For the Gazzy lovers… enjoy.
Update is for BookLover711's Project Pull. See her profile (or mine, for a link to hers) for details.
Chapter 19: Look
The Gasman scraped his sneakers across the cracks in the pavement, his toes poking through a rather large hole. He had just landed from a three hour flight, and it was probably around noon. He was lost.
This place was unfamiliar to him. He guessed it was probably a really popular city, from the hundreds of people buzzing up and down the street, in and out of shops. But despite all of the people, he felt incredibly lonely. Every once in awhile, he would raise his head, give a tentative smile to a stranger, but he didn't receive an acknowledgement in return. The strangers didn't even bother to give him their usual disgusted look at his torn clothes and grungy hair. It was almost as if they saw right through him.
Well, they certainly weren't the only ones, Gazzy thought bitterly. Max had acted like he was invisible for the past… he didn't even know how long. He just knew it had been a very, very long time.
Maybe it had started when they went on the cruise. Maybe it was even before that. But Max had always been very self-sufficient. The Gasman knew that she loved the Flock, but she didn't always know what was best for them. Most of the time, she just made decisions based on what she thought was right.
And up until now, that really hadn't been an issue. Sometimes Max screwed up, and Gazzy understood that. But by ripping him away from his mom, she had gone too far.
The Gasman's throat got all tight, like there was a sock stuck inside it. This just made him feel even worse. It reminded him of that time when he and Max and the rest of the Flock were living at the E-shaped house. Jeb had been gone for ages, and although they all knew that he was probably dead, they chose to ignore the fact. Like that made it any easier.
Max had gotten up that morning, dressed in her usual t-shirt and ripped jeans, and was helping Iggy set the table for breakfast. But for some reason, Nudge and Angel decided that very day that they had had enough of Max's lack of fashion.
As they came downstairs, Max continued helping Iggy, not even noticing that something strange was about to happen. Nudge was dragging behind her a large, flowery cosmetic bag and Angel had an assortment of hair ties, makeup, curling irons, and lip gloss piled up in her arms. They silently snuck into the kitchen, and Angel dropped her stuff with a thud on the table. Max's head snapped up, just as Nudge wrapped a blindfold around her eyes and Angel cuffed her hands with a pair of Gazzy's toy handcuffs. Max flailed and tried to wriggle out of their grasp, but Nudge had already tied her arms to the chair and was proceeding to fasten her legs. Angel gagged her with a sock.
It was almost a comical site, seeing Max, who always loved being in control, blinded, muted, and tied down. She thrashed violently at the rope, muttering curse words that were muffled by the sock in her mouth, but the girls' method was fool-proof. She couldn't escape.
After Max had finally quieted down, Angel spoke softly to her.
"Now, Max. We've decided that we've had enough of your fashion sense, or lack thereof. So," she said, getting right to the point, "we've decided to give you a makeover."
. . .
Gazzy had expected Max to scream. He had expected her to fight against the ropes that held her down. He had at least expected her to have some sort of horrified reaction.
But he was wrong. Max took awhile to register Angel's words, but as she did, she sort of slumped down in the chair and was silent. Angel looked at Nudge in alarm, but Nudge waved her off. "Max is fine. She'll recover from her shock eventually. And by then, we'll nearly be done."
The sisters grinned mischievously, looking rather like Iggy and Gazzy, but they were holding nail polish and mascara instead of explosive devices.
"Now, I was thinking about what to do with her," Nudge continued on. "I mean, we could choose a lot of different routes. She could be preppy. Tomboy. Casual. Dressy. Skateboarder. Sexy."
"What's sexy?" Gazzy piped up.
"Nothing you need to know," Angel frowned at him. The Gasman grumbled. He hated when his younger sister knew more than he did.
"But I don't know, I was thinking something simpler. Pretty. You know what I mean?"
Angel nodded, although Gazzy was pretty sure she had no idea what Nudge meant.
"Well, then. Let's get started."
. . .
Fang turned up the dial on the radio, to drown out the shouts of Max and Nudge.
Honestly, he really didn't want to know what was going on down there.
Paramore was blasting from the radio, and Fang lay back on his bed and closed his eyes. Hayley Williams' voice rose over the sound of the guitars in the background. Damn, was she hot.
And speaking of hotness…
Max.
Damn. She was even hotter.
She was like… the freaking queen of hotness.
The definition of hotness.
Hotness on legs.
Damn.
Fang sighed.
Life sucks, sometimes.
. . .
An hour later, Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel were still in the kitchen, Max remaining a hostage. Iggy had left awhile ago, out of pure boredom, Gazzy guessed, but he himself didn't want to leave. He had never seen a girl getting made over before. Actually, it was quite interesting.
The Gasman mentally slapped himself. It was no good to have thoughts like that, especially with a mind reader in the room.
Angel smirked at him, and he narrowed his eyes.
Minutes passed by, Gazzy watching, entranced, as Nudge and Angel performed magic. Max was still blindfolded, and had no idea what sight she would face the moment she looked in the mirror.
After what seemed like ages, Nudge wiped her hands on her skirt, stepped back, and admired her handiwork. Angel stood next to her, nodding her head in approval.
"I think we're done."
. . .
Fang's stomach rumbled loudly, and he looked at the clock. 7:30. Over two hours had passed, with him sitting here wasting time. And, dang, was he hungry.
He snapped off the radio, and rushed down the stairs, hoping to find some leftovers in the fridge.
But instead, he was met with a sight that he thought he would never live to see.
. . .
As Nudge was untying Max's hands and removing her blindfold, they heard the sound of feet pounding down the stairs. Fang skidded to a halt on the floor, and had to catch himself with the railing.
Max blinked in the bright light, after being blindfolded for so long, and raised her eyes to meet Fang's.
Fang's eyes widened. And widened. Until Gazzy thought they just might pop right out of his head.
Fang made a strangled noise, and stumbled out the back door.
. . .
Max reached out, tried to wrench herself from Nudge's grasp and go after Fang, but Nudge held on.
"Nudge! Let me go, dammit!"
"No, Max. Fang is fine. He's just a little stunned right now. I don't think you understand why."
Nudge led Max by the arm into the bathroom, and flipped on the light.
Max fell to her knees.
"My… m-my… MY HAIR! MY FACE! MY CLOTHES!" She lunged at Nudge. "WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BODY? NO WONDER FANG WAS HORRIFIED!"
Nudge dodged Max, almost running into Angel, who was holding onto the door frame, laughing.
"This. Is. Not. Funny. I honestly cannot believe you two. Look what you've done!"
Angel regained her composure, and gave Max a tentative smile.
"Max. You look beautiful. And Fang wasn't horrified. He actually – he actually thought you were… hot."
Max's eyes widened, and she let out a small "Oh." And with that, she turned around, and ran up to her room.
. . .
Later that night, Gazzy found Max staring into the bathroom mirror, touching her newly styled hair in wonder.
"Gazzy… do you think I'm... hot?"
The Gasman stared at her, incredulous.
Sometimes, girls could be so stupid.
. . .
The Gasman opened his eyes in a daze. He hadn't been asleep, but he'd been caught up in that memory of life in the E-Shaped house. Life when Max hadn't been so stressed. Life when they'd all been happy.
And at that moment, remembering Max, tied to a chair with a sock stuffed in her mouth, Nudge and Angel attacking her with makeup and nail polish, the Gasman knew he had to go back to the Flock.
Because, although they could all be idiots, he loved his Flock.
Wow… that flashback turned out to be really, really, long. I don't really know if I like it or not. Hmm.
And sorry about the Paramore reference. Honestly, I couldn't resist.