I don't own MR
Chapter 2 is here! And chapter 3- the final chapter- should be up sometime later. Hope you guys are liking it. Be sure to review and let me know!
(This is unedited, sorry)
Stay Majestic
VR
Dinner outdoors on a scorching Arizona night during spring break was not the best way to conceal tattoos. Especially since my leather jacket made me sweat.
"Why don't you take that off, Fang?" Mr. Batchelder suggested, but I shook my head.
"I'm actually a little cold," I lied, hoping the sheen of sweat against my skin wasn't a total giveaway.
"Sweetie, you're sweating like a pig. I'd hate for you to have a heatstroke. Please take that off." Mrs. Batchelder pleaded.
"Fang and I are going to get more food," Max blurted out suddenly, grabbing my hand and half-dragging me back inside the building where air conditioner ran diligently. We walked in silence towards the rows of chinese food, each grabbing a fresh plate although a sprinkle of tension kept us from our usual banter or lovey PDA.
"You need to take it off," Max finally told me, loading up her plate with beef and broccoli along with some crab rangoon. I followed suit.
"Did you see their eyes combust at the sight of my snake bites? Once they see the tattoos they're going to have strokes."
"Not if you have one first! Fang, please, I'll protect you just take it off." Max exclaimed, getting some strange looks from people around us that she didn't care about.
"Well when you say it like that..." I licked my lips, causing her to roll her eyes at me.
"I'm serious, when we get back to that table you better hand that jacket over, Mister. I want those sexy tattoos on display."
"And I want my sexy tattoos to actually stay on my body." I countered, and managed to hold my ground for a solid three seconds before her pointed look broke me down.
"Oh alright, fine. It's a good day to die anyways. But can I get one last kiss with my Princess before I so gallantly go off to war?" I asked hopefully.
"Well I suppose Prince Charming always gets the girl in the end so why not?" Max giggled before kissing me much too quickly for my liking.
I took a deep breath as my girlfriend walked away from me, following her to my certain doom with only one longing glance back towards the sushi bar.
When I sat down I unzipped my jacket, which made both of Max's parents shoot their eyes at me like bullets. Slowly, I shrugged the leather material off, looking down at my plate as my black and white sleeves were revealed so as not to see the horrified expressions on their face. However, out of the corner of my eye I could see the glare Max was sending her parents, which made me guess one of them was about to say something I didn't want to hear.
"Of course," Max's father ground out through clenched teeth, and I looked up just in time to watch him throw his hands up in surrender.
"Of course what, Dad? What could possibly cause that tone of voice?" Max sneered, defending me with all of her might; which for only being five five, there was a lot of it.
"You know what. Out of every boy on this planet you pick the one you know we won't approve of." Jeb snarled.
"I love Fang and I'm not going to let you talk about him like he's some horrible person! He's not." My girlfriend growled, a fierce predator attacking anything and everything that got in the way of her mate.
"Really? Do you really love Fang? Or do you just love that he makes us mad?" Mr. Batchelder shouted, causing glances from other outdoor tables. I myself chose to look anywhere but at the situation at hand, trying not to let her father's words penetrate my mind.
"I can't believe you'd even suggest that! Where in the hell would you get that idea?" Max snapped.
"Watch your language, Young Lady." Mrs. Batchelder warned, her tone as dark as a blackhole's before it sucked you in and ripped you apart atom by atom.
"I'm not a 'young lady' mom. I'm a grown adult. I can speak how I want to, but I will not let you speak about Fang how you want. He is two semester's away from graduating law school and I will not let you act like he's a criminal."
"Max," I whispered, hoping she'd get the point by my tone.
"No, don't 'Max' me, my parents are chewing you apart. Stand up and argue, Fang, that's what you're going to do for a living, isn't it?" My oblivious girlfriend exclaimed before turning back to her father.
"At least he has respect! Damnit, Max, learn how to treat your parents! We raised you for crying out loud and you're acting like we're stupid!" Her father roared in fury. Now we were definitely getting stared at.
"You are! Fang is not some boy with a record! He's a responsible, respectable man who knows exactly what he wants."
"Oh God," Mrs. Batchelder finally added her two cents into the conversation. I noticed how pale she was, and the look in her eyes was one of pure sickness. She was looking at me- no, not at me- at my hand.
"Oh God," I replied back, looking down at the promise ring she was staring at in horrified awe.
"Max, why is he wearing that?" Her mother asked, her voice shaking.
"Because we had sex, Mom," Max deadpanned. "We had amazing, mind blowing sex and we do all the time. Everywhere."
"Max, stop it!" I finally snapped, turning to her with a glare I normally reserved for Iggy when he stole all my starbursts. It was then that she actually shut up, and it was then that I let everything that had happened sink in.
"What the actual hell?" I asked in a voice calmer than I expected as I spoke to her.
"What does that mean? I'm sticking up for you!" Max hollered, a mix of panic at my glare and anger at my question bubbling inside of her and spewing out through her voice.
"You don't go around yelling at your parents and telling them about us having sex, Max! I get that you're angry but I told you this would happen! I told you and I told you, but you wouldn't listen to me. Instead you had to throw out your philosophical 'don't change for people' crap. Well you know what? I would have rather had every tattoo surgically ripped off my body than go through this Hell of a dinner. I would rather have my arms chopped off than listen to this arguing."
"Fang I-"
"Do you seriously only love me because it makes them mad? Am I just some revenge plan from your eighth grade inner turmoil?" I snarled.
"What? No-"
"Well Damn, it sure sounds like it. I- you know what?" She didn't say what. Instead she watched as I furiously snatched my wallet out of my pocket, throwing down twenty bucks. "I hope that covers the cost for me and my jail record- which by the way is 36 hours for theft if you were wondering," I spat at her parents before getting to my feet and storming away.
I could already hear Max crying, I could already feel the remorse for leaving her there, but I couldn't take being judged as some psycho just because I had tattoos. I couldn't take the idea that Max might only love me for vengeance. I couldn't take the idea that she thought I was responsible and respectable when in reality, I was anything but.
I sat in the driver's side of my Jeep, my forehead resting against the steering wheel as I glared at the speedometer. It only took me two minutes to realize what a horrible boyfriend I was for leaving her stranded with her parents, and it took me even less time to realize I had no way of getting into her house, getting my stuff, and dropping by the nearest hotel- rats or not, and so I had to wait.
I knew none of them would want anything to do with me; and so I would quietly get my stuff and get out as fast as I could. However, as time ticked by I debated whether or not to just leave and get it in the morning. After all one could only wait for so long before his phone died and there was no more stupid games to pass the time; not that I had been playing them anyways but still.
Two hours dropped off of my life before Mr. Batchelder's truck pulled in the driveway. I hadn't bothered to park in it. I wouldn't be in there home but five minutes tops. I watched as Max's mother and father got out of the car, but no Max. Instead her dad marched over to my Jeep and wrapped on the window. I unrolled it despite myself.
"Do you want to tell me where my daughter is, Ride?" He sneered, and I almost scoffed at his stupidity.
"We just had a fight, Sir. She's definitely not with me." At my words the anger in his eyes faded to worry, then back to anger.
"Well then where the hell is she?"
"I don't know." I growled out, my knuckles turning white as I clenched my steering wheel.
"Well you need to find out. You're the one who made her run off-"
"Me?" I sneered, shoving my car door open and hopping out of my Jeep before slamming it closed. "Mr. Batchelder that was your fault. I don't know what's wrong with you but let me tell you something; I love Max so much most of my tattoos are about her, most of my life is about her, everything I do, every choice I make, I consider her feelings, her needs, her well being, and yet I'm still treated like crap by you and you don't even know me!"
"I know those piercings weren't just a stage, I know you can never get those tattoos off your body, I know that ring does not belong to you-"
"And I know I'm not your boyfriend therefore you don't get to choose whether it's me or not." I finished for him, my rage being pulled tighter until it was as taut as a rubber band about to snap from the pressure.
"That may be true, but I get a say. She's my little girl." Mr. Batchelder yelled, and I attempted to give him that. I attempted to understand he was just trying to protect his daughter from all the bad things in the world, but I wasn't one of those bad things.
"Ha! Little girl? You've got to be kidding me! She's 23. She has an apartment, a steady job, a degree, a car, hell she has everything you have."
"You better watch your mouth, Ride. Just because Max respects you doesn't mean I have to."
"You haven't respected me yet, was that sentence supposed to make me scared?" I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest so as to not punch him. After all it would only make everything worse.
"Damn right it was. I'd be shaking if I were you."
"Oh I'm so scared," I snarled sarcastically, which may or may not have been the words that finally broke Mr. Batchelder's rubber band.
I hit the ground hard, a solid block of muscle and weight slapping against pavement as my jaw erupted with pain. I wasn't even sure he had hit me at first. Even as blood dribbled out of my mouth. "I've been wanting to do that since I saw you," Max's father admitted, and even through the pain that stormed across my vision, blurring it until all I could see was a black haze, I still chuckled. "What are you laughing about?"
"You're just such a sick person I thought your type was only in the movies." I told him, coughing out some blood before staggering to my feet. He looked like he was going to hit me again. "Don't worry though, I'm getting our stuff and then we're leaving."
"No, you're leaving. Max is staying with us." Batchelder sneered, and had I not just been punched in the face I might have had enough sense in me to reply with something smartass enough to get hit again. However, I was dazed and my vision still wasn't quite right, and crimson red still dripped out of the corner of my mouth.
"You know what? I'm not arguing with you anymore, but I'm going to tell you something and I could care less whether you listen or not but I need to say it; at some point I'm going to get married to Max, and I don't want you at the wedding." With that I spun on my heel and stormed away; not waiting for his gruff voice to respond. I'm sure he said something, though I was already inside the house that didn't belong to me. Too far gone to really care.
"Mom, go away!" Well, that wasn't what I expected to walk in. As I climbed the stairs I could hear Max's voice and I faintly wondered if she had actually brought it upon herself to walk all the way home. It made me feel worse than before. She had walked from the restaurant all the way back because of me.
Why did I have to get tattoos and piercings?
"Max, open your door, please Sweetie, I just want to talk." Mrs. batchelder stood at the end of the hall by her daughter's door, glancing towards me once- or rather past me, before doing a double-take. "Oh my God, did Jeb hit you?" She asked, and although I wanted to tell her know, it hurt to talk at this point, so all I could do was shake my head weakly.
"Wait, what?" Max asked, her voice flowing through a waterfall of tears. "Who hit who?" Her voice called through the door, and even from where I stood I could hear her feet slamming against the carpet as she hurried towards the entrance to room, flinging the door open with so much force it smacked against the wall in her room.
For a long time we just stared at each other. She was looking at the bruise forming on my face, and I was looking at the tears that still sliced down her cheeks like a blade through my heart.
"Max," I finally breathed out, unsure of what else to say. There were so many words in my mind, jumbled together in sentences that didn't make sense. Although two words shone brighter than the night sky in the middle of a field. "I'm sorry."
"Me too," Max whispered, and just like that everything was okay again. She was in my arms, stumbling over herself as she tried to hold me tighter, and I was clinging to her like separation would be fatal.
"I screwed up. I screwed up so bad and I'm so sorry. I should have never yelled at you."
"No, it's not your fault. It was mine. I knew they wouldn't like you but I forced you to come anyways. I just, I just thought maybe I could convince them-"
"Max, you don't, you don't love me just to make your parents mad, do you?" I asked, my voice too quiet to be acknowledged, but loud enough to cut her off. She sighed but didn't respond.
"I did at first, but not anymore." Max finally admitted, and I felt my breath catch in my throat. Not anymore. It was all I could think about, all I could hear. As long as I listened to those words I'd be okay.
"Well that's good." I mumbled, "I thought we were going to have to break up for a second." my voice spoke before my mind could snuff out the words, although neither of us had the energy to expand on that.
"Can we go home, please?" Max begged, burying her face in my chest. For the first time since our reunion I took it upon myself to acknowledge Mrs. Batchelder. She looked as heart broken as Max probably felt.
"This is your home, Max." I told her, looking her mother straight in the eye. She seemed grateful for what I said although I was sure she didn't actually think I said it just because I meant it.
"No, it's not."