So, I Walk With Shadows

Still pinned beneath him, I had an idea. I wrapped my legs around Max’s back in order to help me haul myself and roll over on top of him. I told myself it was only for the reason of defeating him but judging from the expression on his face he was enjoying it for other reasons. Now on top of him, my legs either side of his waist, I had the power to tickle him. It may be immature, but hey, it was pretty damn useful.
“Noooo!” he giggled, squirming “S-St-stop!” he panted, still laughing like maniac. Suddenly, something sparked in his eyes, and an evil smirk crept up on his face, causing me to stop in confusion. He used this to his benefit and grabbed my arms which were previously resting at my side for a second. Damn it. We were back where we started, with him pinning me down, holding my wrists above my head with one hand, and his free hand roaming my sides to tickle me. “Hey, use your own tactic!” I teased, “or can little Maxy-poo not think of a new way to defeat the awesome Zoe of awesomeness?” I aw-ed at his mock offended look, then within a second his expression changed; an even more sly looking smirk than any I have ever seen before found its way onto his lips, and before I could do anything, he hauled me off the ground into his arms and over his shoulder. Damn he was stronger than he looked.
He was now running through the house, blurting out words in an Irish accent, imitating a leprechaun. Slapping his back to let me go, yet still chortling like a madman, my sad attempt to make him let me go was failing. He trotted through the kitchen, yelling a “Top o’ the mornin’ to ye!” to a confused looking Ronnie, who was making something to eat by the fridge. After a pointless tour through the house, I had run out of breath from laughing and screaming for him to let me down. Max opened the front door, me still slung over his shoulder, I had given up on beating his back and kicking about, so I lay there like a fish, trying to make myself as heavy as possible. I felt the Vegas sun beating down on my butt, the humid air slapping me in the face. “God, its fucking gross today,” Max added, sounding rather disgusted. “Is it just me or did you just get heavier” he asked, confused by my sudden stillness. “no,” I whispered, “I’m using silent protest” I teased.
“Oh, whatcha protesting for, hm? Are you finally accepting the fact that I win with saying you have best eyes? Or do you demand more of this sex god?” he motioned to himself. Oh yeah. Best eyes. I forgot this whole thing was about that. I guess I was enjoying myself too much.
“I forgot what this was about completely, actually” I chuckled. “In that case, I demand we go swim!” he yelled excitedly, his tone like that of an amused child. Swim? How random could this guy get?
Unexpectedly, Max slid me down his back onto the big sofa-like-pillow-mattress thing in the corner of the porch. I thought my landing would hurt, but on the contrary, it was extremely soft. Just as I hit the big sofa-like-pillow-mattress-thing Max collapsed next to me, laying his head on my shoulder, looking up at me with ocean blue eyes, his forehead wrinkling a little while doing so. “Oh…hey” he grinned cheesily. The sun was now setting, and my mind started to wander as a comfortable silence settled around us. I wondered where the other guys were, but right now, I was much too content to even move, let alone worry about who was where. For once in my life, everything seemed just about perfect.

“Hey, Zoe” Max spoke softly, lifting his heavy head, breaking the comfortable silence. I saw him turn and look at me from the corner of my eye. “yeah, Max?” I whipped my head round, smiling gently. Max leaned in slowly, coming closer towards my ear, “I really like you, you know” he whisper-mumbled, his hot breath fanning across my neck. I felt my heart beat faster than ever before upon hearing his words, I could’ve sworn it would rip through my chest any minute . It had only been, what? Less than a day, maybe? I guess he was one of those types of people who warmed up to people quickly. No problem for me there. I sat there, slightly too in shock to say anything, looking down blushing and smiling like a loon. By the time my scumbag brain decided to register that I needed to reply with something, I saw Max move in even more, his eyes flicking between direct eye contact with me, and my lips. Lifting up my head softly with his thumb and forefinger under my chin, our faces less than an inch away from each other, I tilted my head ever so slightly , ready for what was about to come. I was in my own little dream world, just Max and I, until the silence was shattered by the front door opening wide and hitting the wall loudly, an obnoxious Ronald stepping out, “WHO WANTS FOO-oh, crap, sorry” he apologised, I couldn’t help notice the hurt look on his face. I turned away from the slightly frustrated looking Max, who had proceeded to pull out a cigarette and clench it between his lips. I smiled softly at Ronnie; might as well acknowledge him, seeing as it wasn’t his fault. “We’ll come in a second” I nodded, and Ronnie shot me a toothless smile, looking down and turning and walking back in. I turned back to Max, “come on, lets go get some grub”. Max got up without a word, and followed me in to the house, still looking a little pissed off, but nonetheless smiling back up at me.
Stepping over into the house, which was somewhat actually cooler than the warm evening heat outside, we headed over to the island table in the kitchen, where the guys had gathered. There was a lively atmosphere, everyone was talking and laughing loudly. Max and I took a seat, Max on one side of me and Ronnie on the other. Chris was opposite me, with Monte and Robert either side of him. He smiled at me, “How’s it going sis?” he spoke loudly so that I could hear him over the laughs and chatter of the other guys. “Great so far!” I grinned, it really was great. He nodded back at me, also grinning widely before turning back to continue his conversation with Monte. I looked over to Max, who had engaged in an arm wrestle with Robert, and Ronnie on the other side of me, cheering them on. Huh, I guess he wasn’t fazed by his encounter with Max and I. I laughed, turning to Ronnie and smirking, joining him to cheer them on.
“God-dammit- Rob, y-you’re fucking strong-” Max panted, squeezing his eyes hard as if it would make him any stronger.
“My years of drumming paid off, man” Robert chuckled. Oh, so he was a drummer. That thought lead me onto reminding my self to ask the guys about this so called band they wanted to start.
“Oh yeah!” I beamed, “guys, tell me about your band” I squealed excitedly, grabbing a piece of the pizza in the middle of the table. Ronnie clapped his hands in exhilaration, “Ok, so,” he began, “We shall go by the witty, clever, eye catching and flowing name of Escape the Fate, and this sexy beast of joy” he said, motioning to himself “shall serenade the band, as you may have heard when I was singing before and we caught you listening in” he chuckled as I blushed. “Rob’s gonna be hitting the drums, and Maxwell here will be slapping some bass” he continued. “And Monte and Omar will shred our way to fame- oh, you’ll meet Omar tomorrow in school” he grinned.
“What?! Tomorrow?! School?! ” I questioned, looking confused. Ronnie flicked his head towards Chris, who was smiling sheepishly, a hint of guilt slapped on his face.
“Uhh, oh yeah,” he grinned toothily “you’re gonna go to school with the guys tomorrow,” upon seeing my face, he laughed “don’t look so shocked! It’ll be better than Pahrump, way better! You’ll actually have friends this time!” he teased. I knew he was joking, but my jaw was still stuck wide open until Max chuckled and reached out to push it closed.
“Okay, here’s the deal then,” Monte spoke. Woah, he talks? “Come to school with us for a week, and if you still don’t like it by then, then…well, that won’t happen, ‘cause school’s just too goddamn awesome with us”. Everyone laughed, including me, I agreed with the deal, and surprisingly, I was sort of excited for the day ahead of us tomorrow.
“Um kayda hleepy” I said while yawning widely, making what I just said completely incomprehensible. Everyone shot me a confused look. “Oh, I said I’m kinda sleepy” I chuckled. The time was already coming up to 2am. Man, we had talked for a long time.
“Okay, who’s sleeping where?” Chris inquired, “I’ll sleep on the couch, it looks damn comfy” he continued.
“Are you sure, man? We can kick Rob or something out of his bed if you want” he laughed when Robert shot a playful glare.
“No, no, honestly, I want to sleep on the couch”. Ronnie nodded and turned to me. He was just about to speak when Max interrupted, “Zo can sleep with me, the other two couches are way too small and I’m the one with the biggest bed”. There was a look of protest on Ronnie’s face, though he looked like he was struggling to find anything against what Max just said.
“Well, uhh, M-Max, k-kicks when he sleeps…you know, if you ever get annoyed, uhh, you can c-come sleep in my bed, and I’ll go to the couch” Ronnie hesitated. What was wrong with him, he wasn’t being his usual cocky self.
“Thanks, Agent R,” I beamed, “I’ll be fine, but I’ll be sure to come to you if Max’s fat ass takes up all the space” I chuckled. I heard Max snort in the background.
“Okay, so we’re all set?” Max stood up, subtly pulling me up too.
“Yup,” Robert added. “have a nice sleep, Maxwell” he winked at Max, very slightly motioning his head towards me but keeping his eyes fixed on Max. I saw Ronnie shuffle uncomfortably, his face going ever so slightly red. What the hell had gotten into him. Maybe the pizza made his tummy upset.
“Sure will” Max said. “Night Radke,” he walked up to Ronnie, who plastered a smile onto his face, bro-hugging him before turning to me and pulling me down the corridor into his room.
Once we got in, I realised I had nothing else to wear. Dammit.
“Hey Maxy, can I borrow a shirt to sleep in?” I asked.
“Mmhmm, sure” he pulled out a Marilyn Manson ‘Smells like children’ shirt from his messy wardrobe, something folded for once, not spread out across the floor.
“Here ya go, Zo” he said handing it to me.
“Thaaanks Maxy,” I drew out the ‘thanks’ shooting him a seductive look. I told him to turn around for a second, while I turned the other way too. Taking off my shirt, I let it fall to floor. I slowly peeked around my shoulder to catch Max looking my way, before snapping his head back the other way. I chuckled lightly, taking my bra off and slipping off my jeans and pulling Max’s shirt over my head.
“Okay, done” I smiled as he turned around, smirking back and hopping into the bed. I walked over and did the same, shivering upon getting in.
“Holy shit Max your bed is cold!”. He chuckled at my reaction and wrapped his arms around my waist, as I curled up into a ball my back against his front, I fit perfectly into his shape. I turned my head back towards him, “Sweet dreams, Maxy” I whispered, and leant in to kiss his cheek. Upon doing so, he turned his head in perfect timing, so that my lips landed on his warm, soft lips instead of his cheek. It felt so goddamn right that I didn’t pull back, and he moved himself slightly to get at a better angle. Now hovering above me, but still not breaking the kiss, he trailed his warm tongue over my bottom lip, nibbling slightly at it, then pulling it into his mouth and sucking on it once I parted my lips. I inhaled sharply, as he bit a little harder, then proceeded to move his lips a little more rough against mine. I felt his cold snakebites just below my bottom lip, and the feeling gave me butterflies, no, not even that, pterodactyls in my stomach. He stopped abruptly, smirking slyly upon seeing me getting all hot and bothered. He leaned down towards my ear again, breathing warmly and heavily against it.
“G’night Zo” he whispered, and lay back down onto the pillow, back into the same embracing position we were in before. What. A. Tease. I thought, as I slowly but surely was lulled to sleep by Max's steady breathing, and the ticking clock on the wall.