Disclaimer: Yeah, choose any previous disclaimer and read it now. Okay, done? Good.
Okay, just because I HATE author's notes in the middle of the story, I really think that it detracts from the story and distracts people, I'm putting this note up here. Anything that is said in a different language will be italicized. I don't want to go to Google translate and post what I think is one thing and it turns out was a different thing.
Max crossed her arms over her chest and surveyed the scene in front of her. There appeared to be some sort of action movie set up going on. She supposed that this was where Maya's movie was getting filmed and where she was going to be spending an ungodly amount of time for the next undetermined amount of days. She narrowed her eyes as she saw all the people looking at her wide jaws practically on the ground. Huh.
Why were they looking at her like that? Were her clothes not matching? She'd once walked onto a ferry boat in Italy in bright green shorts with a dark red t-shirt. Apparently dressing in the dark had its drawbacks. Did she have food on her face? When she'd been in Spain a guy had hit on her for a good thirty minutes with at least four chunks of what she thought was spinach in between his teeth. What could they possibly be staring at?
Fang smirked slightly as he saw confusion written all over the newer of the twins' face. Max looked baffled as everyone stared at the two of them, their eyes going back and forth between the two of the girls. As Fang looked at the two girls, he sort of saw a few differences between the two of them that he hadn't seen before. Max was ever so slightly taller and just a little bit tanner. Maya's hair was also curlier and appeared to be done professionally, or at least Fang assumed. Although he spent more time than the average Joe in the makeup and hair department, he generally put in his iPod and just let the professionals do their thing so he could do his thing. However, Maya's hair looked like the head of the makeup and hair would have been so proud of her. And she would have been quite vocal about her pleasure.
Thinking about the newest addition to their apartment life had Fang turning red at the base of his neck and the tips of his ears. He still couldn't get the image of an almost naked Max out of his head every time he looked at her. While usually this wouldn't be a problem since they'd never see each other, because of Max's new job, she was probably going to be hanging around the set a lot more. That made Fang kind of… happy. And he frankly had no idea why.
Fang smirked again, as Max's forehead creased ever so slightly and her nose scrunched up. Before the Martinez twins had made the entrance to end all entrances, Fang had been hanging out with Iggy and his young protégé down at the Pyrotechnics and Demolition tent. They'd come out to the main set to start setting up and installing the bombs that were to be used in the movie when there had been a commotion outside of the doors. It sounded like Maya and someone else were arguing outside on the front steps. Fang would hazard a guess that it was Maya's sister Max. Their voices were muffled through the almost soundproof doors and Fang couldn't quite make out what they were saying. What he could make out was when the front doors slammed back, both twins standing there, slightly mad, and all sorts of imposing.
Fang was brought out of his mind when he saw Max recognize he and Iggy and a smile spread across her face. For some reason, Fang felt his stomach flip flop and get a funny feeling. Huh, maybe he should have eaten more breakfast. Here came Max striding over, stopping just in front of Iggy and Fang. Fang's thoughts turned away from their original rated-G thoughts going down a VERY different road and he looked away, an ever so slight blush present. Fortunately, Max either didn't see it or if she did mercifully said nothing about it. Iggy's little blond protégé's mouth was hanging open and there was a droplet of drool gathering in the corner of his mouth. Fang felt a small pang on anger and he was baffled by it. Oh well, maybe his chivalrous side was finally developing.
"How's it going?" Max drawled as she leaned forward on her arms and grinning at Iggy and Fang.
"Pretty good Maxie," Iggy grinned back, even though he couldn't see it. "And yourself?"
Max narrowed her eyes into a glare at Iggy and his horrendous nicknames. Fang was about to point out that it was a wasted effort when Max said, "I'm glaring at you Iggy."
"Eh, eh, eh," Iggy said condescendingly, wagging his finger back and forth in a mocking fashion at Max. "Out here I am the ever lovable James Griffiths and Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome is Nick Walker. Don't want to confuse anyone now do we?" Iggy finished with a dramatic wink in what he assumed was Max's direction. Max rolled her eyes anyway and looked at Fang. He absently noticed the blush returning, but he willed away the inappropriate as best as he could. To his surprise, Max had a slight blush as well, though he choose not to mention anything.
"Do you know who I'm supposed to be following around today?" Fang quirked an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side in confusion. "The not English speaking dude," Max elaborated with a huff.
"Oh," Fang said shortly. "The last time I saw him, he was over by the Craft Services Table." When Fang mentioned Craft Services, Max's eyes lit up with a strange glint and Fang was suddenly very afraid for a reason that he couldn't identify.
"And where is this most wondrous table located?" Max asked in a somewhat maniacal tone, one that instantly had Fang on guard. He had heard that tone with Maya seconds before he was attacked with water balloons or paint filled balloons or other such balloons of doom. He knew that his best course of action was to point the Martinez twin in the direction of the table, not make eye contact, and pretend like he didn't know what happened when the Craft Services complained later.
"Over there," Max had shot off as soon as Fang pointed and left him gaping in her wake. Fang chuckled softly and went back to watching the two local pyros start hooking up and readjusting wires.
Max was practically salivating when she saw the delicious spread laid out before her on the craft services table. She shot one last look behind her at Fang, or Nick she supposed, as he smirked at something Iggy, James, had said. She felt the smallest of blushes arising to her cheeks and she shook her head to get rid of them. So what if he was good looking? And had seen her naked. She had been around the world and met some really cute guy with really cute accents, who hadn't seen her naked.
And frankly after her last disaster of a relationship that had caused her to kind of sort of flee a country… again… she wasn't really in the mood or the mindset for a boyfriend. Deciding that she was jumping to some wild and crazy conclusions if she got the word boyfriend just from seeing Fang talk to a couple of his friends, Max dropped the thought completely from her mind. Sort of.
Standing next to the Craft Services table was the same dark-harried man that Max remembered from her Skype conversation with her sister. She remembered him as the man that she had spoken Portuguese with. "Ah, hello," she said cheerfully as she grabbed the first sandwich she saw.
She took a massive bite as the man responded, "Oh thank goodness you're here. You would NOT believe the stupidity of these people. They kept speaking to me in Spanish."
Max chuckled slightly, "I believe it. Why didn't you try an online translator or a pocket translator?"
"Oh," the man looked dumbfounded for a moment. "I hadn't thought of that."
"So, what's your job here anyway?" Max asked curiously.
"My dad's invested just short of a million dollars into this picture, and he wants to make sure that it turns out to be a good. He was too busy to come, so here I am. And it SUCKS," the man spat shortly, his eyebrows drawn down in irritation. Max laughed again. She thought she heard a soft growl from somewhere off to the right, but when she looked over, all she saw was Iggy and the short blonde kid from earlier working with what looked suspiciously like C4. She decided that she must have been hearing things and turned her attention back to the Portuguese guy.
"And who are you anyway?" the man asked curiously.
"Uh, my name's Max. Max Martinez. My sister is currently playing one of the leads in this thing," Max took the man's outstretched hand in hers and grasped it tightly in a handshake.
The man smiled at her and said, "My name's Louis Adler. Nice to meet you. Though I guess I should say, nice to meet you again I suppose."
Max smiled back and asked, "So what have you been doing on set this entire time?"
"Eh, just watched the movie being filmed. It was cool to watch at first, but now it's gotten kind of old. It'll be better with someone to talk to though."
"I bet it will be. Do you speak any language other than Portuguese?" Max asked curiously.
"Nope," Louis shook his head. "It probably would have made things easier."
"How about I try and teach you some English? You know, to help you pass the time," Max offered.
"Yeah, sure why not?" Louis agreed with a shrug. "But we'll have to start later. Look, they're getting ready to film." Max looked over, and sure enough, the activity on set had really started to pick up while she and Louis had been talking. Maya had made a quick stop at hair and makeup and was now fully decked out in her spy gear. Max had to admit, if she didn't know that it was Maya, she never would have recognized her own twin.
"What the heck is this movie about anyway?" she whispered quietly to Louis. A man in a funny little beret was waving around a mega phone that he was shouting into the wrong way.
Louis shot her a look and whispered back, "Three spies work for different spy agencies and they're all spying on each other. There is the girl from the CIA, Isabella 'Bella' Holloway, an MI6 agent named Simon Brendon, and an NSA agent named Taylor Duncan. As they start spying on each other, Bella starts falling for both Simon and Duncan, Simon and Duncan start falling for Bella, and hilarity ensures."
"What do you mean hilarity?" Max asked curiously as her sister started talking to some guy that was pointing at random spots as Maya nodded.
Louis shrugged sheepishly and admitted, "I'm not sure, I haven't read the script, but my old translator said that was the basic plot. Also, apparently the writers did a surprisingly good job at writing in funny parts. I'm not so great at explaining it, but it's turning out really well from what I've seen. I have no idea what they're saying, but all the actors and actresses are really good."
"Has anybody read the script?" Max asked rhetorically. "Who all is working in this thing anyway?"
"Well, Bella is played by your sister of course, Simon by a guy I think they called Nick Walker, and Taylor is played by a guy named Omega Jacobs. Weird name, took a couple times for me to get it," Louis said to Max as he watched Maya make her way over to set.
Max opened her mouth to ask another question when the man with the backward megaphone shouted, "Everyone shut the hell up! We're filming!" Max widened her eyes and snickered before becoming silent as requested. "Now go peasants, go!" the man, Max assumed it was the Director, shouted loudly, waving his arms wildly above his head. "That means action you fools!"
There was a collective, "OHHHHH," from the cast and crew and they all got to their places. Max and Louis watched in wonderment as the cast and crew filmed a scene. Max had never actually seen anything that her sister had ever acted in before other than a series of dandruff shampoo commercials when they were younger that were BAD. However, Maya was good. It surprised Max just how good Maya was at completely changing who she was. It was a little disorienting to watch her sister become someone she didn't know at all. She supposed she now knew a little more of what Maya felt when she had Skyped her new and improved sister. Maya threw her whole self into her acting. Every emotion she portrayed was very much real and Max found herself mesmerized. As she watched Maya fully immerse herself in the world that only she knew, Max found herself wondering just how well she knew her sister.
So there's like a foot of snow outside, so yours truly decided instead of doing everything she was supposed to do, she was going to write another chapter for y'all. You are welcome. Now review and let me know what you're thinking and what's going on in those little heads of yours. Or hell, even rant to me at how crappy this fic is. Or boost my self-esteem. I just want to know. Please?
Bye!
