"I've never been to a circus before!" My eyes were wide with excitement as Alex smirked and brushed a wave of hair from his forehead backward.
"Well dufus, you're in luck!" I scoffed quietly before returning to my excited phase.
"The lads are going because Jace is dragging them there who is being dragged there by Tara so we're going too." He swiftly turned on his heals before I could say anything else and headed up the stairs.
I felt bad that I didn't remember anything about Tara other than her name and what she looked like, but then again, she probably felt the same about me. We were both pretty drunk.
I headed up the stairs in hopes of catching Casey on the phone for a little while to gossip since we hadn't spoken in a few days.
After closing my bedroom door, I slung myself stomach down onto my bed, grabbing at my phone and punching in Casey's number. She answered after only two rings.
"Nashville's Sperm Bank, you squeeze it, we freeze it. How may I help you?" and with that I burst into fits of laughter which I was soon accompanied too by the joker herself.
"That was a new one. Great by the way." I told her, just managing to settle my laughter.
"Where have you been?! I've been wondering when you'd call me back!"
"I know I'm sorry Case. I've been busy. Any goss-" and then I was rudely interrupted.
" hey weasel, get ready..and take a shower. You smell pretty bad." Alex teased me in my door way.
"I took a shower this morning! Get out dog breath!" I threw a pillow at him and he laughed loudly, slamming the door as the pillow hit it.
"Sorry about that Case." I sighed.
"Was that...Alex Parker?" Casey squealed and my eyes automatically rolled.
"Unfortunately."
"Unfortunately?! Max you don't know how lucky you are. So many girls would kill to be you right now."
"They can have my spot at the Parker residence for all I care. Casey he's a self absorbed Asswipe!" I exclaimed and in return earned a gasp of shock from the other end of the line.
Usually Casey would be all up for making fun and insulting people with me, with the exception of Alex Parker, his group of bad boys and of course their huge egos. Sigh.
"Whatever, you just don't see his good looks and charms and....point is all the bad boys are like Gods, especially Alex Parker." oh I saw his good looks and I definitely knew his charm. Too bad his awful personality ruined it.
"It's hard to imagine Alex Parker as a God when I've seen him running around naked eating a banana..." I said this more like I was thinking out loud and I added "we were five but I still have nightmares." shuddering, I shook my head and I could just about imagine Casey drooling over the thought of the image I just put into her head, although she most likely isn't picturing him as a five year old.
"Whatever, anyway. The boys and I are going to the circus. Talk later!" I clicked the end call button and threw my phone down onto the bed beside me.
~~~
"Ugh could you take any longer? You don't even do all the stuff most girls do and you STILL take forever!" Alex groaned, pushing his face into my pillow repeatedly.
"Quit whining idiot." I continued to straighten my hair, looking at him every now and then through the mirror in front of me. When I finished, I turned them off and added concealer to blemishes and topped off my face with mascara.
"Done." I smiled at him through the mirror and he sat up, raking a hand through his light brown messy waves.
"Took you long enough, cupcake." Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs.
Alex trailed behind me, his hands shoved into his pockets and slouched. Normally, this structure of the body would look lazy and unattractive when accompanied by his stone set frown, but on Alex it was alluring. Ew, did I really just think that? Ugh this creep was getting too me!
Alex and I waited for Grayson to pick us up, which of course, he arrived late, as always.
"Maxy, pleasure to see you." Grayson winked at me, his head stuck out the window along with one of his arms, a pair of sun glasses rested on the top of his head.
I gave him a small smile and climbed into the back to find only Kyle. Alex jumped into the front and Grayson was speeding off hazardously before Alex could even close the door.
I swear every time I got into Grayson's car I almost die of a heart attack.
Grayson and Alex were already off in their own conversation about what car Alex should get when he got his license so I took the opportunity to make conversation with Kyle, who was sat, legs spread out and hands resting with his phone in between , thumbs tapping on the screen.
"Where's Jace?"Â Kyle looked up at me and flashed a smile as though he only just noticed I was here, yet he didn't stop typing on his phone.
"He and Tara are meeting us there." He told me, eyes flicking from me to the phone every few seconds.
"You didn't want to bring anyone?" I questioned after a few moments of mere silence between the two of us.
"Had nobody to bring." He replied, shrugging his shoulders and turning his phone off.
"C'mon, you're the bad boy of West Vale high. You could get any girl." He laughed a little, grinning.
"Kyle's the biggest pussy here!" Alex chimed in and I shot him a scowl.
"What and you're not?" I fired back.
"Nothing scares me cupcake." confidence? Let's try to bring that down a little yeah?
"Snakes." I hissed at him and he fell silent. You came to know these things when you unfortunately grew up with the bad boy.
"You're scared of snakes?!" Kyle burst out laughing along with Grayson while Alex yelled at them to stop.
"Sure. I'm the pussy!" Kyle grinned and Alex sulked in the passenger seat.
"What ever did we do before little Maxy came along?" Kyle pulled me into a one armed hug and I returned it while being glared at by Alex. If looks could kill huh?
After only ten more minutes of joking and chatting, we were pulling up in the car park of a field and mere feet away was a huge tent.
Flashing lights came from all directions and to the left of us was a huge queue of people. Alex, Grayson, Kyle and I joined the cue, soon graced with Jace and Tara's presence.
The boys did their 'guy thing' where they spoke overly loud and greeted each other numerous times with bro hugs, while Tara and I exchanged small 'we've met before, but I don't remember anything about you' type of smiles.
She looked a little different from the other night. Probably because she wasn't drunk as hell, makeup partially ruined and trying to do cartwheels, to be fair.
Tara's hair fell in loose, fiery red curls and I couldn't help but feel jealous that my hair never fell as gracefully perfect as hers.
"Let me break the ice. I don't remember much about you, I'm guessing that's mutual." she spoke with the same accent as the American boys she called her friends and her boyfriend. Of course, Alex and I were the only British ones.
"Start over?" I asked laughing quietly, she gave me a smile and nodded.
"Tara." she told me.
"Max."
Before either of us could get into conversation, we were being served. We each bought our tickets and began toward the huge tent.
I felt muscular arms slung around my shoulders lazily and for a moment, I thought it was Alex. Until I caught a glimpse of the shades set upon Grayson's head.
"You scared of clowns Maxy?!" Grayson basically yelled into my ear, laughing, clearly excited for the circus.
"Clowns?!" I shrieked.
"Don't worry cupcake, I'll protect you." Alex winked, smirking mischievously as I visibly gulped to show my fear.
~~~
The lights were off leaving the room almost pitch black. A spot light flickered on and then another, and another, lighting up the stage of which the acts would take place.
A voice boomed over the microphone "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE WELCOME OUR FIRST ACT!" And a round of applause broke out through the room. Each of the boys seemed unamused and bored, not bothering to clap. Do they ever give up this bad boy role?!
Music started and men and women dressed in tights and various costumes appeared in the spotlight. They danced and as the music sped up so did they, soon it was incredibly fast and the audience were going crazy as the dancers threw themselves into backflips and helicopters, throwing each other across the room, doing spins in the air and being caught at the other side.
The audience stood during their applause, Tara and I included, everyone except our boys. What snobs.
Act two was the worst by far. CLOWNS!
The clown came out looking rather scary, red and green hair static. I cringed and hid my face behind my hands. Alex bumped his shoulder against me, looking highly amused at my scared state.
The clowns juggled and did the whole pie in the face thing while making the horribly creepy laughs. I was going to have nightmares for weeks...
"Awe you scared, cupcake?" Alex poked my face, trying not to laugh at me.
I pouted, my lower lip sticking out while I desperately wished for it to be over. This was one act I wouldn't clap for!
Act three was introduced after minutes and a rather good looking man dressed in a white, smart, short sleeved shirt and black pants appeared in the spot light.
Tara and I gave each other the sly glance that told me she found him just as gorgeous as I did.
Two ropes were pulled to the center of the stage and loud slow-ish music played. The man wrapped the rope around his hands and began to run around the stage, jumping and being pulled up by the ropes. He did flips in the air and different tricks and the show ended quicker than I wanted. The crowd went mental and I put two fingers in my mouth, whistling as loud as I could.
I grinned, turning to Alex, who was glaring at me, possibly sulking? What had got under his skin?
Once the circus ended, Tara and I walked ahead of the boys slightly so we could fangirl about the attractive young man without the boys disapproving glares.
As a group decision, we decided to go to a close by diner to grab something to eat. Grayson drove us and the boys went on and on about how they thought the circus was boring. Yeah, sure they did. They were just trying to act cool in front of each other.
~~~
We sat at a booth and Alex continued to dig at how he thought the attractive man wasn't even good. I scoffed, rolling my eyes and making a comment along the lines of Alex never being able to do anything close to it.
We ordered our food and it soon came. I dove into my chips, quick to stop my stomach from growling and listened in on the conversation around me. Alex of course, was still sulking and making any snide comment he could.
"Alex? A word." I asked him, slightly annoyed.
"I'm eating." He replied bluntly.
"Now." I gritted my teeth in annoyance and he groaned, muttering profanities under his breath and stalking out of the door.
"If you're going to moan about everything to do with the circus then leave cause you're just acting like an annoying, immature five year old." I raised my voice at him and he shoved his hands into his pockets, slouching and huffing.
"It's not the WHOLE circus, just the gymnast rope guy I guess.." He spoke as though he'd rather talk of anything else.
"Well why? Jealous that for once everyone's attention wasn't on you?" I realised I was snapping, but he needed to get over himself.
"Ha you're funny Cupcake." Alex rolled his eyes.
"Then what is it?"
"Nothing..." He told me then added in a completely different tone . "I just can't believe you actually found him attractive."