AN: be prepared everyone, this is a super long chapter(for me)! I feel like this chapter bled out of me, it was so physically exhausting. It's also the much asked for beach chapter :) anyway, enough of my chitter chatter. onward to the story!
Max's POV
I wake up lying on the couch. Dreslin and Ashley are lying on the floor below me. I don't bother waking them up and just go take a shower instead. By the time I finish with my shower and put on more clothes. Ashley and Dreslin are awake and eating cereal in the kitchen.
"Morning Max! Want some Lucky Charms? They're magically delicious!" Dreslin says with a grin.
"Sure would weirdo." I laugh at her as I pour myself a bowl of milk and cereal. Yum. Ashley turns on the TV to a news station as we eat.
"This has been the fifth reported kidnapping in the last two weeks. An eleven year-old girl has gone missing from outside of her school. All of the victims seem unrelated and are from different areas, but the families all just want their loved ones home. Please contact the missing person's hotline if you have any information relating to these kidnappings-"
" I'm a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic-"
I hate that ringtone. "Hello?" Dreslin answers her phone and Ashley turns off the TV. Dreslin's face lights up when she says, "Hey Nudge." I groan inwardly to myself when I hear Nudge's constant chatter through the phone while Dreslin just responds with lots of "uh huh's" and "sure thing's" until finally she hangs up the phone and looks and me and Ashley.
"Guess what we're gonna do today?" she exclaims.
"What?" I ask her around a spoonful of Lucky Charms. Ashley just looks at her curiously.
"We're going to the beach!" she says excitedly.
Not exactly what I wanted her to say. I swallow my last spoonful of cereal and say, " Don't have a bathing suit. Sorry."
"Now that you've mentioned it. I don't have one either." Ashley says with a grimace. Looks like she doesn't like the idea either.
Dreslin grins at the both of us. "Yes you do. You don't think I'd let you come to Cali without one, do you? And since you didn't bother to get one yourself, you'll have to wear the ones I got you!"
Ashley and I look at each other with undisguised horror on our faces because if there's one thing we agree on, it's that letting Dreslin put any type of clothing on us is a very bad idea.
She sees our faces and says, "Oh it's not that bad!" then she pushes us both into her room and sits us on her bed as she proceed to rummage around in her drawers. "Where are they?" she mumbles to herself.
"Aha! Found 'em!" she says and produces a very little amount of material in her hands.
"Okay Max, you go try this on and Ashley you can go put this one on." she says, handing me something black at least and Ashley something red. While I'm putting on the bathing suit she gave me, I hear her call Fang.
"Hey Fang."
"We're goin' to the beach so wear some swim trunks."
"Ok"
"See-ya"
I get the bathing suit on and take a huge breath before I turn around and I look at myself. It's a one piece that has my sides out and a strip of fabric that connects the piece across my chest down my stomach and to the bottoms. I guess it doesn't look bad, but I've never been comfortable showing too much skin at once. I walk out of the bathroom and back to Dreslin's room. "It fits." I say to get her attention.
She turns to look at me and gasps, "Oh my gosh Max you look awesome! I knew that would be perfect for you!" Thankfully Ashley comes into the room before she could say anything else.
"And that is absolutely perfect for you Ashley." Dreslin grins. Ashley just has on a plain red bikini.
"Am I good or what?" Dreslin asks.
"You're great," Ashley says sarcastically.
"Thanks. Now I'm gonna put mine on since I'm the only one in here who's not half-naked." she says with a laugh.
"This is awful." I groan once Dreslin leaves.
"Well at least yours is a one piece." Ashley comments.
"I'm showing just as much skin as if I was wearing a two piece though." I say.
"Touché."
"I'm baaack!" Dreslin yells, running into the room wearing a blue and white striped bikini.
"How do I look?" she asks and strikes a pose.
"Gorgeous darling." I drawl out.
"Why thank you. Oh and did I mention that Fang should be here any minute?" she asks.
"No you didn't! And you know how he likes to randomly walk in on us." I say and go to my room to put on some shorts and T-shirt over my bathing suit. I also put a couple towels, sunscreen, and a change of clothes into a bag.
When I go back to Dreslin's room, I see her and Ashley have done the same thing. A few minutes later, Fang texts Dreslin saying he's outside. When we walk out of the building, he is leaning against his car wearing black swimming trunks and a black T-shirt.
"Hey Fang! Are you excited to be going to the beach? I am." Dreslin says when she sees him.
"Oh my gosh! Shotgun!" she yells then runs and jumps into the front seat. She sticks her tongue out at Ashley and me as we walk by.
"Who's slow now?" she asks with a grin. Someone's super hyper.
Like yesterday, Fang drives quickly to the other's headquarters. We roll down the windows and just ride in silence, letting the wind blow in our faces. Dreslin calls and tells Nudge we are on our way so when we get there, they are all waiting for us outside. We say our various "hi's" and "hey's" and start walking down the beach towards a more populated area.
When we reach an area where there are more people, we set our stuff down together and everyone proceed to relieve themselves of their clothes. I strip really quickly when I make sure no one is looking and wrap a towel around myself. I look up and see that Angel has on a cute pink tankini and Nudge has on a purple halter bikini. Gazzy has on swim trunks with Hawaiian flowers on them and then I glance at Fang. He is looking at me with an eyebrow raised curiously. Probably wondering why I have the towel around me, but then I notice his chest. I already knew Fang was ripped, but seeing him shirtless is different. He has an 8-pack! You can't blame me. I start thinking 'I will not drool' over and over in my head. He notices me staring and smirks at me. He walks over and asks, "See something you like?"
I will myself not to blush and glare at him when I say, "Not really." Sadly, I fail to notice Iggy creep up behind me and pull my towel from around me. He runs over to Gazzy, laughing, and hi-fives him.
"I will hurt you!" I yell at Iggy. He just sticks his tongue out at me and runs towards the ocean.
"Your bathing suit is cute Max!" Nudge yells at me. I also see Angel grin at me before she runs into the waves of the ocean. I finally dare to glance at Fang. He is actually looking at me with a look I haven't seen before. Definitely not laughter. I can't help the blush that creeps onto my cheeks.
"See something you like?" I ask with a smirk, copying him.
His cheeks color a bit as he says, "Nice bathing suit." and walks away from me.
I watch him leave then sit down on a towel and look out at the ocean where I see Nudge, Ashley, Dreslin, Gazzy, Iggy, and Angel all splashing each other. Apparently Angel can hold her breath for a long time because I would often see her disappear underwater, just to pop up behind someone to do a sneak attack on them. Scary girl.
"Hey, Max right?" someone to my right says. I turn my head and look up.
At first I don't recognize the wavy light brown hair and confident smile, but when I look into his grey eyes I remember him. "Yeah, Sam right?" I say.
He smiles a bit wider as he says, "Yeah. Didn't think I'd see you again."
"Trust me. The feeling is mutual." I respond.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." he teases and sits down beside me.
"Is it a bad thing?" I kind of tease back.
"I definitely don't think so." he responds, leaning a bit closer to me.
Fang's POV
I shake my head as I walk away from Max. I can't let her get to me like that. And I haven't even been drinking this time! So I decide to take a run along the beach. Although images of Max keep coming back to me and none of the girls I see even come close to her.
"Hey Fang!" I hear a high shrilly voice call. I stop running and look around for the source. I see a redhead in a skimpy bathing suit waving at me. Oh. It must be the girl whose name I can't remember from the club. I walk toward where she and a couple other girls are standing and talking.
"Hi." I say and nod at her friends. I can see the almost healed bruises from where Max beat her up. I still wonder why she did that. I'll have to ask her next time I can get her alone.
"So this is Kayla, Amber, and Chelsea." no-name girl says and points out each of them. I also see each of them check me out as they all flirtatiously say hi to me.
"So Lissa…" the Amber girl starts talking to no-name girl whose name is Lissa about something that I effectively tune out.
"So Fang?" Lissa says.
"Yeah?" I say.
"Are you here with anyone?" she asks.
"Oh yeah, I'm here with a group of friends." I respond then think about Max again.
"Great. Mind if I join you guys?" she asks.
"Uh…sure?" I say. It comes out sounding like a question because I'm not sure if she'd enjoy seeing the girl that almost killed her. Oh well. I guess I'll just let what happens, happen. So she says goodbye to her friends and latches on to me. They stare at her jealously as we leave.
When we get back to where I'd left Max, I see that she is still there, but a guy has now joined her. I want to hurt him, but keep that in check as I walk with Lissa over to them.
"Hey Max." I say interrupting whatever she and the guy are talking about.
She looks up and says, "Oh hey Fang." Then her eyes close in on Lissa. They widen slightly as she remembers her. "Who's your friend?" she asks politely.
"Max, this is Lissa. Lissa, this is Max." I say.
"Hi." Lissa says sickly sweet, but I know she remembers her.
"So who's your friend?" I ask Max.
"Oh um Fang, this is Sam. Sam, this is Fang." She says.
"Hey man." Sam says. I just nod at him.
And that's how we end up sitting here trying to make awkward conversation. That is until everyone else comes back from the water. Gazzy runs over first and kicks sand onto Lissa which causes her to shriek, "You got sand in my hair you punk!"
"Actually, I think it's quite an improvement." Max comments with a smirk.
Iggy and Nudge run up at this and start laughing along with Sam and Gazzy. I just smirk slightly.
This makes Lissa snap, "You little whore! I should sue you for what you did to me!"
"You wouldn't need to sue if you could hold your own in a fight, Barbie." Max says back.
Lissa huffs and turns to me, "Are you going to just stand there and let her say that to me?"
I just shrug. "There's not much I can do." I say.
"Guess you weren't as good as you thought." Max cuts in.
"Ugh!" Lissa shrieks then turns and stomps away from us.
Everyone is laughing as she walks away. "You sure know how to pick 'em Fang." Max comments.
"Actually she picked me. And to be honest, I didn't know her name until today." I respond with a shrug. This causes everyone to start laughing again.
So we all sit around talking and laughing for a bit. As it gets later, everyone sort of wanders off. Nudge and Dreslin move away to talk and squeal about something. Iggy and Gazzy start trying to make sand castles. Until it is just Max, Sam, me, and Angel. Angel asks Sam to take her out to the ocean again because she doesn't want to go alone. I see he doesn't want go, but it's hard to resist Angel when her charm is turned on.
I move to sit next to Max and say, "Hey."
"Hi." she says and then we just sit in silence for a little while, but it's a comfortable silence.
"Can I ask you something?" she asks, ending our silence.
"Sure." I respond.
"Why do you hate Iggy so much?" she asks.
I stay silent for a second and then decide I want her to know. So I explain to her all of the crap Iggy did to me.
"Oh. Well then can I ask you something else then?" she asks. I nod for her to continue.
"Why is he here now?" she asks what I really didn't want her to ask.
"I can't tell you." I say.
"Why? Is it super classified information?" she asks slightly teasing. I just nod my head yes at that. "Oh." She says again and we fall into another silence.
Max's POV
"Can I ask you something then?" Fang asks me.
I nod my head yes.
"Why did you beat up Lissa?" he asks what I'm not ready to tell him the answer to. I can see him observing me from the corner of my eyes.
"What? Were you jealous?" he tries, kind of jokingly. I blush slightly at how spot on his answer is. He notices my blush and his eyes widen slightly. I look away.
"Max." he breathes out my name. I look over at him. His expression isn't guarded or teasing. I'm afraid of what I see in it. Some kind of genuine affection that I would have never thought him capable of. Least of all for me. He leans towards me and my breath catches in my throat. This cannot be happening.
"Max! Fang!" someone yells. Apparently it's not happening. Slight disappointment courses through me, but at the same time relief. I think I see disappointment on his face as well.
"Yeah?" I call back once I see that it's Nudge who is calling us.
"We're all kind of tired. Can we go back now?" she asks.
"Sure." I say.
Fang and I walk toward where everyone has gathered. Sam walks over to me once he sees us approach. "So I guess I'll be seeing you?" he asks.
"Maybe." I say.
"I hope so." He says and leans towards me and kisses my cheek. "Bye," he whispers in my ear then walks away from us.
"What was that?" Fang asks me. I think I hear jealousy in his voice, but at this point I'm too tired to figure it out.
"I don't know. Let's just go." I say and start walking down the beach.
It's about a fifteen minute walk to their headquarters. When we get there Nudge tells me, Dreslin, and Ashley we can stay there if we want. We tiredly agree.
I am about to walk in the building after them when Fang calls me back.
I walk over to where he is standing by his car and say, "Yeah?"
"I just wanted to say…about what almost happened…"
"No, it's okay. Don't. It's nothing." I cut him off.
"Max…" he tries again.
"No, seriously. I just…" I start to say but get cut off by him pulling me towards him. He just hugs me. We've never made physical contact unless fighting so this is completely unexpected. He pulls back with one arm around me still and just looks at me. He pulls away after a few minutes then gets into his car and leaves. I stand there for a few seconds before I walk into the headquarters. When I get to the top floor, Dreslin and Ashley ask what Fang wanted and I just say he was telling me to let him know when we wanted him to come get us tomorrow. I go to sleep completely bewildered and confused, but probably the happiest I've been in a while.
AN:Also because its so long, Id really like everyone to review. even just an 'i liked it' or an 'i hated it' i dont care, just review pleeez. comments, concerns, criticisms, and questions welcome!