Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride
The ride home was spent in silence. When I had gone over the list of people who could pick me up, I immediately crossed off practically everyone. My parents weren't home again and even if they were, I couldn't call them without having to explain why I was alone on the side of the road in the middle of the night. The same went for Nudge, but I think I'd be able to tell her how I got stranded with a bunch of bruises a lot easier.
In the end I was only really left with one option. The person who already knew about Dylan. Even if he was pissed, I was positive he'd come to pick me up. I looked over at him then to see him staring stonily out the windshield. Fang had picked up on the first ring, making me think that he was already awake. On the phone he was worried, asking if I was okay and if he needed to stay on the phone with me, but when he pulled up next to me nearly half an hour later, he didn't say a word to me as a climbed in his car.
When Fang finally pulled into my driveway he said, "Get out." I was surprised at his tone of voice. He was angry, that was obvious, but there seemed to be something barely concealed under the surface. Fang glanced over at me for the first time all night. When he saw my shocked expression he seemed to soften just a bit. "I need to cool off and think," he explained more softly. "I'm coming to get you in the morning though, around ten. We need to talk."
I was indignant at the fact that he, of all people, was telling me what to do. I was about to open my mouth to voice my thoughts on what he said, but he corrected himself before I could. "If you're not busy, I mean." I sighed and without looking at him nodded my consent.
I went to get out of the car but Fang's hand on my arm made me pause. When I turned to look at him, his expression was open for probably the first time in his life. His eyes asked if I was okay, though he didn't actually ask out loud. "I'm okay Fang," I told him in a small voice. To be honest I was a little embarrassed. He always seemed to be the one who had to pick me up in the middle of the night. Plus, he had warned me that this would happen. "Thank you. I'll see you in the morning." With that I pulled away from his touch and hopped out of the car, wincing has my stomach spasmed in pain.
Fang waited to pull out of the driveway until I had waved and shut the door behind me. I padded up the stairs quietly, entering my room, I practically collapsed on my bed. I pulled my jeans off and dropped them next to the bed, my shirt following. A wave of exhaustion overwhelmed me and I didn't even bother getting pajamas, falling asleep in my underwear.
I woke to the sound of my phone ringing. I groaned and rolled away from the phone, succeeding in ignoring it. It rang twice more, and at the last minute I looked to see who it was. It turned out to be Fang, but I couldn't fathom why he'd be calling this early in the morning. By early I mean my early, which is anytime before noon. I put my phone on silent and promptly fell back asleep. I woke again by a knock on my door. I muttered something unintelligible, meaning to say 'Go away'. There was another knock and when I didn't answer I heard the door open and soft footsteps approach the bed.
"Max," an unknown voice whispered. I guess it could be my mom, and in my half asleep trance like thing I was just imagining things, but the voice sounded boyish. My dad never woke me up because it takes a lot of patience and one time I threw my alarm clock at him. The voice said my name again, louder this time and I decided that whoever it was, they were definitely male.
Curling into a little ball, I slowly opened one eye, giving into curiosity. The person was most definitely male, in fact it was Fang. I groaned, closing my eyes against his smirking face. I wondered why the heck he was standing in my room at 10:13am, when it suddenly hit me. He had told me last night that he'd pick me up at ten. Crap.
I opened an eye again and said, "Raincheck?" Fang's smirk grew and he stepped towards me. He was dressed all in black, as usual, and his hair looked like he just rolled out of bed.
"I suggest you get out of bed, Max," he started. "I've been known to wake my cousins up in painful ways when they don't get out of bed fast enough. I might take it easy on you if you at least open both your eyes at the same time."
I opened both my eyes quickly and then came to a sudden realization. I clutched the sheets to me as his hand reached out to pull the covers off. "Fang," I warned. "I'm not wearing pajamas." I had forgotten that I hadn't changed last night, just stripping and falling asleep. Fang didn't seem to believe me though. He continued reaching for the blankets saying, "So? I sleep in my street clothes all the time."
Apparently he didn't understand what I was saying. I internally scolded myself for not picking up the phone when he called the first time. "Yeah," I countered. "So do I, but if you look on the floor you'll see my street clothes next to the bed." That made him pause and look down at my clothes.
Retracting his hand from where it had finally found the blankets, he said skeptically, "So you're naked?" One of his eyebrows was raised and he seemed to be holding back a found this situation funny.
I scoffed. "I am not naked. I was just too tired to get dressed last night. If you get out of my room, though, I can get dressed and meet you in your car in five minutes," I said trying to get rid of him. He rolled his eyes and walked toward the door muttering a 'whatever' on the way. As soon as the door was shut I leaped out of bed and quickly got dressed. I refrained from looking at my stomach, which I knew was badly bruised and flew to the bathroom. Brushing my hair and teeth at the same time was a new accomplishment for me and I mentally pat myself on the back.
I grabbed an apple off the counter, stuffed my feet into my sneakers and yanked the door open. I shouted a quick goodbye to my mom who was in the living room reading before running to Fang's car. I took a bite out of the apple as I climbed in the car, but quickly spit it out on the lawn. Spitting a couple times to get the horrible taste of apple mixed with freshly brushed teeth, I closed the door.
When I turned to look at Fang, he had an amused look on his face. "What? You've never eaten something after brushing your teeth just to spit it out?" I questioned him. He shook his head, smiling as he turned the ignition on.
"By the way," he said as he pulled out of the driveway. "You took seven minutes." I rolled my eyes and looked out the window. When we had been driving for about ten minutes I asked where we were going. Fang answered with, "No idea. Where do you want to go?"
"I thought you wanted to talk?"
He shrugged and replied, "Later."
"Hmmm," I said, an idea coming to mind. "You know, I haven't been to an amusement park in a while." I smiled when I saw the look on his face.
He looked over at me and said in a serious voice, "You want to go to an amusement park?" When I nodded he continued with, "The closest one his two hours seriously want to go?" I just smiled and went back to looking out the window. I heard him sigh, but I knew that he actually didn't mind. You could see it in his eyes.
I was expecting the ride to be silent, like last night, and I thought about taking a nap since I didn't get in until after three. To my surprise though, Fang reached over and turned the radio on. At least we liked the same music, otherwise I would've changed it. We didn't talk for the two hours it took to get to the park, but it was a comfortable silence, unlike last night. Well I guess it was this morning, but it doesn't really matter.
When we finally pulled into the parking lot, I realized I forgot two of the most crucial objects you need when going to an amusement park. My phone and wallet. Fang finally pulled into a parking spot and shut the engine off. When I didn't immediately open the door and hop out, he looked over at me, questioning.
When i still didn't move he asked, "Well? Are you getting out or not?"
I sighed and stayed where I was. "I forgot my wallet at home. Your fault by the way, since you were rushing me."
He rolled his eyes and got out of the car, walking over to the passenger's door. He opened the door and before I could do anything he had unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled me out of the car. "Come on," he said while walking away. Looking over his shoulder he continued with, "It's on me. If it makes you feel better I haven't been to an amusement park since I was thirteen."
"I'm not letting you pay for me, Fang," I told him, still standing by the car. He turned around and started towards me really fast. Before I knew what was happening I was being carried to the entrance, slumped over Fang's shoulder. I pound on his back, trying to get him to set me down. "Fang," I complained. "Set me down, people are staring." And people were, I mean it's Saturday, the busiest day for an amusement park.
"Be quiet, Max, you're ruining my fun." Fang's voice was slightly muffled from where I was. I had never seen this side of him, the one where he was in a good mood. "Plus, I didn't drive two hours just to go back home." I sighed and stopped struggling. Now that all my weight was on my stomach, I registered the pain with every step Fang took. It was not fun being bounced over a shoulder on a bruised stomach. I swallowed my discomfort though, knowing that if Fang realized I was hurting, he'd shut down and go back to wearing his stone mask.
I was finally set down when we reached the end of the parking lot. I huffed, hiding a grin and led the way to get our tickets. I stopped at the entrance and waited impatiently for Fang who was taking his time slowly walking up to us. I rolled my eyes at him and turned to smile at the lady behind the glass. She smiled back and waited patiently.
Finally, Fang dropped money on the counter and I pulled him into the park. "How have you not been here in five years?" I asked, incredulous. I had come last summer with a bunch of friends, including Dylan. It was this big celebration at the end of the school year and about twenty people showed up, even though we had only invited half of them.
He just shrugged and looked around. "Where do you wanna start?" he asked, staring at one of the bigger roller coasters. He didn't look scared, but then again, it was Fang. For all I knew he was mentally screaming while begging me to not go on it.
I took his hand and started heading toward one of the smaller coasters, deciding to start small and work our way up to the big ones. I prefered the fast ones with the loops and upside down parts, but I had to work out how Fang felt about them. He would never straight out tell me, even if I asked.
He ended up liking the same roller coasters as me. We rode them for at least an hour, if not more. When we had ridden all the rides- even the ferris wheel- we took a break to play the arcade games. Naturally, I sucked at all of them, but Fang was a master at pretty much everyone. After half an hour of games, I declared that I was hungry, so we went over to the food court.
Fang ended up getting a slice of pizza and a milkshake. I, on the other hand got a double cheeseburger, a large order of fries, a soda, and an ice cream cone. My apple breakfast did not hold me over for long as you can see. Fang scoffed at what I got but handed me the money anyway. I felt bad, taking his money like this. Even when I went somewhere with Dylan I always limited what I got so as to not look like a pig, and so I wasn't that expensive of a date.
Yet, I didn't care how Fang thought of me. I didn't matter how much I ate or how windswept my hair was. It was kind of nice. With the money situation, I knew I was paying him back as soon as I got home. In fact I had added up everything as we went along, adding in money for gas.
After lunch I had to go to the bathroom so we walked over to the restrooms. Fang pointed out a bench a little bit from the bathrooms and said he'd meet me there. While washing my hands I looked up at my messy hair and attempted to tame it. It took a bit of water but I finally got it to calm down.
I walked out of the bathroom into the bright sun. I was drying my hands on my pants when I saw someone who looked familiar. As soon as I recognised them they looked me in the eye. I was stuck between pretending not to have seen him and continuing to Fang, or get it over with. I knew that he knew I had seen him so with a glance at Fang I walked towards him.
The guy who I followed into a space between buildings just happened to be my boyfriend. I have no idea how he knew where I was. It kind of scared me, because I hadn't told anyone and my phone was at home.
Gathering courage I stopped in front of him and tried for a smile. I'm pretty sure it didn't work though. "Hi," I said, trying to sound happy to see him, but images from last night were flashing through my head and my stomach was aching from the day's exertion.
Dylan walked towards me, backing me into the side of one of the buildings. Without saying a word he crashed his lips to mine. I was too surprised and scared to respond to him though and he didn't seem to like that. He pushed me harder into the wall, gripping my wrists in a painful hold. I gasped as he squeezed my wrists even tighter.
He seemed to realize that I wasn't going to kiss him anytime soon and he pushed himself off me. Getting close to my face he practically growled, "You're gonna like it when I kiss you and you are gonna kiss me back." I smelled alcohol on his breath, and it looked like he didn't sleep last night.
"You're drunk, Dylan," I told him quietly. "You should go home and sleep it off." He definitely didn't like what I said. I could tell by the way he slapped me before I was even done talking. I coward against the wall, trying to get away from him, but he gripped my face between one of his hands.
"Don't you disrespect me, Max," he growled again. "Or there will be trouble." With that he stalked out of the alley and disappeared in the crowd. I looked down at my wrists to see that they were already red with purple in the middle. Lifting a hand to my cheek, I felt the warmth beneath my fingers. The redness of my face could be hidden by my hair or brushed off as sunburn, but there was no way Fang wouldn't notice my wrists.
I took a deep breath and stepped into the crowd, crossing my arms and tucking my wrists out of sight. When I reached the bench where I was supposed to meet Fang I saw that he was on his phone, whether texting or playing a game I wasn't sure. I sat down with my recently slapped cheek facing away from him, trying to prolong his notice of it.
He looked up at me and grinned, but it dropped as soon as he saw me try to smile. Apparently it wasn't that convincing as he said, "What's wrong? What happened? Why did you take such a long time?" I had never heard him ask so many questions at one time. Usually I would tease him about it, but the look on his face told me I was caught.
I watched as he studied my crossed arms and the hair covering my cheek. Fang reached for my arms and pried them apart. When he saw my wrists he sucked in a breath and clenched his jaw. He then moved my hair out of the way and studied my cheek.
"These aren't from last night," he said in a deadly quiet voice. "Tell me what happened Max." I could tell from the look on his face that he meant business and that he didn't want me fooling around. I relented and told him what had just happened in a quiet voice, never meeting his eyes. When I was done he stood up, a deadly look on his face.
"I'm going to kill him," he muttered to himself. I was about to ask who he was talking about, because it didn't seem like he was talking about Dylan, but he cut me off. "Come on. I'm taking you home."
I stood up and he placed a hand on my back, guiding us through the crowd to his car. As soon as I was in he pulled out of the spot and off we went.
Okay that took me two days to write. This my longest chapter ever! About me being MIA for the past two weeks, the first week I have no explanation but then I had computer trouble. This would've been up earlier but my dog got loose and I had to look for him. Turned out he crawled under my porch and got his leash stuck... He's not the smartest dog. Thanks for reading and everything. Please review!