Chapter 17~Of Fate's Wicked Game

PREVIOUSLY, ON BECAUSE OF A FIGHT, BELIEVE IT OR NOT:

My life after moving to California settled down after a couple weeks. I got my own apartment and continued my education at a nearby high school. I made a friend, Lissa Carter. We even went out for a few weeks until deciding that there was absolutely no chemistry between us and remained friends. I almost forgot about Max and the others.

Almost.

I got into my yellow cab and drove into the shopping district, where the most business was. Life was quiet now, easier to think about. He hasn't called me in a few months, which was good for me. Anything that happened before San Francisco felt distant, like it was a lifetime ago and I was reincarnated into Alex Ride.

MAX POV

Meeting with Tìa Cita involved hugs. Lots of hugs. And kisses, plenty of those too. And lots of cheek-pinching, even though there wasn't much of an age difference.

Have I mentioned that Tìa Cita is a very affectionate person?

Anyway, after we reached her house at around twelve, all of us sat down in her living room to discuss the living and vacation arrangements. Cita had served us cans of soda and chicken sandwiches and as we chowed down, she started talking.

"Now I'm not sure if you remember, but this house has three bedrooms with their own bathrooms, one of which is my own. So, Max and Nudge, you will share a bedroom while Iggy has his own," she explained before taking a sip of her Mountain Dew.

Iggy fist pumped in the air while I complained, "What? Why don't I get my own? They're the ones who're dating!"

Cita gave me a pointed glare. "Exactly, Max. They're dating." I blinked.

Oh.

"Right," I muttered sheepishly. Nudge snickered and I flicked her forehead lightly, inducing a hiss of pain from her.

"Anyway," my aunt continued, "What I was thinking is that maybe we should visit the shopping district today and get all the souvenir stuff done in one day. A taxi should be arriving in a few minutes to pick us up because the expensive parking bills are for noobs. Thoughts?"

"Yes!" Nudge replied excitedly as she sat up straighter. "We found the lamest stuff in the airport gift shop and this would be the perfect chance to get Ella that sweatshirt she wanted!" She fanned herself as she continued, "They have a three story Forever 21 in San Fran, guys! I'm getting excited just thinking about it."

Cita immediately got up. "Then what are you still doing sitting down? Time's a'wasting!" She walked over to the counter where she grabbed her purse and keys and sprinted out the door.

...

Yeah, let me explain.

You see, not only is Cita an overgrown teenager, but if there's anyone with a passion for clothes, it's her. She's an aspiring fashion designer, but she currently worked as a part-time banker. So basically, anytime there was a chance to go shopping, my aunt was always the most eager.

Annoying? Yes. Endearing? Definitely.

I stood on the sidewalk with my hip cocked out. "Holy chizface, where the hell is that taxi? I could eat a goat here!" I complained, looking at my watch. Two thirty-eight. We'd been on the sidewalk for fifteen minutes, yet there were no taxis stopping for us at all.

"Oh, God, just shut up, will you?" Iggy retorted. "If anyone should be complaining, it's me. It's like, two hundred degrees out here. Yesterday, I was albino. Today, I think I'll end up black."

Our shopping was more or less done, at least for me and Iggy. When Nudge is in her element, she doesn't come out for at least five hours.

In the three hour period when we were shopping, I had found a sweatshirt for Ella, some type home decoration piece for Mom (I really had no clue what it was; it just looked nice), and an SF teddy bear for Angel. For myself, I didn't see anything that I really wanted and was in my budget, so I bought a jumbo bag of jelly beans that was meant for the trip back home to Colorado. Although, at the moment, it seemed like I was going to eat the whole bag right now because I was FREAKING STARVING AND THERE WAS NO TAXI COMING TO PICK ME UP.

Ugh.

What I found incredibly stupid was that there were no good restaurants near the department stores where we were at, because if someone's going to shop all day, they'd obviously want food as soon as possible.

Damn Californians.

After this experience, I realized that as much as I loved my sweet, endearing, aunt, I really did not want her to be my city guide, considering how easily she got distracted by clothes. I needed to find someone else, someone less...willing to empty their wallet.

At two fifty sharp, a cab finally came after Iggy's and my (mostly mine) endless cries for a taxi. Honestly, they make it seem so simple in the movies. Reach out a hand, whistle, and boom! There's a cab right in front of you. I, on the the other hand, wasn't as lucky.

"Finally," I muttered. "Yo, Igs! Ride's here!"

His hand ran over his face in relief. "Yes!" he shouted. "God has not forsaken me yet!"

"Shut up and help me load these bags in the car."

The cabbie remained in the driver's seat, saying nothing but to quietly tell us that the trunk door wasn't working. That forced us to put the bags next to Iggy in the back, while I had to sit in the passenger seat because there wasn't enough room.

We drove in silence for a few minutes until my brother yelled, "Wait, hit the brakes!"

The cab screeched into a stop and I jutted forward in my seat in surprise. Then the car slowly sped up, only to park at the curb. "Where's the fire?" the driver asked in a gruff tone.

"No fire, sir, just the freaking Exploratorium!" Iggy breathed, his face and hands pressed up against the window.

I wrinkled my nose. "Exploratorium?"

"Yes, Max, the Exploratorium, home to some of the most amazing chemistry exhibits in the country! We have to go! It's a necessity!"

"No!" I objected. "I'm starving and visiting that place would take hours!"

That didn't stop Iggy. "Whatever, I'm going to check it out for at least a few minutes, alright? Just five minutes?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty pretty please?"

"No."

"I'll tell Mom about the fake ID you had in sophomore year."

"Fine."

"YES!" Iggy opened the door and scrambled through it. "I'll be back in a few!"

I folded my arms and slumped against my seat. Guess my stomach had to wait a little more time before being fed.

I snuck a look at the driver next to me and studied his features out of boredom. It was hard to make out his face because a fedora covered most of his face. From what I could tell, though, he had brown hair and black, rectangular glasses. He wore a plain white t-shirt and khaki jeans. He's kinda cute, I thought. Definitely a possibility as a tour guide. Now all I have to do is make a conversation with him.

Then I saw a gold Cartier watch adorning his wrist and I frowned. Since when were cab drivers able to afford Cartier?

"Hey," I said, breaking the short silence. "Can I ask where you got that watch?" If I had looked at him more closely, I would have noticed that he flinched when I started to speak.

"What?" he answered in a gruff voice, seeming startled.

"Where did you find such an expensive watch?" I repeated.

"Oh." His shoulders relaxed. "I found it hiding in a thrift shop in Berkeley."

I nodded in understanding. Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to continue the conversation. "Have you been in San Francisco long?"

He nodded stiffly. "A couple years."

"Oh, really? Where did you move from?"

The driver didn't answer right away, but waited a few seconds before replying, "Kansas."

I stifled a chuckle. "Kansas?"

"Yes, is something wrong?"

"Well," I bit my lip, "it's just that nothing about you screams 'Kansas.' You see more like, I don't know, Washington DC?"

Then he turned his body around to face me and lifted his fedora higher on his head, allowing me to see olive green eyes behind his glasses. He wore a bemused expression and said, "What the heck makes me seem like I'm from DC?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Like I said, I don't know. It's just a thought. I mean, you look like you could be from a big city, like New York."

The man next to me smirked. "If you say so." All of a sudden, his eyes widened slightly, then his expression turned nonchalant, and he quietly turned back to face the wheel.

Not in the mood to talk, huh? That never stopped Max Martinez.

"What's your name?" I asked loudly.

He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. "Does it matter what my name is?" the guy wondered aloud.

"Yes, it does."

"Why?"

"Because it's polite."

The driver chuckled at my remark. "I don't do polite, miss."

I sighed dramatically. "Shame. And here I was, hoping that you might be someone who could show a stranger in a strange land around." I slumped down in my seat, thinking if Cita was the one to give me a tour, we'd end up in a clothing store every block.

A short silence fell inside the car. Abruptly, the driver spoke in his gruff tone. "Alex."

I turned around with an eyebrow raised. "Excuse me?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled. "My name is Alex, Alex Ride." I hid a smile behind my hand.

"Well, Alex, what time do you get off for lunch?"

FANG POV

When I stopped on the side of the street for a girl and her brother, I had no idea that it would two people who thought I was dead. I could clearly hear her demanding the boy next to her to put their bags in my car.

No.

I had frozen. I could recognize that voice from anywhere.

It was Max. Max and Iggy.

My hands had begun to shake on the driver's wheel and my heart had started thumping rapidly. The one person who I needed to leave ends up here in San Francisco sitting next to me in a car. The one person I tried so hard to forget is now inches away from me.

I could never have imagined that fate would be this cruel to me.

It hurt. It hurt so much to have her next to me and not say anything to this girl. I had tried to refrain from slamming my head against the wheel, and instead had driven quietly, knowing there was a small chance that I'd need to talk to them during the ride and an even smaller chance that I'd ever see them again.

Until Iggy, the big idiot he was, left Max and I alone together. Didn't he, her brother, know that Max chats up anyone and everyone when she's bored and hungry?

Once again, fate had left me undermined, and once again, I wanted to bang my head against something.

I wanted to get away. So badly.

And when she did make conversation with me, I couldn't help it. There was still a part of me that wanted to talk to her, to hear her voice again, despite what the consequences could be.

So I had begun to talk to her. And because my dumb, stupid decision, I ended up telling her my name and basically made the almost nonexistent chance of never seeing her again a definite chance.

I am such an idiot.

Would I regret this choice? Yes. Would it be worth it? Probably.

-.-

A man camouflaged in the shadows peered at the yellow car with his binoculars. He set them down soon afterwards and took out his cellphone. After dialing several numbers, the person waited for a few seconds until someone picked up. He raised the phone to his ear.

"Boss? We've found him."

Author's Note:

So proud of you readers and reviewers guys! Just fyi, the updates will be coming a little slower now because we are done with the editing portion and are actually writing the story. There are approximately... 6 chapters left? It's almost done guys!

How about 25 reviews for the next update? So 299?

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Thank you~

Thank you~