DISCLAIMER: I don't own MR.

Max

A list of things I'm not really supposed to do (according to Nudge) but did anyway:

1) Waited for Fang to call, even if my Mom or the Gasman was still using the phone.

2) Repeatedly looked at my phone, in the hopes that he would text.

3) Stared at my email inbox all day, refreshing every five minutes to see if Fang sent an email.

4) Stared at him with my peripheral vision, which was hard because he usually sat at the back during homeroom (the only one we had together).

5) Tried to come up with excuses to talk to him, like not knowing homework in a class where we had the same teacher.

I'm pretty sure there are a lot more than what I've mentioned. But I wouldn't want to bore or put anyone to sleep.

It's not that I actually told them everything. Not yet. But according to this book Nudge reads, you can't always chase after a boy, because when you chase something, the chances of that thing running away gets higher. So according to the girl universe, I cannot act like a cat going after a mouse. Or a little kid going after a ball. Or a fan girl running after a fictional character that never existed. Well, the third one might be an exception, but that's not what I'm trying to say here.

It feels so weird that I haven't been having a real conversation with Fang in almost a year. Back then, even if I was the girl who always wanted to be with him (in a non-dramatic way), I liked being close friends with him. No, that did not mean I appreciated being friend zoned. I just really wanted to know him more before having a future relationship with him.

And now it's obvious that it's never going to happen.

I can just imagine the girls' faces if I ever told them about the hospital incident. I'm pretty sure it would go like this:

"Max, Max, Max." Nudge said. "Three years is too freaking long."

"Tell that to the Department of Education. They gave us four."

"Nice attempt at humor, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about you liking Fang for too long and not attempting to make conversation with him and then suddenly switching the topic just to tell him that you like him."

"What she said." Ella chimed in.

"Max, you do know that I can now describe you with adjectives that you never ever wanted to be used on you?" Angel asked.

"Then please care to enlighten me and tell me what those adjectives are."

"Single, desperate, shy, stalker-ish, and in love. Wait, did I mention desperate?"

"No, Angel. I am perfectly fine with being described as single. And yes, you did say desperate, which, by the way I am not. I like Fang, but I haven't been constructing crazy plans to get us together, have I?"

"No, you probably aren't desperate, but you look like it." Nudge said.

"Why don't you make a move now?" Ella asked. "I mean, looking at the way he looks at you, or how much he talks just to tell you random stuff, it's obvious he likes you."

"Oh he does," I said nonchalantly. "He told me."

Three pairs of eyes widened in surprised. "What did you tell him?" Angel asked.

"That I wasn't ready, and stuff about the three month rule."

And then came three, three- quarters pissed looks.

Actually, I have something funny and weird to say about that.

It actually happened. The only difference was that it was longer. That was just the beginning and the end. I cut out the middle because there were too many made- to- convince speeches about getting up and telling Fang I love him and kissing him right then and there (that one was Nudge's idea which I refused, of course).

So, yes they were pissed. Then they started talking about plans on what I should do to get his attention or whatever I had to do to build up to me telling him how I really felt.

The thing was, I actually kind of not- refused. Because, I admit that I regret what I did, and I also admit that I am desperate enough to do anything to erase it from both Fang's and my memories. Because I liked him, and yes, my waiting period has been too long. It was almost the end of our last year together, and no way am I messing it up by leaving for college without saying a word to him.

So for the first time, instead of going with the flow, I was actually swimming against the current.

Three Days Later

When there's a problem, there will always be a plan. And when a plan is needed, Nudge is always the first person to come up with one, as ridiculous and unrealistic as it may be.

I watched as Nudge took a swig of Redbull and sighed with the satisfaction of having a sugar rush start inside her. She did over talk whenever she had a dose of caffeine, but it usually gets unbearable after the fifth can. Plus, it was really late at night, and she was sleeping at my place since we were partners on a project pulling an all- nighter.

"So, about Fang…" she started.

"No, Nudge." I replied. "Not now. We are partners pulling an all- nighter because our darn teacher in Statistics wants us to make a thesis. We are NOT pulling an all- nighter because we need to talk about what I need to do about the mystery which is my relationship status concerning Fang."

"But you have to admit, it would be better than doing this." She said, motioning to sheets of paper scattered all over the floor which contained rows and rows of numbers. Nudge was right about that since both of us had repeated several calculations and our brains were ready to blow up.

"Okay, you have a point. But it's only slightly better than this." I said, and set my thumb and index finger apart a teeny bit, the gap between them not seen afar.

Nudge stood up and straightened her posture, so that she looked like a professional. "Sit there." She said, pointing to my desk chair. I sat down and she started pacing.

"So, as I recall you saying three days ago, you had spent the night in the hospital with Tess and Fang."

"Yes."

"And you were talking quietly while Tess was asleep."

"Yes."

"And you dared him to tell you a secret."

"Yes."

"And then he told you he liked you."

"Yes."

"And then he kissed you."

"Yes."

"And then after that the two of you talked and you decided to ignore him the rest of the year."

"Yes, but I didn't.. It was… Okay, fine. I 'decided to ignore him the rest of the year'."

"He told you he liked you?"

"Yes."

"I ask again, He told you he liked you?"

"Yes." I said, a tiny bit of irritation in my voice.

"He said you-"

"Yes, he said he liked me. Why are you making such a huge deal out of it."

"Thank you, I was expecting that question."

"So why is it such a huge deal?"

"That's like God proving to you that unicorns are real by giving you one. But instead, you'll be saying, 'Gee, not thanks. I'd rather have that brownie that'll last about ten seconds instead."

"How is the brownie related to this?"

"Fang said he liked you. God wanted to give you a unicorn. Then he kissed you, and he meant it. By 'he', I mean Fang. You traded a good offer that was going to last for a sucky, short term investment."

"And by that, you mean…"

"Wouldn't you want to hold his hand and kiss him whenever you want? Or would you rather kiss him for, like, ten seconds and ignore him for the rest of the year and act like nothing happened?"

"Okay, okay, I see your point there, but…"

"But what? The three-month dating rule? You could've just told him to wait a bit."

"But if he didn't? What if in those three months, something happened -not just to him, but to me, too- that would change everything?"

"So you're saying you have doubts?"

"No, it's just that…"

"Believe it or not, I'm pretty sure he started liking you sophomore year. The way he looked at you, and how it seemed like he always glanced at you, especially during Aladdin… It's a pretty long time. The two of you have been holding back from each other for so long that it's driving everyone crazy."

"I'm sure we are. But Nudge, we're the two most awkward people in the world. I have only told him four sentences for the past year: 'Hi'; 'How are you'; 'I'm doing pretty good'; and 'I'll see you Monday'. How are you sure that we can possibly fix this in less than a month?"

"There you are again Max, being pessimistic -slash- realistic. Don't worry; I always have a plan. I'll just run them by Ella and Angel first."

The first thing that Angel did when we met up to discuss Nudge's plans was hug me and make fake sniffing noises.

Seriously, after being friends with her for a very long time, I will still never understand that girl.

"Aw, look at you Maxie," she cooed, which by the way is gross, "you're all grown up. You won't need my help anymore; the vibes has already put itself to good use supplying you with all the information you needed. Now, it's your choice to decide on how you want it to be."

"You have to admit," Ella said as soon as Angel released me, "that it was a bit cute behind all the creepiness."

"Well, yeah, something like that." I replied, and we made our way to Auntie Marie's, the same coffee shop where I first saw Fang with my friends around. A tiny part of me hoped that he would walk by while we sat in our usual window booth. The rest of me hoped that he would not, seeing that Angel and Ella were going to discuss Nudge's possibly horrific and ridiculous plans.

"So, that's pretty much it?" I asked, eyeing the thick manila envelope the two brought. I somehow felt like a gangster or mafia or whatever those guys were who made shady deals in wide open public spaces.

"According to Nudge, there might be a couple more." Ella replied.

"Oh joy," I said, reaching out for the envelope and pulling out its contents. Several Redbull-stained sheets of paper were covered with Nudge's handwriting. A couple of diagrams (aka possible outfit combinations) were drawn and colored, and the rest were in words, with something hi- lighted every paragraph or so.

"If I'm not mistaken, Nudge put that in order on which plan is easiest, outfits and all." Angel added.

I grabbed the sheet of paper on top. On it was a hastily drawn outfit consisting of my everyday wardrobe: sneakers, jeans, and a shirt or some hoodie. The only difference was that they were in blinding shades of girly colors. Overall, the ensemble was suspiciously comfortable. I looked at the heading and realized why.

"You do know that this first one is the hardest, right?"

Ella took the paper and run a finger through it. "Well, it's not that complicated. It's pretty basic, but, yeah, it is sort of hard, considering the situation between you two.

"Yep. And therefore, I have concluded that there is no way in hell am I going to doing this."

"Do we have to give you more speeches again?" Angel asked.

"Well, you can try, but this is the real world, and in the real world, there is no way this is going to happen. Ever."

"But it's easy." Ella said in a sing- song voice as she held the paper up. "Don't you like easy?"

"Geez, Ella, put that down." I replied, snatching the paper. "What if Fang just so happened to walk by and see this?"

"Then you'll get the chance to talk, and then you'll get to change the topic and finally tell him everything. Happily ever after."

"Or maybe he'll get creeped out and never talk to you again." Angel chimed in. "But that's just hypothetical."

"And that is what I'm talking about."

"Oh come on, his name isn't even mentioned here. But on second thought, he might think that you're actually making an attempt at rating outfits, and that might be weird." Ella replied.

"Exactly what I was thinking." I said. "So I'll just get the next plan-"

"And rant about how ridiculous it is and question no one on how the hell Nudge came up with it." Angel finished.

"Well, that's a possibility. And it is sort of a routine."

"But then in the end, you'll do it anyway and even if it does not go exactly as planned, it does yield better results than the ones you have in mind." She added. Though not exactly true, some of Nudge's crazy ideas were totally worth it. Like auditioning for Glee club. Even if I didn't get in, Lissa's face was the best thing my knuckles destroyed.

"Let's just put that at the bottom of the stack, shall we?" I asked, already slipping it at the bottom before they could say anything.

They both shrugged. "If you say so," Ella said.

"But you do recall the farther it gets to, the more ridiculous it is?" Angel asked

"Yes, I do recall that. But I just can't do it. It's too… Impossible."

"Ah, senior year." Dad said, and yes, it was once again during one of our several Skype calls. "You do realize that the moment of truth -whether you'll be spending college here or not- is getting nearer and nearer."

"Yes, it is. And I swear that I am studying."

"So, what about Fang? I'm pretty sure he has no plans of going to Paris to pursue his career in…"

"From what I've heard, he's planning to major in either Music or English, so his chances of going to Paris are zero."

"Well, where is he planning to go?"

"No idea, hasn't told me yet."

"Let me guess, another awkward phase?"

"Yes."

"That means he likes you."

"Great. First Nudge, then Angel and Ella, and now you?"

"Give me some credit, I'm a guy. If you ask your mom, she'll tell you we had a lot of awkward phases, too. But we did get married, and we did have two children, didn't we?"

"Okay, okay, I get your point. But that was like, almost three decades ago. But this is the twenty- first century, Dad. Things are more complicated now."

"You just wait; there will be a lot of very unexpected events concerning the two of you that will come. And I am willing to bet that they will be happening before the two of you part ways for college. The soonest will probably be on your graduation."

"Sure, sure, I will."

"Speaking of, did you get the finals care package I sent you?"

"Yes, I did."

"Including the box with the combination lock?"

"Yup. Plus the letter about telling me to wait for you to give me the combo. What's in it, anyway?"

"You'll find out in a minute. Go get it, and I'll tell you how to open it."

I went across the room and got the box, which was resting at the bottom of the piles of candies, energy drinks, and jars of Nutella.

"This is it, the moment of truth," he said, and raised a piece of paper with the combination written on it. I opened the box and found an envelope inside.

"Am I supposed to open it?"

"You are. It's my graduation gift to you. Don't worry; I'm sure you know what to do with it."

I eagerly tore the envelope open and took out it's contents.

It was a plane ticket to Paris. Scheduled a month after graduation.

"Do you like it?" He asked.

"How did you manage to get a ticket for a flight that's scheduled almost two months in the future?"

He shrugged. "Connections. By that time, you'll probably have everything cleared up, right?"

"Yeah I guess."

This was totally weird. Why would he support me full on and then send me away from Fang? Was he assuming that he would still like me after I came back form Paris several years later? This was the twenty- first century after all. If a lot happened in three months, then I'd be missing out on a ton of stuff in four years.

"You do know that by 'everything' I meant Fang."

"Yeah, I had this vague idea."

It hit me that things wouldn't go out as planned. Nudge, Ella, and Angel would be disappointed that the results were not going to be as satisfactory, and that we were going to get more than separated during college seeing as I was going to be on another continent. There would be no summer romances, since nothing would ever last for more than a month.

I would be more than leaving Fang, too.

Right then, I knew what I had to do.

I had to tell him.

At least five more chapters left.

On the other hand, how was your Tuesday? (You know, that Tuesday, feast of San Valentino) I spent mine watching other fellow Math geeks argue about parenthesis placements and how to write fractions properly.

Well, that's pretty much it. I hope you leave something in the reviews.

See you in a week (or two).