"Oh my gosh, max, have I taught you nothing!" she says looking at me in disbelief. "I get you love the whole girl-next-door, no effort look, but you have so much potential! I mean with the right style and colour in clothes, I'm think maybe purple and tight fitting, you would look like a total babe. And then make-up, ufph um phug…" I cut her off with a hand over her mouth as I know if I let her go we will be late for class.
"Nudge, this is the way I dress, get use to it. Now please put the car in first and move it." I say as I slowly pry my hand away from her mouth, watching her wearily for any chance she might start up again.
All she does is sigh and repeats, "All I'm saying is you have some great potential, but if you choose not to flaunt it, it's your loss."
"Got it," I say with a grin. "Now hit it."
I sip at my coffee as we slowly make our way into campus; Nudge has run into a few girls she shares classes with so she is caught up in catching up on all the gossip that occurred over the break. I tune out as she blabbers on and peruse the grounds. I only share a few classes with Nudge because she is doing Creative Writing, the same as me, but Fashion as well. She tells me she wants to be a fashion journalist. She sure has a lot to say so I think it's a great idea.
I'm caught in my own thoughts when all of a sudden I hit what feels like a brick wall. My bag falls to the ground along with my coffee and I shout without looking up, "What the hell moron, are you blind? Watch where you're going!"
Its only then that I slowly lift my gaze, taking in the black vans closely followed by snug dark jeans, that just seem to fit perfectly in all the right places, a black shirt that is just tight enough to show off a well-muscled chest, tan slightly bulging biceps and strong forearms. And at this point I'm thinking dayum! It is just my lucky day.
That is until I finally rest my gaze on his face and my whole body freezes, "Oh bloody hell," I swear, "You cannot be serious."
"Oh why I am perfectly serious Max," Fang replies in his deep voice with his trademark smirk plastered on his handsome yet definitely punchable face.
Lets just say he was always quite the catch with the girls, but over the past summer he had filled out even more, grown his dark hair out so the fringe just reached the top of his eyebrows, and did his lips always look that sensual? Oh damn I did not just think that! Snap out of it.
"How was your break Maxie? Get up to anything interesting," he says while giving me a slow once over, that seems to leave a trail of heat where ever his eyes go.
"Wouldn't you like to know," I retort while giving him the iciest look I can muster, "At least I seem to be getting better with age, can't really say the same for you Fangy boy, who dressed you by the way, the Grim Reaper?"
"Ah Max, how I have missed your PMSey personality," he replies with his hand over his heart.
"Oh, you did not just say what I think you did! I am not PMSey, my entire being just cant help but be utterly repulsed by the likes of you," I say trying to pull off the whole looking-down-ones-nose thing, but failing dismally on the account that Fang happens to be a good foot taller than me.
"Oh, I think we both now that to be a lie," he replies in a soft, seductive rumble, as he pierces me with his obsidian eyes.
I can't help but for a moment to get lost in them and I lose my train of thought completely. When I eyes continue to remain locked, my cheeks start to heat much to my embarrassment but I still cant look away.
"Earth to Max, we are going to be late for our first lecture," Nudge calls to me, coming over and waving a hand in my face my good measure.
As I break my gaze from Fang's and glance at her, she is giving me that look that means, 'We have to talk.'
I look back over at Fang and he is grinning, and it is such a beautiful sight that my heart skips a beat. But then I remember I absolutely loathe the guy, and the next words that come out of his mouth prove just why.
"Try not to daydream about me too much, I know you cant help but feel undeniably attracted to me Max, and its ok, I understand," he smirks starting to turn away from me.
"Fuck you," I reply in a flat voice. Great comeback Max, just brilliant, but I am just so unbelievable angry with myself that I lost myself in his stupid eyes and let his stupid good looks get to me.
He just continues to smile at me, like I just said 'Have a good day' instead of swearing.
He starts walking away, then all of a sudden turns back to face me, flicking his bangs out of his eyes.
"Oh, and by the way, you better get rid of that milk moustache before class,"
.
"You like him," this is what Nudge has the decency to say to me after what just occurred.
"You did not just say that. Did you even see what just happened? I think someone spiked your cappuccino this morning" I say exasperated, as we make our way over to the lecture theatres.
"No, there was some definitely sexual tension just then, and I am never mistaken," she replies confidently.
"Sex…Sexual tension!" I splutter, not believing what I am hearing, "If you're mistaking sexual tension for pure hate there is something seriously wrong with you."
"Do you find him attractive," she asks giving me a sidelong look.
"Well, who doesn't? But that by no means mean I like him. So what he is nice to look at, his personality completely wrecks it."
"Well you know what people say, there is a very thin line between love and hate sometimes," she says with a slight smile curving her lips.
"Ah, your impossible, lets just drop it, but for the records I do not like Fang," I reply.
"Who doesn't like Fang?" A deep voice calls out from behind us.
We both swivel around to see none other than Iggy standing there grinning at us.
Iggy happens to be my other best friend, but I don't get to see him as much as I would like to sometimes because he is also best friends with Fang. And as you can probably tell being in close proximity to Fang is never a good thing.
"Iggy!" I shout with a grin, launching myself into his outstretched arms, "How the heck have you been?"
I can hear his laughter rumble through his chest as I press myself into his thin T-shirt.
"Ah I have been just perfect, helped dad out in his lab all summer and I do believe I could possibly invented a fire that can never be put out," he says with a massive grin as I look up at him in horror.
"That's not great Iggy, that's seriously dangerous," I scold.
You see Iggy is the biggest pyromaniac you will ever come across, actually maybe apart from his other friend Gazzy. Boy when those to our together, you want to be on the next continent.
"Relax Max, its all perfectly safe," he says looking completely shifty.
"Righto," I laugh and pull away from him.
That's when his eyes shift past me to Nudge and I feel like I am intruding in some sort of special moment. Yuck.
You see last year Nudge and Iggy had a thing, I don't think they were ever boyfriend and girlfriend but it ended up with Nudge losing her virginity to him. And then they continued on this sexual awakening for the rest of the year, where it just got to the point that being in the same room as both of them was sickening. And not that anyone knows, but I was slightly jealous that she got to experience all that before me.
Anyway it ended just before break because neither of them was really ready to commit to an actual relationship. So here we are.
"Hey Nudge," Iggy says clearing his throat, "How have you been?"
Nudge's cheeks are red as she replies, "Same old same old."
Then they share this look, like they are remembering what happened last year and both their eyes get this heated look about them, and that when I break in.
"Ok, well Iggy if we don't seriously get a move along we will miss our first Global Business lecture," I cut it in, watching as the heat fades from their eyes as they both realize I am in fact still standing right here.
"Oh, oh…that's right, ok lets go," he replies slowly, still looking at Nudge, "Maybe we can catch up sometime?"
Eh, and we all know what 'catch up' secretly means. I am scared for life.
"Yeah, maybe," Nudge says, looking slightly hopeful.
"Alright, bye Nudge, I'll see you for lunch," I say coming up and giving her a hug, while secretly whispering in her ear, "You guys are sickening."
She gives me a grin, waves to Iggy and walks off.
Iggy continues to stare longingly after her as she fades into the crowd of students.
"Come on Romeo, you will see her soon," I say with a smirk, tugging on his arm to get him moving.
We make away over to our building, catching up on what happened over the break as we go.
As I was telling him about lying in bed trying to get to sleep while Ella yabbered on to Riley on the phone all night, Iggy replies, "Well, you have nothing on this. I was up most of the night with pillows thrown over my head to try and drown out the sound of Fang and Lissa in the next room."
Lissa has been Fangs on-again-off-again play thing since he transferred here in Highschool. And I hate Lissa even more than I hate Fang, which is saying something. But even so, hearing what Iggy had just said made the pit of my stomach sink.
You see Fang and Iggy live together on campus, so they don't have to commute to college everyday.
"Oh my god, that's disgusting," I reply crinkling my nose at the though of him and Lissa doing the nasty.
And then before I can even stop it, an image of Fang and me, together in bed, kissing among other things, pops into my head. And what scares me is that it doesn't disgust me, far from it. It makes my body tingle and my cheeks heat. What the heck is wrong with me?
I shake my head, hoping to stop the image from flashing at the backs of my eyelids.
"Max, are you ok? You have been acting a little strange all morning. I mean stranger than you normally are that is," Iggy says looking at me with a confused expression.
"Yeah I'm fine," I say plastering what I hope is a passable smile on my face.
But it doesn't go unnoticed by Iggy and he continues to look at me weirdly. Luckily we are at our lecture hall, so he cant badger me with anymore questions.