This is Max's life as if she didn't have AS much crazy stuff to deal with.. I don't own Max or Fang or any of them. I don't own any brands or licensed items named in this story.
Someone handed her another shot of clear liquid she assumed was vodka, she realized that it was past her curfew, and she was already too drunk to stand up.
"Fang, we have to go," I slurred, suddenly in a panic.
"Come on babe, not quite yet," he giggled back at me. Fang doesn't giggle. I opened my eyes towards the direction of his voice sleepily and saw four girls. Fang was no where to be seen.
"Fang, get out here this damn minute or I swear to God," I began in an intoxicated rage, but before I could say anything more, Fang was right next to me. I continued, "we have to leave, now, or I swear mom will-" I was forced to stop as his lips crushed down on mine. I could taste the whiskey on his breath but I didn't mind. I was glad to have him so close to me. That's all I could really think about. Fang, and me. Forever. Nothing was ever going to come between us again. I pulled back for a minute, remembering the time and everything important that Fang's kiss had caused me to forget. "Fang." I said, using the most motherly voice I could, "Fang, stop. This is not the place and time." I lied through my teeth. I was ready to be that close to Fang again, to forget the world around me, but I knew I couldn't. I had my family.
"Come on," he pleaded, just like any teenage guy would, "we're fine, we're only ten minutes late." I did my best to remain firm in my decision. He knew how stubborn I was. "Fine. We'll go. But don't think I'm going to forgive you for this." He winked at me giving a slight smirk, and suddenly I was dizzy. Whether from the alcohol or his pure beauty, I'll never know. I staggered for a moment and he was right there to catch me. Kissing my forehead he whispered, "come on, I got you."
He held me the whole way back to our apartment, where we stayed with our motley crew of outcasts and orphans. Angel, my once sweet baby girl, who now hated me, announced immediately as we walked in the door, "Everyone, Max and Fang are drunk!" She laughed.
I swore under my breath, "Shut up Ang. We're fine." I walked into my room and slammed the door behind me, collapsing on my bed a second later. I closed my eyes and felt the room swirling around me. I heard the knob on my door slowly creak. I sat up straight, "Leave me alone!" I cried, anxious to get over my sudden wave of nausea.
"Max, it's okay. Just me." The familiar voice instantly soothed my churning stomach. I felt better already. "It's pretty bad. Angel gave us up of course. Iggy's doing his best to take care of the little kids."
"Where's Dylan?"
"No one's really sure. Don't worry about that now. We'll talk about it in the morning." I could hear his smile in his voice, and could picture it in my mind, even though I couldn't see straight enough to see it with my eyes. Tonight had definitely been a bad idea. I heard Fang shift around on the bed. Suddenly I felt his presence, his cool fingers on the back of my neck, pulling my face to his. All the worry about the kids, and Dylan were gone. The feeling came and went as easily as the tide washes up a log, and then takes it back out to sea.
When I woke up in the morning, the window was wide open, letting the cool morning breeze in. I shut it, not realizing that Fang wasn't in the room. I opened my door and walked to the bathroom, praying my mess of hair wouldn't be too impossible to tame. Nudge caught me on the way. Her bright eyes piercing right into me. "Max," she said condescendingly, "how much did you drink last night?"
"Not very much sweetie, don't worry I'm fine." It was the best lie I could manage. My head was pounding and every word she said felt like a little tiny needle poking into different parts of my brain. "Hey, I'll be right back okay? I'm going to go shower." As I made my final step into safety, carefully closing the door behind me and making sure to lock it, I was filled with relief. I turned the shower on. While I waited for it to get hot, I took three ibuprofen, sending a silent thanks to Iggy who thought it would be a good idea to reorganize the bathroom. I stepped into the warm water, and it offered slight respite to my aches everywhere. I gently massaged my scalp, trying to keep the throbbing down to a minimum. I grabbed the closest towel I could find after shutting the water off. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a tanktop, covering it with a light windbreaker. I ran a comb quickly through my hair, dreading facing the kids. What was I going to say to them? It was looking to be a nice day on the California coastline, so instead of going to see them, I threw open the window and flung myself out. I didn't throw myself far enough though. I was to close to the building to open my wings. I was falling. I was going to die.
My bare toes were ten feet from the ground when a strong gust carried me far enough away from the house that I thrust open my wings and gave the strongest stroke I could, shooting me up another twenty feet. Thank God. I searched the skies for Fang, hoping he would hold an answer to how we could handle our situation last night. He always seemed to have an answer. He was gone by now anyway. I gave up. Returning to the apartment, I was barely able to catch the window frame on my freefall. I pulled myself in and slid it shut. The flight had done a good job clearing my head. I opened the door as quietly as possible, but it gave me away groaning as I slowly swung it open. I could tell the flock had all come to attention in the living room. The TV was muted, Nudge had stopped flipping pages of her magazine. Even Iggy's kitchen activities had been paused for the time. I stepped out into the hallway bracing myself.
Ig looked towards me, putting on a disappointed expression, "Max, where have you been?"
I couldn't lie to them, but I didn't want to tell the truth either. "Out." I said dryly.
Although he couldn't see me, I didn't break eye contact with Iggy. I could feel the others eyes baring down on me. "Out. Where?"
"I don't know, Ig. Me and Fang went to a party."
"Yeah. I know. We all watched you stumble in. Well I didn't but you get the idea. You think that everything's about you Max. You get to go out with loverboy all the time. And you leave me here to watch the kids! You don't think about anyone but yourself." He resumed his soon to be breakfast of french toast, telling me that the conversation was over. Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel looked at me for a second, but returned to their activities after I met each of their eyes.
"Look you guys. I'm sorry. I know, none of us have families or parents. It gets tough. Imagine watching all of you all the time. And then there's Dylan. Has anyone even guessed where he was last night? Because I sure as hell don't know."
Angel took over for the younger part of my flock, "You don't have to watch us Max. We're good kids." I burst out laughing, and walked away. I went back to my room and opened my window back up. He would need a way back in.