Here is the second-Faxiest scene in the book! The infamous "always a you and me" scene. Personally, this is where Max should have come to her senses and accepted Fang. But noooo. We had to wait a whole other book!
Oh well. At least it happened… finally.
In my room, I sat down heavily on my bed and rubbed my temples. I was so sick of getting these mixed signals from Max. She wouldn't talk about anything, but she ran away from me, she pushed me away, she got mad for no reason. Nothing added up.
It adds up, Angel said in my mind. I told you, she loves you.
What does that have to do with it? Is it possible to grumble in your thoughts?
The door opened, and I looked over to see Angel standing in the doorway with Celeste tucked under her arm. "She's jealous," she said simply.
"She is not," I muttered, putting my fist in my cheek. "I wish."
"Fang," she said, with the exaggerated patience of someone talking to a small child-- in other words, it should be me using that tone with her, not the other way around. "I told you she loves you. I told you that she's scared of loving you, and that's why she ran away. And because she loves you, she's jealous of you hanging around with Brigid. See? It does all add up."
I thought about it, then realized she was right. It did make sense.
I had to stop this before it got out of hand.
"Good idea, Fang." Angel smiled approvingly. "She's coming back right now. I can hear her thoughts. We'll be in our room. Good luck!"
And with that, she turned and skipped happily out of my room and down to her own.
With a sigh, I got up off the bed and walked to the bottom of the aft stairs. There were voices on the deck, and I recognized one of them as Max's. I leaned against the wall with my arms crossed and waited.
A minute later, Max started down the stairs. Because of the dim lighting, she was only two steps from the bottom when she saw me. By then, it was too late to turn back.
"What's the matter with you?" I asked. "Why'd you take off like that?"
She glared at me and tried to step around me with a cool, "Wanted some air." I grabbed her arms and held her in front of me. Max sighed in defeat and refused to meet my eyes.
I leaned in so our noses were almost touching. When our faces were that close, it was so hard not to kiss her. But I managed to keep myself under control. "Tell me what's going on."
"Nothing," she said, lifting her chin in the air defiantly.
"Max," I said, exasperated. "If you would just talk to me--"
"About what? You and me? There is no you and me. Especially when you keep throwing yourself at everything in a skirt!" she snapped.
I stared at her. So she was jealous. Angel had been totally right.
That was the first thing to cross my mind. The second was… did she really think that? Did you really believe there was no me and her? Of course there was. It had been me and her for our entire lives. And she could run all she wanted, but that wouldn't change.
I found myself starting to rub her shoulders, trying to convey these thoughts that way, but she jerked away from me. That familiar pang, the one I always felt when she did this, shot through me.
I wasn't going to let her go, though. Not until she understood what needed to be understood. And I was even going to go to extreme lengths to get it done-- using words. "You're wrong, Max," I said lowly, and her face got even redder. "There's a you and me, all right. There will always be a you and me."
Max set her mouth in a thin line and stormed past me, knocking me into the wall. I watched as she went into the girls' room and slammed the door, shutting me out in more ways than one.
Man, I felt for Fang here. He's basically spelling out his feelings, and Max shoves him off and stomps away. Sigh. Such a naïve young girl…
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