I am so hardcore multitasking right now. Yup – you guessed it. Typing up a chapter, listening to music, and eating Raisin Bran. As I said, hardcore stuff.
Ch. 4:
Fang POV
ILostIt…Again: Yes.
I couldn't stop staring at that message. We hadn't texted again since, but I couldn't seem to stop staring. For one word, it seemed to have a hell of a lot of beauty.
"Dude, what's up? You haven't stopped staring at your phone for the thirty minutes we've been here." Someone commented, pulling me out of my daze. I snapped my head up to see it was Sam. Damn, after four years of him shouting football plays on the field with me, you'd think I'd recognize his voice, but no. I must have the worst vocal recognition skills on the planet.
"Did Ella text you? Did she say something dirty? Dude – that's hot." Dylan said, agreeing with himself. I didn't even try to hide it as I eyed the pair with disgust.
"No. It was someone else. Besides, I think I'm going to break up with Ella." I told them. I figure if I don't have any actual friends, I may as well confide in these idiots.
"What?" Sam asked, incredulous. "Why, man? You two have been dating for years!"
I shrugged in response.
"Dude, what about the Halloween Dance? Who are you going to go with?" If it had been any other day, I probably would've just glared at them for saying 'Dude' again, but not today.
Instead, being truly poetic, I looked into the distance and tried to envision who Lost truly could be.
"I don't know."
Max POV
"I just don't know, Iggy." I said honestly.
"What do you mean, 'you don't know'? You've been texting this Claude dude for months and you tell him you're going to go to the dance with him and you don't know."
"First of all, its Clad, not Claude." I corrected. "Besides, I just don't know whether not I should go. He's expecting a fairytale princess, not me. If I never meet him, I never have to deal with the rejection." I reminded him.
"Or you could go, meet your true love, and live happily ever after?" Iggy suggested.
I looked at him strangely. "Isn't that what the girl is supposed to say?" He heaved a sigh a just stared at me.
It's times like this that sometimes I regret Iggy being the one person I confided in with the secret of 'Clad'. I could've told a rock or something, and no one would be trying to tell me to go to this stupid dance.
"Max, stop being so damn insecure."
"I'm not insecure." I interrupted.
He continued his monologue, pretending I had never interrupted. "You're gorgeous, you get straight As, you have a job." I resisted the urge to mutter, at an ice cream shop. "Anyone would be lucky to have you and any guy would date you. I'd date you."
I quirked an eyebrow at his statement.
He rolled his eyes, "Okay, maybe I wouldn't, you're not my type. Anyone else would, though. Didn't you see the way Dylan was looking at you the other day?"
"Like a piece of meat? Yeah, I saw." I said sarcastically. "Anyway, I'm not your type? Oh yeah, I know your type." I said in an effort to get the conversation off of me. A picture of Nudge and Iggy popped into my head.
Iggy grinned. "Yeah, I know. Ella Martinez." I groaned, not even caring what he thought about it. Iggy and I were so not on the same page here.
"Why do you like such a bitch?" I asked, genuinely curious, though there was some spite in my voice as I said the word 'bitch'.
Iggy frowned at me, "She isn't a bitch, Max." Ah yes, of course. Defending thy lady's honor. Oh wait – she has none.
I began to lie through my teeth. "Sorry, I was being a little judgmental." No I wasn't.
"Max, you're lyi- wait! We were talking about your love life, not mine."
I smirked. "So you finally noticed?"
"I hate you." He murmured under his breath, but loudly enough for me to hear him. "Anyway, I am not going to let you leave this Starbucks until you agree to go with Clad. The guy is obviously into you, so why decline? The worst that could happen is he's not as cool as you thought, so you just ditch him. No biggie there. And on top of all that, the biggest reason is still brewing."
I pondered his words carefully, still debating inside my head. "And what's that?" I asked.
He began to fish inside his pockets. "Well," He pulled to green stubs out of his right jeans pocket. "I already bought both of us tickets – and I'm not wasting $15."
At a time like this you might think a girl is better. Discussing your love life might not seem to come easily with guys, but with Iggy it's different. He's like the brother I never had. Wow, I sure do have a lot of those. Ari and Iggy. I'm starting to get surprised I was born an only child.
"Fine." I said gruffly, snatching a ticket out of his hand. I hid my smile as we walked out of Starbucks, me heading to my job and Iggy heading home. With a friend like Iggy escorting me, there was no possible way I was bailing anymore. And I was kind of happy about it.
Fang POV
As we all stood in our small circle – Ella, Dylan, Sam, Jennifer and Stacy (the Ella wannabes, Ella takes them everywhere. Some people have dogs in purses, Ella has wannabes.), and I – I realized I had to talk to Ella soon. She was still under the impression we were going to the dance together, though I had never actually formally invited her.
"Ella, we need to talk about something." I said, shoving my hands in my pockets. Dylan and Sam nodded, signaling I was good with my speech so far.
"What?" She asked happily, sipping on her Jamba Juice lowfat energy-boost thing. Yes, thing. It was so messed up with chemicals trying to make it healthier; it couldn't even be classified as a smoothie anymore.
I looked around nervously. "In private." I said.
She crossed her arms. "You can say anything you want to say to me in front of Jen and Stacy. You know that, hon." She said defiantly.
Sam and Dylan were sending me the "no-go, try again later" signal, but to be honest, I didn't want to try again later. Who knows when I'd have the guts to try again later?
"Fine, then. I want to break up." I said bluntly.
Her eyes widened. "What?" She screeched. "You don't mean that. You know you don't."
"I do mean that. We both haven't felt 'that' way in a long time, Ella. We can still be friends, you know that."
She glared at me intensely. "You. Don't. Mean. It." She ground out her words smoothly and carefully. "You know what? I have to go for mani-pedis with the girls, now. I'll meet you at the dance on Friday, kay?"
She swiftly walked away, the wannabes trailing at her heels.
"Smooth, man." Sam joked once she had left. I shot him a strong glare and he flinched.
"Sorry, dude. What are you going to do?" He apologized sincerely.
If it had been any other day, I probably would've just glared at them for saying 'Dude' again, but not today.
I groaned and, being truly poetic, looked off into the distance.
"I don't know."
Ha-ha. Did anyone catch my repetition there at the end? Well, my bowl of Raisin Bran is long gone by now, leaving me quite sad actually. I love Raisin Bran. Sigh.
~Cake.