Monday, March 23, 2009

[thirty-six]

Max's POV

I couldn't fall asleep, well more like I wasn't going to allow myself to fall asleep. I needed to know she was coming home, I needed to hear the door open and then shut. I looked over at the clock, 11:30 PM. She still had another two and a half hours of work and my eyes were working against me. I did everything I could, coffee, peanut butter, loud music. I found myself back on the couch, starring. With each blink of the eye, my eyelid was slowly becoming too heavy to pick up. The room went dark and I fell in to a deep sleep. The bright light reflecting off the mirror on the wall woke me up. I glanced over at the clock, 9:45 AM. I jumped up from the couch, and steadied myself as I looked around. I made my way in to the bedroom and saw Lillianah sprawled out over the bed, still in her clothes from the night before. I stepped back out and shut the door behind me. She came home, that's all I needed to know.

Lillianah's POV

I really didn't want to go to work, I wanted to stay with Max. I knew I was on the verge of being fired though if I missed anymore time. It wouldn't be hard for me to find another job, but there really wasn't anything as good as the job at Diesel. I walked down the street and made my way through the back door of the club. "How's Max doing?" one of the bus boys, who's name I do not know, asked. "He's fine, it's just a concussion," I answered before turning my back and heading up to my little area. I messed around on my laptop as people starting filing in to the club. It was still early, so I had plenty of time to pull the songs I wanted to play that night. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and I pulled it out to see a text message from none other than Kevin Rudolf. I want you to come to Miami and work with me. Hit me up tomorrow. He wants to work with me? Even after I ran out on him? I pushed the thought out of my mind and brought my attention back to my laptop. Clicking and dragging songs into files like a man woman, I looked down on the dance floor and noticed the floor was slowly disappearing, bodies filing in. I check my watch, 10 PM, it was go time. I noticed a few cowboy hats in the crowd and felt like experimenting, so I pulled a few country songs out as well. I push play on one playlist and headed down to the bar. As soon as I walked up to the counter one of the barkeeps handed me a bottle of tequila, they knew me so well. I smiled and headed back upstairs.

I couldn't tell if the people in the club were enjoying my country remixes, but I sure was, so I went with it. It was just something about Rascal Flatts with a Jay-Z beat behind it that was intriguing. I looked around and everyone was dancing, so I was doing my job. I glanced over at the VIP and a familiar pair of brown eyes were starring me down. I felt my face go flush and looked back down to my my laptop. What was he doing here? Alone it looks like too. "Do you need a drink Lil?" I turned around to face him. "No thanks Kris, I have my bottle," I smiled before grabbing it and taking a swig from it. "Tequila, really? I didn't think you were that kind of girl?" "What's that suppose to mean?" A smile came on to his face. "I don't know too many girls that drink tequila straight from the bottle." "Well the girls you know can't even handle cosmopolitans." I watched as he searched for some words, but nothing came out, so I turned back around, taking another swig. I watched as a message popped up on my laptop from my boss, 'turn this country crap off, I know people are enjoying it, but it's driving me crazy'. I laughed out loud and quickly mixed the tunes up, pulling up Santogold, I knew he liked her. I couldn't help myself but I glanced back over to the VIP where Kris had resumed his seat and was still watching me. This only prompted me to grab my bottle again. I almost felt like texting Max, but I was 100% sure he was sleeping.

After one too many shots of tequila, I started packing my stuff up. I looked at my watch and saw that it was about 1:50 in the morning. I grabbed the bottle and set it aside to see that I drank about half of it. No wonder I was having trouble standing up straight. Once the house lights turned on, I swung my bag over my shoulder and almost lost my balance. I felt a firm grip on my shoulder and I spun around to see it was Kris. A smile crept on to my face and I walked side-by-side with him out the club. "I'll see ya later Kris," I slurred as I started walking toward the apartment. "I'm not letting you walk home alone at this hour," he protested grabbing my arm once more. "I've done it dozens of times, I'll be fine." He shook his head no and continued to walk with me. I would occasionally bump in to him, but not on purpose, only because I was too drunk to walk straight. His arm wrapped around my shoulders and I didn't protest, it helped me from falling over. I looked up at him and for the first time I saw how truly beautiful he really was. He was unique looking, almost like a werewolf. I snapped my neck back and looked down at my feet. Stop thinking that! We reached the apartment building and I went to slide out of his grasp but he just followed me into the elevator. I kept starring at my feet as we rode up in silence. The doors opened and I finally got away from him and walked to the front door. I fumbled through my bag for my keys, but I felt his hand on my shoulder and he spun me around and my bag fell to he ground. He stepped forward, causing me to step back, right up against the door. "When are you going to open your eyes?" I looked at him confused but before I could say or do anything his hand was on the back of my neck and his lips were on mine. I froze, my hands landed on his chest, but I couldn't push him off of me. My hands just rested there. I inhaled sharply only to inhale the scent of his cologne, the perfect combination of fresh laundry and a musky scent. My hands ran up his chest to his hair and I eagerly kissed back. I heard him chuckle as his lips moved from my mouth to my neck, then my eyes flew open. I brought my hands back to his chest and pushed him off of me. Without saying a word I turned around and picked up my things, unlocked the door and walked in, shutting the door in Kris' smiling face. What the hell did I do? I looked around and noticed Max passed out on the couch, as much as I wanted to wake him up and bring him to bed with me, I had a feeling he would be able to smell Kris on me. I headed in to the bedroom and collapsed on the bed, crying.

I woke up still in my clothes from the night before and as I sat up my head started pounding. Perfect, a hang over. Wait, where's Max? Did I walk home last night? I crawled out of bed and headed straight for the shower. After allowing the hot water to run over me, I got out, pulled on a pair of Max's basketball shorts and a bra and walked out into the living room to see him watching the news. "Hey baby," he smiled as I sat down next to him and he kissed my wet hair. I pinched the bridge of my nose and clenched my eyes shut. "Headache?" "I'm hung over, I think I drank too much last night. Last thing I remember is packing my stuff up. I don't remember getting home." His eyes grew wide and I looked at him funny. "Did you see Tanger last night?" I sat there and thought about it. "Yeah, actually I did, he wanted to buy me a drink, that's when I started drinking the tequila." Some details started coming back, why do I feel like that wasn't the only time I saw Kris? "Oh and Kevin Rudolf texted me last night, he wants me to go to Miami to work with him." Even though I said this to Max, my mind was still on Kris, something happened with him, did we get in a fight? "Kevin Rudolf? As amazing as that would be for you Lil, I can't let you do that. I'm sorry, you remember the last time." I nodded my head, what the hell happened with Kris? "I know, he wants me to call him today. I'll just tell him no." Max wrapped his arm around my shoulders and I leaned my body against him. His smile, Kris' smile, that's the last thing I remember. Why was he smiling?

Max's POV

She looked like she shit when she walked out and joined me on the couch. Even though she had just showered, she had bags under her eyes and I could tell she had been drinking, a lot, the night before. And the fact that she saw Tanger made me feel uneasy. Especially since she doesn't remember coming home. "Hey, I need to head down to the arena, I'll be back later," I stated firmly getting up from the couch. "Do you need me to drive you?" "No, I should be fine, I won't be long. My parents should be over in like a hour, hopefully I will be back by then." I watched as she smiled lightly, "okay." "Love you Lil." "Love you too Max." I grabbed my coat and keys and quickly left the apartment. I needed to know how she got home last night, and I'm sure Tanger was the only one that knew. I wasn't scare to beat the crap out of him if needed either. I got to the arena and quickly jumped out of my car and headed straight for the locker room.

I flung the door open and the room fell silent. Flower stood up and looked at me like I was a ghost. "What are you doing here Max? You're suppose to be at home resting." I ignored his question and walked straight up to Tanger. "Can I have a word?" He nodded his head and got up and followed me into the equipment room. "What the hell was that about last night?" I snapped at him, shoving my finger in to his chest. "Back off Max, she was plastered last night, you think I was going to let her walk home alone?" "So you brought her home?" He nodded his head and I took my finger down from his chest. "She doesn't remember crap Tanger, and to be honest, I don't fully trust you. Who were you with last night?" "I was alone." "So you went to watch her?" I could tell he was searching for the right words, which meant he only went to watch her. He probably goes every night he has a chance to see if she's working. I was disgusted. "Did you try taking her back to your place?" "No, I took her straight to your place, but you better watch that girl. When she starts drinking tequila she'll kiss anyone." My fists clenched. She wasn't like that. She's not that kind of girl. As much as I wanted to punch Tanger, I couldn't do it, because I began to remember how she was before me. How I was before her. "You're telling me she kissed you?" "She was all over me, I had to push her off and open the god damn door for her." "You better watch your back, because I don't fucking believe you." I shoved him with my finger into the wall and stormed out, ignoring the looks from the guys in the locker room.

I could feel myself become lightheaded as I drove back to the apartment. I had to pull over to let the feeling pass before I could continue home. I rested my head against the steering wheel and took a few deep breaths. Lillianah wouldn't kiss Kris, she doesn't see him like that. Kris has to be lying. What the hell? After a few more breaths I brought my head up and finished my ride home. I spun my car keys around my finger as I rode the elevator up. As I walked in to the apartment I saw Lillianah pacing around the kitchen moving her hands around frantically in front of her. "Lil, you okay?" I asked and she froze in her tracks and looked at me. Maybe Kris wasn't lying. "I remember what happened last night, he kissed me. Kris kissed me. I didn't even want him to walk me home but I was drunk, really drunk. I was leaning in to him on the walk home so I wouldn't fall over. He came up here with me and he kissed me. He said something but I can't remember. I just now remembered what happened. Details are still really blurry but I remember that much. I remember pushing him away and then closing the door in his face." As calmly as I could I pulled my jacket off and hung it up. "Where are my parents?" "I guess there was an accident by the hotel, they're stuck in traffic, but they called twenty minutes ago, so I'm sure they will be here soon." I walked up to her and held her in my arms. I wasn't going to tell her what Kris said, that would only piss her off. We didn't need two pissed off people here when my parents showed up. Why would Kris lie to me though? Did he honestly think Lillianah wouldn't tell me something like that. Maybe he was hoping because she was so drunk that she wouldn't remember. Boy, was he wrong. I kissed her forehead and brought her in to the bathroom and ran a wash rag under some cold water and wiped down her face. "It's okay, calm down," I whispered as her eyes were racing around, obviously her mind was running a mile a minute.

I opened the door for my parents and they came bearing food, once again. They should honestly just move here to Pittsburgh. We all crowded around in the living room eating our deli sandwiches. "So Lillianah, I hope you can make it to Montreal with Max this summer." I looked up at my mom with wide eyes, "actually mom, we haven't talked about our summer plans yet. Lillianah has to figure out what she can do with work so she doesn't have to take so much time off." I looked over at Lillianah, who suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I'm sure we'll come up for a weekend or maybe even a week," I said as her expression softened. "You don't plan on staying the whole summer like always?" My dad asked and I looked up at him, then back at Lillianah. "No, not the whole summer, I have reason to stay in Pittsburgh now." A huge smile came on to Lillianah's face and she lunged forward and kissed me, and then did something I hadn't seen in a very long time. Blush. I put an act on for my parents, considering it was their last day in Pittsburgh before going home. I was still very much pissed off at a certain Kristopher Letang, and every bone in my body wanted to just crush him for just looking at Lillianah. You know what, it doesn't matter. She didn't kiss back, she pushed him off of her. "Max did you hear me?" I snapped my eyes up and saw both my mother and father laughing at me. "No, sorry, I was thinking." "We can see that, we were just wondering if you knew when you wanted us to come out again, when Lillianah's parents are here." I looked over at Lillianah and she looked distant too, like she was deep in thought. "Um, we actually haven't thought about it. I know we have a long home stand at the end of March, so probably then. I will let you guys know after we talk to Lil's family." My mom and dad both smiled and I squeezed Lillianah's hand, pulling her out of her trance. "You okay?" I asked her and she nodded her head. 

4 comments:

Val said...

okay, loved this chapter only because of the extreme honesty between Lil and Max and the fact that he believed her and not Tanger...more soon, please

Heather said...

I hate to say this... but Lil needs to tell Max that she kissed Tanger back... arrg! Tanger is not a very nice person, and I don't like him very much right now.

Great story, highly entertaining. :D

Katie said...

Whoa Tanger! What a liarr.
This was awesomee and I cant wait to see what happens next.

Trish said...

Girl! I just read this whole story and I love it!! I love that there is finally a realistic story out there, and well it's about Max : ). Love it! Keep it up : )