Blah. Blah. Blah.

Disclaimer: I. Don't. Own. Maximum. Ride.

Ch. 21:

Max POV

I was still in a daze as Fang dropped me off at home. He kissed me. Or I kissed him. Hell, I didn't know. All I knew was that I didn't see it coming.

I trudged up the stairs and collapsed on my bed.

Did he mean it? Was he being serious? God, I hope this didn't put a dent in our friendship.

I got off my bed and grabbed my favorite stuffed animal, José the monkey, and went to lie back down.

I drifted off with thoughts of Fang, Paris, and how fluffy José was.

Fang POV

I was pretty shocked when I reached home. I kissed Max. Or Max kissed me. I have no idea, actually. It was all pretty in the moment.

But I do know that I liked it. A lot.

Questions and doubts started to form in my mind. Did she like it as much as I did? What if this was all some sick joke she planned? What if this hurt our friendship?

I started to walk to my room when something stopped me. I looked down to see Ella standing in front of me with her hands on her hips.

"How'd the interviews go?" She asked.

"Fine." I answered, trying to push past her.

"Did you get a job?" She pried further.

"Yes. At Ice Cream Central. Now, Ells, I have to sleep. I'm more tired and confused than you could possibly imagine."

She gave me a weird look, but let me through to my bedroom. I collapsed and thought about only one thing as sleep took me over.

Max.

Max POV

Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me.

Lying on the floor surrounded, surrounded.

Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?

Just a little late, you found me, you found me.

The Fray's soothing voices woke me up in my less than pleasant mood. I slammed my fist down to try to turn off the alarm on my iHome.

"Ugh…" I groaned and looked at the clock.

9:30. Crap! Fang was picking me up in 15 minutes.

I threw on some skinny jeans and a t-shirt and rushed down the stairs.

"Hi Max." My mom said, laying out some pancakes on the counter.

"Hey mom, gotta eat, work in 15." I began to shovel the syrup-y goodness down my throat.

She laughed, "Good for you, Max. I'm surprised you're so determined to go to Paris. It's good for you to have a goal to work towards."

I finished my breakfast and grinned at my mom. Both Fang and I had our parents paying $200 of the ticket. That's about a fourth of the entire thing.

I heard Fang honk the car from outside and rushed to get in.

I sighed once I got in the car.

"Max." Fang said.

"Yeah?" I asked in response.

"You have syrup on your cheek." He laughed.

I felt my cheeks heat up and I wiped it on my shirt.

We were silent the entire trip to the store. Tess greeted us and handed us our aprons.

I slung mine over my shoulders and stood behind the register.

It felt like as soon as I flipped over the 'Open' sign a million people ran in. It was a bit overwhelming, actually.

I didn't think people were crazy enough to want ice cream at 10 in the morning. I was wrong.

There wasn't much trouble during the morning rush, but I may as well describe a few… colorful encounters.

The first one was a lady who walked in with a poodle.

"I vould like two scoops of vaneela on a sugar cone." She said in an accent I had never heard before.

"That'll be $3.05." I said. She handed me the money.

While Fang was scooping the ice cream she turned to me. She seemed to stare at my nametag for a while before speaking.

"Just vecause you ave boy's name, doesn't mean you ave to dress like boy." She commented. Fang thrust the ice cream at her before I could rip her head off.

The second one was probably the weirdest. Two guys walked in, one around 16 and one around 18. One was deathly pale and the other was quite tan.

"I'll take a scoop of strawberry," The pale one paused dramatically. "In a cup."

"And I'll have a scoop of chocolate in a cone." The tan one said. Fang scooped their ice cream quickly, already getting the hang of his job.

"That's going to be $3.05." I told them. The pale one handed me the money while the tan one ripped off his shirt. I stared at his rock hard abs as Fang glared at him.

They both took a few bites of their ice cream as they walked out the door.

I swear as they left I heard the pale one say, "I'm so glad we ditched Bella."

There are some odd people in this town. Those two felt oddly familiar. I remember Nudge talking about a Bella somewhere… She was talking about a Bella, Edmund, and Jackson. Yeah that's it! I think those two were like Edmund and Jackson! But they didn't seem to live in a fork, or any other utensil for that matter... Eh, it's probably nothing.

The last weird thing was a little girl that came in clutching her monkey stuffed animal.

The little girl walked up to the cash register.

"Can I have one scoop of Rocky Road?" She asked.

I smiled at her sweetly, "Sure thing. That's going to be $1.50, okay?"

"Okay." She smiled. She handed me the cash and Fang handed her the ice cream.

She frowned at it, "There's only one spoon. José needs a spoon."

"Who?" I asked.

"José," She gestured to her stuffed animal. "My monkey."

I handed her another spoon and told her, "I have a monkey named José, too."

She looked up at me in disgust. "It's an imposter!" She sneered and walked out the door.

Kids, nowadays. They need to learn some manners. But the José thing was a bit weird.

I sighed once the morning rush finally stopped.

"That was exhausting." I groaned to Fang.

"Yeah… are you sure that tan guy didn't give you his number?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes, "No, Fang. Is somebody jealous?" I teased.

"No." He crossed his arms. "A-are we going to talk about what happened yesterday?"

"I don't know." I sighed. "How about we wait and see what happens after Paris, okay?" I suggested.

He nodded and smiled.

"Then again… I have already given my heart to someone." I said thoughtfully.

Fang's smile faltered, "Who?"

"José." I grinned and started to crack up.

I think I might actually like having a job.

José! Everybody cheer! In my other story, Reputations, José was widely loved. I decided I would let him be in here too. The lady with the poodle was just me being weird. And the pale and tan guys, oh come on! You have to know who they were. Jacob and Edward, duh! They decided to ditch Bella and come invade a Maximum Ride fanfiction. Cool, huh? I am just that creative.

~Cake.