were at home. He took her back to the playground at their old elementary school. She immediately raced over to the swings, just like he hoped she would. She was flying high when he came over to the swings.
"Hey, Max. Come down from your flight. I want to ask you something." He said. She eyed him suspiciously, but came down. Fang was still the only one she would stop flying for.
"What?" She asked him.
Fang reached a hand into his pocket, knelt down on one knee in front of his girlfriend, and she gasped. "Will you marry me?" He asked.
"Why?" She said, tears streaming down her face, but a smile on her face saying she remembered.
"Because I want you to." He replied. "I love you so much. Please, give me the honor of being yours forever and the ability to say that every day for the rest of our lives."
"Okay." She said, still crying.
He stood and slipped the ring on her finger. "Good. You're so beautiful, even when you're crying." He said, while wiping the tears from her eyes and kissing the tear tracks.
"I love you." She said.
"I love you too." He said. They kissed passionately on that playground before walking back to his parents' house to announce to all of their family's, who knew what Fang was up to and were waiting. Everyone told them they argued like an old married couple and they should just make it a reality. And they did.
A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this one shot. I've been working on this, and it's actually based off of my brother and one of our family friends, but what I want to happen, rather than what is probably going to happen. I felt like I needed to give something to my Maximum Ride readers, since I've only posted Les Mis since Cindermax has been finished. This is just some little thing I cooked up, so no flames, but if you have anything else to say, review and let me know what you think! Love you all!