The next few days went by normal. I pretended that Fang didn't exist as much as I could with having to share a bathroom with him. Fang on the other hand seemed oddly uncomfortable being in the house. He has had about four days to get use to the idea of living here for the summer and his newly found best friend along to accompany him through the ride. Fang had also warmed up to Ari and Gazzy in the past few days…Dylan and Sam, not so much. I can't say I blame him there. Anyone in their right mind would want to stay away from those two after hearing some of the stories I would love to tell you, but can't.
So this brings us to almost the end of the first week of summer vacation. It's later in the afternoon and our friends have just left a few minutes ago. Ari is sprawled out on the coach, Iggy lying on the floor like Ella, Fang in the recliner that is facing towards the one that I am sitting in.
"So now what?" Ella asks, always the one to get bored first.
"We could have a movie night and sleep out here on the floor." Iggy suggested. My eyes instantly flew up to meet with the eyes of Fang, both of us remembering the movie night we shared together.
"No." We say in unison. The other three look back and forth between us trying to figure out if something had happen, then, getting nothing from the lack of expressions on our faces dropped the subject.
"How about we play truth or dare?" Ella suggested an answer to her own question. There was no sign of protest from anyone, but there was no sign of excitement either. "Well since I didn't hear a 'no' I take that as a yes." Ella cheered. I let out a barely audible groan. I looked around the room at the other participants and noticed that they all looked emotionless. It's clear to see that though they don't really want to play this that they will anyway just to have something to do. "Ok since no one is offering to go first I will." Ella said scrutinizing and picking out her first victim in this childish game. Her warm chocolate brown eyes that match my own landed on me. My eyes grew in worry, why me god, why me? "Max. Truth or Dare?" She smiled evilly knowing that 'me being me' I would pick dare to save my bad ass reputation.
"Dare." I said through gritted teeth. Ella's evil smile increased if that was even possible.
"I dare you to call the pizza guy and order dinner, but ask to see if they can deliver a gallon of diet water with the order." Diet water, really? How stupid are people becoming these days when someone would actually think to use that as a truth or dare question?
"Fine." I said a little annoyed, but otherwise ok with it. Besides I was getting hungry. I walked over to the phone and dialed the number for the local mom and pap pizza place in town. The person on the other end sounded to be like a guy around my age. Just great he probably goes to my school.
"Yes I would like to order four family size pizzas. One with everything on it, one meat lovers, one only pepperoni, and one just cheese. Oh and do you know if I could get a gallon of diet water for my sister?" I was immediately answered with a laugh and the boy asking if I was an idiot. The look on Ella's face as she realized that people could easily figure out that the diet water was suppose to be for her was revenge enough. "He will be here in about fifteen minutes." I grumbled as I sat back down in the circle that we had formed. "My turn to pick the next lucky victim." I grinned excitedly scoping out the room to see who look the most nervous when I came across Fang's face. He didn't even look scared. Well that would just not do. Maxi not happy. "Fang, truth or dare?"
"truth." Was his one worded, slightly expected answer.
"Ok Mr. Mysterious have you ever been arrested?" I bet I know the answer to this.
"Once. Complete miss understanding. Not my fault."
"Isn't that what everyone says? It's not their fault." Iggy interrupted.
"Assumingly yes, but in this case it's the absolute truth and you can ask anyone from back home. Now I think it's my turn." Fang ended that train of conversation. I'll have to remember to ask him later what the whole big story is behind the getting arrested thing. "Iggy truth or dare?" Fang turned to look at Iggy who was right beside him.
"Dare." Iggy sounded proud of himself for not cowering out and picking truth.
"Put peanut butter under one of your arm pits and jelly under the other. When you come back in from the kitchen from doing that bring back two pieces of bread with you." Fang told him. Iggy got up and left for the kitchen. It only took him a few seconds before he was back in the kitchen with the peanut butter and jelly under his pits. "Now wipe the peanut butter off with one piece and the jelly with the other." Iggy again did as told. "Finally put the two pieces together and I dare you to eat the whole thing." Iggy didn't look to happy to comply but did as he was dared and took a huge bite of the nasty armpit tainted sandwich. According to Iggy it's not as bad as you would think it to be. He ended up eating the whole sandwich with a grin on his face. Now it was Iggy's turn and I don't think I want to hear the ideas he's bound to come up with.
"Ari my man it's your turn to pick truth or dare." Iggy's voice sounded like he just saw an old friend for the first time in a while.
"Dare." Ari grunted. He doesn't like to do anything that would lessen his manly hood, and picking truth was sure to do that.
"I dare you to go outside and run around screaming 'I am women hear me roar!'" Iggy laughed. This kind of ticked me off. Of course I would have no help from Ella because she doesn't give as big of a rat's ass about how guys are such sexist pigs. Ari knowing how much I would hate this grateful got up and went outside with a smile on his face. We all ran to the door to watch him. In the middle of his little show I ran out there and tackled him to the ground yelling,
"No I am women hear ME roar!" We fell to the ground in a laughing fit.
…
I looked around the circle as we played the fifth round of truth or dare. It was my turn to ask someone since I just got done kissing every male player after Ella flashed the pizza delivery guy. This game was taking a turn to the perverted. The worse thing is Ella is the one that dared me to kiss ever male player and two out of the three are related to me. Can you say awkward?
"Fang, truth or dare?" I asked keeping in the regular pattern that we found ourselves forming.
"Dare." He sounded amused with his answer. Probably since the last time he picked dare I dared him to remove four articles of clothing jewelry and shoes not included and socks count as one. He removed his hoodie, shirt, pants, and socks. He is just sitting there in his black boxers. The color of his unmentionables was very unsurprising since everything else that he has worn so far have been solid black. Other thing that was solid when it came to Fang was his stomach. He had a six pack for abs and nice pecks. It was hard at times to remember that his eyes were up by his forehead.
"I dare you to let Ella dress you up as a girl, makeup and all." I was pure evil. Any self-respecting man would tremble with fear just from pure thought of it. Fang on the other hand remain emotionless as he stood up and asked Ella where she wanted to do this at. I watched in bewilderment as the two left the room, one of them bound to never make it back. The tombstone would read 'Here lays Fang, the guy was an emotionless dumbass'. I started to laugh at my private joke but stopped realizing how cruel it is to laugh at the dead. The rest of us just sat in silence waiting on fang to get back because it was his turn to ask Iggy truth or dare, which after the last thing I think Iggy is going to be sticking to truth for a while. I mean after having to run around the neighborhood in nothing but underwear telling every person you see that you are completely and insanely in love with them I would play it safe and pick true also.
When Fang and Ella return my fit of laughter also returned with them. Fang had on mascara, black eyeliner, brown sparkly eye shadow, rosy colored lip stick, and foundation that matched his tan skin. I stopped laughing when I noticed that he had on my clothing. He had on one of the many skirts that I have been given over the year and will probably never wear. He also had on one of my aeropostale shirts on and a few bracelets. I couldn't believe it! My clothes were tight but they actually fit him.
"Nice clothes you have Max." Fang said as he sat back down in the circle. He gave me a little smirk as if there was a secret that I didn't know about. So maybe my dare backfired on me. I guess I should have planned this out better, but I never thought that my evil sister would put Fang into my clothes. I think I liked it better when he was wearing practically nothing at all.
The game went on for a while longer before everyone got tired of it. It was now late at night and everyone went their own ways. I was hanging out in my bedroom, Ella was out shopping with her friends that she would be spending the night at, and the three boys were outside playing football since we have a light system set up out there. I took a peak out my window that overlooked the backyard were the boys were currently at. Ari had invited Dylan, Sam, and Gazzy over again and probably for the night to play with them. Dylan, Fang, and Iggy were all on one team while Ari, Sam, and Gazzy were on the other. A smile crept onto my face when I noticed that Ari and Fang were the quarterbacks for their teams. What sixteen year old girl doesn't love a quarterback? Oh, right almost all of my friends besides Angel and Nudge. In fact almost all of my friends hate sports in general. It sucks to be a tomboy and want to go to the games or play a game when your friends are anti-sports people. That makes getting a game started harder than a piece of wood. I thought about going downstairs and asking to join the game but that would be setting the balance off by adding an extra player. I settled instead for just continuing to watch from my post at the window. It wouldn't be too much longer before they came in for the night and most likely camp out in the living room using Ari's Xbox as a DVD player. That thought was a little relieving knowing that I wouldn't have to worry about Fang, Dylan, or Sam for the rest of the night. That might seem a little bit mean, but it was the truth since two out of the three are stalker material and the third doesn't want to acknowledge that I existed since I yelled at him the day after our movie night.
I was right the rest of the night I didn't have to deal with any of them, but I forgot about the consequences of having to get up in the morning. When I went downstairs to get breakfast at like ten in the morning all the boys were still down there. Fang was the only one up, lucky me.
"Morning." I grumbled out not being a real morning person. Fang nodded his head in the way that he does. "Good to see that you still don't believe in talking. You know if you don't use it you'll lose it?" I rambled on to get rid of the quietness.
"Isn't that suppose to be applied to guys' dicks alone and nothing else?" He asked cocking up one of his eyebrows. Something that actually got a reaction from him, it's a miracle! Remember I'm not really a morning person meaning I'm not awake enough to think rational thoughts.
"That's beside the point. I'm just saying that keep acting the way you are if you want to go mute." I explained my point so that even a blonde like me could understand it.
"No I think that's the whole point." Fang smirked at me. So now he wants to get friendly when no one else is around. What is with this boy? Do all older boys act this way? "So what's up with you and the Martin boys?" He asked out of the blue. I almost choked on the orange juice that I was drinking.
"Nothing. I dated Sam for a while it didn't work out and then I started to date Dylan which at the time I didn't know he was Sam's brother because he was living with their dad while Sam was living with their mom. It didn't work out with Dylan either, but they both can't get over the fact that I broke up with them so they both want me to take them back, but it's not happening." Wow did I just really open up that much to what could still be called a complete stranger? I guess I did. And all this said stranger did was nod. "You know when someone gives you a mini speech like that it is considerate to give a small amount of any expression and maybe a few worded reply not just a lousy nod." I told him thinking that his parents never taught this boy his manners. He smirked again at my statement. What was so funny about that?
"What's up you two?" Dylan asked as he walked in scaring both me and Fang as he broke the silence.
"What's it to you Dylwad?" I asked turning around to look for something to eat.
"Always the charmer you are Max." Dylan joked. I about gaged on my own spit.
"Always the douchebag you are Dylan." I responded. I swear I heard a quiet chuckle coming from Fang's direction. I didn't have to turn around to see the blush that was on Dylan's cheeks and the frown on his face, or the smirk that was playing on Fang's lips. It was just commonly known that that answer would trigger that kind of reaction out of them.
"That's not what you use to call me." Dylan responded after collecting himself. "I believe you use to call me the most amazing person on the face of the planet." Dylan finished his sentence with a smirk.
"Yeah and that's the same thing I tell the dogs, but the only difference is that I actually mean it when I tell them that." I said with a straight face. Dylan glared at me then turned his back and left the kitchen. His retreat was accompanied by Fang and mine's laughter.
"So what are the plans today?" I asked trying to fill the sudden void of silence that took the place of Dylan.
"Whatever Ari and Iggy have planned for us to do today. They're kind of my guide for this summer since I've never been down here before. Never visited the country before. I mean I haven't lived in the city my whole life, I come from a small town, but it wasn't in the country, more in the outskirts of a major city." Fang explained. So he could be chatty when he wanted to be.
"Wow it spoke more than three words!" I joked with him. I caught a faint upward twitch of the corner of his mouth. So he was trying not to smile at that. He most know that it's true.
"I do have a name you know?" He asked again cocking his eyebrow again.
"And I have boobs, so what's your point?" I asked barely with a straight face. It was now my turn to try to hold back the smile.
"Yes but I don't go around calling your boobs it." Fang said suggestively.
"And you never will do anything that includes my sister's boobs, and can we please not talk about that when there is a brother in the room." Ari said walking in the room
"And a cousin." Iggy added walking in after Ari with one hand raised in the air to show he was there and the other scratching behind his head.
"Your wish is my command your majesty." My voice was dripping with sarcasm as I did a fake curtsy. The three boys all rolled their eyes and I smiled at them. So this morning wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. In fact I think this was the best morning I had since Fang and Iggy have gotten here.
"So what are the plans for today?" Fang asked my earlier question.
"Well since it's the weekend, summer, and our parents aren't home we are going to have a party, but first we are going to have some fun, since someone has never experience what it's like to live in the country." Ari answered the question.
"Sounds like fun." I threw my two cents in. No one knows how to spend their time in this lousy little town better than me. "We could all go and play slap the bull over at the Edwards." I offered up an idea.
"Nah I thought we would take it easy on Fang here and start him off with sneaking onto
Jimmy's place and spooking the horses. He'll have a blast trying to settle them down." Ari smirked at the many memories of spooking those horses.
"Does this mean we can finally stop editing ourselves for the city slicker?" I asked almost desperately.
"Ah hell, why not. The gig is up ya'll, no more of this city slicker talken. We live in the country and that's how it's gonna be." Ari said letting his drawl creep back into his voice.
"Yippy kea mother fucker." Iggy did his best impersonation of Bruce Willis, not even coming close to the actual person. Gazzy on the other hand would have been better.
"So why are your parents never home?" Fang asked no one particular.
"Ever hear the song 'Beer on the Table' by Josh Tompson?" I asked cocking my eyebrow at him already knowing the response. He shook his head and I gave him a sigh meaning that he was a pathetic excuse of a human being. "Listen to it and then you'll know." With that I walked off to go get dressed.
I'm not the kind of person that really cares about what I wear. I usually just throw something on and go with it, but I found myself debating on what to wear for the day. My catwalk worthy chose of clothing was the shorts from my basketball practice uniform that we got to keep and one of my soccer shirts with my softball cap.
When I got downstairs our little guest from last night had all left and the three boys had changed too. Ari had on one of his old football shirts with his old pair of basketball warm-up shorts and his baseball cap, Iggy had on his track and field shirt for the college he is going to and some khaki shorts, and Fang had one some plane black basketball shorts and an old baseball shirt that was probably from his high school. That thing was old and ratty. It had to be about three years old.
"We already to head out then?" Ari asked trying to be the adult. Yeah some adult he is, if he is about to try and commit a few felonies. Last time I checked my parents aren't to found of me getting caught by the law. Though that almost never happens, keyword almost.
"Sure lets go it's about a ten minute walk and if we want to get there before he wakes up we ought to head out now." I said already halfway out the front door. Old man Jimmy lives at this farm house that's been in his family for over a hundred years. It's kind of in crappy condition, but it's still a nice place if you don't mind the chip paint and the smell of manure. Jimmy has about every type of animal that you could want on that small farm of his. My favorite has to be his goats. They're the cutest things alive.
After scaring the horses at Jimmy's and getting Fang to fall for the game of 'Slap the bull", and let me tell you that thing didn't like Fang, we were heading over to Reeve Geiger's place to collect some of the stray golf balls that find themselves winding up in his fields. We then in return sell the golf balls for a prophet. On the way to Reeve's house one of Ari's friends from high school, Ratchet, pulled up beside us in his truck.
"We're you'll headed?' He asked leaning slightly outside of the driver's window.
"To Reeeve's house. Goin' golfball huntin'" Ari clarified for him.
"Ya'll need a ride? I'm goin' there to pick up Star." Ratchet told us. Star is Reeve's little sister and happens to be Ratchet's fiancé.
"Sure." Ari agreed and hopped in the bed of the truck gesturing all of us to join him. With Ratchet driving us we were there in record time.
As soon as we got out of the bed of the truck and a good enough distance away from Ratchet, Fang had to question the country way of living again.
"Isn't he too young to be engaged? How does he expect that to work?" He asked looking serious.
"Lee Brice says it best, you have to 'Love like Crazy'" I chipped in. God this boy is going to have to start taking classes on how to survive in the country. I mean without them I don't know how long that boy is going to survive- and not just because I found out two days ago that his ring tone is 'bitches ain't shit' by Tyga- out here in the sticks. Sure back at our place it's pretty easy to forget that we are out in the middle of nowhere since we are pretty well off when it comes to money, but outside our little Martinez world we are surrounded by the beautiful country.
We were walking down the creek that separates the golf course from Reeve's farm trying to find as many golf balls that we could, so we could get some extra cash when Fang found something that the rest of us were trying to avoid.
"Where does that path lead?" He asked pointing to a path that goes into Reeve's woods.
"Nowhere special. It just eventually leads you back up to the house." I told him.
"Then we can just take that way instead of going all the way back." Fang suggested. I was about to tell him no when I was interrupted by Ari.
"Sure." Anyone that knew him could hear the tightness in his voice, but since Fang doesn't really know Ari he went blissfully in the direction of the trail making sure not to drop any of the golf balls that he collected. I was a little peeved that Ari agreed to go this way. He couldn't have blocked out what happened down that path. It was only two years ago, definitely not enough time to completely heal from that traumatizing day. I was wondering how Ari could be so heartless to not be affected by taking this way like I was. I looked at Iggy to see his reaction and noticed that there was no expression on his face just like Ari had just changed his face to. I was just about hyperventilating when the collapsed tree house came into view.
"What happened here?" Fang asked. All of us but Fang visibly flinched from the memory that crossed our minds. Mine was the only one that had the real images of what happened that day. Ari and Iggy's memories were of what they were told happened. They were not there to experience it firsthand. I wish I wasn't there to experience it firsthand. I looked at both Ari and Iggy to see if one of them were going to man up enough to tell Fang about this dreaded tree house and let out a defeated sigh when I realized that I was going to have to be the one to tell Fang about that haunting day.