"So… my house? Tonight? Bring your own movies and hopefully nothing will get stolen." Aaron smiled at his friends, including Max who he now happily considered a friend.
"Sure, any film at all?" Max asked hopefully.
"Sure, why not." Aaron nodded as he closed his locker leaving his books for the day there.
"Why do you keep inviting him? You know what happened at Fenton Works, you can't tell me that you don't believe he didn't have anything to do with it!" Josh hissed as Alex and Max talked off to the side at Alex's locker. Alex giggled happily at something Max had said, Josh shuddered, how he hated him.
"I will tell you that I don't think that he had anything to do with it. Anyway, there's nothing to steal at my house." Aaron sighed feeling very sick of Josh's jealousy.
"Heya stranger!" Alex smiled opening the door to Max who looked very windswept and wet from the rain outside.
"Hey, I think I must have misread Josh's directions here; I've been wandering around here for ages trying to find my way. I eventually made it by reading the mailboxes." Max sighed as he walked into Aaron's house and took his coat off whilst shaking the last of the cold rain out of his hair.
"Yes, must have been something like that." Aaron said flatly as he glared at Josh who tried his best to look innocent.
"Here let me take those from you, you look frozen!" Alex exclaimed taking the films and snacks that Max had brought and setting them on the coffee table.
"Oh wow… that's… that's a lot of sports trophies!" Max said in awe as he caught sight of the Baxter's mantelpiece which indeed held about ten sports trophies.
"Ah, eight of them are my dad's. The two on the ends are mine." Aaron smiled proudly.
"These… these are amazing. Your dad must be some athlete." Max complimented him as he inspected them. His eyes caught a photo in the middle of the mantelpiece, his fingers brushed it as he stared entranced at it. Somewhat faded at the edges it showed a twenty-something year old man who had a striking resemblance to Aaron, the football he was holding helped this image, another slightly scruffier and scrawnier looking man of the same age stood next to him with black hair hanging in his blue eyes, and on the end wearing all black and staring straight out of the photo into Max's eyes was a beautiful woman. He stared fixated, she was slender and long black hair hung down her shoulders, she wore a mischievous daring smile and her purple eyes felt like they were piercing through.
"Who's that…" Max whispered.
"That's… Alex's mother." Aaron whispered back hoping Alex wouldn't hear.
"I've met her father before, that's him in the middle right? But… never her mother, how come?" Max asked quietly.
"I… she's dead. Alex doesn't like to talk about it." Aaron explained.
"Oh… I didn't… she never said…" Max gasped.
"Yeah, you'd have to ask her about it. I don't wanna say anything that she doesn't want me to ya know?" Aaron shrugged.
"What don't I want you to know?" Alex asked suddenly behind them, she had an eerie habit of being a very quiet walker at times.
"N-nothing!" Aaron attempted to plaster on a wide smile. Alex's eyes fell onto the picture in Max's hands.
"My mother." Alex said quietly.
"I… She's very beautiful, you look a lot like her you know." Max smiled softly as he handed the photo to her.
"I get that a lot. I don't remember much of her." Alex said sadly, suddenly visions of giant green and purple glowing animals flashed behind her eyes and a distant scream haunted her head. Alex took a deep breath and replaced the photo on the mantelpiece and walked into the kitchen.
"Smooth." Josh smirked after Alex had left the room.
"Shut up. I'm going to go talk to her, be right back." Aaron sighed following Alex.
"I didn't mean to upset her." Max mumbled feeling bad.
"Hey, listen. I may not like you," Josh sighed leaning forward.
"I realised that already." Max said coldly as he remembered the fake directions.
"BUT I don't like to see Alex upset, so you're going to make it up to her. It's her birthday this Sunday, you should get her a present, cheer her up." Josh smiled.
"That's not a bad idea, I'll get her something nice to make her feel better." Max smiled feeling better already.
"Yeah, that's a great idea." Josh smiled as his plan began to fall into place.
It took Max a fair amount of time to decide what to get Alex, he wasn't sure if she liked chocolate and it was too date-y for their current standing, he didn't know what music or films she already owned but he eventually bought her present a day before her birthday. It was about 11 in the morning when he showed up at her house with his present under his arm and rang the doorbell.
"Who could that be?" Alex frowned stirring her hot chocolate.
"Gee, I wonder how we could find out." Danny commented not getting up from the table.
"I'll get it." Alex groaned at her father's sarcasm.
"You must be a mind reader." Danny gasped in mock surprise and turned the page in his newspaper.
"Oh! Hi Max, what on earth are you doing here?" Alex asked cheerfully.
"I brought you a present, happy birthday." Max smiled offering the gift. The sound of Alex's mug crashing to the floor and shattering made him jump, a pool of hot chocolaty liquid flooded down the steps to Alex's front door.
"Ack! Alex are you okay?" Max yelped moving out of the way of the very hot hot chocolate.
"I… you… present." Alex stuttered.
"Yes, it is your birthday right?" Max asked worried that he'd gotten the day wrong.
"I don't celebrate my birthday." Alex said numbly.
"Why not?" Max asked surprised.
"My mother died on my birthday, eight years ago today." Alex breathed trying to calm down.
"Oh god. I… I didn't… I didn't know." Max apologised realising that Josh had set him up.
"It's okay, you didn't know. It's not your fault." Alex sighed shaking her head and walking down the steps to Max.
"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. The whole reason I did this was to make it up to you for upsetting you the other day at Aaron's house about your mother." Max sighed.
"That's sweet. I haven't had a birthday since I was six, I never wanted one and everyone else was too scared or sensitive to try." Alex smiled softly with tears in her eyes.
"I… well, do you want it anyway? It's your present after all." Max offered the gift once again.
"Oh… I don't know…" Alex said biting her lip.
"I know this must be a really crappy day for you each year, and for it to be your birthday is not fair at all, so you might as well make the most of it." Max said persuasively as they walked around the side of the house to the garden. Alex sat down on the grass with Max, he offered the gift box to her. Alex's hands closed shakily around it, it was a black box with a green ribbon around it. She tugged on the ribbon and it came free with no resistance at all.
"I don't know if I can do this." Alex sighed.
"It's entirely your choice." Max agreed holding his hands up in a gesture of peace. Alex lifted the lid of the box and a glint of silver caught her eye, the lid slid back and tumbled gently to the floor.
"Oh wow…" Alex breathed, it was a necklace, on a thin silver chain hung a small blue pendant shaped like a sun. Max picked it up and slid it around Alex's neck fastening it at the back and allowing his fingers to brush the nape of her neck making her shiver.
"It's… lovely. Thank you." Alex smiled.
"You're welcome." Max smiled back.
From the kitchen window Danny smiled, it was about time his daughter had a birthday again. And she was even falling in love at the same time too; he slid the curtain back and headed towards his office, he had ghosts to catch.
