3. It Only Took One Zipper (1/2)

max pov

"i can't believe i'm letting you guys dress me, it's not like i'm walking on the red carpet" i rolled my eyes as nudge rummaged through my closet, occasionally scrunching her nose up whenever she pulled out a particularly max-ish piece of clothing.

"almost everything in here is black" nudge whined, "and we know you're not headed to the red carpet"

"but you are going to meet fang's family" ella said as she entered my room carrying a case with what presumably contained makeup.

"yeah, because his mom wants to make sure i'm not a whore"

"max!" nudge exclaimed.

"what?" i shrugged, "why else would she want to meet me? she just wants to make sure her kid isn't about to spend six months on the road with a total trash bag"

ella rolled her eyes and she dropped the case she was holding onto my vanity table, which i might add, was basically sterile because i almost never used it.

"or she just wants to meet you because she knows you and fang have the hots for each other" ella winked.

"we don'tttttt" i whined as i plopped down in the chair in front of my vanity, immediately blinded by the lights surrounding the mirror that ella had turned on.

"oh max come on" nudge laughed as she threw an outfit on my bed, "you guys may constantly insult each other but that boy looks at you like he wants to eat you"

"nudge!" i whipped my head around and glared at her.

"what?" she questioned, "it's true"

"if that's true then i think you're going to need to let me go to the bathroom because i'm going to puke"

"stop being so dramatic" nudge smirked as she and ella started laying things out on the table in front of me.

the only things i could really name were eyeliner and mascara, everything else was foreign.

"me? dramatic? nudge i think you've got us confused" i laughed as ella handed me an elastic, i knew the drill, tie my hair back so that they could cover my face in goop.

"it's called foundation max" ella said as if she could read my mind.

"like... in a house? like the foundation of a house? i'm a human being" i tried to clarify.

"just sit still and let us work our magic" nudge and ella both laughed as i leaned back in my chair, no use in trying to avoid this stuff now.

i was seriously struggling with this dress, why did nudge have to pick a dress? couldn't she have picked a nice pair of pants? the makeup was already too much.

"are you dressed in there?" i hear nudge call from the other side of my bathroom door, "i need to zip you up"

"yeah yeah come in" i groaned as nudge entered the room and zipped up the back of my dress.

nudge then shoved various

acelets around my wrists, tossed me a necklace, and put some earrings on the bathroom counter.

"come out when you're done so we can look at all our hard work" nudge squealed.

"i'm not completely ugly you know" i said jokingly after nudge as she left the bathroom, leaving me to toss on the rest of the jewellery she'd given me.

when i was done i took a moment to look at myself in the mirror.

i had to admit i didn't look completely horrendous, nudge and ella usually knew what they were doing.

my dress was sleeveless and black, it cinched in at my waist and then flowed down and ended just below my knees, it was thinner near the top where a small black band connected to the top of the dress wrapped around my neck.

nudge had given me several silver necklaces to layer around my neck, all different lengths.

the longest one had a half moon, the next had a small pink crystal, and the shortest one contained small silver beads that were equally spaced out from one another.

various black ribbon - like

acelets sat on my wrists along with some others that had some sort of pink or black charm, i was starting to sense a theme in colour scheme here.

my earrings were small black triangles that sparkled and complimented the shiny silver bar that stuck through the top of my ear quite nicely.

my nails were still perfectly manicured and painted black from the interview the night before, and my hair had been straightened and then

aided neatly at the top while the rest of my hair rested on one shoulder.

as for my makeup, it looked much simpler than i'd assumed it would be considering it took nudge and ella a full half hour to do it.

my lips had been coated in a dark peach/pink colour and my eyeshadow gave me a smoky look (i think thats what it's called? i never do my own makeup give me a

eak).

other than that my eyes had been lined in dark

own eyeliner and my skin looked crystal clear, like i said, not completely horrendous.

i took in a deep

eath as i left the bathroom, preparing myself for the high pitched squealing i was about to face.

i was surprised to only hear the words 'dammnn' and 'we're good' followed by a high five between ella and nudge.

just as ella was handing my my shoes my phone rang.

"hey" i answered as i pressed my cell to my ear with my shoulder and began slipping on my black, ankle length docs with pale pink laces (courtesy of nudge and ella i'm sure because last time i checked i had black laces in there)

"i'm here" and with those a

upt two words fang hung up the phone, geez, someone must be grumpy.

my white socks were a little too long so i pushed them down and so they scrunched up to just above my ankles.

i shrugged, i didn't really have time to change my socks so i guess that would have to do.

"have funnnnn" ella and nudge cooed as they waved at me from my front door.

i rolled my eyes as i made my way down the driveway towards fang's black suv, today was probably going to be a nightmare.

i opened the passenger side door and hopped in, "hey tooth" i greeted as i did up my seat belt.

"maxie" fang smirked as he backed out of my driveway and began driving down the road.

"did you get all dolled up for me?" he looked at me and winked before turning his attention back towards the road.

i rolled my eyes, "you wish" i snorted, "i just have some very... involved bandmates"

fang stayed silent although a small smile rested on his face as he continued to drive, jerk.

"so how long is this drive going to be?" i inquired as i rested my elbow on the ledge of the window beside me and looked at the cars passing by.

"why?" fang asked, "afraid that if you're in an enclosed space with me for too long you won't be able to resist the urge to jump my bones?"

"asshole" i responded.

"it's only two hours" he shrugged, glancing over at me to gage my reaction.

"two hours?!" you mentioned nothing about a two hour car ride yesterday.

he just shrugged again, i hate it when he does that.

before i could come up with a creative enough insult he turned on the radio, and a song by, you guessed it, my band was the first thing that came on.

"and next up we've got a song by one of your favourite bands, sinking ships! this one's an oldie so all of you listening sing along if you know it"

fang laughed and looked over at me.

"what?" i snarled, "something funny?"

"you heard her, sing along" he nodded at the radio.

"seriously?" i raised an eye

ow.

fang let out a huge sigh, "listen" he started, "i know neither of us is too happy about having to spend this tour together"

"agreed" i laughed, looking over at fang.

i suddenly noticed his dark tousled hair, he was wearing dark black jeans and a black shirt with white sleeves that went down to his elbows, some sort of design was on the front that i couldn't make out from this angle.

he looked like he'd just rolled out of bed but somehow it worked, i took note of the helix piercing on his right ear that i'd never noticed before.

"but" he continued,

eaking me out of my thoughts, "we haven't exactly spent a lot of time singing together" he stopped the car as the light in front of us went from yellow to red.

"i need to get a feel for your voice, i've heard you sing one song" he looked right into my eyes, his voice was soft now, and for some reason i couldn't look away.

a deafening silence followed, we just started at each other for what felt like an eternity.

then the car behind us was honking and fang loudly cleared his throat before stepping on the gas and focusing his eyes back on the road.

without another word in edgewise i began to sing, we hadn't performed this song live in a while.

i want you

yeah i want you

and nothing comes close

i paused, taking in a deep

eath.

to the way that i need you

i wish i can feel your skin

and i want you

from somewhere within

without hesitation i launched into the chorus.

it feels like there's oceans

between me and you once again

we hide our emotions

under the surface and tryin' to pretend

but it feels like there's oceans

between you and me

i want you

and i always will

i wish i was worth

another long pause.

but i know what you deserve

you know i'd rather drown

than to go on without you

but you're pulling me down

i'd always loved the chorus of this song, i wish we played this live more often.

it feels like there's oceans

between you and me once again

we hide our emotions

under the surface and try to pretend

but it feels like there's oceans

between you and me

the ending was my favourite.

i want you

i want you

and always will

it feels like there's oceans

between you and me

i quickly glanced at fang as i finished the song, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

"not half bad ride" he smirked as we took a left turn.

"gee, thanks" i grumbled and looked back out the window, why did this have to be such a long drive? why couldn't fang's mom have moved in next door to him instead?

"hey" he said, i looked back towards him.

"kidding, you have a fantastic voice", before i could reply with my usual snarkiness he spoke up again "for someone so obnoxious" he smirked.

"sure you're not talking about yourself there fangy boy?"

"so you think i have a fantastic voice?" he asked.

"you're not completely awful" i confessed.

"although i'll admit working with you would be a lot easier if you weren't such a douche" fang almost choked on air at my remark.

i laughed my ass off as fang attempted to regain his normal

eathing.

"try not to kill us, dying in a car crash isn't exactly a badass way to go"

"you're right" fang said.

i raised an eye

ow, "about what?"

"it would be easier to work together if you weren't such a douche" he mocked me.

fang pov

when we finally arrived at my mom's house max had fallen asleep in her seat next to mine.

she looked peaceful, a few strands of hair had fallen over her face and her head was gently resting against the window.

"max" i said in an attempt to wake her up.

nothing.

"max" i said a little louder this time, still nothing.

i sighed before getting out of the car and walking around to the passenger side door.