Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Maximum Ride characters, all of that is owned by the wonderful James Patterson
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Chapter 12
"So who's taking you to this dance again?" Jeb asked me for the fifth time that afternoon. The dance was today. It started in less than four hours, which meant I had two hours to get ready and then two hours to go out to eat with Fang before the dance started.
"I told you, Fang?" I replied for the thousandth time. Jeb was so pre-occupied with his work that he kept ignoring me, causing me to repeat myself numerous times. He was sitting at his desk, typing up some report on some new chemical him and his science buddies had founded.
"Fang?" he questioned me, still not looking up from his work.
"Yes, Fang." I told him rolling my eyes. Suddenly, Jeb turned his attention towards me, ignoring his precious work for just a minute.
"Is this the guy who almost kissed you in the nurse's office." he asked me pointedly.
"Yes Jeb." I responded irritably. I wanted to finish this conversation so that Nudge could start getting me ready, she told me she would need all of those two hours to make me look flawless.
"Hmmm I don't know." he murmured to himself quietly.
"Oh come on Jeb, he's not going to do anything to me, and you know I can take care of myself, I'm a tough girl." I pleaded. I contemplated getting on my knees and really begging to make my point. Jeb looked at me for a long time before replying.
"Okay Max, I trust you, don't get into any trouble, and stay safe, remember the talk we had the other day." He stated bluntly, turning back around to continue his work. I scoffed a little at him for implying that I would be having sex tonight.
"Thank you Jeb! You won't regret this!" I told him, running up and hugging him from the side, planting a quick peck on his cheek.
Without another word I turned away from him and run up the stairs to Nudge's room, where she was waiting to begin my makeover.
"Go wash your face." she commanded me as soon as I walked in the door. I did as she said, returning a few minutes later to find that she had set up a whole make-up station, along with a slightly smaller hair station next to it. There were things on that table that I didn't even know about, bottles and bottles of peach colored liquid and sparkly tan compacts. There were bottles of mousse and gel and hairspray, and something Nudge called dry shampoo, whatever that was.
"Well, where do you want me?" I asked her after she had finished setting up. She turned around and studied me, taking in my hair and face.
"Let's start with your hair." she told me, pointing to a swivel chair in front of the designated "hair" station. I swiftly walked over and planted myself in the swivel chair. Nudge turned me so that I was unable to see myself in any of the mirrors she had hanging around the room.
"I don't want you to see yourself until I finish." she explained, grabbing a bottle of something. She sprayed some of the stuff in my hair, getting it all the way down to my roots, and then ran a brush through it.
"In case you're wondering that was heat protectant, since I'm going to be curling your hair, since you always wear it straight, I mean don't get me wrong, it looks great straight, but it's good to mix it up sometimes and you've never curled your hair before so I think it will look really pretty." Nudge rambled on. I simply nodded at her and let her do what she wanted.
An hour later my hair was done.
"Wow, that took a long time." I said, rolling my head around to crack my neck. Nudge didn't respond, she was in her zone now. She grabbed what I assumed was hairspray and practically drowned my hair in it. My hair was going to feel so crunchy. Tentatively I reached up to see how bad it was but surprisingly it still felt soft, yet full of hold.
Nudge was a miracle worker.
She quickly pushed the chair over to the make-up station and began squeezing different white liquids out of bottles onto my face. One said moisturizer and another said primer. I didn't know what she needed all these for but I wasn't going to question her.
For forty five minutes she used different brushes to sweep on powder and three different types of eye shadow and blush and some other stuff she called bronzer and highlighter. My face felt absolutely coated in thick powder. My eyelashes felt incredibly heavy from all the mascara she put on them. Eye liner was the hardest for her, my eye kept twitching, I couldn't help it, they just freaked, and I mean she was holding a liquid pen looking thing close to my eye. Lastly she swept some lip-gloss across my lips; I didn't even see the color.
Finally Nudge grabbed the dress that was hanging on the door and helped me strip and put it on without messing up my hair and make-up. After the dress was on, Nudge stepped back to survey her work, she seemed pleased, breaking out into a large smile.
"Okay, now you may look." she told me. Without saying anything I turned and looked into the full length mirror hanging on the back of her door.
I was stunned.
My long blonde hair was curled in large ringlets, there was a small delicate braid starting from just behind my left ear to the bottom right part of my neck, keeping all of the large loose curls pinned to one side falling over my shoulder, leaving my back bare. My face looked even and flawless. There were no blemishes and dark circles to be seen. My eyes looked large and smoky, surrounded by thick dark lashes, black and grey eye shadow blending together to make them look dark and mysterious. The eyeliner was black and winged ever so slightly, giving me a sultry look, the apples of my cheeks looked slightly flushed, pink and glowing, yet my face also looked more defined, my cheekbones standing out nicely. To complete the look were my lips, which appeared pouty, covered in a soft pink lip-gloss. The dress fell on me beautifully, hugging and accentuating every curve.
"Wow." I finally breathed out. I looked so different, and yet beautiful.
"You're welcome." Nudge said, smiling at my reaction. I was scared to touch my face or my hair; I didn't want to mess anything up.
"Here, the piece to resistance." Nudge said, holding out the strappy low back heels we bought, along with a tiny, fake diamond ring and small diamond earrings.
I slid on the shoes, taking a few steps to make sure I was capable of walking. Then I grabbed the ring and earrings from Nudge quickly putting them on to finish the look. It was perfect timing too. As soon as the ring was in place, we heard the doorbell ring, signaling Fang's arrival.
"Eeeeep, he's here!" Nudge squealed, running out of the room and down the stairs to open the door for Fang. I took a deep breathe, and slowly followed her.
I could hear Nudge and Fang talking, but all conversation stopped as soon as my feet hit the floor.
Fang looked amazing. He had on a black suit and a black dress shirt with a silver tie that matched his eyes, and amazingly my dress. He looked so handsome. I was so caught up in how good he looked that I didn't notice that Fangs mouth had dropped open at the sight of me.
"You look….just…wow." Fang managed to get out, his voice shifting slightly as he tried to speak.
"He's right Max, you look beautiful, you're no longer a little girl anymore." I heard Jeb say as he came up behind me. He put his arm around my shoulder and I leaned into him, giving him a little side hug.
"Thanks Jeb, I love you too." I whispered back.
"And you better treat her right Fang, she's important to me." Jeb said sharply to Fang. Fang nodded quickly, snapping out of his shock.
"Yes sir." he replied seriously, reaching out to shake Jebs hand.
"Well, now that all the introductions have been made, we should go." I said with a laugh. Fang smiled at me gently, opening the door and gesturing for me to go out first.
"Have a good time guys." Jeb called out behind us.
"Yeah! Next time you can meet Gazzy and Angel." Nudge added. I smirked and rolled my eyes at her, she was so weird sometimes, but I totally owed her for this makeover. Fang nodded at her then gently shut the door.
"Well, I guess we better go if we want to make our reservations." Fang said softly, placing his hand on the small of my back and leading me down the walkway to his car. He opened the passenger door for me and shut it behind me after I had slid my legs in and settled comfortably into the soft interior seating.
"So where are we going?" I asked him curiously as he got into the driver's seat.
"You'll see." he replied smugly, buckling his seatbelt and putting the car into gear and slowly pulling out of the driveway. I chuckled under my breath and gently shook my head.
The ride went smoothly, we talked about school and teachers and peers. Complaining about the weird drug scene going on, and how the kids were so stupid for taking random stimulants and how the teachers were even more stupid for not noticing and stopping them. We avoided talking about Dylan, neither one of us wanted to bring him up. Before I knew it we were pulling up to a fancy looking Italian restaurant.
"This looks really expensive Fang." I told him, my stomach forming knots.
"It's not, it's just fancy looking, trust me, I have enough to cover the both of us." he reassured me. I felt bad about him paying for my dinner, but he had expressed that this was a date, and I wasn't to pay for anything, I mean I wasn't going to argue, its free food.
We got out of the car and walked inside the restaurant, it was pleasantly warm inside, and I felt comfortable in the dimly lit atmosphere. The aroma of warm French bread filled my nose, making my mouth water. There weren't that many people there, but just enough that it stayed busy.
"Nick, party of two." he told the hostess as I glanced around the restaurant. I turned to look at him as we were led to our table.
"Nick?" I asked him as we sat down. Fang pulled open the napkin and set it on his lap before responding.
"My bio mom gave me that name when I was born but it never felt like my name so when Iggy started calling me Fang, I went with it, and it stuck. Fang is my real name, not Nick, it's just sometimes people take you more seriously when you have an actual name to put down instead of my nickname." he explained quietly, not meeting my eyes.
"But I thought you weren't adopted?" I questioned him, clearly confused.
"I am, and so is Iggy. We were both in and out of foster care together until we were nine, then our mom, our current mom, adopted us together when I demanded we wouldn't be separated. She let keep being called Fang." he told me softly, his eyes finally meeting mine, so full of emotion. He looked devastated, and I could understand, I had felt devastated too.
"What happened with your bio mom?" I asked him.
"She was a druggie, couldn't provide for me so as soon as she had me she placed me on a doorstep and never looked back." Fang answered me, his voice taking on a hard edge. I stared at him for a second before reaching over to grab his hand resting on the table. He glanced down at my hand on his then shifted so that he was holding it across the table. I smiled warmly at him.
"It's okay Fang, you're here now, with me, and I won't ever leave you." I told him seriously. I meant it too. I would never leave Fang; he was an amazing person, and my best friend.
"Thank you Max." he whispered to me, using his thumb to rub gentle circles into my wrist.
"Well we better order so we can get to the dance on time." he said with a laugh, lightening the mood. I laughed with him and we both turned our attention to the menus.
The rest of dinner went smoothly. We made a lot of small talk, sticking to things we liked and things we hated, about life in general, and about our friends, which mostly meant Ella and Iggy. Dinner tasted amazing, I got spaghetti and Fang got a Stromboli. Both tasted amazing, Fang let me try some of his meal since it smelled so delicious. Honestly it was one of the best's times I had had in a while, and Fang was an amazing guy, I didn't know if it was love, but I definitely felt something for him, something strong.
Before I knew it we were back in his car on the way to the dance, it was being held at the school, in the cafeteria.
We made our way into the school, handing the usher our tickets and walking smoothly into the cafeteria where the music was so loud I could barely hear Fang next to me. There was a sea of bodies in the room, it was kind of overwhelming. It was dark but there were bright colored lights flying across the walls and the people standing in the center of the room dancing. It seemed almost crude the way they were dancing. I felt my anxiety rising and panic set in; I was three seconds from turning around and running out of that place when I felt Fang grab my hand and hold it tight. Suddenly I could breathe again. Fang was with me, I wasn't alone.
He led me over the more open outer ring of the dance circle on the other side of the room where we could both spread out and dance.
"You know, I think I forgot to tell you how absolutely beautiful you are tonight." he said loudly, leaning down to speak into my ear so I could hear him. I blushed softly looking down to the floor smiling. Fangs hand came up to gently lift my chin to look him in the eyes. I saw strong emotion there but I couldn't place it. For a second I thought he was going to kiss me.
Before he could do anything though were joined by Iggy and Ella, who both looked amazing as well. Ella had on a green dress that showed off her curves to full height, and Iggy had on a white dress shirt with a green tie and black slacks, matching Ella, showing they were a couple. They both said their quick hellos before starting to dance. Ella held on to Iggy's hand so they wouldn't be separated and so he would always know she was beside him since there were so many people and the music was loud.
Fang and I danced alongside each other, bopping up and down to the music. Ella and I at one point started grinding on each other, her in the back with me in the front, Fang just watched us, mesmerized. Fang smiled as the song ended and grabbed my wrist pulling me to him.
"You're so incredibly sexy, you know that?" he purred in my ear. I smirked at him.
"Wishing you could have a taste?" I asked coyly, slipping out of his grasp. He smirked back at me and continued dancing.
Finally though, they played what I had been waiting all night for, a slow song.
As soon as the first few notes played, Ella grabbed Iggy and turned away from us to start dancing. Fang leaned in towards me and placed his hands on my waist. I slid my hands up his chest and clasped them together behind his neck. We swayed gently with the music, not speaking, just looking into each other's eyes, completely mesmerized. After a minute the electricity between us became too much for us and we both leaned in, tilting our heads slightly in opposite directions.
Then, we were kissing.
His lips felt so soft and full, they fit perfectly with mine. My grip around his neck tightened as I tilted my head more, deepening the kiss. Fangs hands slid from my waist to grip together tightly at the small of my back. We were pressed together as close as could be as our lips got familiar with each other. I felt a warm tingling sensation flow through my body, starting from my lower belly going outwards. Sadly all too soon the song ended, and so did our kiss. I looked up at him to find him smiling. He looked so happy that I couldn't help smiling too.
"You're amazing Max, the most incredible girl I have ever known." he told me, cupping my face in his hands.
"I think you're incredible too." I replied honestly. With that he gave me one more soft kiss then led me out of the dance, holding my hand gently. It was a little early, but only slightly. The dance would end in about thirty minutes, and I had already had my fun, I was ready to leave.
The air outside was chilly and I shivered, causing Fang to put his arm around me and pull me closer to him.
"Here, let's go down here, it will get us to the car faster." he explained, leading me down an alleyway between the two school buildings. It was dark in the alley but I could still clearly see Fang and the walls thanks to the moon.
We had gotten halfway down the alley when I heard something strange.
"Well, well, well Maximum, it looks like you had a great time at the dance." a voice said. Immediately I tensed up, clutching tightly onto Fangs dress shirt. I turned around slowly and only said one word.
"Dylan."
