Lie Tonight – Chapter 5

By MyNameIsCAL

"Angel called me last night," I told Gazzy. "She wanted to apologize."

He frowned. "An apology can barely amount to anything. She ruined your relationship with Max. Angel manipulated Max to believe that being with you would put our lives in danger. And she wants to say sorry? She must be joking."

"She called me three in the morning," I told him. "Is she invited to the wedding?"

"Of course she is," Gazzy threw his hands in the air. "Max isn't mad at her."

"Remind me to stay away from Angel," I muttered.

"Maybe you should stay away from Max too," Gazzy said. "Before you end up doing something stupid."

I sighed. Max and I had crossed that line once already. He was probably right.

"I'll be careful," I promised him.

"Right because kissing her last night was just so careful of you," Gazzy shook his head.

Before I could respond, there was a knock on the door.

"Fang, I mean it," Gazzy warned.

Ignoring him, I opened the door and let Max in.

"Good morning," she smiled, heading to the kitchen.

"Coffee's on the counter if you want some," I told her. "Be right back. I gotta change."

"Hey, Fang, I'm leavin' to Phoenix now for a film meeting. I'll be back tonight, ok?" Gazzy stopped me before I got to me room.

"Ok, sure," I nodded.

When I came back, changed out of my night clothes, Max was sitting at the kitchen table sipping her coffee. I took a seat next to her.

"Last night…" Max began. "That never happened, ok?"

"Like that night weeks ago?" I remarked.

"Yeah," she said, almost reluctantly.

I miss you, I thought to myself. I miss us. I miss you and me. I wish I could tell her that, but I had a feeling this conversation was already ending. Max would start talking about wedding plans again and then we'd be off ignoring what we were previously discussing. Besides, it was too late now. Sam and Max were getting married no matter what. I needed to let go already. I needed to let go a long time ago.

"Gazzy thinks we should stay away from each other," I sighed. "I think he might be right."

Max had this sad look on her face. I wanted to pull her into a hug and tell her that things would be okay. And then I wanted to beg her not to marry Sam.

"I mean, do you ever think Angel was wrong?" I asked her.

"Angel is never wrong," Max said. "And you know how much that killed me to walk away from you like that…"

"But it was to protect everyone," I finished for her. Angel's lie. She still believed it.

"I used to think about you every night," she said, avoiding my eyes. "I couldn't stand to be with Sam, but you know, he kept me distracted from thinking about you."

"Is that why you're marrying him?" I frowned.

"No." But there seemed to be an edge to her voice that suggested she was holding something back, or lying.

Our eyes met for a moment, and then I said, "What are we doing today?"

She opened and closed her mouth several times. I was ending a conversation that she still seemed she wanted to talk about. "We're picking out a cake. Sam is going to meet us at the bakery."

"Great, then let's get going," I told her.

"It's great to see you," Sam smiled, shaking my hand.

"It's good to see you too." I forced a smile back.

He went to Max and kissed her, his arm coming around her as they led the way into the bakery. Why was I even here?

"So Fang and I picked out the color scheme yesterday," Max told Sam. "Red, something livelier than dull colors."

"That sounds great," Sam responded.

The lady inside the bakery showed us to the back office and started to pull out albums of cakes she had made for different occasions.

Max introduced us. "This is my fiancé, Sam, and my maid of honor, Fang."

The lady, Betty, I think her name was, seemed amused. "Ah, good. A man for the maid of honor. Traditional weddings are quite boring these days."

They laughed and I watched them, flipping through the albums. Betty would stop them every now and then to tell a little story. My mind was somewhere else though.

"What do you think of this one, Fang?" Max questioned.

I stared at the picture. "Sure, it'll match the color scheme."

Sam and Max talked about it for a while.

"Alright, let's go with this one," Sam decided.

"Wonderful," Betty exclaimed.

They arranged for it to be dropped off where the reception would be and we headed back to the parking lot.

"Will you be joining us for lunch?" Max asked Sam.

He pulled Max into a hug. "I'm sorry, Love, but I've got to get back to the office to finish things up."

"Alright, I'll see you later for dinner then?" Max looked up at him.

"Absolutely," he assured her. "I'll see you later. I love you."

"Love you too," Max said.

As the wedding drew closer, I started to put distance between Max and me. I found myself working more hours at Iggy's place again. Ever since that conversation I had with Max, we had been finding ourselves not wanting to spend time around each other anymore. Sam had also taken off work to focus on wedding plans and I couldn't watch them together.

"Sam booked this place to have his bachelor party," Iggy informed me as I walked in one morning.

I sighed, sitting at the bar.

"I'm telling you because I know you don't want to be here for that," Iggy continued to speak.

"Thanks," I muttered.

There was a little less than a month left until Max's wedding now.