Max's POV
I immediately see that this situation is not going well at the moment because after Gazzy nearly broke down in tears we all got quiet and are now sort of just staring at Angel.
So I step forward and put on my best tough love face then say, "What are you doing here?"
Steel. That's what it sounds like. I have no sympathy for traitors.
"I thought about what you said Max and realized that I needed to come back. I missed you guys way too much." she says.
"It took you seven days to realize that? If we were important to you at all, you would have come with us when I first asked." I respond.
"There were some things I needed to do. Stuff to work out." she says offhandedly. "But I'm back now," she says with a sweet smile.
"And you think we'd forgive you just like that?" I ask. "Because if so, you are sorely mistaken."
Her smile falters a bit. "Well of course not, but I'm sure we could get past that eventually. And you can't possibly be speaking for everyone Max. Nudge and Dreslin? You two missed me right?"
Nudge and Dreslin both look at each other warily before they each give Angel a small smile.
"Of course we did Angel," Nudge says.
"And Ashley?" Angel then asks.
Ashley gives a slight nod of her head, but you can tell she's struggling with what to think of her.
"Fang? Iggy?" Angel asks them.
Instead of just Fang showing no emotion, it's Iggy too.
"We saw that place Angel," Iggy says.
Angel nods that she understands.
"And what about you Gazzy? You're my brother. Do you hate me?" she asks in a low voice.
Gazzy is silent for a second before he asks, "How could you?" in a hurt tone.
"It was a choice that I made," she responds.
"How do we know if we can trust you Angel?" I ask her.
"That's the thing," she says quietly. "You can't."
After she said that, the atmosphere around us just got even gloomier.
"Well it's getting late. We should all go inside and get some sleep. Angel, I was sleeping in your room, but since you're back I'll find somewhere else to sleep."
Angel nods silently at me in gratitude then we all head into the building. There is no fun tonight. No joking around or anything. We all just silently get ready for bed. It's all we can do at this point. Keep occupied. I'm getting blankets and pillows to put on sofa so I can go to sleep when Fang calls out my name.
"Max."
"Yeah?" I ask.
"You don't have to sleep on the couch. You should come sleep with me." he says, thinks about what he said, and then blushes. "I mean not like that. Not that I don't want to. Just not unless you wanted to... not that I'm pressuring you or anything. It's fine. We can just..."
"Fang!" I cut him off. "Please stop while you're ahead. For your sakes and mine," What the heck is wrong with him?
"Sorry...So you wanna?" he asks.
I nod yes and follow him to his temporary room on the second floor.
The room is a bare off-white with a full sized bed in the middle, a closet, a dresser, and a door on the side leading off to the bathroom.
When we walk in, Fang stops awkwardly in the middle of the room and looks around. Then he scratches his head before looking at me and asking, "You need something to sleep in?"
"Yeah," I say and watch him grab a t-shirt and basketball shorts out of his bag that he tosses to me.
I walk to the bathroom to go change. As I change, I think about Angel being back and what that means for us. And no matter how sincere she sounded, I really doubt she came back because she missed us. I finish changing and walk out to find that Fang had changed into shorts and a wife beater and sitting at the end of the bed.
He looks at me when I walk in and asks, "What are we going to do?"
I immediately know that he's talking about Angel. "I don't know," I answer and sit beside him on the bed.
He puts his arm around my waist and slides me closer to him.
"Everything will be fine," he says soothingly to me.
"You and I both know we don't believe that," I say.
That quiets him.
"Well then we should at least get some sleep," he says eventually. He turns off the lights and then begins to pull me backward so we could crawl under the covers together.
"Goodnight Max," Fang whispers to me in the dark.
Soon enough, I fall asleep with the comfort of having Fang's arm around me.
When I wake up the next morning, I admit that I have absolutely no clue where the heck I am. Before I start panicking, I think back to last night and remember Fang's offer to sleep with him. Head outta the gutters people. Anyway, that stops me from throwing his arm off me and kicking him out of the bed. In fact, I close my eyes and listen to his even breathing. Eventually I hear it stop and assume that he's awake. I silently smile to myself as a plan cooks into my head.
"Good Morn-," Fang starts, but I cut him off with my surprise attack.
I use my body's momentum to roll myself over so that I am on top of him and before he can do anything about it I quickly cover his mouth with mine. He doesn't resist and when I feel him kiss me back I smirk slightly and pull away.
"Good morning," I say.
"You do realize you're going to pay for that. Right?" Fang asks.
"I figured it was worth it," I say with a shrug.
He gives me a small smirk.
"So should we go up now?" I ask him.
I see him consider this before he says, "No, I kinda like this." Referring to me on top of him.
I punch him in the chest and mutter, "Pervert," before I hop off of him.
When Fang and I finally go upstairs to grab something to eat, we see Angel in the kitchen cooking breakfast.
"Good morning!" she calls cheerfully to us when we walk in.
We don't say anything. Just observe her making the eggs.
"Well don't just stand there. Grab a piece of bacon. You must be hungry." she says to our silence.
There is in fact a plate of bacon on the island which looks pretty good and I am indeed hungry, but I won't let her know that.
"Are you trying to poison us?" I ask. Talk about famous first words.
"If I waaaas, I wouldn't tell you now would I?" she says, still maintaining a cheerful tone.
I think she is the meaning of the phrase 'Don't let the cute face fool you'. I know now to definitely not trust the angelic facade she has in place on the outside.
"Hi guys!" Nudge says when she walks in, breaking through the still building tension.
"Mmmmmmm bacon!" she exclaims and grabs a piece which she starts to munch on.
I am really close to warning her against the bacon, but it's too late either way. Thankfully, she isn't turning blue or foaming at the mouth or turning into a cat so I think we're in the clear for now.
Then Nudge turns to look at me and asks, "Max, why are you in Fang's clothes?"
"Beecaaause I needed something to sleep in last night. Besides, guy clothes are much more comfortable than girl clothes. Scientifically proven," I make up quickly before she starts to get any ideas then look at Fang to see why he didn't help. He just shrugs his shoulders at me.
"Mhm," Nudge responds then turns her attention back to Angel's food.
In the days following Angel's return, it doesn't take very long for Nudge and Dreslin to come around to Angel. Soon enough they are acting as if she didn't betray us. As if nothing ever happened, but the rest of us know better than that. It's going to take a lot more than a little sucking up to get us to come around.
Trust is hard to gain and even harder to get back.
AN: Please review. Any ideas for what should happen next?