Maxs Pov

"Nudge hurry the fuck up or we're leaving you!" Iggy calls down the hallway.

The rest of us wait impatiently by the door, growing more annoyed by the second. Since we got in so late last night, we all slept in until almost one thirty and when we finally did wake we were all starving. So we decided that we should go out and get lunch at a local diner. But now it is almost three o'clock and still none of us have eaten today because Nudge is taking forever to get ready.

"Someone pleaseeeee just go and get her," Gazzy pleads, fidgeting with the door handle.

Fang stands from his spot on the step. "With pleasure. I will carry her out if I have to."

"No ones carrying anyone." Nudge appears in the doorway; hair slicked straight, face fully done in makeup, jeans and a Lacey looking top with some jeans and jewelry. All of that for lunch? "Let's go now."

"You don't have to tell me twice." I stand.

Everyone begins slowly shuffling out of the door and I follow in line out to the driveway. Today's not nearly as cold as it was when we came in last night, probably around fifty or so, but still sends a little breeze through the rips in my jeans and sleeves of me sweatshirt, resulting in a chill down my whole body.

But in a way I kinda of enjoy it.

It's a nice change from the everyday warmth in California.

"You coming with me Maxie?" Iggy questions.

"You think I'd ever willingly ride in a car with those idiots? Between Angel, Nudge and Gazzy I can practically already hear the Taylor Swift music blaring now."

Iggy laughs and unlocks the door of his car. "Don't diss T-Swift like that. Just because you said that we're listening to her the whole way there!"

We arrive at Claire's boyfriend's cabin within minutes and manage to find a parking spot near the doors, though there's dozens of cars parked all around.

Long story short, at the Diner we ran into some friends of Nudges who live locally -a girl named Claire and another one named Veronica. They invited us to come to a party being held at Claire's boyfriend's house. We of course accepted, having nothing else to do, quickly finished our meal and went back to the cabin to change.

And now here we are, at 8:02 sitting outside of the The house -or what I'm assuming is her boyfriends vacation house. Which is massive by the way. No doubt bigger than my regular house and I live in a moderately large four bedroom, three and a half bathroom house with a finished basement and a pool/hot tub.

"Woah." Angel exclaims. "This is one of the nicest house I've ever seen."

"Tell me about it," I add, following everyone up the snow-covered driveway.

A long-haired brunette, who I'm assuming is one of Claire's friends, Stands next to her on the porch and waits for us.

"Hi guys, I'm Ava, one of Claire's friends and the sister of her boyfriend. I'm glad you all could attend."

"Thank you for allowing us to," Nudge smiles. "I'm Nudge and this is Iggy, Gazzy, Max, Angel and Fang." She introduces, motioning to us all as she does.

Ava smiles at us all and gives a little hi. Except to Fang. With him she reaches her hand out to shake his, "Fang did you say? It's nice to meet you."

He politely shakes her outstretched hand. "I was just thinking the same thing."

"Ew, Fang, can you not fuck another one of my friends. Please," Nudge demands and shuffles inside.

I'm the first one to follow her in; partly because it's freezing outside and partly because I really don't wanna witness a make-out session between Fang and some girl he just met.

Inside, the house is warm which no doubt is from the hundreds of bodies lingering around. I take off my coat and shoes and throw them in the closet beside the door before giving myself a chance to take in the place. It really is amazing; a high ceiling that seems to go on forever, all the living room walls are practically just huge, glass windows, a balcony inside the house which hangs over the downstairs, a massive kitchen.

I think part of the reason the house seems so much better is because There's no loud music, flashing colored lights or any dancing. Just a bunch of people hanging out, some playing video games, some watching a movie, snuggled up with I'm assuming is their boyfriend/girlfriend, some at the kitchen table drinking and playing cards and some just standing in circles, talking.

My kind of party.

One of the guys on the couch -with dark hair and even darker eyes- sees us and makes his way over. He grabs Claire, wraps his arms around her and kisses her on the cheek.

"I see you went out and invited more people," he smiles into her hair.

Claire laughs. "I can't help it. It's one of my many talents."

He lets go of her and turns to the rest of us. "Well my name is Drake and as you can probably assume, this is my party. Drinks and snacks are in the kitchen, bear pong's in the upstairs living room, games are in the basement den and music's in the basement living room. No going into my bedroom but feel free to use the other ones," He says, giving a pointed look at Fang, Iggy and Gazzy. "No going into the den up here though because my mom has a whole bunch of breakable shit but that's about it. Anywhere else in the house your allowed to go."

"Thanks man," Iggy smiles and begins to walk further into the living room but Drake stops him.

"One more thing: I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that none of you are twenty one. I'm not gonna ask but for the record, if anything happens while you're drinking or high, it's not my problem. You never got it from me, you've never seen me before. Got it?" We all nod. "Good. There's only like one cop in this whole entire place though, so we can basically do anything we want. Enjoy."

He walks away, taking Claire with him up the stairs.

"What now?" Angel questions.

Fang heads over to go talk to Ava some more while Gazzy and Iggy head over to the guys playing video games, leaving me, Angel and Nudge.

I shrug, "Free-for-all."

I head to the kitchen first. On the counter is a big punch bowl, with an odd colored liquid in it and around it are different types of drinks. Out of all twelve bottles, only one is non alcoholic -Sprite. They're probably using it to dilute the alcohol but I pour it into a plastic cup solo and take a sip.

"Just sprite, really?"

I turn to find the source of the comment. It turns out to be a tall, messy-blonde haired guy with the brightest blue eyes I've ever seen. His arms are covered tattoo's -a few are visible on his neck, ending just above his grey shirt- and I'm assuming there's more scattered all over his body.

I have to admit, he is really attractive.

"Um, yeah?"

He smiles and I look down at my black ripped jeans and striped T-shirt, suddenly feeling very exposed.

"Ever heard of the saying; go big or go home?"

The stranger takes my cup from me and dumps it down the sink. He then grabs a black glass bottle from the counter and pours the contents into two red cups, filling them to the brim. He picks them up; handing me the one in his left hand and keeping the one in his right.

"Cheers?"

I slowly take the cup from his hand and sniff it. It's foul."What is this?"

"Does it matter?"

"Really?" I scuff, setting the cup down. "I don't even know you and you expect me to drink something that you poured, without even knowing what it is, no questions asked? You could be trying to poison me!"

"Poison you?," He laughs. Though it is a very cute, raspy laugh it does not make me cave. "Okay, fine. Hi, my name is Gage Thompson, I'm nineteen years old, I attend NYU, I find you very attractive and I am not trying to poison you."

Wait what did he say about finding me attractive?

Not the point Max! You don't know him.

"How could I poison you anyways?" Gage adds. "There are hundreds of people around and I'm literally drinking the exact same thing."

I cross my arms. "If you're not trying to poison me, like you say, then why did you come over here?"

"You really are something else aren't you...I came over here to get a refill actually but then I saw this girl pouring herself a cup of sprite and thought: 'Who the hell does that at a party?' and officially made it my duty to help this poor, lonely girl."

I look at him for a second, pondering whether I feel like I can trust this guy or not. He seems funny but that doesn't mean anything. He is very attractive, especially the way he's smirking at me right now, but the bad ones usually are.

"I am not lonely, I was perfectly fine before you came over." I state. "And what kind of name is Gage anyways?"

"My name, thank you very much. And I don't think it's fair that you know all these things about me now and I don't even know your name. From where I'm standing it looks like you're the crazy lunatic."

"Well maybe I am," I shrug jokingly. "Guess you won't know until it's too late. Maybe you should leave now, so you don't have to bare the thought of the possibility."

"Well if I leave now how will I ever know for sure?" He moves a little closer to me but not uncomfortably close.

I let out a long, over dramatic sigh."Welp don't say I didn't warn you."

Gage chuckles again and I start to think that maybe he does this a lot. "I like you."

"You don't know me."

"I've seen enough. Now would it kill you to tell me the name of the girl who peaked my interest."

I guess telling him my name wouldn't hurt. He seems okay and worse case I'm leaving in a week and will never see this guy again.

"Maximum," I roll my eyes. "My name is Maximum but I go by Max."

He gives me a look of confusion for a second and then burst out laughing. "Hold on, your name is Maximum and you're bashing me about Gage? Don't get me wrong that's a sick name but far less common than Gage."

"You know I was just starting to not hate you and you completely ruined it," I tease.

"No no no, I'm sorry. Okay, I take it back."

He picks up his cup again and wiggles it in the air as a cue for me to pick up mine. I reluctantly grab it from the counter and hold it up. He taps his against mine.

"Cheers to parents who wanted us to get bullied by giving us weird ass names."

I smile and he consumes his whole cup in seconds. I hesitantly bring mine to my lips. The smell alone makes my eyes water. I take a small sip and immediately grimace.

"It's better just to take it all back at once," Gage informs me.

I bring it to my lips again it but this time chug it as fast as I can. Once it's gone, I throw the cup down onto the counter and shake my head. "God, that is terrible."

"I know… wanna do another?"

Eye raise my eyebrows.

"kidding, kidding."

Gage picks up other bottles and examines the titles but even squinting, he can't seem to make them out. I think he's too intoxicated to read bc He ends up asking me what each of them say.

"Hey, how many drinks have you had exactly?"

He thinks for a second "Three..Four… maybe five. I don't know. I lost count."

He seems to find it funny but it actually concerns me.

"Maybe you should slow down," I suggest.

"Or maybe you should catch up. Come on, have a little fun."

He did not just tell me of all people to 'have a little fun'. I grab a random bottle from the counter and screw off the top, taking a big drink.

And then another.

And another.

And another.

"Woah, woah, hey," Gage interjects, taking the bottle from me. "You don't wanna drink too much of that."

He pours a pink colored drink into two cups and mixes them with a little sprite. "Here, this is better."

I take a sip of it. It's fruity and sweet and a lot better than that nasty shit he made before.

"Thanks."

"Do you wanna go somewhere and talk? I wanna get to know more about you."

I nod slowly and allow him to lead me through the living room, down the basement steps and to the den. A movie is playing on the big projector screen but the place is vacant, no one is watching it. He sits on one end of the leather couch and I sit on the other and we begin talking.

Fang's Pov

"One more round?" Josh insists, attempting to hand me the game controller.

"Nah, I gotta go find some people. Maybe later though."

I make my way to the kitchen, attempting to look for a drink that isn't alcoholic but all the pop bottles lay empty on the counter. I contemplate just having one cup of beer but we all know one turns into six and I have to drive back to the cabin later.

I spot Nudge at the table, playing cards with a group of girl and go over to her. "Hey."

She looks up and smiles. "Hey Fang."

"Watcha playin?"

"Spades, I think it's called. It's actually really fun, you should play with us next round. You can be my partner."

"Yeah for sure," I agree, though I don't have any interest in playing cards. "I'm looking for the group right now though, have you seen any of them? Specifically Max or Angle?"

Iggy and Gazzy will be fine on their own, but I need to make sure Nudge, Angel and Max are okay. Girls alone at parties tend to not end well most of the time and they're my friends so it worries me.

"No," she shakes her head. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I'm gonna go see if I can find them, I'll be back in a little while."

It doesn't take me long to find Angel. She's sitting upstairs in the loft with Ava and a two guys -twins. They appeared to be decent people but I still had to make sure.

"Hey, Ang, you okay?"

She looks to me and smiles. "Yes."

"Have you by any chance seen max anywhere?"

"Not since we first came. Why is she okay?"

"Probably. I just can't find her. I'm gonna go check downstairs."

Angle looks concerned. I didn't mean to get her worried, but I can't blame her for it. We all know what happened last time Max went missing.

"Let me know if you need help."

"Will do."

I check the rest of the upstairs but find no signs of Max. Shit. I swear this girl is more trouble than she's worth.

The only place left is the basement.

I hurry back down the steps, taking two at a time and do the same on the steps leading down to the basement. I find Iggy and Gazzy in the main part of the basement, both talking to some girls, neither one is Max. I look around the room but there's not even a blonde in sight.

"Yo, Fang. What are you doing man?" Iggy calls over to me.

"Looking for Max," I say, once I've reached them. "I can't find her anywhere."

"I haven't seen her since we got here either," Gazzy admits.

Iggy nods, "Yeah same."

"There was a girl who went back into the movie room a while ago," the girl Iggy was talking to confesses. "She was tall, blonde, really pretty, nice body, think she was wearing a striped shirt."

Sounds like Max.

"Don't know if that's your girl but she went back there." She motions down the hallways.

I follow her directions down the short hallway and begin checking every room.

Maxs Pov

Two drinks ago I started to feel a little dizzy but by this point I'd be lying if I said the whole room wasn't spinning and I wasn't at least moderately drunk.

"Okay, umm. Best kiss," I question.

"Ooo that's hard. Either my most recent ex or my English Lit teacher."

"You hooked up with your teacher?"

That's so nasty and illegal.

"Yes but in my defense I was already graduated, she was only twenty-three and it was just once."

"That doesn't make it okay!"

"Fine but at least I'm being honest!" He laughs. "My turn. Um… okay I got it. And remember you have to answer honestly."

"Yes I am aware."

"How likely are you to let me take you out on a date?"

A date? With Gage? He's very attractive and honest but he also seems very cocky and arrogant, likes to play girls and always gets his way.

Oh my god, he's Fang.

"Max."

I look back up at Gage but quickly realize he's not the one who said my name. I follow where he's looking and see Fang standing in the doorway.

I begin to laugh. "Speaking of the devil."

He enters the room and takes a hard look at Gage. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Well you didn't look too hard because I've been down here the whole time. With my new friend Gage," I smile and point to him and he waves to Fang.

"Max are you drunk?"

Oops.

"That obvious?" I laugh again.

I really don't know why I'm laughing so much, nothing is actually even funny but I can't help it.

Gage grabs my hand and turns me towards him. "This has been really fun and all Max but I should get going," he says, glancing up at Fang. "But call me if you ever wanna hang out again. I put my number in your phone. I'll patiently be waiting for the answer to that question."

He kisses me softly on the cheek, before letting go of my hand, standing up and brushing by Fang, out of the room.

"He was really nice... why did you have to scare him off!"

"I didn't mean to scare off your dick appointment. I Was just coming to make sure you were okay," he says, plopping down next to me on the couch, in the spot where Gage was just occupying moments ago.

"You're nasty, it wasn't anything like that. We were being strictly friendly."

My head feels heavy and my neck too weak to hold it up. God I just wanna lay down and take a nap. I wanna curl up in a warm blanket and turn on a movie and just sleep for a solid ten hours.

But sadly there are no blankets or bed, just a cold leather couch and a suddenly very comfy looking person sitting next to me.

Before I know what I'm doing I'm lay my head down into Fang's lap and curl my feet up behind me on the cushion. Like I predicted, he is extremely comfortable to lay on and even better he's warm; unusually warm for a human. But I'm freezing at the moment and his radiating heat feels amazing.

I could sleep comfortable just like this if I had to.

I blink but when I open my eyes again I find myself in a bed, one I do not remember getting into. It's dark outside still, meaning I couldn't have been sleep for more than a few hours.

I look around the room, something about it seeming offley familiar but that familiarity of it doesn't make me feel anymore safe. If anything it makes me more anxious.

I know this room, I've been in this room before but I don't know when or where I am.

Think Max! Whose room is this?

Just as I'm sitting up, ready to bolt, a dark figure enters to the door. He's shirtless, and would be naked if it weren't for the black boxers he has on. The build and the shaggy, black hair stands out to me instantly.

"Fang?"

He turns and I let out a breath I didn't' realize I was holding. It's just Fang. I'm back at the Cabin. I don't know how I got here but all that matters is I'm safe.

Everything's okay.

"Are you any parts sober now?" He asks, crouching down next to the bed, so he's eye level with me.

"Why the fuck are you practically naked every time I wake up? It's starting to concern me."

He shakes his head and lets out a heartfelt laugh. "I'm gonna take that as a yes. And I told you I only sleep in boxers, did you think I was lying?"

No. I knew it was the truth, I just didn't think he'd do it while I was in the room. Twice.

"How did I get here?" I sit up fully and instantly regret it when a wave a nausea hits me.

"Well you fell asleep on my lap in the basement so I carried you to the car and brought you here. You don't remember?"

I shake my head.

"That's odd. You were saying some pretty… weird things."

"Like what?" I didn't have any weird dreams or anything.

"Stuff like, 'oh Fang you're so strong and handsome' 'oh Fang I think I'm in love with you' 'oh Fang your lips look so luscious, I just wanna kiss you and then have you take me to your room and-"

I slap his arm to stop him before he goes too far. "You're such a liar, I never said any of that!"

"Okay maybe I exaggerated a little," he smiles. "It was more like really unattractive grumbles. You were passed the fuck out."

Tell me about it. My head is killing me and I feel like I would be throwing up right about now if I had anything in my stomach, but sadly I haven't eaten anything in a while so the alcohol's just eating away at the lining of my stomach.

"Where's everyone else?" The house is way too quiet.

"Still at the party. It's only a little after midnight, you passed out at like ten thirty."

I only made it through an hour and a half of being there? Wow, whatever that stuff Gage made for us must of been pretty strong.

"Well I appreciate you bringing me home but you can go back now if you want. You don't have to babysit me."

"Nah, I wasn't really having that much fun. Too tired after that long drive… speaking of, I'm gonna go hit the hay."

He begins walking to the door, though I don't know why because I'm in his room. In his bed.

"Fang wait. Where are you going?"

He motions out the door. "To the couch."

"Fang you're not sleeping on the coach. You can have your bed, I'll go."

"No," he quickly rejects before I have the chance to get up. Though, I wasn't moving very fast. I feel too sick. "I'm not letting you sleep on the coach."

"Well I'm not letting you either," I cross my arms over my chest. "Just…. sleep with me."

The thought of sleeping in a bed with a guy, usually makes me feel uncomfortable and the actual action sends me into an anxiety attack alone but this isn't some guy. This is Fang. A close friend of mine, who looks after me and takes care of me and who I trust.

You can do this Max.

"Damn, so demanding," he winks, hopping into the bed next to me. "I knew you wanted me but no need to be so forward."

"I'm done already with you. You've been downgraded to the floor. Get out."

I jokingly shove him, but he grabs my arm and pulls me to his chest, wrapping his arm around me.

"Fang let goooo," I scream.

"Shh, direct contact is the best source of heat. If anything I'm doing you a favor."

"I don't want your favors, let go."

I won't lie and say that he isn't very warm and very comfortable to lay in but being this close to Fang is a little odd for me. I'm not use to being this close to people and I know he's not into the whole touchy-feely friendships either but it feels natural to me and I think it does to him too.

"Goodnight, Max."

Goodnight Fang.