CHAPTER 2: GET OVER IT

Later, Iggy finds me in the kitchen. There's this girl sitting on the counter with her legs spread open and I'm standing between them. No, we're not doing anything inappropriate – yet – and yes, we are still fully clothed. She's playing with my hair and my fingers are lightly skimming the skin between her tank top and her shorts. It's soft. And I'm drunk.

I hadn't planned on drinking much, but you try being rejected by the girl of your dreams and then refuse to drink your sorrows away. There was enough booze around to make you forget anything.

The girl, Monica I think her name is, leans in and whispers in my ear, "You're really hot." And then she begins to giggle uncontrollably.

I chuckle and pull her closer to me, the curves of her body pressing satisfactorily against my chest.

Iggy puts a hand on my shoulder and pulls me back a little, but this causes Monica to pull me towards her and then it's like they're playing tug-a-war. But swaying while drunk is not good so I pull away from them both.

I raise an eyebrow at Iggy and pull Monica down from the counter.

"Hey man," Iggy calls when I step towards the crowded living room.

"Yeah?" I say, annoyed. I really want to take Monica up to one of the empty rooms.

"What's going on?" he asks and then looks pointedly between Monica and I.

"What does it look like?" I snap.

He shakes his head solemnly and then pulls Monica out of my grasp. She smiles up at him drunkenly and Iggy tells her, "Hey, why don't you wait for us in the other room? I need to talk to Fang here."

"Okay," she slurs with drowsy eyes, and leaves us, stumbling over empty cups.

I'm too slow to react so I let her go. But then I shove Iggy and yell, "The fuck, man?"

Iggy stumbles back but doesn't do anything. But fuck, I want him to do something. I want him to punch me, I want him to give me a reason to fight, but he just stands there looking at me like he's disappointed.

I breathe in heavily, staring at him, willing him to do something. But he doesn't. I exhale. "What do you want?"

He puts up his hands defensively, and I notice his eyes are drowsy too. "You don't want to do this. You don't want to fight me and you don't want to fuck that girl."

"I'm pretty sure I did want to have sex with that girl, actually," I tell him, because honestly I did. She was there, we're drunk, and we were clearly building up to that final stage.

"No, man, I was there," Iggy says, placing a hand on my shoulder. I forgot about being mad at him. His dark blonde eyebrows draw together in concern. "I know it hurts, but this isn't the way to cure your broken heart."

At first I'm thinking Of course he was there, he stopped it from happening, but then I realize he's talking about Max. And suddenly I want to drink again. I want to drink until I can't remember it anymore. The shame overwhelms me and I find myself to be exhausted.

My shoulders droop and Iggy pushes me towards some vacant chairs. We sit down, facing each other. He rests his forearms on his legs, leans forward and clasps his hands together.

"Talk to me," he orders.

Normally I would think this was weird, but all my intellect has left me and so I say, "She said no. Four years. Four years. And she said no like all that time doesn't even matter."

Never mind the fact that she didn't know about those four years – it still hurt.

Iggy shakes his head pitifully. "Rejection sucks, but hey, she doesn't deserve you!" His eyes start looking more bloodshot than usual. "She doesn't know what she's missing out on. If I were a girl I would totally go out with you," he says adamantly.

I look up at him. "Really?" My self-esteem is pretty low right now.

He nods frantically. "Yeah, and you know what? I ended it with Nudge."

I feel like a douche. Here I am whining about a girl I never had and he actually lost someone. "I'm sorry, Iggy," I tell him truthfully.

"Don't be sorry. I ended it for you."

I sit up straight. This is going in a direction I hadn't really expected ever in my life. But how to break it to him. "Uh, listen, Iggy. I love you, you know that. But like a brother. I mean, it's cool that you're gay, but I'm not." I scratch the back of my head awkwardly. I never saw this coming.

Iggy stares at me with wide eyes. Shit. I just rejected him too. Now we're both going to be sorry, pitiful losers.

And then he starts laughing. Some people passing by stare at us; me stricken, and Iggy laughing so hard his face is starting to turn red.

When he finally calms down, he smiles and says, "I love you too bro, but I'm not gay. I told Nudge to put in a good word for you to Max, and she said no because Max wouldn't listen to her. So when she rejected you, I rejected Nudge too." He smiles proudly and I have to say, I am proud of him.

I have a strange urge to hug him, but people are still looking at us weirdly, and I have a reputation to uphold, so no.

"You are seriously my best friend," I tell him. Because how many guys do you know that will willingly give up a girl just because she didn't want to put in a good word for his best friend? That's right, zero.

"I know," he pauses and he sways on his chair precariously. "Hold on." Then he stands up and leaves the room only to come back a few seconds later with two cups in his hand. He hands one to me. "I'm starting to feel kind of sober and I still need to impart some words of wisdom to you." I grin and we down the liquid rapidly. My stomach starts to burn.

"Alright," Iggy says, "for each of these questions, I want you to answer honestly." I nod. "Did Max reject you?"

I raise an eyebrow, somewhat mad that he would bring it up again. "You already know this – "

"Just answer the question."

I groan. This is pointless. "Yeah." He nods.

"Did this rejection hurt?"

"More than it should have," I mumble, crossing my arms.

"Did she live up to your expectations during your short conversation?"

"Unfortunately, yes," I confess.

"Do you realize that you have to move on?"

I hesitate. But Iggy is waiting for what should be my obvious answer. "Yes." No.

"Are you going to move on?"

"Yes." As if I can.

"Are you going to date a sexy girl who will completely take your mind off of Maximum "Loser" Ride, and you will live a happily ever after life?"

She's not a loser. "Yeah." And I could never find a girl better than her.

"Then it's settled," he says, clearly satisfied with himself. "After tonight, your longstanding crush will be over and you will move on."

I stare at him. He makes it seem like it's so easy. As if I could just say, 'Oh yeah, forget Max. Who cares if I pined over her for four years and now that she's rejected me I'm just going to give up.' It's not that easy.

"Wow, and here I thought you guys came to these parties to get laid. Not to share some intimate alone time," someone says from the door and starts laughing. I turn slowly because the world is moving, and I swear if I move any faster I'm going to fall off of the chair.

Gazzy stands right there, holding a can of soda, and grinning like the Cheshire cat. What the hell is he doing here?

Iggy goes into protective older brother mode and echoes my thoughts. "Why the hell are you here? Does Mom know where you are right now? Do you know where you're at right now?"

Gazzy rolls his eyes. "I'm not the one who's drunk, of course I know where I'm at. And yeah, Mom does know where I'm at because she sent me to pick you guys up."

Iggy and I share a look. "Why?" we ask at the same time, which is really weird, but again I'm not myself tonight. I need a snicker bar.

Gazzy moves towards us. "You butt-dialed her and she was concerned because apparently you and Fang were fighting." Oh. "But I see now that it was just a lover's quarrel," and then he bursts out laughing, holding his stomach like he just said the world's most hilarious joke. Iggy and I remain quiet.

We stand up, slowly and with great care, because I'm serious, the world is moving.

Gazzy starts walking away and calls out, "Hurry up, let's go. This party's over anyway."

We walk into the living room and notice that he's right. There are literally only like five people left dancing to some type of slow music and about ten passed out on the floor.

We edge towards the front door, where Gazzy disappeared into, stumbling over sleeping bodies and knocking over tables and paintings. I'd usually be more mindful of these things, but the entire room is trashed – no one's going to take notice of a few other things knocked over. Feeling momentarily reckless, I head towards a coat rack, fling everything off, placing some hats on a couple of people on the floor, and then lay it down on the sofa.

When I go outside I have to shield my eyes from the brightness. I look around and finally spot Iggy and Gazzy arguing next to Iggy's mom's car.

As I approach them I hear their conversation.

"- don't even have your permit yet!" Iggy was yelling at Gazzy.

Gazzy groans exasperatedly. "I drove on the way over here! And you're drunk anyway."

"But I have my license," he retorts, still swaying slightly. I understood the problem here.

I walk in between, causing them to shut up and I take the keys from Gazzy. "You guys are both right about each other. So I'll drive."

Iggy gasps. Gazzy stares at me like I'm stupid – which I'm not, I'll let you know I'm both book smart and street smart.

Iggy pushes me aside and 'whispers' to Gazzy, but really I can hear him loud and clear. "He's even worse off. He's drunk and heartbroken. He might do something stupid and drive us off a cliff in his attempt to escape the pain of rejection."

I scoff. I'm not going to do that. First off, I'm not emo. Secondly, suicide is one thing I would never ever do, well along with drugs. Say no to drugs and all that. And murder-suicide is just stupid. But then Iggy straightens up and proclaims loudly, "You go ahead and drive, Gazzy. I'll make sure the Fangster doesn't decide to suddenly jump out of the car once it's moving." Then he hauls me into the back seat and puts my seatbelt on me.

I slap his hands away. "When did I get put under suicide-watch?"

Iggy puts on his own seatbelt. "I know you're not an emotional guy, Fang, but I'm here for you. It's always the silent guys who end up shooting the school, you know?"

I stare at him. Iggy may act mellow and all-knowing, but that's all it is: an act. Because he doesn't know shit. Before I know it, I'm falling asleep as we drive off into the sunrise.

.

The school feels empty. Well, for me anyway. Everyone else is going on like life usually does, but I'm still stuck on two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, when it was announced that Max had changed schools. Two weeks ago, when that same night I was rejected by that very girl. The very girl I practically worshipped. Depression has hit me hard.

So I must go to where I can feel wanted.

I make my way towards the table where I usually sit at with my friends. Everyone's already there, so apparently I'm the last one.

As I get closer I notice bright red hair. I slow down and glance at Iggy. He shrugs apologetically, but I can tell he didn't tell me on purpose. I contemplate running out of the cafeteria, but then she turns around and once she sees me standing not ten feet away she grins and jumps out of her chair and her arms are suddenly around my neck.

"Lissa," I state, holding my breath so that I don't die from all the toxic fumes emanating from her body. I want to feel wanted, but not this much. My vision is obscured by her curly mane, but I can still hear Iggy's laughter in the background. I'll get him back for this.

She steps back, still keeping her hands on me somehow, and gives me a hard smile. "Fang," she says forcefully. "We need to talk," she demands and then she grabs my hand and pulls me across the cafeteria, through groups of people - disrupting their conversations -, and until we're standing outside near a tree. What was I supposed to do, yank my hand away, scorn her, and walk away? I was raised with manners.

She finally lets go of me, so I put my hands in my pockets so she can't touch me again. I'm not averse to a female's touch, but once you get to know Lissa you don't really want her anywhere near you. She crosses her arms and scowls at me.

"I need you to come to my family's party."

I'm taken aback, but I hide this by nonchalantly asking, "What for?"

She exhales through her nose, making her look like a bull. She takes time to answer I notice, and I already know I'm not going to like what she has to say. Lissa is a huge liar. One of the many reasons I broke up with her. "I need a date, and you are the only one qualified."

I stare at her disbelievingly. "Are you crazy? No," I practically yell, which I can tell embarrasses her because she looks around quickly before settling back to my face. "If I go with you, you are going to assume we're dating again, and I already told you we're done. For good."

I step back for good measure, just in case she thinks that just because we're in close proximity it means she can treat me like her boyfriend again, which really isn't a great thing. At all.

I can see the mechanisms of her mind turning and soon enough she says, "Fine. You know what? My parents still think we're going out and they really want you to go. They really liked you."

I don't even know what to say. It's just like Lissa to pull shit like this. "We broke up in May," I protest. "That was four months ago! How could they still think we're going out?" I sometimes wonder if Lissa is psychotic; this is one of those times.

"Oh my God, Fang, calm down," she sputters, glancing around again, her face turning slightly red. "Okay, so maybe I forgot to tell them, it's not such a big deal."

"Actually, yeah it is a big deal, because I'm not going out with you anymore and haven't been for a while."

She rolls her eyes as if I'm being melodramatic, but seriously, sometimes I wonder why I ever went out with her to begin with. "Fine, just go with me this one time, and I swear I'll tell them that we broke up right afterwards." I glare at her. "Please?" she begs, her bottom lip jutting out in a pout.

I sigh. "When is it?"

She squeals, probably thinking I'm conceding. I grimace. "Oh, thank you Fang!"

"I said, 'when is it?'," I grind out, frustrated beyond belief with her.

"Next Saturday."

"I can't," I respond quickly. Her grin falters and soon she's frowning.

"What?" she snarls.

I shrug, satisfied that I'm getting her mad. "I said I can't. I can't go that day."

"Why not?" she demands, putting her hands on her hips like an angry housewife. Actually, I think once she gets married, if she ever manages to get that far in a relationship, that'll probably be her full time stance.

"I have to work."

She huffs. "Since when do you have a job?"

"You don't need to know that."

"You're lying, then," she accuses, a smug grin overtaking her features.

"I'm not. I work all day on weekends, so I can't go."

"Where?"

I scoff. "You think I'm going to tell you so you can stalk me?"

"Fang, this isn't funny. Just come this one time, and I'll be done with you," she implores, sounding exhausted. Well, I'm tired of her too.

"Nope, we've been done. Now leave me alone," and with that I turn and leave. I can still hear her frustrated cries as I walk back into the cafeteria. I smile inwardly.

I know I should feel bad for treating her that way, and trust me, if it were some other girl I would, but Lissa was lying. That's what she does. She was not going to tell her parents that we had broken up, she'd probably tell them to start saving up for the wedding. I shudder.

I sit down next to Iggy. He's telling everyone about something he built with Gazzy over the weekend. As soon as he finishes, he turns to me and asks, "What was that all about?"

I glare at him, but then shake my head in disdain. "Basically her parents still think we're going out, and I need to get a job so she doesn't realize I was lying to her."

Iggy snickers. "She's a crazy bitch, I don't know why you ever went out with her."

I shrug. "Because Max wasn't available."

Iggy rolls his eyes. "Like you would've done anything if she was, anyway aren't you supposed to be moving on? I gave you good quality advice and this is how you take it?" He scoffs exaggeratedly. "That's the last time I help you out."

"You were drunk so it doesn't count."

He sighs in melancholy. "I still can't believe I cock-blocked you. I still can't believe I cock-blocked myself. Next time I reject a pretty girl for a stupid reason, take every alcoholic beverage away from me." He crosses his arms on the table and then lowers his head and begins to mockingly cry.

"Yeah, I know, you're pathetic, and I hate you too," I tell him. Seriously, though. He ruined a perfectly good opportunity for both of us.

Later that day, as we leave school, I ask Iggy, "Hey, do you think that diner by Gloria park is hiring?"

Iggy looks at me like I'm crazy. "Why do you wanna work there? It's so far no one even goes out…there….oh," he nods in understanding. Iggy knows me so well. Of course I want to work in a place where I wouldn't have to interact with people often. I'd get paid for just walking around. "Eh, go for it. It can't hurt to apply, but if you get hired I'm expecting free meals."

I roll my eyes. "I can get you free water."

"Water's always free."

"That's why."

We go our separate ways. I head home, change into some more formal clothes, and then go to that diner. It's literally half an hour away from the town.

Whoever said good looks aren't enough in the real world, has never met me. I walk out of the diner with a new job as a waiter, and a new outlook on life. Well, not really, but at least now I get money, a reason to be away from Lissa all the time, and something to occupy my mind from depressing thoughts about Max. Because I don't care what Iggy says, getting over her will not be easy.


Disclaimer: Characters belong to James Patterson, and I do not own Snickers.

For some reason this came out as mostly a bromance between Fang and Iggy, but the chapter actually moves the plot along. Max will be in the next chapter. Thanks to everyone who subscribed, and reviewed - I really do appreciate it :D

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