Max paused and found herself admiring Zack as he leaned casually against a peeling wall. Everything about him, his looks-even if they were genetically engineered, the power he held so tightly in his fist that would occasionally slip out between the cracks of his fingers, his personality…just everything.
"You ok?" he asked, noticing her distraction and interrupting her thoughts.
"Oh," she said, and found herself burning from embarrassment. "Yeah, I'm fine." He eyed her suspiciously but didn't say anything.
"Max," he began, but ended abruptly as Original Cindy burst into the kitchen area.
"Boo, I'm gonna head down to work, what'd you want me to tell Normal?" she asked, stretching out Normal's name like silly putty.
"I got a really bad case of food poisoning."
"Food poisonin'? Girl, I think you got something else, but Original Cindy looks out for her homegirls no matta what. So, you take care of yourself." She turned to leave, paused and turned back around. "Look, I'm probably gonna be out late. If things go right, Original Cindy may have a new girl in town."
"Till when?" Max questioned.
"Dunno. But don't stay and worry 'bout me, 'cause Original Cindy can take care of herself," she said and strutted off. Max laughed and waved to her as Cindy left.
Max strode out of the kitchen area and into her room. Zack followed and leaned in the doorway as she picked up. "So, how long have you known…Original Cindy?" he asked, seemingly trying out the name in his vocabulary.
"A while now. She's not that bad once you get to know her." She glanced over at Zack who had raised an eyebrow. "Seriously."
"Uh-huh." Max folded a pair of pants and shoved them in her dresser drawer.
"So, are we just going to hang around here all day?"
"Guess so, unless we want to end up becoming gerbils for Lydecker."
"You're right," she agreed, bending down to pick up a sock that had found its way under her bed. "So…what do you want to do?"
He shrugged, "I don't care. Doesn't matter." Max sniffed at the sock and grimaced.
"Ugh, this one's dirty."
"Huh?"
"Oh, never mind. Look, if you want to crash in here, go ahead, I'm gonna see what we have for lunch." She walked past him and into the kitchen area and opened the refrigerator.
