I opened my eyes, groaning as the pounding against my temples struck. The dark room wasn't from the Parker household, but I could gather I passed out at Grayson's. Despite my banging headache, I forced myself off the bed.
I noticed I was not dressed not in my original party wear, but a baggy top that came to about mid-thigh and I found myself cursing god that I had to wear my oldest, most ugliest pants last night, as somebody had obviously seen them. Please let it have been Tara.
Reaching for the doorknob and head into the hall, I wandering the path until I found the stairs to the bottom floor. The living room was empty, but a low murmur of voices were audible from the kitchen, I realised everyone is here. I was aware last nights make up most likely looked horrendous along with my hair, but I couldn't care less.
As soon as I appeared in the doorway, the attention was on me.
"Finally!" Tara's voice held evident relief as she grinned and pulled me into a hug. I took my seat around the high table on the last swivel seat, keeping quiet as my head hurt too much.
"I don't even remember falling asleep last night." I mumbled, rubbing my eyes and no doubt smudging the mascara even more.
Each of the boys gave each other a sly look before each bringing there cups to there mouths and taking a drink. Suspicious?
"You drank the punch, it was spiked. You passed out." Grayson told me and I was not sure if I should be annoyed or whatever, but I did know I couldn't be bothered to put any real emotion into my answer, so IÂ shrugged and nodded.
"Here." Tara handed me two small pills. "Tylenol." she told me.
"Tylenol?"I copied. What the hell is Tylenol? Some type of drug?
"Paracetamol Max. Just take the pills it'll help you feel better." Alex told me and I nodded in understanding before swallowing the pills.
I looked around, taking into account that the house was already tidy. Damn. How long had I been out?!
~~~
Grayson drove Alex and I home to freshen up and since it was the last day of the holidays, we were heading straight back out to make the most of it, meeting at Jace's house.
I threw on some shorts and a long ,mid-thigh, vintage, ripped top before pulling on a flannel and some black doc martens. I brushed my teeth and hair and redid my makeup.
At the bottom of the stairs was Alex wearing his famous smirk. He opened his mouth to no doubt make a sarcastic remark on my appearance.
I reached up and slapped my hand over his mouth, stopping him before he could start.
"Let me guess..." I touched my hair. "My hairs a mess?! No...my outfit blows? Make up looks disgusting? Am I hitting it right?" I grinned at the fact I'd beaten him at his own game and lowered my hand from his mouth.
He looked taken aback for a brief moment I wouldn't have caught if I didn't know him well enough, but he quickly recovered, a fiercer smirk appearing than before.
"Actually, I was going to say you look nice. " He winked and flashed his perfectly straight, white teeth.
My mouth fell open then snapped back shut. "Yeah." I scoffed "nice try pretty boy, but I nailed it and you know it." I poked his chest and beamed a smile at him.
He placed a hand at his heart and gasped, smiling hopefully and putting on his most annoying squeaky girl voice he could. "You think I'm pretty?!" At this point I laughed and rolled my eyes as I reached for the door knob.
"Shut up, Dufus."
~~~
When we arrived at Jace's everyone was waiting on us, it was not our fault we had the longest to walk.
Grayson left his truck at Jace's as we decided to walk to our destination that I hadn't yet been told.
"Where's Tara?" I asked Jace.
He sighed. "She's still pissed at me after last night. I said some hurtful things to her and although I've said sorry, I haven't yet completely swallowed my pride and gone over to her house . She's rejecting my calls."
"Maybe she's also annoyed you called her Latara - she hates it right?" Though I already knew this, I wanted to bring it up in conversation.
"Yeah, but it's a force of habit."
"It's a pretty name." I said.
"Yeah but she doesn't think so. She says it's not fierce enough for her image..or something like that." He chuckled shaking his head, a smile plastered along his face and it was so obvious how much he adored her.
I personally thought Latara was badass.
"The second time we ever spoke - I think? You crawled through Alex's living room window. We thought you were an imposter and attacked you with hairspray." I laughed at the thought and he did the same and rubbed his eyes as though he remembered the sting . "Anyway, you told us you were trying to get away from your girlfriend because she's crazy. I understand what you mean now...but I think it's a good type of crazy." I told Jace and he nodded in understanding.
"She's over the top crazy, I won't lie there, but she's something special, otherwise I wouldn't have stayed with her for three years." I grinned, my heart swelling at how he talked about her, you wouldn't think one of the bad boys of West Vale cared that deeply about any girl.
"She's extremely crazy in be-" I gasped and covered his mouth, laughing.
"I do NOT need to know that. Ever!" He grinned and shrugged.
~~~
"Where exactly are we going?" I asked, clinging onto Alex's back as I nagged for a piggy back for a solid five minutes until he gave in.
"Strip club." Grayson answered, humour in his voice.
"Yes please!" Kyle yelled, he was all pumped up from the energy drink he devoured moments ago.
"You guys are disgusting." I rolled my eyes and found myself surprised that Alex hadn't yet chimed in. I rested my head on his shoulder.
"What're you thinking about?" I whispered lightly in his ear.
He seemed to then snap out of it because his body jolted and his head snapped up.
"Nothing important."
We arrived at a big building with bright yellow board and pink writing with the name 'bounce and go'Â what the hell is bounce and go?
Inside, I found it to be a huge trampolining room. We paid for ourselves and we were more or less the only ones here, excusing the odd kid or two.
We removed our shoes and I silently thanked god I was wearing socks that didn't have holes in. That would have been a complete disaster!
I grabbed Kyle's hand and dragged him from our little run up onto the trampolines so we could jump into the heap of balls at the end of the trampolines at the other end of the room.
We jumped together and I screamed as we hit the pit like canon balls.
I could only imagine Alex's reaction if I'd have grabbed his hand and that could've been embarrassing so Kyle was the safer option.
The others followed in suit behind us, Jace who did a walking on air motion before hitting it beside us, Alex who dived in head first (luckily it was rather deep) and Grayson, who shamelessly belly flopped into the balls. Ouch , that's Gotta hurt!
I knew I was correct when a groan followed shortly after the loud clash of his stomach against the balls.
We raced around the room, jumping from section to section of the huge trampoline and I found myself playing tig with the boys. May I point out they were all way fitter than me and could outrun me quicker than you could actually say 'tig'.
"Tig!" I slapped Grayson's arm and half ran, half jumped as far away as possible as he darted after Jace.
He jumped up and kicked out at Jace in a playful way, hitting him and yelling tig and retreating as quick as possible. Jace targeted Alex and I took this time to make my way safely to the other side of the trampoline.
After not too long, Alex was struck and he scanned the room, his eyes fixating on me, but he changed his target when noticing Kyle wasn't too far away.
Kyle bounced, rushing in my direction and I darted off in the opposite direction.
I soon realised Alex had left Kyle alone and he was gaining on me quickly. The other boys did their own thing, trying to get as far away from us as possible as they engaged in small conversation, glancing over every few moments to make sure Alex was not going for them.
I made the mistake of looking over my shoulder, which only slowed me down and Alex tackled me down to the floor landing on top of me and before I had time to say anything, I was alarmed by the fact that Alex Parker's soft plump lips were crashed against mine.
He broke away after a second and looked at me with flushed cheeks.
"What are you doing?" I demanded, though I didn't mean to sound quite so rude, I was just shocked if I was honest. Alex Parker just kissed me?!
"I- I uh...I- my- I fell and I uh..f-fell." He wasn't stuttering because he was shy, he was stuttering because he couldn't find words to explain his actions.
He pushed his body up off mine, which I hadn't realised was crushing me until the pressure was gone, but he was really heavy. He held a hand out to me to pull me up and his anxious features smoothed over.
"You didn't actually think I'd kiss you on purpose did you?" He tried to make his laugh sound normal, but their was still an edge of anxiousness evident as he scratched the back of his head.
"No. Not at all." I mumbled and walked away from him, toward the others who were gaping our way. I was not sure why, but I wouldn't lie, my heart sank at his last words.
"DUDE GET IN!" Kyle yelled, but was hit in the stomach by Grayson which cut him off.
Grayson looked at no doubt the hurt expression I masked when facing Alex but currently, I didn't care about and shook his head at Alex.
When I reached them, Jace put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close enough to whisper into my ear. "Are you okay Maxy?"
"Completely fine." I flashed him a forced smile and he sighed, shaking his head.
"I've dealt with a girlfriend for three years, don't try pulling that rubbish with me. Look, Alex is an unintentional jackass. He's a good guy really though, okay?" I nodded and noticed Grayson and Kyle had moved and are standing in the middle of the trampoline with Alex.
Alex's POV:
I raced after her, gaining on her quickly. She looked over at me, laughing loudly and she shrieked when I clashed into her and took her down with me. I landed on her and before I could think twice, I pushed my lips against hers, something I didn't even know I wanted to do. I pulled away after a moment and looked at her, awaiting her reaction.
"What are you doing?" The tone in her voice was demanding and her eyebrows were furrowed. Uh oh, she didn't want me to kiss her?! How was that even possible, it's me!
""I- I uh...I- my- I fell and I uh..f-fell" damn it Alex! Play it smooth. I tried as hard as I could to laugh it off and help her up.
"You didn't actually think I'd kiss you on purpose did you?" Wow, I ruined it.
She gave me a small smile and almost whispered "No. Not at all." As she turned and walked back to the others who no doubt saw everything.
"DUDE GET IN!" Kyle yelled, but Gray silenced him which a hard hit to the stomach.
She slowly made her way over to the other boys and I couldn't help but silently scream, flail my arms around and grab and kick at the air.
She joined Jace who whispered something to her and she returned the whisper which seemed to turn into a small quiet conversation.
Grayson shook his head at me and met me in the middle of the trampoline, Kyle following behind.
"Dude, what the fu-" Grayson began.
"I don't know!" I snapped and pulled at my hair that was getting too long and messily covered part of my forehead.
"Last night I told you to stop playing games, not be a prick!"Grayson told me.
"Nobody likes an 'I told you so'" I sniped and then sighed.
"I don't know what happened. I kissed her, which I have no idea why! Then when her voice held accusation it was a natural instinct to make her the fool, not me."
"Well bro, you messed up." Kyle patted my back and I shot a glare at him.
"You're not helping!"
"You're honestly going to say you don't know why you kissed her?" Grayson asked me, he appeared to be getting rather short tempered.
"I have no idea! Okay I don't even like her! This doesn't happen to me man. I use girls, I don't do a Jace and Tara." I was aware I appeared to look like I was freaking out, but Max hadn't looked at me within the last five minutes, she actually just went and jumped in the pit of balls with Jace again.
"Alexander, I'm not joking okay, stop with the games, you're going to really hurt someone...and if that someone's Max, I won't think twice before beating your ass." Grayson's voice was strong and stern, but I couldn't concentrate on that, all I could see was her.
~~~
Max's POV:
We walked home after another half hour of trampolining , during which Alex completely avoided me.
When it was time to split from the rest of the boys, Jace kindly offered to walk back with us, probably to keep the awkwardness at bay but Alex quickly dismissed his offer and I found us walking alone in silence as the skies dimmed and the lamp posts began to give off a faint glow.
"So..did you enjoy bounce and go" Alex asked me as we walked up the steps to his house. It was the first words spoke between us and he asked that?
"It was fine." I told him and opened the door before he could say anything else.
Alex stalked into the kitchen and I followed behind, his small fragile mother was sat at the table, face in her palms sobbing.
"Mum?" Alex asked softly. It was the only time I ever saw him so soft, when speaking to his mother. She looked up, embarrassed by the fact we had caught her.
"Where's dad?" Alex asked again, knowing it was most likely him that has caused his mother this stress and tears.
"He's gone." she wiped her eyes. Alex stayed silent and I felt as though I was intruding on what should be a private conversation, yet just walking away would seem rude.
"He's moved out with his mistress." Elaine did her best to stop herself frowning but didn't have much luck. Alex stood still, not knowing what to do or say then suddenly, he turned swiftly on his heals and headed upstairs.
I rushed to give Elaine a tight hug and followed Alex up the stairs, by the time I got there his door was shut. Should I go in or leave him for a while? Screw it.
I knocked softly twice and then entered. He was stood with his back to me, looking out the window, the only light in here was from the dimmed sky that was getting darker by the minute.
I proceeded slowly toward him, he didn't turn or say anything, just stood with his balled up fists in his pockets and jaw clenched.
"Alex" I whispered.
I got no reply.
I closed the space between us and lightly touched his arm. "You can talk to me, I understand how you feel." I told him.
He whirled his body around, jaw tighter than I'd ever seen before and his stormy eyes hard and cold.
"No you don't! You think just because your dad didn't want you that you understand how this is?!" He raised his voice, yelling through his teeth.
I flinched, but he hardly noticed, or maybe he just didn't care.
"My dad left me too." I squeaked, though a pang hurt my heart from his previous words; just because your dad didn't want you..
"Yes Max he did! But he didn't cheat on your mum!" He told me. I stayed calm and tried again.
"That doesn't mean I don't understand what you're going through even to a degree." I whispered.
He seemed to get even more frustrated at me, a storm of thunder and lighting reflected within his eyes.
"No! My dad still wants me! He hasn't left me, he left my mum! See your dad is different! Your dad left your mum and you! Because he didn't want you. You were a child. He never. Wanted." He hissed and I swore my heart crumbled there and then.
My eyes prickled, usually I'd come back screaming and shouting, but Alex's harsh words made me feel empty. Useless.
"I hate you Alexander Parker!" I screamed and rushed out, slamming the door behind me. I heard a groan of frustration and then, just after I slammed the door, something smashing against it. I closed the door to my room and threw myself on to the bed sobbing.
Oh how quickly things can change within a few hours.
~~~
Heey! I'm sorry lol I'm no good at writing happy stories, their always has to be a small sad part, but everything will be okay again soon:) I'm sorry I took so long to get this up, I had writers
Once again, I'm very sorry, comment, vote and ily all:) HOW DO YOU GUYS LIKE THE PLOT SO FAR?!