Chapter 19~ Of Secrets and Lies

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

"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.

MAX POV

"Honestly, Max, you just have to try this crepe. It is absolutely amazing!" Nudge shoved a strawberry crepe in my face, forcing me to try it.

"Really, Nudge, I don't want to try a crepe right now." Nudge and I were walking on a street in downtown San Francisco. Iggy wasn't feeling well today, so Tía Cita stayed home with him after dropping me and Nudge off at a crepe stand. If you're wondering why I wasn't with Alex, it was because we decided before that we'd take a day off every other day so I could spend it with my family. I kind of regretted the choice now because I wanted to ask him about the money incident.

Like, badly.

"I refuse to take no for an answer, Max, not with this crepe. So you will try this crepe now." I rolled my eyes with her drama, but acquiesced nonetheless. I opened my mouth and took a large bite of pastry and strawberries.

Now, I am not nor have I ever been a crepe person in my life (in fact, I barely like them), but that crepe?

It was as if somebody took Ryan Gosling and magically turned him into a French dessert.

"Oh. My. God." My eyes were involuntarily widened and I swallowed thickly. "That—that was—I can't—it was so—"

"Fantastic? Awesome? Beautiful? Magnificent?" Nudge suggested excitedly.

"All of that and then some!"

Nudge whooped in victory. She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "It's happened, everybody! Maximum Martinez has tried a crepe and liked it!" I was about to elbow her because she was creating a scene when I noticed a yellow cab in the corner of my eye with a familiar looking man sitting in the driver's seat.

"Nudge?" I asked. "Can you wait here for a minute? There's someone I need to talk to." Leaving her behind and not even knowing what she yelled at me afterwards, I walked briskly over to the taxi.

Alex was sitting in the car with his elbow resting on the driver's wheel. His head was leaning on his hand, and his eyes were closed, implying he was asleep. I probably should just leave now, I thought. I still wanna talk to him, but he looks peacefully asleep, and I don't want to disturb him.

Eh, screw it.

I tapped on the window loudly. "Alex!" I yelled. His eyelids flew open, and then he straightened in his seat. "Huh?" Alex must have realized it was me who called his name because he turned to me and his shoulders slumped. "Oh, it's just you," he yawned. "What's up?"

I raised an eyebrow. Just me? Harumph. "I saw you, and you know, I just felt like saying hi." He nodded understandingly, but then I added, "Plus there's also the fact that there's fifty dollars in my wallet that you gave back."

Alex didn't react at all to my accusation. "Yeah, and?"

I resisted the urge to groan. "And I appreciate the fact that you don't want my money, but I don't want your pity, alright? I have enough money to support myself and still have fun. Just because my clothes aren't spectacular doesn't mean I'm poor or whatever, okay? And also, I think that—"

The brown-haired man rose a hand to stop me mid-sentence. "Max, Max, Max, I don't think you understand what's happening here. I don't pity you at all. In fact, I think that if you couldn't afford a tour, you wouldn't have offered, either."

I folded my arms together, still feeling skeptical. "Then why did you give me back my money?"

Alex shrugged. "Because I enjoyed yesterday, and I think that it's worth not working when I can have fun with you."

That made me freeze. "Sorry, what?"

"I think you're interesting, Max."

FANG POV

I folded my hands behind my head as I stared up at the ceiling, in the bed inside my barely furnished apartment, wondering what Max was doing.

God, the past couple weeks were going by so quickly. Words could not describe how…how incredible it was to be with Max again. I missed everything about her: her sarcasm, her humor, her laughter, her anger. Most of all, I missed her.

It was hard, too. Not just because of the frustration of not telling her my real identity, but the charade I had to keep up around her. When I talked, I had to speak deeper so she couldn't tell it was me. I had to put cover up on the tattoo on my collarbone so she wouldn't see it. It would have been easier to get it surgically removed, but that was something I couldn't bear to do. I couldn't be quiet for too long either; that was something the old me used to do.

Basically, I could not screw up at all unless I wanted to blow my cover. Which, believe me, would suck.

Badly.

It was 3:00 in the morning and I could not sleep at all. Once I closed my eyes, I felt the overwhelming urge to open them again. Frustrated, I sat up in my sheets and ran a hand through my tousled hair.

Suddenly, having an idea, I reached to my bedside table for my phone. I unlocked it and quickly typed in a message before hitting the send button. Five seconds barely passed when I heard a beep, indicating I had a reply. I read it and grinned.

Hey. You asleep? -Alex

No, I can't. Feel like talking? -Max.

I sent another message, speculating what she would think of it.

Always. -Alex

MAX POV

"So what do you think of San Francisco after your complete tour?" Alex asked. We were back at Golden Gate Park because the first day wasn't nearly enough time to enjoy the whole place. I was lying down on the grass with Alex next to me. The sky up above us was gray, and I hoped that didn't mean it would rain.

"I love it, I can't believe I've already been here for almost two weeks," I told him.

"I'd say time flies by when you're having fun, but that would be cliche," he casually replied.

I suppressed a laugh. Yeah, I know it was a lame joke, but that was just how I acted around him. "I think I'm really going to miss going on these tours with you, Alex," I responded honestly.

He stretched out his arms and as he put them back down, he flicked the back of my head. I slapped his arm, but I couldn't help but smile.

I really liked how casual we were with each other and how much I got to know him over the past couple weeks. Alex was a really great guy, and I forgot about how much fun I could have. It was a feeling that I hadn't felt ever since, well, ever since I lost him. For so long, I felt like a shell of a human and although I gradually got better over the years, I was never fully myself.

Until now.

Maybe it was because there was something about Alex that reminded so much of my best friend. They had a very similar personality and a way of speaking. Hell, they even looked a lot like each other. I supposed that this similarity was because over the years, my memory of his face was weakening. Maybe that was a sign of moving on.

Alex continued to talk, interrupting me from my thoughts. "Well, we still have one more stop left. I'm taking you to the best Middle Eastern food stand in the SF area, and you're going to love it."

I snorted in an unladylike manner. "Middle Eastern? Yeah, right."

And so that's how we ended up waiting outside a food truck that sold items like lamb kabobs and falafel in the Mission district. When the truck's operator asked what I wanted in a thick Arabic accent, I ordered chicken kabobs and rice while Alex asked for a beef gyro. Despite my incessant protests, Alex insisted on paying and took out his wallet to pay. He gave it to me and ordered me to take out a twenty as he balanced our food in his, may I add, well-toned, muscled arms.

We sat on a bench nearby and Alex handed me my plate. "So, your wallet?" I asked.

Alex shook his head. "Just put it on the bench and give it back after we're done eating." I shrugged in agreement and dug into the aromatic meat and rice. After I took the first bite, I immediately sat up straighter and swallowed. Without saying a word, I took one bite.

Then another.

And another.

Eventually, I finished it all and wiping my mouth with a napkin, I commented, "Wow, you're right. That was delicious," I said.

"I usually am," Alex smirked. "I'll be right back, I'm going to go throw these in the trash. Do you want me to take yours too?"

I froze on the bench for a second as soon as the last word left his lips. Why did he sound so familiar? Thinking I was probably hallucinating, I shook my head and tried to snap out of it.

"Sure," I said when I felt a raindrop splash on my nose. I muttered, "Damnit" as I rubbed it off. I looked up and saw more raindrops slowly beginning to fall from the foggy sky. "I guess this means we have to leave soon?"

"Unfortunately." Alex grabbed the empty wrappers out of my hand and went to go find a trash can. I got up to follow Alex when I remembered I left his wallet on the bench and Alex hadn't picked it up yet. I grabbed the wallet and hurriedly put it in my back pocket as I caught up with him.

We started walking down the sidewalk and juster talked for a while. Eventually, we arrived at an area where there was barely any people, probably because it was now raining cats and dogs and it was getting dark. Alex didn't bring his taxi today; it was out of gas so we used somebody else's to get to the park and the food truck. I wasn't really worried because I knew I could kick the ass of anyone who tried to hurt me.

Eventually, I realized I never gave Alex back his wallet. So I cut into our conversation and said, "Hold up, dude. I just remembered that I still have your wallet."

I took it out, but my hands were wet from the rain so the leather brown wallet slipped out of my hands and landed on the wet cement. Something had slipped out of the pockets, and it looked suspiciously like photo paper. Frowning, I leant down to pick it up and was about to hand it back to Alex when I saw what it was.

It was the picture of me and Fang together from the day we were at the carnival, a day that felt like lifetimes ago.

Tears that came out of nowhere began to form in the corners of my eyes when I saw the face that was causing my heart to shatter all over again. I hadn't touched this photo since I left it hidden in my bedroom drawer two years ago.

That's when I realized that there were two copies of this photo strip. One belonged to me and was still back in Colorado, and the other one had belonged to—

Fang.

My heart stopped in my chest and it suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe. Oh, my God.

Why would Alex have a picture of me and Fang? Seconds that felt like hours passed while the gears turned in my head. Fang never mentioned an Alex in his life, so why would Alex have this?

"Alex?" I asked in a strangled voice, trying not to break down. "What—what is this?"

I turned up to look at him. He had paled considerably and there was a look of terror in his olive green eyes. "I—I can't tell you," he managed to get out, which was surprising because he looked like he was gonna hurl.

Why couldn't he tell me? It wasn't like he killed him or something; Fang died in a car accident.

Unless, of course, it wasn't an accident.

No.

I grabbed Alex by the throat and shoved him against the nearest wall. "Why do you have this? Tell me!" I screamed at Alex, showing him the picture of me and Fang.

He didn't answer. He just stared at the picture, so I applied even more pressure to his throat.

"Did you kill him? Is it your fault he's dead? Did you just keep a picture because you're some sick bastard who enjoys relishing in the pain of others? Just tell me, you son of a bitch!" I was full out sobbing now. The moisture that was gathering on my face was a mixture of rain and tears.

I swore at that moment, that if he was the one who murdered Fang, I would be the one to condemn his ass to hell, so help me God.

"Max," Alex choked out. "Lemme—" he coughed, "Explain. No matter what y—you think, I didn't kill him."

"Then why do you have the picture?" I demanded.

"Because..." he began, swallowing with difficulty. "I am Fang."

That was it.

I let go of his throat slapped Alex hard in the face. Spit flew out of his mouth and landed on the floor a few feet away from him as his head flew sideways in pain.

"Liar! How dare you say such a thing! Is this how, how desperate you are to get away scot-free? If you really were Fang you would have a tattoo right on your collarbone right there—"

Somewhere between me slapping him and pinning him against the wall, the collar of his soaked shirt slipped and it revealed a tattoo shaped like a black sword, with beads of liquid dripping down from it, a substance that looked suspiciously like makeup.

My grip loosened slightly as my whole world began to fall apart, piece by piece. I looked up into the man who stood before me, the man whose identity was obscured by secrets and lies. This unfamiliar man reached to his eyes and took off the olive green contacts. First the left eye, then the right one. They came off like plastic, revealing onyx eyes that I knew too well.

"Hello, Maxie."

Author's Note:

Ya'll better be thanking Aliza for editing as fast as she does so that I can post the story. And we're here thanking you for reading and reviewing! The story is almost done guys!

How about 4423 reviews? Lol, no I'm just messing. 27 reviews? So... 359?

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