NOTE: A huge thank you to flocklover19 for all the reviews. Also, thanks to MPHknows for letting me use one of her characters for this chapter.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own MR. Nor do I own any of the songs that will be mentioned.
Fang
I didn't care if Max was going to be there or if this was probably my last chance to get her. As the average male, I was supposed to be not as eager as the female.
"Stop moving," Tess said, slapping my arm. She was fully dressed and styled, while I was in the average classic black tuxedo. I watched as she finished doing the bow tie on my tux and brushed imaginary dust off her dress.
For this one night, everyone did their best to look impossibly good. Even Iggy, who was in an almost similar penguin suit. Although I had to admit, I did sort of look "dashing" in mine.
"I don't know dude," Iggy said with a raised eyebrow. "I think you'd look better in a suit. Neckties would probably always work on you."
"And you know that because?"
That caused Iggy to shut up. It was the three of us, plus our parents at Tess' place. They beamed and took embarrassing pictures of us while we waited for no one in particular. Tess' date was going to meet her there, and so was Iggy's. I was still hoping that I would be with one particular girl.
Honestly, I still didn't get what the Prom Hype was about. A couple of weeks ago, Iggy and I were forced to join Tess on more than three hours of foot pain and torture. In other words, shopping. She tried on dress after dress while we played hide and seek behind the racks. And then finally she decided on a simple green floor-length gown that had been on the first store we visited and went back to. The tuxedoes were pretty quick, since all that was needed was our sizes. The only good part was that Tess agreed to get some foot massages after.
Also, if I recall correctly, some guy once compared Prom to the Olympics. You had to wait four years, only three people have a good time and every else gets to live on with shattered dreams. Maybe it wasn't that extreme, but this was probably my case, too. It wasn't like Max and I could talk on Graduation, so yes, Prom was the only opportunity I had left.
"Don't worry," Tess said as the three of us walked to my parents' car. Since I could drive, the adults spared us the humiliation and allowed us to go there by ourselves after a lengthy lecture about alcohol abuse. "I'm sure that brain of yours will work this time and do good."
"Well, thanks for the support." I answered sarcastically as I climbed in and adjusted my seatbelt. "Let's just hope Max will be somehow in on it."
"Oh I'm sure she will. I texted Nudge a little while back and convinced her to convince Max to go to Prom. You know that girl and her powers of persuasion."
"Even if she happened to be sick?"
"Yes."
Well, I'll be hoping this is going to work.
From outside of the school, you couldn't imagine that there was going to be a wild party filled with seniors. Even if Prom wasn't going to be held in the gymnasium.
"Everything good to go?" Tess asked, eyeing us up and down. Our tickets were on hand, our shoes shined, our hair tamed, boutonnieres fixed, and tuxedoes wrinkle- free. She was the female version of that. I gave her a thumbs up, and we gathered among the crowd of formally- dressed students all heading to this one large room in the same building as the theater which the drama club kept as an excuse for students' free practice.
"Oh, hey, there she is." Iggy said, eyes motioning to a girl with long, dirty- blonde hair, obviously Iggy's date. She smiled and waved a little as the three of us approached her.
"Hey guys," She said with a giggle, and finger combed her hair.
"Um, Lupo, this is Tess and Fang." He said, motioning to the two of us. "Tess and Fang, Lupo."
"No offense, but is that your real name?" Tess asked.
She shrugged. "My parents were fans of some very uncanny things. Are the two of you going together?"
"No," I quickly replied. "She's meeting up with someone, and I will be randomly waiting for someone."
"Where are those four, anyway?" Iggy asked.
"Present!" Someone called out. We turned to see Nudge, Angel and Ella walk towards us in what seemed like slow motion, Charlie's Angels style. Nudge was wearing a sapphire cocktail dress which was slightly longer than she usually opted for, since it was already brushing her knees. Angel looked like a fairy in a puffy pink dress, while Ella was clad in a soft beige gown.
"Hey, you guys look great!" Tess said with a smile. Iggy gave the same compliments and introduced them to Lupo, who also praised their fashion- sense.
"You cannot believe how long it took us to prepare." Nudge said, and then spent the next fifteen minutes talking about hair styles and make- up.
"Well, compared to Max, ours seemed like a minute." Ella quipped.
"But at least we didn't have to tie her down like this time." She replied.
"Huh." I said, seventy- five percent average- guy- fascination, and the rest Max- fascination. Because really, Max is not the type of girl you'd expect to take long getting prepared.
"I mean, it took forever on the hair alone. And that was just untangling it. We were almost prepared to chop it off and stuff. Not literally, of course."
"Wait," Tess said, and looked around a bit. "Where is Max, anyway?"
Nudge flashed a grin at both of us. "Oh, she'll be making an entrance."
Tess glanced at me with a look that said I told you so. Yep, the girls were definitely in on it.
For the first seven and a half minutes of Prom, I felt like a total eleventh wheel. Basically a third wheel that is way worse in so many levels.
I agreed to get a table fixed for twelve and sat down along as the gang, minus Max, and their dates went to the photo booth to get pictures. And while I waited, I watched as other students took their seats in tables also with an even number of chairs. The only difference was that they came and left two by two.
Around the time they were gone, I also started a scavenger hunt. Since it was pretty hard to look for a face with all the lights, I tried to imagine what Max would wear or would be forced to wear on a night like this. Nothing too long, since she might trip. Something that would've matched her skin or her eyes. Random stuff like that.
And when I saw her, I was definitely not expecting her to look so freaking amazing.
Even if her dress was white, it still matched her in a good way. Also, her dress was surprisingly long. Her hair cascaded down in waves, though a small section of the hair beside her face was tied back. She did actually look too much like a real girl. The only telltale sign that she was Max was the bracelet on her wrist that she always wore, no matter how much Nudge said it looked bad.
If this was some scene in some movie, then the camera would have focused on me, looking awed, then it would focus on Max who looked amazing, smiling at no one and glancing in random directions, perhaps looking for the gang. That would probably happen while some obvious song like Stop and Stare or Beautiful Disaster played in the background.
"Dude, what are you looking at?" Iggy, who arrived with the rest, looked at Max's general direction. "Is it me, or does that chick look a lot like Max?"
"Well, I can see those hours of hard work were totally worth it." I heard Tess say to Nudge.
Once Max saw all of us, her smile grew wider and she quickly went over to our table.
"You order me to arrive late and then abandon me once I 'make an entrance'." She said, firing a look at Nudge, and taking a seat right across the table from me.
"Well I got here just in time, Nudge said, also sitting down. The others followed her lead.
Thank God I was good at making poker faces, because the whole night would've been awkward if Max caught me drooling at her even for a second.
This was definitely going to get complicated.
Fifteen minutes into Max's arrival, I had the realization that giving up and trying might've turned out pretty much the same.
For starters, there was the part about her sitting right across me. Iggy and Tess, plus their dates, asked Max to go with them, and while the five we're gone, the remaining couples shifted their seats and Ella gave a small smile at me. The results were not as satisfying though, when Max arrived first and secured the vacant seat which was the farthest from me. No one tried to persuade her to move since it might've ruined the night.
Second, there was the small talk. Everyone was divided in their own groups, and even if Max and I had no one else to talk to, there was still the distance to consider.
And then the fact that she still hadn't smiled at me just added to the heartbreaking proof that this night was turning bad for me.
"Excuse me." Max said, and she stood up, carried her things with her, and headed outside.
"Is she leaving?" Nudge asked, a mortified expression on her face. She sounded like someone who wanted to go yet at the same time she just wanted to sit there. Ella, Angel, Tess, and Iggy turned to me with looks that said, go make a move. So I stood up, and headed outside.
Max was lingering near the entrance of the theater building, her head peeking through the glass doors and the rest of her hiding behind the structure's brick walls.
"Max, you okay?" I asked. This seemed to startle her a little, and she turned around, her fist ready. I had to take a step back to dodge her punch.
"Sorry," she said sheepishly, and for the first time that night, flashed me a grin. "Reflexes."
"What are you looking at?" I asked, taking my position behind her- probably a bit too close, but then she didn't complain- and staring at the direction she was turned to.
Dylan was at the parking lot, leaning against a car, which I would guess was his. He was probably wearing earphones, since his head bobbed up and down.
"What is he doing here this time?" She hissed.
We waited for a couple more minutes, and then a girl approached him. She was probably about his age, and judging by how they hugged each other and she gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, they were together. I heard Max let out a sigh of relief.
"Wow." I said. Dylan, after all, didn't seem like the guy who took things that slow with someone.
"Wow." Max repeated. We watched them leave, and then remained standing near the entrance.
"You cold?" I asked. The winds were pretty strong, which was a bit weird for this time of the year.
"A bit. Pretty cool for a June, huh?"
I started to remove my jacket, but Max stopped me and put my arms down.
"Oh, no thanks," She said, fixing the jacket in a manner that made her seem either like my mom or a girlfriend. "It would be really awkward to wear your jacket for three minutes and then head back inside for the rest of the night."
I shifted my position so that I could wrap an arm around her. "Feels better?"
"Yeah."
We stayed there for a bit and then headed back, the distance between us nearer than before. And of course, when we approached the table, there were two available seats beside each other.
I turned and raised an eyebrow at Tess. She gave me a look that said, it is on.
Contrary to what the rest of the people on the table thought, seating us beside each other was a good idea, but it wasn't exactly the best. Max and I hardly faced nor spoke to each other. We ate our dinner in silence while the others talked, and we both chose to stay where we were during all the songs, whether slow or fast.
So no, this was still not turning out to be the "best night ever for Mang" as Iggy described. Iggy and Tess always used "Mang" whenever they referred to the two of us, even if I keep telling them that the name "Mang" is lame.
There we were, practically the only two people seated in the whole room, watching the Prom crowd dance to some fast song.
"Do they ever get tired?" I thought out loud, mainly for the sake of conversation.
"You could say that." Max replied, looking at the pile of heels left by various girls who were dancing. "I suddenly have the impulse to take a shoe from each pair and hide it."
"Well, tell me if you're planning to and I'll gladly join you."
End of conversation. Nope, still wasn't the "best night ever for Mang".
I saw Iggy say something to Lupo who nodded, and he approached the table.
"What?" I asked.
Without saying anything, he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to another vacant table.
"Tell me I should've excused you because you were so engaged in conversation with Max." He said.
"Well, that's sort of hard since-"
He smacked me on the arm. "What the hell are you doing, man? This is supposed to be the best night ever for Mang."
"I can't even say twenty words to her."
"Just remember, actions speak louder than words." He said and twitched his left eye, which I assumed was meant to be a wink. "Now go ask that fine young lady to dance."
He pushed me back to our table and headed back to the dance floor. A part of the song came on, and like a character in a typical teenage movie, I somehow got moved by it.
"Hey, day dreamer/You gotta be prepared to leave her in your fantasy/'Cause when it's over/You gotta make sure that it's you who'll be with her."
Well, that pretty much inspired 10 percent of my ask- Max- to- dance- plan. The rest was more on just wanting to get this over with.
I didn't know if it was the insane part taking over me or the somewhat courageous part, but the next minute I pushed back my chair, bowed in front of Max like some guy from the 18th century, and held out my hand. And maybe Max's insane part was also taking over her, because she gladly took the offer and we joined everyone else on the dance floor. We were both prepared to awkwardly bust some moves when Angel stepped up and said something to the DJ. The song stopped and it was replaced by the opening bars to We'll Be A Dream.
I turned to look at Max, and she was in just as much shock as I was. Angel smiled at both of us and stepped of the stage.
"Well…" she started.
"You want to dance?" I asked.
She smiled. "Yeah, I want to." She said, and I put my hands on her waist while hers settled on my shoulders.
We danced, and I started to think that this was starting to turn into the "best night ever for Mang".
In case anyone was wondering, that part with Max didn't actually last all night.
After two slow and somewhat romantic dances, everyone was itching for a fast song, so the two of us sat down since we both had very horrible moves. It was back to awkward mode once again. Except there was a slight improvement since Max still sat down beside me even if the others still weren't sitting down.
For the rest of the night, we watched others dance their heart out, including Iggy who apparently had a lot to show when it came to Katy Perry songs. They rarely came by except when one of the girls needed something. The only part where they sat down after our dance was during the awarding for the Prom King and Queen. We watched as a guy and a girl from one of my classes were crowned and started to dance. Then they got up, and that activated awkward mode for the infinite time. This went on until midnight. After that, things slightly changed.
"I'm guessing no one's tired yet," the DJ said, looking at the crowd of dancers. "But we need to get over with this party, so everyone, better save this for someone special, because this is the last dance."
A minute was given for the couples to find each other. That got me thinking if I could ask Max without her getting creeped out at my invitation, since I am in the friend zone after all, as far as I know. But the clock was ticking, and I knew that the insane part of me, plus Iggy and Tess and maybe their dates, and probably Nudge, Angel and Ella and their dates wanted me to do it. So I looked her in the eye, stood up, and offered my hand. She gladly took it, and we went over to our group of friends. By then, everyone was already paired up and ready to dance.
The opening bars of a slow song came up, and I heard Max mutter, "I love this song."
"Chasing Cars? Yeah, it's pretty awesome." I said as it neared the first stanza and several couples began dancing.
"You know? This is the only part of the night I like. By that, I mean the parts when I danced with you."
Did she mean that as a friend or not?
As we danced, I didn't see the thumbs up Iggy gave my way or the huge grin Tess had on her face upon seeing us. I didn't hear Ella giggle, nor did I hear Angel say how sweet we were together.
For those four and a half minutes, all I did was look into Max's eyes and dance.
"Go ahead, Fang, we have our own rides." Tess said waving at me.
After the reminder from the principal that we better sober up because tomorrow was graduation, everyone started to get their stuff and leave. I was about to go with Tess, Iggy and their dates when Max suddenly started catching up with me.
"Hey, I have this crazy idea that you'd want to join me in 'sobering up'." She said. "So do you want to join me?"
"Well, where are you planning to 'sober up'?"
"The diner uptown. The one where we went to the last time."
I turned to ask Tess, but she nodded and assured me they had several ways to get home since Iggy and Lupo was also coming with them. They walked off and then it was just me and Max making our way to the car. And like a true gentleman, I opened the door for her.
"Here," I said, handing her my jacket after she got in. "It's still pretty cold even if the windows aren't down."
"Thanks," she said, and I swore I saw her blush.
We spent the rest of the drive in silence, but then we started to get chatty once we arrived at the diner.
"It feels sort of weird getting ice cream when it's pretty cold," she said with a smile once we made our orders.
"I agree. But then it's ice cream, and no way am I passing that up." I replied.
"Damn. I can't believe tomorrow's graduation already. I am so freaking old."
"Well, so am I. Who thought of having graduation the day after prom , anyway?"
"I know. I mean, I can't believe we're already seniors and we're already going to graduate. I still remember those times back in freshman year when you were teaching me to play guitar."
"Oh, yeah. I remember that, too."
"And I can't believe we're going to be apart. You're moving to Tennessee and I'm heading over to another continent. I'm totally gonna miss you."
"Yeah, me too."
Our sundaes arrived, and we quickly devoured them in silence I laughed as she let out a huge burp and she joined in.
"Thanks, Fang," she said, grinning sweetly at me. "If you weren't here, then I wouldn't be having any fun at all."
"Yeah, maybe you'd just be sitting here drinking coffee and pretending to sober up."
"Well, yeah that's true. But I'm not just talking about this part. I'm referring to the whole part. Even if we weren't completely talking to each other, it was still nice to know that you we're stuck there with me too."
"I was glad to be stuck with you."
"And it was totally romantic of you to dance with me. Thanks, really."
"You're welcome."
And like every other teenage movie, it ended with a kiss.
DISCLAIMER 2: The quote referring to prom was from the movie "Prom". I don't own that. Stop and Star by OneRepublic and Beautiful Disaster by John Mayer are part of the stuff that I do not own. The lyrics found are from the song Hey Daydreamer by Somedaydream. Still not mine. And We'll Be a Dream by We the Kings (feat. Demi Lovato) and Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol? Nope, not mine either.
Oh gosh, three chapters. I really am going to miss this.
Sorry if this took a week, even if I'm on vacation (with summer classes, unfortunately. Still about journalism).
So a random question: Do you have a pillow pet? (Mine's a turtle =D)
I'll see you guys soon. =D