Ch 11
This is my attempt at some flirting/romance. I'm extremely sorry, but I can't flirt to save my life, in the real world or in writing.
Nudge's .
"I can't believe the idiots disappeared! Again!" Kim fumes, talking about Jack and Fang.
"Honestly, I have half a mind to just go hide somewhere myself and see how they like it!" Max adds. They're pacing back and forth, almost running into each other every time. They look as different as two girls the same age can possibly look, but they act similar, as if they've been hanging out forever, and didn't just meet yesterday.
"You two need to calm down. They can take care of themselves." I remind them. It's only partly true- Fang without Max is a big mess. And Jack and Kim are practically joined at the hip.
"No they can't!" The girls exclaim together.
"What if the Black Dragons attacked them? They could be hurt!" Kim yells.
"That sensei Ty is nothing but trouble. They could be halfway to the School by now!" Max shouts. Yeah, if they had a private chopper and helipad, I think to myself.
"What's the school?" Kim asks. This is going to be an awkward question. Max hates talking about things that have already happened. She prefers to 'roll it up, stomp on it, and move on'.
"The hellhole where we got these wings," Max explains, and goes back to pacing.
"Language!" Kim exclaims, shocked, nodding her head towards Angel and Gazzy solving a jigsaw puzzle in the corner.
"Chillax, ladies," Jerry says, popping his collar. "Jerry has it under control. Tell 'em, Jack," I've noticed that 'tell 'em, Jack' is kind of his justification to everything. Kim marches over to Jerry, grabs him by the collar, and slams him against the lockers.
"Jack. Is. Missing." She grinds out, her voice rising in pitch with each word. She looks like she'd like to slam his head against the locker until his teeth fall out.
"Kim, stop! That isn't helping." Max cries out, dragging the angry blonde off Jerry, who looks confused. Max is usually a big fan of slamming people into things, but since Jerry conked out is even less helpful to us than Jerry conscious, she makes her stop.
"Just call your boyfriend," Max tells Kim, before going back to pacing. Kim laughs an unnaturally high, giggly laugh.
"He's not my boyfriend," she says, a little sadly.
"Oh, sorry, I assumed-" Max starts. "You wish he was, don't you?" she sounds a lot more sympathetic than I expect. How many times, when I squeal about clothes and boys, has she said 'forget love, I'd rather fall in chocolate?'
"Little bit."
Max nods understandingly. That doesn't make sense- she's usually been very opposed to the whole 'boyfriend' thing. Unless…
"Fang!" I yell
"Where?" Max snaps, turning towards the door, which is disappointingly empty.
"Kim wishes Jack was her boyfriend, you wish Fang was your boyfriend!" I ignore mutterings of 'do not either'
"That's so perfect! You guys can go on a double date! Like, if we stay here, can we please, Max? Please, please, please? Anyway, if we stay here, then we'd all go to the same school, probably, and you guys could go on double dates! It would be so perfect and romantic! And then you can go to prom together, and then you could get married on the same day, and live next door to each other, and –"
Max glares, so I stop talking. I swear I think better when I say my thoughts out loud. "At least double dates?" I try weakly.
"Better make it triple, doll" Jerry says, sliding his arm around my waist. Max takes one step towards him, and he immediately drops his arm. "Or, you know, double works too."
"No. We have a code to crack and parents to find." Max says.
"That packet isn't going anywhere, but your youth is." I snap at both of them. Honestly, such beautiful, tough girls, who can send a grown man crying for mommy, too afraid to go on a date?
"We have a mission here, Nudge." Max reminds me. As if I need reminding. All my life, I've been on a mission. To survive without grownups, to rescue Angel, to take down Anne, hell, even to save the world. Just once, I'd really like to take a night off to relax.
"Listen up and listen good, ladies" I tell them. "Screw the mission, screw the code-cracking, and screw the wings. At least for tonight. I want to have one normal night. Just one, Max. Please?"
"Never mind what they say, doll, I'll take you." Jerry promises, careful to stay out of Max's reach.
"It's a date," I agree, smiling. Now Max will have to come.
"Wear something, cute, doll, and pick you up at seven," He says, clicking his tongue and winking. I realize he's a bit on the slow side, but it's sweet of him to offer to take me to dinner, and I don't even mind being called 'doll'
"She's not actually going anywhere," Max reminds him.
"And Jack is better at the clicking and winking thing, anyway," Kim says, doing an awful imitation.
"Gotta agree with that, Kimmy, but that was awful." Jack says, walking in through the door with Fang.
Max and Kim turn around and refuse to look at them.
"What got into her?" say the lost boys at the same time. Oh my gosh, I can't believe they said something at exactly the same time, as if they're brothers or something! They should say Jinx! But I guess you get too old for that after a while. But no one, not even Angel and Gazzy says stuff together like that, and they're related.
"Kim!" Jack calls out.
"Max!" Fang says at the same time. Both girls run up to them and look like they're about to hug them, but instead, Max grabs Fang by the collar and smashes him against the wall. Kim jabs a finger in Jack's throat, and he backs away with his hands up until he hits the wall, too.
"Next time you leave," Kim growls menacingly, "Tell someone. Or I set Total on you. Dressed as a clown." Jack gulps.
"Do not disappear, EVER again, unless you want me to rip out your spine and beat you to death with it. 'Prende?" Max's voice is low and dangerous.
"I don't know, Fang, do you think they sound a little-" A warning glance from Kim shuts him up.
"Worried?" Fang picks up the sentence without so much as glancing at Jack. "Yes, I believe they do. I think-" Max smacks him in the head to make him stop talking.
"-You have a little crush on me" they finish together. How did they do that?
"You weren't even looking at each other! Did you plan it? That's impossible! And supremely creepy! You were like, reading each other's minds! That's so cool!" I shout, unable to contain myself.
They let go of the lost boys' collars and slam their heads together. They recover almost instantly, and grin like maniacs. For all the girls' bravado and threatening, they know exactly how worried they had been, and they're not afraid to use it.
"Aw, come on, you love me thiiiiis much," they say mockingly, spreading their arms out wide and nearly whacking each other's faces. Stop talking together, it's getting creepy. Are you Fred and George Weasley from Harry Potter or something?
Kim blushes bright red. "I had a 104 degree fever, Jackass, I didn't mean it!" she snaps, her voice rising in pitch. Well, someone's an awful liar.
"I was on valium, idiot. I didn't know what I was saying. You think I meant that?" Max huffs, rolling her eyes. The slightest red shade on her cheeks gives it away.
Fang and Jack look downtrodden for a minute. Satisfied, the girls turn on their heels and go to leave. They guys glance at each other and go back to smirking/grinning. "They so meant it" They tell each other, slapping high-fives.
"Is anyone else freaked out by the fact that they're talking at the same time and finishing each other's sentences?" Jerry, who has been silent this whole time, asks.
Everyone silently raises their hands, including Jack and Fang. We all stare in awe at them, but even they don't seem to understand what happened. An uneasy silence fills the room.
"Let's go get ready, Maximum." Kim says in a stuck-up voice.
"I agree, Kimberly" Max nods, and turns up her nose. They look back at me and say, "Monique?" I link arms with them, and we turn to face the lost boys.
"Full names, girls?" Jack stifles a laugh
"Puh-lease." Fang snorts.
"Gentlemen, it is our intention to dine tonight at Le Lune restaurant, and should you wish to join us, you are more than welcome. Right now, we must excuse ourselves." Kim says, looking down her nose even though the subjects of her scorn are a half-foot taller than her.
"Translation : Clean up, show up, and pay up." Max snaps, and tries to flip her hair.
"Close your mouth, you'll swallow flies." I advise them as I follow Max and Kim out the door. They haven't gone far, though, just around the corner. Max puts a finger to her lips, and signals me to crouch down.
"Did they just-" Jack is getting over his shock
"Ask us on a date?" Fang finishes.
"Then-" Jack says thoughtfully, a slow grin spreading over his face
"That means" Fang says cautiously
"They totally meant it."
