Okay, I know I'm not the only one who thinks this is strange: Every time I get a good idea for this story, it pops up in Diary of a Lovesick Mutant by Phoenix Fanatic. I started reading it late, so yeah, for example:
My story: They go to New York to save Iggy and Gazzy.
DLM: They go to New York to watch the ball drop in Time Square on New Year's.
My story: ...Max and Fang find someone who changes their lives forever, Fang the most. It will be in the next chapter, btw.
DLM: She shows up on their doorstep and changes their lives.
And IMPORTAT DISCLAIMER: I do not own MR, or the show Cash Cab. Sorry Ben Bailey.
And don't worry, no Letters to Juliet spoilers.
Journal NOT a Diary!
Max's Journal
June 3, 2010
I woke up about five in the moring and went to the shower, not wanting to wake up Fang. I left a not on the pillow around eight, telling him that I was going to look for Iggy and Gazzy around the hotel. I took a room key with me, just in case Fang was still asleep when I got back. I snuck out the door and closed it silently.
If only I could figure out what floor they were on. Just floor. Someone was bound to see them walk in. I took the elevator down to the lobby, where a man was looking for something on the computer. Slowly I stepped up to the desk. "Hello!"
He looked up. "Hello, welcome to the Ritz-Carlson. How may I help you?"
"I know it's, sort of against the rules, but my brothers ran away and I need to find them. I know they're somewhere in this hotel. Could you please tell me which floor Jeff and Zephyr Batchleder are on?" I held my breath, hoping he would bend the rules.
"You're brothers?" I nodded. "It is against the rules, as you say, but the floor is not the room. Floor 9."
Same floor Fang and I were on. "Thank you!" I said, already making my way to the elevator. I glanced at my watch. 8:15. Maybe someone was up.
The first thing I noticed was that they had delivered papers in front of the doors. And someone would have to be up for the paper to be gone. I knocked on a door. A young woman in a bathrobe opened the door and smiled. "Hello."
"Hello," I said, taking the picture out of my pocket. "Is there a chance you've seen my brothers? I heard they were on this floor and my parents are really worried about them." That's when Fang decided to walk up, still half asleep. "This is my other brother...Nick."
"Yes, I have. I didn't see what room the went in, but just five minutes ago they said something about the AMC Empire 25 Time Square theater."
I glanced at Fang. We both knew we had to get to AMC Empire 25. I thanked the woman and we ran for the elevator, again. "Fang, we have to find them today. We have to check out tomorrow, and if we don't find them we'll be sleeping on the street."
He shrugged. "That wouldn't be anything new."
Outside I hailed a cab and we climed inside. I groaned as Ben Bailey turned and grinned. Nudge had a Cash Cab marathon while we were stuck in the house, and it was better then sitting around doing nothing. "Welcome to the Cash Cab!" he cooed.
"Look, Ben, we don't have time for this. We're really in a hurry." I glanced at Fang. He held up three fingers, put together his two index fingers to form an X, and jammed his thumb over his shoulder. Three X out. Three strikes your out!
"Well, you might as well earn some money while your at it," Ben said. Eh, he had a point. We needed money. Mom's five-three hundred dollars might not last long.
I sighed and nodded. "AMC Empire 25 Time Square." Ben nodded and pulled onto the highway.
"Now this first question is worth twenty-five dollars..."
By the end of the ride, when we were at the AMC Empire 25 Time Square theater, we had three hundred dollars with our un-educated selves. Ben offered us the Double or Nothing! By the end of all those Cash Cab episodes, I'd sort of dozed off, except for when they always shouted when they win double their money. Ben explained to us if you answer it right, you get double your money, six hundred dollars for us, but if you get it wrong you get out with nothing.
I looked at Fang and shook my head. We didn't need six hundred extra dollars. And we didn't know when Iggy and Gazzy were showing up. We collected our three hundred and jumped out. The theater was huge. Google it. Really no words can explain. Well, they can, but my hand is cramping and I want to get to the point.
"They aren't here," Fang said. I frowned. We just stepped into the theater, the PACKED to the MAX theater. Haha. Max.
"How do you know that?"
He shrugged. "New power."
"Again? First future reading dreams and now what? Speaking of your dreams, see anything?"
"No. I didn't even have a dream. Well, I had one, but it was about Dr. M sitting here with the girls doing nothing. I guess I can sense if people are there or not. Like this morning, I knew you were outside the door before I opened my eyes."
"Great. So what, you can 'sense' the whole theater?" He nodded. "Perfect. So what do we do now?"
"Max, we're in a movie theater. We just won three hundred dollars from some wacky cab. We might as well see a movie."
I shrugged. "Might as well. What do we see?"
"You choose."
Sighing, I looked at the movie times. "Letters to Juliet starts at 10:15. But we don't have to see that. You wouldn't like it. I heard it was a chick flick. Or we could see-"
He was already at the ticket counter, buying two tickets to Letters to Juliet. I pursed my lips to keep from smiling as I walked up to her. The lady at the counter raised her eyebrows. "Oh, how sweet! Taking your girlfriend to see a movie."
"I'm not his girlfriend!" I said. "We're just waiting for someone and thought we would see a movie in the mean time! Just friends."
She nodded. "Well, Letters to Juliet was named the top romance movie of the top romance movie of the year."
"And also the must-see," I said, taking the tickets from her. Fang gave her the money and we walked for the theater, not bothering with popcorn or soda. We took seats near the top. I was instantly ready to punch the boy behind me, who kept using the seat as a foot prop even though I was sitting there. And he was amusing himself by shaking his leg...
I glanced at my watch. Movie started in ten minutes. That meant ten minutes of being beat in the back by the Kangaroo Kid. I cluched the arm rest so tight the skin on my knuckles threatened to break. "KNOCK IT OFF!" I screamed, whipping my head to the side. The boy and his mother raised their eyebrows. "Tap the floor, will ya?" His feet dropped.
Fang was about to bust out laughing. I shot him a look.
The movie was much more romance-y then I expected, but really good. I was just happy the girl had a happy life with the guy she wanted. But that line rang in my ears from the letter: If I ever found my Romeo, I hope I can go for him. Wait-who was my Romeo?
Fang tapped my shoulder after the letter was read at the wedding. "Iggy and Gazzy are here!" he whispered in my ear. We jumped up and ran from the movie. We saw them in line for tickets. But Iggy looked up and saw us running for them. He grabbed Gazzy's arm and pulled him out.
I caught them getting in a taxi. I quickly hailed one, telling the driver not to let them out of sight.
"That was a good movie," Fang said.
"You didn't think it was a chick flick?"
He shook his head. "I liked it. The girl went after the guy for a change." He chuckled. "And it gave me a chance to see how to convince you I really do love you."
My eyebrows raised. "And what's that? Make me leave and chase after me? Yeah, cause that worked so well."
"No. Be a Romeo."
It was my turn to laugh. "You're going to pretend to be Romeo? And what am I supposed to do, quote Shakespear? 'Romeo, Romeo, where for out thou, Romeo!'" I bursed out laughing. "Yeah. Good luck with that. Cause I didn't know who Shakespear was before this movie."
"You don't even have to be a Juliet."
"Good. You do know that they both die in the end, right? I prefure for us both to live."
"They died when they thought their partner was dead. But did Romeo really come back from the dead when Juliet killed herself?"
"I think it was the other way around. But I missed the Shakespear chapter in reading." I shrugged and looked out the window and New York flashed by. Suddently the taxi lurched forward and back as it came to a stop. But the people who got out were two elderly women. "Not them."
Fang ran his tounge over his teeth and rolled his eyes.
After a whole day of unsucessful Iggy/Gazzy search, we arrived at the Ritz-Carlton. I collapsed on the bed beside Fang. "We have to check out tomorrow," I groaned. To me, I sounded whiny. Oh well, even during flying I hadn't been this tired. Running around New York nonstop does that to a person.
"I'm just happy to get out of this room," Fang said. "It's too perky and red. I like depressed and black."
I laughed. "Hungry? I'm ordering a pizza." I reached for the phone.
He swatted my hand away. "I'm...not hungry."
"Well, I am." I reached for the phone.
"The pizza can wait!" Fang screamed. Fang screamed. Fang doesn't scream. Especially not at me.
Needless to say, I didn't touch the phone again.
"Sorry," he said. "I just want to know why you don't believe me."
I knew what he meant. But honestly, I don't know why I'm telling you this. I also don't know why I don't believe him.
"I don't know, maybe because..." I didn't want to finish the sentence in my head, much less to him. He raised his eyebrows. I shook my head. "I'll tell you in the morning. Forget the pizza. Can we just go to bed? It's been a long day." I looked away nervously.
He took a deep breath. "Fine, Max. Good night." He leaned down and kissed me gently. He pulled away and caressed my cheek with his thumb. "See you in the morning." He grabbed a pillow and a blanket and made his place on the floor. I pulled back the covers and laid down, waiting until Fang was aleep to get this out.
But one thing keeps ringing in my head. What I was going to say:
Maybe because it's too good to be true.
-Maximum