To clear a few things up: Max doesn't live with her dad, he just tried to control her life. And I never made ages for them, but I'd say that because I live in Australia and the legal drinking age is 18 their ages are:

Max- 19 (Remember, Max is Iggy's younger sister in this story)

Angel- 18

Zephyr- 19

Fang- 21

Iggy- 21

Monique- 20 (I don't think Iggy wants a girlfriend the same age as his sister)

I just made them up then. Lol. These ages may seem weird, but it doesn't really matter in the scheme of things.

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.

CHAPTER TWO

Recap:

I made my way over to the bar and sat down. I watched Max serve the other customers and realised that suddenly I didn't see her as Iggy's little sister. Now she was just a beautiful woman that I happened to be friends with. I nearly smiled at the thought.

It was late and the crowd had dwindled down to a few teenage clubbers. I'd eventually made my way to a booth and had spent the whole night nursing a drink. I made sure not to overdo it again. Getting drunk was a way of losing control - which was something I tried never to do. If I couldn't control my body, anything could happen.

I left the club and went across the street to McDonalds. I ordered a burger and fries with a drink of coke. I made my way over to the entrance of the club and waited for Max to leave.

She was the last to leave and had to lock everything up. By the time she came out I'd finished eating the burger and drank half of the coke. And that was by eating very slowly.

"Fang?" she asked as she locked the door and made her way over to me.

"I brought you nourishment," I said, giving her the fries and the half-empty cup of coke. She grinned at me and took the food.

"Thanks, I'm starving."

"I figured."

I walked with her down the street until we reached her car. It was a huge four- wheeled drive that totally suited Max. I opened the driver's door for her and leaned against the frame once she was inside.

"You played great today," she complimented me, finishing off the coke and smiling at me.

"Thanks. You were awesome. Thanks for filling in."

She blushed. "I hate singing to strangers."

"I know," I told her.

Her eyes met mine and a tiny blush crept up her cheeks.

"How do you know that?"

"I've known you long enough. We're friends. And friends know the little things."

"Like how you try to be all macho over the whole Natalie thing when you're really hurting inside," she said after a moment.

I shrugged my shoulders and avoided eye contact with her.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"It's fine," I lied.

"No, it's not. I know how you feel. You miss her and you want her back because you became comfortable with her. She was familiar, and you like to remain in control, so the familiar calls to you. So you're feeling like your drowning because one of the things that had always been the same in your life for a year is suddenly missing and you don't know how to fill it."

I swallowed and looked her in the eyes. No one had ever known exactly how I was feeling. But every word that Max had spoken struck me at the core as being true. With effort, I kept my mask in place. But somehow, I felt like Max always saw through my mask. After what she said, I wouldn't be surprised if she knew everything I felt.

"I think maybe that's why we did what we did last night. We've known each other for a long time and we're friends. So maybe you wanted someone familiar to fill Natalie's place in your bed. It probably didn't help that we were both drunk."

I shook my head, trying to block her words from my head. How could she know all these things? It was like she could read my mind. She was telling me everything pathetic I didn't want to hear about myself.

"Fang-"

"Shut up!" I yelled at her. Why couldn't she have left all those things unsaid? She just had to go and tell me everything I was feeling and break through my careful façade. Why was she the only one that could break my mask?

"Fang-"

I needed her to shut up before she said anything else.

I did the only thing I could think of at that moment.

I kissed her.

Her mouth was warm against mine and brought an onrush of memories into my mind. I remembered how it felt to kiss her last night and realised that kissing her when I was sober was so much better. I felt alive just by touching her, like my heart was on fire.

At first she was hesitant, then she opened her mouth to me and my tongue entered her mouth. My hands travelled down to her waist and gripped her tightly as her hands tangled in my hair. I pulled her closer so I could feel her soft body against mine.

Seemingly reading my mind, her body twisted in the car seat until her legs were hanging out the open door. Her legs wrapped around my waist and I leaned into her body.

When I pulled away from her she placed both of her hands on my cheeks and looked into my eyes.

"I want to help you, Fang."

"I don't need help," I told her firmly, trying to lean in and kiss her again. But she pulled away with sadness in her eyes.

"What is this, Fang?"

"You taste good," I told her.

"Is that it? You're using me? You don't feel anything for me?"

I hung my head and looked down at her legs wrapped around mine. What was this? This was Max, my best friend's sister. This was the beautiful girl that had always caught my attention. This was the girl that was way too good for me.

"Fang, let me help you," she whispered into my ear.

"I need to think," I said, abruptly pulling away from her. I tried to ignore the look of hurt on her face when I turned around and left, but somehow it was etched into my memory.

I struggled to pull my mask back on, but it was difficult now that Max had smashed it into tiny little pieces.

I couldn't sleep. Max's pained expression kept leaping into my head. This was ten times worse than remembering her body pressed against mine. I cared about her and I never wanted to inflict pain on her. I sighed and rolled over in my bed, thinking about Max and her smile.

Suddenly, there was a pounding at my door. I pulled myself out of bed and checked the time. It was four o'clock in the morning. Who the hell could that be? Was it Max?

I pulled on some jeans and left my bedroom to get the door. When I opened it I blinked in surprise.

"Natalie?"

"Fang, sorry if I woke you. I couldn't sleep," she said. Her voice brang back a lot of memories and I longed to pull her into my arms. I clutched onto her familiar scent and banished all thoughts about what Max had revealed about me trying to stay in control.

"I can't stop thinking about you," she whispered, tears shimmering in her eyes.

I went to reply but found that it would be a lie. I had been thinking of her, but at the same time I'd been thinking about Max a whole lot more.

"Is there any way we can start over?" she pleaded, taking a cautionary step into the room. She burst into tears and pulled me into a hug. She sobbed on my shoulder and I soothed her back, trying to calm her down.

"I miss you so much. I'm sure we can work everything out," she muttered into my chest. Her warmth felt nice and I nearly smiled. But I thought about Max and felt guilty. Natalie hadn't gone and slept with someone the same night we broke up, I'm sure. How could I just go back into a relationship with that hanging over my head?

"Natalie-" I started.

She wiped her eyes and looked up at me with her puppy dog expression. It always used to work on me, but I was too preoccupied today.

"Are you alright?" she asked me, concern entering her eyes.

"You can't just dump me and then expect me to jump back into a relationship with you," I said slowly, running a hand through my dark hair and sighing in frustration. Why did this have to happen to me?

"I know," she said, sniffling. "I didn't- I mean…"

"Look, we're both tired. Why don't you come to my gig at the club tomorrow night and we'll talk," I said.

She nodded her head and hugged me again. I couldn't help and pull her familiar body against me and hug her back. She quickly kissed me on the cheek before she left my apartment. I watched her leave with a sigh and found myself more confused than ever.

Somehow the argument came down to: Familiar or unknown. Should I stick with the familiar, or should I try to learn to take control of my life with elements of the unknown in it?

"Angel, you made it!" Iggy cried as I walked towards our usual table with him. Angel was sitting at the booth with Zephyr, Max and Monique. We joined the group and Max smiled at Iggy and completely ignored me. I supposed I deserved that.

"Sorry about yesterday, Ig. There was an accident or something and it took me forever to get out of it. And I didn't have any money left on my phone. Lucky Max called me," she explained.

"Oh, my God. Max was awesome last night. I didn't know she could sing like that. Lucky she agreed to do it. I would have sung, but I was late and you guys had already started," Monique rambled on.

Iggy cracked a grin and walked over to Monique and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Monique grinned and went silent after that. Only Iggy could shut her up these days.

"I think Angel does a way better job," Max said shyly.

We settled down into the booth and talked about the gig. Max didn't look at me once and I felt a hollow-ness in my gut. Was she really that angry with me? Was she even angry- or was it some other emotion?

"Fang, you should play your song today," Iggy prompted.

"Ig, you know my view on singing to strangers."

"But I've heard it. It's really good. It's better than all the stuff I've written for our band put together. It has real potential!" Iggy argued.

"Yeah, Fang, I want to hear it," Angel joined in.

I ignored them both.

"Yeah, Fang. For me?"

I turned at the sound of her voice and looked behind me at Natalie. She smiled at me and sat down in the booth beside me. The entire group went rigid and Iggy shot me a look.

"Guys, I invited Natalie to come watch our gig tonight," I explained awkwardly.

I looked at Max, who had finally decided to look at me. Her face was unreadable and I knew it had been a mistake to put them in the same place. How could I have been so selfish? Max already felt awkward with me, I didn't have to be a jerk and rub the cause in front of her face.

"You should sing for me," Natalie said with a smirk.

"I don't think so," I replied. Not even Natalie could change my mind on this matter.

"You should, Fang," Max said softly, surprising me. "You do owe me. Remember- personal slave for a week."

"I said no," I said, standing up and turning away from them. I started to walk towards the doors. I heard someone hastily get up to follow me and heard Natalie's voice call after me. I sighed and didn't look back.

Outside, I leaned against the brick wall and took a deep breath. The door opened behind me and I expected to be hugged by Natalie- which was totally the opposite of what I needed at the moment. She could never cheer me up very well.

Instead, I blinked in surprise as Max stood in front of me and placed her hands on her hips in a surprisingly sexy stance. I blinked twice at that strange thought and realised that the only person who could really surprise me was Max.

I realised that of course Natalie wouldn't have come after me. She'd said it herself- she didn't know how to handle me when I put my mask on. I went one step further and said that she didn't know how to handle me at all. She would wait and hope that I calmed down on my own.

"You're being a jerk," she told me flatly.

I didn't reply.

"Your girlfriend is here and she wants you to sing to her. So go do it," she demanded in a strange voice I'd never heard her use before.

"I don't understand, and she's not my girlfriend," I admitted in frustration. I never admitted that to anyone - the 'don't understand' bit, not the Natalie bit, obviously - and yet with Max I was a completely different person.

"Fine, I want to hear you sing before I leave. You owe me and I want to hear your song."

I stood silent for a long time, but she didn't seem to register how long it took for me to reply. Finally, I found my voice again.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Jeb wants me to move to Arizona to take a job offer I got. Plus, he wants me to be closer to home." I noted how she didn't say 'dad' when she referred to Jeb and felt suddenly sick.

"Arizona is so far away," I managed to say.

"I know," she said, her voice cloaked in sadness.

"When do you leave?"

"This weekend," she said, looking away from me briefly.

So soon?

"Why do you want to hear me sing?" I asked her, trying to hold myself together after her revelation. Nothing would be the same if Max left.

She took a deep breath and I didn't think she would answer me. Then she let out her breath and looked me in the eyes. The shock that ran through me momentarily took my breath away. She was so beautiful.

"Because, you idiot, I've always lo-"

"Fang!" Natalie called from the door, rushing over to me. "The band is about to play. Iggy said to come and get you."

I nodded and turned back to Max. She bit her lip and I knew that she wasn't going to finish whatever she'd been about to say. I heard Natalie enter the club again and I reached out my hand and touched Max on the cheek.

"I'll sing for you," I said softly.

Tears filled her eyes and she gave me a watery smile. I leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. Then I entered the club after Natalie.