Chapter 18~Of Money and Meetings
PREVIOUSLY, ON BECAUSE OF A FIGHT, BELIEVE IT OR NOT:
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."
Max POV
Alex and I were still in his taxi, waiting for Iggy. "So, where to first, Mr. Tour Guide?" I asked.
He rose an eyebrow questioningly. "When did you hear me agree to this?"
Damnit. I haven't won him over yet. As I wondered how Nudge convinced people so easily, I begged, "Please? I really need someone to show me around for the next five days and you seem like an alright guy who doesn't kill people in his spare time. You also have a car, may I add."
Alex continued to look unsure of himself. "I don't know," he confessed. "What's in it for me?"
"I'll pay you. I'm sure taxi-ing or whatever it's called doesn't pay much. Plus, you look old enough to be in college."
This caused him to meet my eyes and I took a sharp intake of breath as I ran my gaze over his chiseled jaw, his chin, the curve of his nose.
Why does he suddenly seem so familiar?
"How much money are we talking about?" he asked, not noticing.
Snapping out of my haze, I asked, "What about fifty dollars? Each day?"
He smirked. "That's a lot of money. You rich or something?"
"That's for me to know. So what do you think?"
Alex stared at his driving wheel and I couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Is money all?" he finally asked.
"Well, I've been told my friendship is quite valuable." His head snapped up and our eyes met, dark brown and olive green.
"Okay, I'll do it."
And as we sat there in silence while Iggy could be seen exiting the building, I couldn't help but think what a risk I was taking. I mean, come on; paying a man I just met two hundred and fifty dollars to show me, a stranger in a strange land, around?
Yet somehow, there was something about this man, something that caused me to trust him immediately. It was something I would recognize much later to be an emotion I had not felt since he had died.
Love.
FANG POV
I didn't want to say yes. Really, I'm not kidding; I'm one hundred percent honest.
The smart thing to do would be to kick her out and drive off, praying I would never see her face again. The stupid thing to do would be to say yes and get closer to her.
Obviously, I did the stupid thing.
Who knew what would happen? I might slip from my act and she could learn my secret. Everything I worked for, everything I tried to do would be crushed by one sentence.
I'm Fang.
Everything would change. The question was, did I care?
I didn't want her money either. I knew it was hard for her to afford it, and her being with me with the next five days was priceless by itself. But it would have been too suspicious to do it for free. I felt bad for agreeing to take her money, but what could I do?
Whatever. I'd make it right somehow.
Max POV
"Max, your ride's here!" Iggy yelled from the couch, where he and Nudge were watching a sitcom.
"Great, bye guys!" I yelled back as I rushed out the door and into Alex's cab that was waiting for me in front of Cíta's house. I had explained the situation to them after we got back yesterday. My aunt seemed worried at first, but I assured her that I was an adult who was very able to take care of herself.
I climbed into the cab and greeted Alex, who was sitting with his gray fedora hat from yesterday covering his face. "Here is fifty dollars as promised," I pronounced, taking out a bill from before.
Hearing my voice, Alex straightened in his seat and looked at the money. "Huh? Oh, right. Why don't you give it to me later?"
I shrugged. "I'd probably forget."
We drove for quite a while in an awkward silence. There wasn't much to say before arriving at our destination, which I soon found out that it wasn't an abandoned alley in the ghetto part of San Francisco like I was afraid it would be. Instead, it was a park surrounded by trees and flower bushes. There was a beautiful white building nearby, reminding me of the churches in Russia. "Where are we?" I asked, feeling excited.
"Golden Gate Park, " Alex replied shortly. He exited the cab, walked over to my side, and opened the passenger door for me.
I stepped out cautiously, taking in the whole scene. "Golden Gate, as in the bridge?"
"The very same."
We walked out of the parking lot and onto the grass. "What's the story behind it?"
"Well, in the late eighteen hundreds, San Francisco heard about how New York City was creating a huge public park, now commonly known as Central Park. Feeling the need to create a spacious park of their own, they built this," he gestured at the park with his hands.
"So, they basically were jealous and made their own Central Park?"
"Exactly."
I looked back at the white building and pointed to it. "What's that?"
Alex looked where I was pointing at and explained, "That's the Conservatory of Flowers."
"Which is...?"
He gave me an are-you-serious look. "A building where they conserve flowers."
"Oh."
We went on talking like that for a little while. Then, Alex took me through the Japanese Tea Gardens first, which, let me tell you, was jaw-droppingly gorgeous. There was a regal waterfall covered with azaleas and an intoxicating scent of wisterias. I saw people there sitting by bridges and flowers, meditating or sipping tea. Afterwards, we visited other attractions, like the de Young museum and the Golden Gate Aquarium. I dragged Alex back to the Japanese Tea Gardens repeatedly.
FANG POV
Throughout the trip, Max chattered continuously while I listened. It was hard at first to be near her, but I slowly eased up and became more comfortable in her presence. One thing I noticed was that Max became much more attractive over the years. Her hair grew out, and her waist grew thinner, making her curves seem bigger.
She asked me various questions about myself. For example, while we were getting lunch and Max was on her second hot dog, she asked, "So, Alex. Why did you move here from Kansas?"
Her question was abrupt, and it surprised me but made me feel uneasy because well, I never actually lived in Kansas. So I said the first thing that came into my mind: "Kansas is boring."
"What did you do in Kansas? Drive taxis?"
Jesus. "Nope, I um, lived on a farm with my parents. I helped them out there."
"What'd you grow there?"
"...Potatoes."
"So you're a farm boy?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Mind if I call you farm boy, farm boy?"
Why in the world did I say Kansas? Why not Florida or Oregon instead of some place from the Wizard of Oz? "I don't think we know each other well enough to be giving each other nicknames, Max."
She disagreed with me immediately. "Oh, I think I know you pretty well by now. You moved here from Kansas because you needed a change. You're probably about nineteen or twenty years old and you're driving taxis to get money for a college. Your name is Alex Ride and you don't like talking. You're pretty closed off so you have few friends," she guessed. "How did I do?"
"Pretty accurate."
"It's funny because you remind me of someone I once knew."
I froze in place. "What happened to him?"
Her head dropped down and Max began to twiddle her thumbs. "He's gone now."
A wave of sadness crashed over me, filling all the holes in my body. "I see."
"Yeah..." She seemed to realize that she was changing the mood and attempted to change the subject. "Great, now try to guess me."
I felt apprehensive, thinking of whether or not I should take the offer. In the end, I just decided to fuck it.
"Okay, you're athletic, probably eighteen years old. The guy you came with is your brother. You've got a big mouth, but it seems like you know someone with an even bigger one. There are dog hairs on your shirt, which either implies that you have a dog or you're around animals a lot, which means your mom could be a vet. I wager it's both." I continued to tell her about herself, not realizing that I was in a haze-like trance while describing her. Eventually, I snapped out of it and stopped talking.
I looked at Max, who just stood there with her mouth open. "What...I...how did you figure all that out?"
"I watch a lot of Sherlock," I lied through my teeth. It hurt, not being able to tell her the truth.
"Well, here's your stop." Alex said, pulling up to Tia Cita's house.
"Thanks a bunch. Same time tomorrow?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah, sure thing."
I got out of the car and entered the house. "Later!" I yelled over my shoulder before closing the front door.
Cita was in the kitchen washing dishes when I came I. "Hey, Maxie! How was your trip?"
"Great, I even got you a postcard." I reached for my wallet and opened it only to find that there were one hundred dollars in there that wasn't there before. It took me a moment to realize what had happened, and when I did, I felt an overwhelming urge to smile.
Alex gave me the money back.
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... 5 chapters left? It's almost done guys!
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