Weeks passed with Fang and I growing closer with each passing day. It was weird. For a while there, when he dated Lisa, I thought the old Fang was gone, but all in reality, he was still Fang, just like he was now. And I realized just how much I had missed him.
It was now the Friday we got off of school for Thanksgiving Break, so Fang and I along with Nudge and Iggy, (our dating friends) planned to meet up for movies and ice cream later. Fang offered to pick me up from my house, but just like every other time, I had to decline because what would give my identification away better than if he saw I lived in the house where 'Maxine' used to live. I told him I'd just meet him there.
The last bell rang, and I went to my locker to put all my books away. Too bad for me, someone crept up from behind me and poked my sides causing me to spin around and slap them across the face.
….Oh, it was Fang.
My bad.
"Max! What the heck?" he said exasperated, while touching his slowly turning red face. Not that it wasn't still cute or anything.
"Sorry!" I blurted out, but still couldn't help myself from laughing. It was pretty funny if you asked me.
"Ugh, Max. Come on," he said as he started walking in the complete opposite direction of the parking lot.
I caught up to him with ease. "Where are we going Fang? Our cars are in the opposite direction."
"Max, it's the last day of school before Thanksgiving Break. Why do you want to go home? Let's just go out to the field and throw a football around or something." We walked out the back doors of the school and onto the field that was completely deserted.
"Plus," he added, "It's really nice outside." I looked up, the clouds were grey, signaling it was about to rain and there was a slight breeze.
"Mmm," I sighed. He was right, this is perfect.
"Well, do you have a football on you?"
"Oh, I forgot." Idiot.
"Whatever, let's do something else."
He looked up into the sky and seemed to be thinking when all of a sudden, he snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "Let's go through the Forbidden Path!"
The Forbidden Path? Is he crazy? There's a reason it's forbidden! It's dangerous.
You see, on the edge of the football field, there are these woods. And in the corner, there is this path that no one knows where it leads to. Some people claim to hear noises and say that it's haunted. No one ever dares to go down it. That's why it's called The Forbidden Path.
I was just about to tell him no when I noticed the look on his face. He was looking at me with the most precious expression on his face. He was so excited he was practically jumping up and down like a little boy. His eyes were looking at me in the most pleading way and that smile on his face… it just gave me the shivers to see him so…so…happy.
I couldn't say no to him.
"Fine," I finally said. He smiled at me so big and grabbed my hand and practically pulled me behind him as he sprinted to the corner of the field. His hand was just so warm and it felt so good in mine, that I didn't want him to let go. And thankfully, he didn't.
We got to the edge and he gave my hand a little squeeze before stepping onto the trail. Surprisingly, we didn't encounter anything too dangerous at first.
It was actually pretty interesting to see Fang all excited. It was the cutest thing in the world and it made my heart swell up. He was looking in every direction, taking in all of nature's views. And it was as if his feet wouldn't carry him fast enough.
Everything was going fine until we heard something howl. It was the type of howl that sent chills up your bones. I froze at the same time that Fang did. And I looked at him with wide eyes, fear evident in them I was sure.
Fang pulled me to the side just as we heard running through the forest. He pulled me off the trail and pushed me against the trunk of a tree.
I wasn't going to lie, I was terrified. My body had gone numb and cold and I was shivering I was so scared. I didn't even trust myself to move.
I looked up to Fang and found him staring at me. Obviously, he could tell I was scared because he took a step forward.
And another.
And another.
Until he was right in front of me, my back still pushed up against the tree.
I looked up into his eyes and it wasn't guarded from emotions, like usual. They just looked…warm.
He then put his hands on either side of me against the tree.
I was just going to be honest, "I'm scared," I whimpered.
"Don't be," he whispered back and with that, the temptation I could see flickering through his eyes gave way as he pressed his lips down on mine.
And that was all I needed to feel warmth again. A spark ignited inside of me and I pressed my body flush against his and wound my arms around his neck, tightening them and bringing my hands up to his hair. He brought his hands to my hips and pressed me up against the tree. He tilted his head to deepen the kiss and I pulled at his hair until he moaned in my mouth.
Oh. My. God. That sound was sexy.
His hands were roaming all over me, but I didn't care because mine were roaming all over his body. I could feel the muscles beneath his skin and it made me sigh in content.
And for the moment, I didn't care that I was Maxine and that this was Fang because everything just felt so right. I wasn't going to think of the consequences. I was just going to live in the moment.
All too soon, he pulled away and wrapped his arms around my waist and whispered in my ear, "I won't let anything happen to you." As he said it, his arms around my waist tightened and I felt my heart soar because boy, did I believe him. And all of a sudden he stepped back, grabbed my hand and pulled me with him as we both sprinted out of the forest.
When we finally got to the field, and noticed it was raining, we stopped. We looked at each other, he grinned, I smirked, we let go of our hands and we both took off.
A wordless communicated race is what I like to call it.
He unfortunately was beating me, so I naturally did the only smart thing left to do; I jumped on him from behind and we both went crashing down to the ground.
In mud.
Oh well. I looked over and saw Fang rolling in the dirt and I laughed before starting to do the same.
The moment was perfect.
Perfect.
He rolled over onto me and my heart caught in my throat. My body heat rose and I realized both of our shirts had risen and bits of our skin were touching. Not that I minded, he had a really nice body and I could feel his body heat. It caused my whole body to go up in warm flames, including my face. Never a good thing. I hated blushing.
He looked at me with tenderness and utter warmth in his eyes. He reached his hand up to wipe away some dirt from my cheek, and his hand stayed there, cupping my cheek.
Oh, he was gorgeous. His skin was naturally a beautiful tan and his eyes were so dark, they reflected light.
Everything was perfect, that is, until he looked straight into me and sighed, "Maxine."
And just like that, perfection was shattered.
And an irrational anger swept through me.
"It's Max," I ground out between my teeth.
And I jumped off him and ran off with him yelling behind me, "Wait, Max. I'm sorry. It was just a slip of the tongue."
I really didn't have an excuse to be mad, but I still was. I didn't want him to know just yet. I didn't want to shatter the perfection, like he just did.
And yes, I know he doesn't know it's really me just yet. But it just makes me wonder if this whole last month was nothing. If that kiss was nothing. If he was just using me because I reminded him of his old best friend. Ignore the fact that I was said best friend. What if he didn't really like me?
He would just think I was mad because he called me another girl's name. I think that's a pretty legitament excuse for any girl to get mad.
0*0*0*0*0*0*0
Fang's POV
As I stood there, watching her retreating figure, I couldn't help but slap myself.
How could I have been so dumb? I called her Maxine for crying out loud!
It's just…She looked so much like her.
And she reminded me of her.
And her eyes were the same.
And…and I missed her.
(Please bear with me on Fang's cluelessness. He's a guy ;) Just keep reading…)
0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*
Max's POV
I drove up to the movies and found Nudge and Iggy already there. I greeted them and we just stood there talking about random things, waiting for Fang to make his appearance.
I'll admit I was a little nervous to see him after I ran off earlier. But hopefully, things won't get too awkward. I was wearing dark skinny jeans with brown boots and a white halter top with a brown braided belt that matched my white head-band. Don't ask. As embarrassing as it is, Ella dressed me, said 'I needed to have some fun.' I drew the line when she wanted to mess with my hair. So at least that stayed its golden wavy self.
I was toning Nudge out because she was gushing about how cute I looked, but stopped when something caught my attention.
"Oh, yeah. And I can't wait to see Fang's half-brother!"
Wait a second. Rewind…
WHAT?
And just like that, like my life was some sort of a movie, a saw Fang's car pull into the parking lot and not one, but TWO people step out.
Yep, you guessed it; Sam and Fang. Sam saw me and winked. I just wanted to die in a hole. What if they had talked about me? Surely, Fang would realize what was going on.
Oh shit no. This was not going to happen. I need to talk to Sam. NOW!
They walked up to us and Fang introduced us all.
When he finished, I grabbed Sam's wrist and said, "Umm, I need to talk to him for a second," before dragging him inside the movie theater. I heard Fang say, "Wait, what? Do you know each other?" but I just ignored him. I had more pressing matters.
I dragged him inside the building, and then kept walking until we were in a fairly deserted area.
"Sam. What are you doing here?" I asked, taking in the sight of him. He still looked the same and all I wanted to do was run into his arms and hug him and tell him I missed him, but I had to wait and resolve this Fang issue first.
He hesitantly answered, "My dad and I came down to visit Fang for Thanksgiving."
"Did you guys talk about me?" I asked.
He seemed confused, "No…" Oh thank God.
My face visibly relaxed and my tension went away. "Okay, listen Sam. Fang doesn't really know I'm Maxine yet. So you have to promise me you can't tell him. I'm going to tell him when I'm ready."
He looked disappointed, but nonetheless smiled and softly said, "Max, you have to tell him and soon. I know him and he's my brother. He will be heartbroken if you wait any longer to tell him. But I promise I won't tell him." I smiled weakly at him. "Now get over here," and he pulled me into a warm hug, wrapping his arms around me as I buried my face in his shoulder.
I really did love Sam. Not in that way, but I still did.
"Sam, I really missed you," I said truthfully.
"Not as much as I missed you Maxine," he said teasingly.
"Maxine?" said a different voice.
Fang's voice.
It's Mazy here. You guys were all asking for Fang to find out so THERE. YOU. GO. Don't kill me for the cliff hanger :P Anyway, I just wanted to say that Menna and I want 50 reviews because don't get mad, but listen. I put a lot of hard work into this chapter and I liked the way it turned out and I wrote this all by myself, even though we were supposed to write it together *AHEM MENNA* (no, just kidding. I just really WANTED to write this chapter and Menna was kind enough to let me. But don't worry Menna, you'll be writing the next two chapters. MUWHAHA That was supposed to be an evil laugh.) ANYWAYS, I want a THANK YOU MAZY from every single reader because I added fax AND drama AND it was long. So yeah, go review NOW! Oh, and PLEASE tell me what you liked and disliked about this chapter. Like, I want FEEDBACK! Not just 'review now!' I still love you guys though 3