Random Quote of the Week: "It rains when you're here, it rains when you're gone, 'cause I was there when you said forever and always," -Taylor Swift, in "Forever and Always"

Max's POV

After a tiring day yesterday, I shamelessly slept in once again. Ironically, I'd been spending more time sleeping since we arrived in the sleepless city of Los Angeles. We didn't really have a plan for the day, as usual, so neither of us had any incentive to get up quickly.

Eventually, I grew bored lying down. Fang was already awake, so I was cold as well. I sat down next to him and took his jacket off. With his help, Fang's jacket was wrapped around me within a few seconds. Even such a simple task like this one was often a struggle for me after just waking up. I wasn't horrifically tired, but doing anything in the morning took forever.

We took our time eating breakfast, which happened to be a can of beans for the ump-teenth day in a row. But still, it was better than living on not-so-neatly-preserved leftovers back at home.

It wasn't free, though. Fang and I had to rob a cashier in a small town to survive. Too bad we didn't have anything of value to sell, so we wouldn't have to steal anymore.

Just then, I thought of something: Fang's laptop. It was worth at least a few hundred bucks. If we sold it, the money could provide for us for at least a few weeks.

"Fang?" I asked. "I was just thinking about something. Even though we don't use much money, we're bound to have to steal again unless we put down really soon."

"Yeah."

"I was thinking that maybe we could sell your laptop?"

Fang looked at me for a moment and shrugged. "I guess so. We should probably wait until we're lower on funds, so I can keep talking to Dr. Martinez about finding your parents."

"Wait, you're still trying?"

"Yeah. And I won't stop trying, either."

"All right. But are you okay with selling the laptop?"

"Of course," Fang answered without hesitation, "unless a laptop means more to you than food and morals."

"Good. Just out of curiosity, does it hold any sentimental value to you?" I asked Fang.

"A little bit. It was pretty much all I had in terms of belongings. I never thought of selling it before running away, being the idiot I was. If I knew that the Martinezes would've done such a good job taking care of Angel, I would've taken all my money and not left any behind with her.

"That definitely would've been better than stealing," I told him.

"True. But protecting Angel is more important than not stealing. Don't get me wrong; I hate being a jerk and stealing from some innocent guy. But it's a price you have to pay, you know? Sometimes there's no clear black and white choice. This is a clear-cut grey area, if there ever was one."

"That was deep."

"I'm a deep guy. Now, are you ready to get going?"

"To where?"

"The laundromat. You're forgetting already?"

"Shut up! I just woke up."

We stood up and headed to the city. I absently noted that our conversation roles were switched this morning; Fang gave speeches and I said one-liners. It felt a little weird, so hopefully it was just an aberration.

We arrived at the nearest laundromat within an hour. After converting several bills into change and buying a small container of detergent, we threw all of our clothes except what we were wearing into the washing machine.

To pass the time, Fang suggested that we relax in a café, for the millionth time. As long as they had cushioned chairs, I was okay with it.

Kidding. Any chair looked pretty good when compared to the freaking forest floors Fang and I sat in. But a little luxury never hurt, right? It wasn't like we actually bought the chairs or anything. Fang and I just capitalized on coincidence.

Speaking of capitalizing on coincidence, Fang located a Starbucks just a few hundred feet from the laundromat. Dang, those were everywhere here. No wonder the people in this city lost their ability to 'even' way before the rest of the world.

Oh, wait, am I a white girl? Guess so…

"Watch it, Max!" Fang warned. I stopped in my tracks, but not soon enough. As I walked towards the café, I bumped into a lady carrying an expensive coffee, causing her to spill it all over her business suit.

"Sorry!" I said instinctively. The lady glared at me and grabbed me by the shirt. I wasn't having any of her nonsense, even though I did just spill coffee on her. I shook her hand off, causing her to get even angrier.

"Who do you think you are?" the lady scolded. "I have a meeting in an hour, and you do this?"

I shrugged. "Nobody's perfect." The lady raised her hand to hit me, but I was quicker. I grabbed her arm, twisted it behind her back, and shoved her.

Fang grabbed my arm. "Let's go!" he yelled, as the lady began to get back up. She was no match for us speed-wise, but we had to be careful. Fang and I ran right out of the city and hid in a large patch of bushes. When we saw that nobody was pursuing us, we finally relaxed.

"Do you have any idea how stupid that was?" Fang asked me. "You could've gotten us caught."

"We wouldn't have gotten caught! I just shoved some rude lady!"

Fang scowled. "If I recall correctly, you were the one who crashed into her."

"You could've warned me faster!"

"Oh, so now it's my fault?"

"I didn't say that!" I protested.

Fang took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He shook his head. "I thought better of you, Max. Shoving some random lady? We grew up around abusive parents. Some idiot on the street you spilled coffee on isn't worth your time."

"Well-" I began. I was about to make another smart comment, but I suddenly realized I was in the wrong the whole time. I was so caught up in defending my pride, I completely ignored the fact that it was all my fault. I let myself down, and let Fang down too. "I-I'm sorry," I managed. "Are you happy?"

Fang put his arm around me. "This isn't about making me happy. This is about doing what's right. Just because we're on the run, and we did have to steal once, gives us no excuse to act poorly."

"I guess so."

Fang smiled slightly. "It's all right, Max. Everyone makes mistakes. But if we're to survive on the run, we have to make smarter choices."

"Will you shut up about the ethics and crap? It's not like you're perfect either."

Fang chuckled. "I'm definitely not. But you're a lot quicker to react than I am, so that leaves more room for potential spontaneous outbursts."

"Potential what?"

"Spontaneous outbursts. In other words, dumb stuff."

"Got it. We're getting the clothes now," I told him.

An hour later, we were sitting in a café with backpacks full of fresh clothes. Thankfully, when I spilled the coffee on the woman, I didn't get any on myself. Take that, sucker.

Fang appeared to have moved past the incident this morning, and I was more than happy to put it in my rearview mirror. I was still a stupid, immature seventeen-year-old, after all.

We sat in the café for a while, just relaxing. In other words, I was bored out of my mind for a whole hour. Yet another thing I took for granted now: peace and calm. I was really becoming a spoiled child. What if I lived in a *gasp* real family?

After Fang though our clothes were done washing, we walked back to the laundromat. We got to the building several minutes early, so we ended up waiting around. Fang took out some more change from his pocket.

"What's the money for?" I asked him.

"The clothes."

"We have to pay again? What happened to the money you put in earlier?"

"Dryer."

"Oh," I replied, noticing Fang returning to his one-word answers. He usually wasn't this succinct, but he was better at this than giving Harvard-worthy lectures. You could cross out teacher in the list of Fang's career choices.

On that thought, what were Fang's career choices? Even if he got back to Phoenix and attended his senior year, it wasn't easy to get hired without a degree. But that probably wasn't going to happen, since that would've meant leaving me behind. And I never would've let Fang get rid of me that easily.

After the wash cycle finally finished, Fang grabbed a basket from the counter and transferred the sopping wet clothing to a dryer. He shut the door, pressed a few buttons, and inserted a few coins. Suddenly, he frowned. After cursing under his breath, Fang went back to the cashier to exchange a few more bills for coins.

I was tempted to step in in fear of Fang screwing up, but decided to refrain myself. After all, I had no right to criticize him after shoving a lady on the street after spilling her coffee on her. I hoped it wasn't too expensive, because her suit looked pretty nice.

After Fang put the coins in the dryer, without goofing, he walked back to the chairs, where I was patiently waiting.

"It'll be an hour," he told me.

"Oh, great. What the hell are we supposed to do?"

Fang eyed the table next to me. "Well, there are People magazines here. Have you read one lately?"

"No. It's not like we've had time to."

"Nope," he agreed, sitting down and grabbing a magazine. I followed suit, picking up a random magazine as well.

We spent the next hour flipping through random magazines and reading articles. I caught Fang staring at scantily-clad celebrities multiple times, unsurprisingly. He was still a young man (is it weird that he's technically a man while I'm still a kid?), with hormones. Luckily for him, though, his were much more controlled than mine. I wanted to stuff mine in a bag and flush them down the toilet.

When they were ready, we took the clothes from the dryer and put them back in our backpack, we left the city and went back to our sleeping spot. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the grass before eating dinner. After Fang went to sleep, I took out my diary and wrote.

Dear Diary,

Remind me again: why the hell am I so stupid?

They always say hindsight is 20/20, and boy, were they right. Shoving that woman was pretty much the only thing I remember regretting since leaving. Even though I'm socially behind, and I don't care in the least, a seventeen-year-old, almost eighteen-year-old girl should have stronger impulse control.

Whichever. I'm still alive, and Fang's with me. That's all that matters. Screw the lady. I may be strong, but I never said I was polite. Or consistent in attitude either.

One thing I'm looking forwards to is another duet with Fang. The last one was beyond amazing, and really made me feel like I was in another world. I'd never tell Fang, but his voice pretty much hypnotizes me. It's just so amazing, it should be illegal.

Anyways…awkward silence…

Love,

Max

NOTE TO SELF: Do not re-read this diary entry under any circumstances.

Question of the Chapter: If you were in Fang's position, and had to choose between keeping an extra few hundred bucks to take on the run or leaving them behind with your little sister (who is still living in an abusive household, since the Martinezes and Griffiths' don't exist in this world), which would you choose?