Recap: The serenity faded from Roxanne's face. Roxanne began to frown slightly, her face creasing with every passing second. Suddenly, she started coughing and sputtering. Max, who did not notice earlier, heard her and looked up.
"Roxanne—what's wrong?!"
Chapter 3:
But poor Roxanne could not speak. She continued coughing, and looked up at Max with red, watery eyes. Mona looked highly amused, but no one noticed her.
"Are you choking?" Max demanded; about to start patting her back. Roxanne shook her head robustly and pointed in her mouth, still coughing. She then started to charade a person drinking. "Water?" Max guessed. "Do you need water?"
After seeing Roxanne nod vigorously, he grabbed a pitcher of cold water and quickly poured it into a glass, spilling some in his haste. He then handed this to Roxanne, who snatched it up and sloshed it down her throat. After the first glass, she began to calm down and breath heavily, but her eyes were still reddish as she looked at Max. "More," she said in a strained voice, handing out the glass.
Max obeyed and handed her back the full glass. She then drank it up and wiped a tear of her eye. "That's better," she said, her voice becoming more normal.
Max breathed a sigh of relief. "What did you eat anyway?" he asked tiredly, sinking back onto his chair.
"Just that," replied Roxanne, pointing at the bowl of orange colored soup in front of her. Max leaned forward to look.
"Why—that's Mona's special!" he cried. "I've tried it before and it tastes delicious… are you sure you didn't eat anything else?"
"Positive."
Max turned to look at Mona for the first time during the whole dinner. Mona quickly turned the amused look on her face to a concerned one. "Mona," said Max, "was there anything in there that you didn't put in before?"
Oh sure, Mona thought, Black pepper, Worcestershire, hot sauce… but don't worry, I just poured in the whole bottles. She did not say it, however. "I… maybe some pepper got onto the soup," she said. "I did find this empty bottle on the floor…" she fished the small bottle out of her apron and Max's eyes went wide.
"It did!" he said. "That's the pepper bottle…!"
"Oh how very unfortunate," said Mona frostily, shaking her head.
Roxanne sighed. "You guys saved me three timed today," she said. "First, that malicious neighbor, next, the knife… now the soup…"
"Don't say that," Max appeared behind her and massaged her shoulders reassuringly. "We all get bad days sometimes."
"Well—I guess this is the time to end it," Roxanne replied. "I'm going back to my apartment now."
"No! You haven't even finished dinner," argued Max.
"I'm not hungry anymore anyway," said Roxanne. "Besides, maybe I should go on a diet… guys like girls as thin like Mona, right?"
"Well—I'm not going to force you to eat, but no diets," Max cleared his throat to say the next sentence. "You're as pretty as you are."
Roxanne smiled. "Well, thanks for letting me visit," said the latter, getting up. She attempted to turn and walk but immediately fell forward. "Agh!"
"Roxanne!" Luckily, Max had gotten there before she fell. "I forgot all about your leg. Are you all right?"
"Yeah," said Roxanne. "It's not very serious… but I'm going to have to do something about the skin so I can walk properly again. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow."
"Right," said Max, frowning. "But you're sleeping with us tonight so we can help you."
Roxanne's eyes widened. "But I've given you too much trouble…!"
"Nonsense. Who's going to help you when you go and leave the hospital?"
Silence came over Roxanne. "Oh—all right," she said in a gentle yet grudging voice.
--
Mona meanwhile, had the urge to scream, writhe, and tear down everything, most particularly the one who had started it all—Roxanne. The persistent little redhead could do with kissing up to Max during dinner—but having to stay overnight was ruining all her plans. She had wanted it to be one special night—one night where she would be all alone with Max, taking their relationship to the next level and then he would be all hers.
Mona was unaware of the fact—or perhaps she refused to believe—that the reason Roxanne was staying one night with them was all her fault. If Mona had not injured her leg, then she would not need help. The soup and the knife had been nothing but interferences with her attempts of having Max all to herself.
When bedtime came, however, Mona was starting to get her hopes up as Max left the bedroom to let the two of them change. Mona had chosen special nightdress that she had rarely worn for that night, and she had to suppress a snicker when she saw Roxanne's baby blue striped attire. The redhead had chosen something she probably wore most of the nights. It was a long sleeved pajama top, and matching pajama shorts.
Mona, meanwhile, had donned a thin, satin nightdress that went only a couple of inches below her hips. It was baby pink, not her favorite color, but she had chosen it exceptionally for the special occasion, and as she examined herself in the full-length mirror, she smirked, knowing it was the right choice.
"Wow, Mo, that's a real nice outfit you've got there. What's the special occasion?" Her rival's cheerful, joking voice broke into her thoughts.
Mo? Since when did she ask for permission to call her nicknames? It had already aggravated her enough, allowing Roxanne to think that they were on a first name basis.
Now Mona was just about to turn around and give her a piece of her mind, if Max had not slowly opened the door, and uncertainly ask, "You girls done yet?"
Roxanne grinned broadly at him from her seat on the bed. "Yeah, we are. Still, you'd better knock next time, Max, you know how long girls usually take."
Max sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah," he said, smiling faintly. He examined Roxanne's attire. "Wow, you really are into shorts."
"Yeah, I am. I'll have to get used to pants, but I've got an idea."
"Idea? What—?"
"Ahem?"
Mona couldn't help but cut their 'small talk'. She just currently couldn't help being unnoticed, especially now since she had dressed to impress the very one who had been ignoring her. But this time it wasn't a failure, and Max's reaction was a great reward after all her failed attempts, and now she had gotten a single glimpse of success, with just one single word.
Max stared at her like she was most outstanding, like she had been the moon and the stars all rolled into one. Her standing there, one hand gracing her hip, and one leg before the other, looking very mesmerizing, quite took his breath away! (Humph)
"W-wow, Mona…" he said with difficulty, "you look really… really good in pink!"
Mona's face twitched. Okay, maybe he was just stammering because her beauty took him aback. She excused the lame compliment. "Thanks, Max," she said saucily as she leisurely brushed past him, making her way to the bed. Max's eyes followed her. Softly, she plopped herself onto the bed. Roxanne blinked at the dumbstruck Max and the triumphant Mona. She didn't understand anything.
"Er… so shall we…? You know, sleep?"
Max seemed to snap out of it, much to Mona's annoyance. Every time she nearly got Max crawling onto the palm of her hand, Roxanne had to ruin it! "Oh yeah!" said Max, seeming to completely forget all about his girlfriend. "'Kay, listen, I got the sleeping plan thought out already… what about you and Mona sleep together on the bed, and I sleep on the mini mattress on the floor—"
The two girls protested at the same time.
"But Max—!"
"—You can't just do that, I'll sleep on the futon!"
Max shook his head. "No, Roxanne. You're hurt, and besides, you're the guest. You need to get as much rest as possible."
"But as the guest decides where she sleeps—I demand—"
"NO." As if the matter was settled, he crouched into the futon and pulled the covers over himself, facing away from the girls. The light dimmed, and Roxanne made her way towards Max. Mona's eyebrow shot up with suspicion. What—?
"If you're not getting on the bed, I'm sleeping here with you!" she declared and pulled the covers over herself as well. Mona turned red with rage that nobody could see. Resisting the urge to become violent, she came up with a plan that would raise no suspicion.
"Come on, guys, I'm not sleeping alone!" Mona tried making her voice sound joking as she crawled onto the other side of Max, and it worked. Max rolled his eyes.
"Sometimes you girls are too much to handle. Well, 'night everyone."
Mona narrowed her small eyes as Max and Roxanne closed theirs. She couldn't sleep. The first thing that came to her mind was to keep them from hugging each other, or grasping arms and all that crap. But the second thing was to kick Roxanne out of the room and rejoice. And now, how to do this…?
…
"AAAAAGGGH!"
OO
--
A/N: Sorry for keeping you waiting, I—HEY! Watch where you throw that axe! Don't worry people—NO! Not about me—Roxanne! Don't worry about her 'cause—ACK! WILL YOU LET ME FINISH?! Yes, that scream seems like a clue to another problem, but—THE HELL, I AIN'T GIVING YOU NO SPOILERS! AND YOU WEAPON THROWERS; YOU DESERVED THIS SHORT CHAPTER! Augh, you got me! NOT! (Runs and hides)