Between The Lines -- Chapter 3

[parallax23]

 

3: FEET

“Oww!  What the hell?” Alec growled at the shooting pain emanating from his left foot.  He had fallen asleep after eating an economy sized bag of pork rinds and drinking a bottle of water.  Looking at Max through drowsy eyes, he wondered if she was finally making good on her threat to kill him in his sleep if he drooled on her.

Max pushed her way into the aisle and was staring daggers at him.  “Nice to see you’re up, Sleeping Beauty.”

Suddenly, Alec became aware of two things.  “We’re not moving?  And where is everybody?”

“Wow, nothing gets by you,” Max replied dryly.

“So you did knock me unconscious!” Alec accused her, quickly standing up.  “Why didn’t you tell me we were in San Francisco?”

“Because we’re not.  We’re at a truck stop in Oregon,” she told him as if it was more than obvious, then she began walking to the front exit of the bus.  “Or can’t you tell the difference with your astute observation skills?”

Through the bus windows, Alec surveyed that they were in a large asphalt parking lot, surrounded by spring tree foliage with a gas station and rundown diner a few paces east of the bus exit.  His stomach grumbled at him to follow her to the chance at a hot and greasy meal.  His legs felt stiff from sitting down so long as well.

“So whatchya gettin’?” asked Alec when he entered the eatery and took his place behind Max in line to order food.

She was scrupulously scanning the menu board behind the counter and ignored his question.  Max could have kicked herself for waking him up.  If he hadn’t shifted his big stupid feet while she was trying to get by him, she would have gotten a quiet meal alone.  When it was her turn in line, she recited her order in one breath, “Mushroom bacon double cheeseburger, house fries, onion rings, Caesar salad, and a vanilla milkshake.”

The heavy-set teenaged girl at the register threw Max a dirty look as she placed the order.  Max could have cared less and handed the girl her cash as Alec chuckled to himself.  He was up next.  The girl blushed and started grinning like a love-struck, hormonal teenager who just had the captain of the football team look her way.  Max almost thought she’d lose her appetite.

“I’ll have what she’s having,” Alec said with a Cheshire Cat grin while he nodded towards Max and opened his wallet to pay the girl.  “Why don’t you grab us a table and I’ll bring the food?”

The cashier shot Max another dirty look and Max responded by sticking her tongue out at her.  “Sure, whatever.”

“You know what?  Change my shake to an orange soda,” Alec said.  Knowing the cashier was still watching him attentively, he checked out Max as she was walking away to snag a table in the back.  “She’s hot as hell, but I’m starting to think the attraction is one-sided.”

The girl slammed the register shut and practically threw his change at him.  He almost felt bad, but someone had to pay for waking him up and he wasn’t about to take it out on Max, because he still had some business to take care of before he died.

Max took some napkins from the dispenser and started wiping off the cracked table and wobbled a bit.  It was a table for four, but she wasn’t sure if it was enough space for everything they’d ordered.

The trip was hardly turning out the way she had expected.  It seemed like it was taking forever to reach her destination.  And of course, Alec had to be along for the ride.  All Max could think about was what she would do on the off-chance that she did find her mother.  Was she supposed to call her ‘Martina’?  Or go, ‘Hi Mom, I’m the science experiment you were forced to give up?  How was the mental institution?’  Would Max even have the chance to say anything at all to her?

Not for the first time, and hardly the last time for this quest, Max wondered what exactly she was looking to find.  Could someone really be disappointed if she didn’t know what to expect?  Sure there were a million questions Max wanted the answers about what happened all those years ago, but when had the lack of answers impeded her life?  A part of wouldn’t have minded turning up nothing and returning to her strange little life of beers at Crash, dinners with Logan, and some light cat burglary on the side.

“Mind if I sit down?”

Max turned around to see who was lurking around her.  It was greasy bus guy again, his short-sleeved shirt sporting sweat stains under the arms.  She scowled.  “Seat’s taken.”

“Oh come on, you don’t expect me to sit on the floor,” he replied with a Vaseline-like grin, clutching his tray of French fries, a plain hamburger and diet Coke.

“Not my problem,” Max told him plainly.

He sneered.  “What?  Don’t want to make your boyfriend jealous of you chatting up a successful entrepreneur?”

Max almost scowled at the fact that someone thought Alec was her boyfriend, but she couldn’t stop laughing.  This guy really thought Alec would be jealous of him?  He took offense at her laughter and huffed off as Alec brought their meals over.

“What’s got the Hamburglar bent out of shape?” Alec asked, popping a fry into his mouth, then sliding the overloaded tray over to Max.

She glared at him then stole an onion ring off his tray.  He shrugged it off. 

“He’s thinks we’re dating and is afraid you’ll get jealous of seeing me with him.” 

Alec had begun eating his burger and started choking when Max said that.  It was a good half a minute before he was breathing normally again, so Max didn’t have to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him.  She didn’t even move from her seat and just kept eating, throwing the occasional glance to make sure he hadn’t turned blue. 

“You’re really trying to kill me,” Alec wheezed, a faux hurt look flashed across his face.

“Please, if I wanted you dead I would have lured you into the woods and finished the job,” Max said casually, taking a sip from her milkshake. 

“And how would you get me to follow you into the woods?” he asked curiously. 

Max shot him an incredulous look.  As if he needed to ask?  “The male mind is a deviously simple contraption.  It’s either work work work or sex sex sex.” 

Alec sighed and went back to eating.  She was probably right, he would fall for some lame line about how lonely she was and how she’d had so much pent up sexual energy from not being with Logan—then wham, she’d knock him off his feet and leave him for dead.  But that wasn’t Max’s style.   

In the short time he knew her, he had come to realize that she was the one who had problems letting go of people.  She preferred to get ditched than ditch someone.  She had only let go of Zack because he had become a time bomb.  Aside from that instance, from what Alec overheard, it had been Darren who broke things off, Eric who ran in the other direction, Kendra who moved out…  It explained why Max stayed in Seattle for too long and perhaps why she hadn’t thrown Alec out of her life completely.  She was too sentimental. 

“Know where you’re staying in Frisco?” he questioned when they were back on the bus. 

“Not sure yet.  Wherever I guess,” she replied. 

“Well, you’ve got my number if you need anything,” Alec said as he tried to settle back into his seat for a nap. 

Max pulled out a copy of American Gods by some guy named Neil Gaiman, which looked far more interesting than the copies of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations she had finished reading during the first half of their trip that looked like they had come from Logan. 

“I doubt I’ll need to find you.  You have a habit of popping in at the worst possible moment,” Max said to him when he shut his eyes and yawned. 

“Someone has to keep you on your feet,” Alec said before drifting off to sleep once more. 

Max studied him, amused how cat-like he was in personality.  He enjoyed sleeping and prowling around and just being a cocky bastard.  He looked so peaceful there, she almost expected to hear him purring.  She yawned and thought how nice it would be to doze off for just a moment.  It was another six hours to the next rest stop anyway. 

Max yawned again, her own feline DNA calling out for a catnap.  Maybe some rest would make the trip a little shorter. 

An hour later, Alec felt something weighing down his shoulder.  Carefully, he opened his eyes without moving another muscle to see that it was Max’s head nestled against him.  She was sound asleep and hardly seemed like the girl who loved to smack him upside the head and threaten other forms of bodily harm.  She just seemed like a girl he wouldn’t mind waking up to.

A small smile tugged at the corners of Alec’s mouth and he shut his eyes.  He could have woken her up, but then there would be screaming and hitting and he probably wouldn’t make it to San Francisco, let alone back to Seattle with all parts in tact.  Besides, Max looked as cozy as a kitten and she smelled really nice.  He went back to sleep knowing she would wake up and recoil from him, then pretend that it never happened, that she had been so relaxed next to him from head to toe.

Comments

[parallax23.livejournal.com]

Thanks, fixed! Glad you like it. I love when Max and Alec fall asleep together.