Post by Lace Kellan on Jan 7, 2010 16:17:29 GMT -5
As usual, her routine was flawlessly executed and by the time she was set to walk the dogs, Lace was pumped up. She was dressed in track shorts and a thin hoodie that covered the exposed areas of her body the sports bra underneath didn't. The dogs were hyperactive that morning. They must have smelled her determination and energy. So she started jogging to warm herself up while both hands pulled the leashes back every now and then to calm the dogs down slightly. She passed a few houses she knew until she got to the park.
Max woke up that morning motivated. The practice earlier in the week had hyped him up so he had set his alarm for earlier than normal. He wanted to be soccer captain next year which meant he needed to step up his performance. He ran to a nearby park that he knew would not be too crowded this early. He was dressed in purple nylon shorts and his Nikes. The only other things were his tightie whities and tube socks. He didn't see the point in wearing a shirt that would just get sweaty when he began to move. Ahead of him he could see a girl he knew from school with a bunch of dogs. He thought she must go to Silver because he had only recently began to see her. He began to jog and was going to pass her, but one of the smaller dogs moved in front of him at the last minute and he took a tumble.
She didn't realise that one of the smaller pooches -- Dosiedo, Lace remembered -- had tripped a boy until she heard a loud oof and she yelped out in surprise, almost letting go of the leashes but thankfully gripping them tighter at the last minute. She commanded the dogs to stay to which all five big to small did without hesitation due to familiarity with their dog walker. Still holding on to their leashes, she crouched in front of the fallen boy and patted his shoulder. "Ex...excuse me...are you alright?" she asked, her face contorted into one of deep concern.
Max looked up into a rather pretty face though he thought she would be prettier without the worry lines. "I am fine, really. I just hope I didn't damage the dog," he said looking over at the fluff ball trying to see any signs that he had hurt the animal. "You have a lot of animals for such a small girl," he said with a crooked smile. She must be tougher than she looked to control that mob.
The pomeranian was more than okay, tilting its head and sniffing the boy's ankles. Lace sighed in relief and smiled as she got up and held a hand for the boy who looked vaguely familiar. He might have gone to the same school but she can't seem to remember. Everything was such a blur and faces were just really hard to name sometimes. Lace giggled freely at the comment about being small. "I've been doing this since I was ten. You should see me with my Wednesday bunch. Three German Shepherds and a Great Danish. Boy do those boys run." She laughed, pushing a lock of stray hair the wind had blown into her face. "You look familiar. I'm Lace. I'm originally a Silver." She extended a hand to shake while the other keeps a tight hold on all five leashes.
Max shook her hand and grinned. "I go to Gould, I'm Max. I have been slacking on my training so I just started to jog every morning... well until I decide I am too tired to drag myself out," he said, laughter and honesty shining in his grey eyes. He was very capable of laughing at himself. He knew he was lazy.
Her smile softened at the boy's mirth. "Well, you could help me with walking the dogs if you want. I think I broke the momentum of running now. So if you could take two of them, we could run together." Lace handed two leashes towards Max. "It would be easier if you introduce yourself to them. They won't give you any harder a time if you at least tell them your name."
Max took the leash and got down on one knee to introduce himself. He remembered from when they had a dog back in England that dogs are less intimidated if they are higher than the person they are meeting. "Hello pooches. I'm Max and I am you exercise facilitator for the moment. What are your names?" His answer was a few good licks from both of them.
Lace's smile widened when the dogs took an immediate liking towards the new boy. "You've got natural instincts. Which is cool by the way." She grinned although a blush was starting to form on her cheeks. She wasn't used to being so open with her comments especially not to a guy as cute as Max. To avoid further embarrassment, she started their run again. "Excuse me if I'm not chatty while we run. I like to keep my stamina. Even these little ones are hard to maintain sometimes, you know?" She turned to Max every now and then as she spoke.
"Silence is not scary to me," Max said with a grin. He stood up and joined her running, paying more attention to the dogs than he had previously. He wished his father allowed pets they made running much more fun than jogging alone.
Running with three dogs was less hectic and she found herself being able to talk even freely without losing too much energy. So she spoke the first thing off her mind. "Well, this changes things...I can still talk." She laughed before pointing out the obvious. "So you have an accent. What I can tell is it's British. So you're obviously not local. Or you are but you've been in England for so long you developed an accent...which ones seems to be more feasible?"
"Well I have dual-citizenship. We moved here from London almost four years ago," Max confided, though it wasn't much of a secret really. My dad is a mechanic and they make better money here. We all took the test almost immediately or at least as soon as we were eligible."
"That's awesome." Lace enthused. Turning a corner, she looked at Max in the corner of her eyes and thought to herself that wasn't she lucky a guy as cute as him was running with her? And with the shirt off even. She made herself look to the front and continued to keep her pace. "So I'm not entirely good with the whole getting to know you bit since my only two friends have things in common with me and we've bonded from there...you have any suggestions of making things less complicated for us from that standpoint?" she wanted to add that he must have had more experience than her seeing that girls would be nuts not to approach him.
Max blinked and frowned a bit as he considered her questions. "I suppose we can see if we have anything in common," he said, hoping their parental situation wasn't similar. I have a little sister. Oh and I used to have a dog back in England. He was a sheepdog named Rex. I play soccer and I like to party. I also play rhythm guitar and was in a band way back."
"Oh I have an older sister." Lace revealed with a smile, though kept the fact that Henley was her step-sister to herself. "And she's the coolest girl you'll ever meet." She gushed about her elder sister. She really did look up to her big sister for so many reasons. "I can't keep a pet at home since my mom doesn't really like it untidy and stuff so I have this dog walking business. Oh! You should meet with my friends Dare and Takumi! They have a band and I'm sure they wouldn't mind a newcomer in their circle!" She grinned, another part of her life she was quite proud of.
Max smiled at her enthusiasm, thinking her friends and family were lucky to have such a great supporter. "I would love to meet your friends. I haven't played in a while so they probably wouldn't be that impressed with me. I try not to go home if I can avoid it. My dad might grab me and force me to work in the garage. Since I hate that more than anything else, I try to stay out of sight. It's clever of you to work out a business where you can do what you love."
"The garage? You mean you have to work with cars?" Lace didn't know what's so bad about that but she supposed Max must have other dreams and aspirations. She had her own dreams and aspirations as well so she reckoned she should understand. "I've always wanted a pet but my mom put her foot down on it so I didn't have a choice." She shrugged. They ran a few more blocks before Lace decided to stop for a bit for a drink. "Hey, you wanna run some more or would you like to stop for a drink? I know this juice bar right around the corner that does really good celery and green apple juice." She suggested, wiping the light coat of perspiration around her collarbone and temples.
"Sure a drink would be good," Max agreed. He wasn't sure about celery and apple juice, but it wouldn't kill him to try it. "Do you want to do something with animals when you graduate?" he asked. He hadn't really figured out what he wanted to do. Something with Soccer would be great. He was good, but not enough to do professional he thought. Maybe teach. "I don't really like being a grease monkey, though I liked working on my bike. If I could do bikes full-time that would be different."
She led the dogs to the juice bar she had proposed and made sure Max knew she was listening by nodding here and there and making sounds of agreement. "Oh I hope to be a veterinarian one day but I'm still a Sophomore. Shouldn't be dreaming too big just yet. I have my whole life to decide on a major you know? I love animals no doubt but I don't have to make a career out of it." She shrugged. They arrived at the small hole in the wall stall and she ordered a celery and apple juice and asked for a few plastic dish bowls of water for the dogs. Setting the bowls down, she let the dogs have a drink while she pointed Max to one of the small tables opposite the stall. "Don't they have bike garages though?"
Max ordered the same drink since Lace recommended it and paid for both of them, he didn't want her to think he didn't trust her taste. He then went to sit at the table to hold it. He leaned back and crossed his leg on top of the other one as he watched her discretely. He hadn't paid much attention to girls or guys for that matter. With his situation at home, he wasn't sure bringing another person into the picture would be a good thing. His father got set off by the oddest things. Lace seemed really nice though and he thought he would like to get to know her better.
When Lace rejoined him, he said, "Yeah there are Bike garages, but my father would have ten kinds of fits if I went to work for someone else. He has a temper I don't like to tempt." Mainly because his sister might be the one it got turned on. His father knew how close he and Didi were and that the best way to hurt him was to take out his anger with Max on the younger girl.
Not knowing the full extent of Max's father's rage, she just nodded and sipped her juice. She felt his eyes on her and couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable. She wasn't used to being the center of any kind of attention. She wondered what he was thinking right then. "So how's the juice?" she asked, trying to divert his attention.
Max took a moment to think about the juice, as he had been drinking it without thinking about it. "Refreshing," he finally said. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't sweet enough to really make him want to repeat the experience. "So are you into really healthy stuff all the time?" he asked for if that was true, it was something they definitely didn't have in common. His idea of healthy was fish and chips accompanied by Light Ale.
"Oh no...!" Lace shook her head and giggled. "Hardly. I love junk food as much as the next person. I just happen to like stuff like this too." She held her juice cup for emphasis. Her parents brought her up to be moderate in everything. As much fun she had with her tennis lessons and dog walking, she also put a lot of time into her studies. And as much as she loved pigging out on foods full of sugars and carbs and fats, fruits and vegetables are never far behind on the menu. "I'm no diet freak but my parents brought me up differently than others I suppose." She shrugged, sipping more of her juice.
Maxi let out a breath in relief, wondering why it mattered so much. "My mom died when I was eleven and my dad doesn't really cook, we lived on Pub food until we moved here. I do a little cooking, mainly breakfast, but dinner is mostly take out. Maybe it will change when Didi starts Home Ec, but somehow I doubt it," he said with a wry laugh. So far Didi showed little interest in anything but clothes and boys. "Hey... would you like to go out with me tonight? Maybe see a movie, get a burger or something?"
Lace bit her lower lip at the news about Max's mother's passing. She couldn't even begin to fathom the thought of losing either of her parents. She loved them both way too much. Max was brave to admit it. She knew she would be in complete denial if one of her parents passed away. She patted her new friend's hand gently. "I'm sorry to hear about your mother." She said softly before retracting her hand and cupping her plastic cup with both hands and looking down while he talked about food and Didi, who Lace assumed was Max's little sister. She almost choked when Max asked his question. Her eyes bulged and she looked up at him. "On a school night?" was her only concern apparently. Going out with a boy wasn't exactly any different than going out with anybody else to her but on a school night?
Max chuckled and shook his head. "It's Friday unless you have a Saturday detention I think we would be okay," he said wondering if she was trying to let him down easy or something. "If you're busy, it's okay I know it is late notice." He had never asked anyone out before and thought he must've done a really bad job at it.
"Oh right...it's Friday." A bright red blush spread across her pale cheeks. She covered her face with one hand and shook her head. "Sorry I must be completely out of it to not remember this was a Friday." She looked up and hoped Max wasn't already regretting asking her out. "Um...I've never really gone out with a boy before. Not if you count Dare and Takumi of course. Because I went to the pet shop with both of them on Wednesday." "I'm not busy. I'm never busy on Fridays and weekends. Well unless someone had an emergency and wants me to walk their dog on a Saturday afternoon or something. But I have an even this Saturday for brunch. Bree Marcus invited me...I wonder if I could invite someone. You would like Bree. She's really nice."
Max didn't mention he knew Bree, because he only knew her in the way most athletes knew top cheerleaders. "I've never gone out with anyone either, so don't be embarrassed," he said with a smile. He wasn't sure if she was asking him if he would like to go to the brunch or not. "Well I would like to meet your friends," he said hoping that didn't sound pushy or anything. He just wasn't sure what to say as she hadn't said yes and instead talked about other things that might or might not be invites.
"I'm not embarrassed. I don't mind going out with you. But...don't you go out with your friends? I mean you can't be that new." She tilted her head slightly to the left. "You must have some friends you hang out with."
Max blinked. "I don't date my friends," he said wondering if this girl was mental or Psychic that she picked up on the fact that he was bi. He knew he didn't act gay and he had never even looked at anyone in their school. "I party with my friends or as you say hang with them, but I don't date them... I wanted to take you on a date."
The revelation that Max had just asked her out on a date left Lace staring at the boy. "A what...?" She gulped slightly, her voice practically inaudible. She had never been asked out on a date before. She knew what it was and she knew the people who go on them are the popular people. And as she knew, he was an athlete...a jock. He was popular so why would he ask her out on a date? "Um...I've never been...why are you asking me though? I'm not popular."
"Do I seem like a social climber?" Max asked laughing. He had never been known to do things for popularity. "I am just a guy asking a girl he thinks he likes out for a movie... Maybe if it were the Duchess of Windsor's Charity Supper I might be more socially conscious, but for now I would like to go out with you, Lace. That is if you think I won't ruin your social standing."
Laughing, she tapped Max's arm lightly. "What social standing? Mine doesn't exist." She looked at Max incredulously when it finally registered that Max might like her. "I...okay...I'll go out...on a date with you." She blushed even deeper. She was going out on a social outing with a really cute boy who might like her. She was so glad she had kept to her routine today.
Max smiled brightly and took her hand. "Well they are idiots if they can't see how great you are," he said, thinking he couldn't see any reason why she wouldn't be popular. Probably she just wasn't pushy or bitchy enough. Well he wasn't much, but he would do his best to make everyone notice her and increase her social value. "Well we're going to be late if we don't pay attention." Not that he cared that much, but he didn't want her getting in trouble.
Her hand gripped his when he took it as her blush deepened. Now that the situation had changed, Lace was deeply aware of every little thing he did that she hadn't even noticed what he said until she heard late. Blinking to get out of her daze, she looked at her watch and her eyes bulged out. "Oh my gosh! I'm going to be so late!! I have to go! I'll see you in school, I have to return the dogs now and oh my gosh!" She took in shallow breaths as she gathered the dogs up who yipped and barked excitedly when they picked up on her panic. "Come on boys!" She tugged their leashes and they shot off, yanking her along in the direction of home.
Max couldn't help but chuckle as the dogs dragged her along. She was cute, a bit dorky, but still cute and really nice. He gathered up their garbage and threw it away before heading home to get his books and clothes. He didn't change as he had P.E. first period, but he would want clean things for the rest of the day. He hoped they did see each other for she had forgotten to give him her number.
Max woke up that morning motivated. The practice earlier in the week had hyped him up so he had set his alarm for earlier than normal. He wanted to be soccer captain next year which meant he needed to step up his performance. He ran to a nearby park that he knew would not be too crowded this early. He was dressed in purple nylon shorts and his Nikes. The only other things were his tightie whities and tube socks. He didn't see the point in wearing a shirt that would just get sweaty when he began to move. Ahead of him he could see a girl he knew from school with a bunch of dogs. He thought she must go to Silver because he had only recently began to see her. He began to jog and was going to pass her, but one of the smaller dogs moved in front of him at the last minute and he took a tumble.
She didn't realise that one of the smaller pooches -- Dosiedo, Lace remembered -- had tripped a boy until she heard a loud oof and she yelped out in surprise, almost letting go of the leashes but thankfully gripping them tighter at the last minute. She commanded the dogs to stay to which all five big to small did without hesitation due to familiarity with their dog walker. Still holding on to their leashes, she crouched in front of the fallen boy and patted his shoulder. "Ex...excuse me...are you alright?" she asked, her face contorted into one of deep concern.
Max looked up into a rather pretty face though he thought she would be prettier without the worry lines. "I am fine, really. I just hope I didn't damage the dog," he said looking over at the fluff ball trying to see any signs that he had hurt the animal. "You have a lot of animals for such a small girl," he said with a crooked smile. She must be tougher than she looked to control that mob.
The pomeranian was more than okay, tilting its head and sniffing the boy's ankles. Lace sighed in relief and smiled as she got up and held a hand for the boy who looked vaguely familiar. He might have gone to the same school but she can't seem to remember. Everything was such a blur and faces were just really hard to name sometimes. Lace giggled freely at the comment about being small. "I've been doing this since I was ten. You should see me with my Wednesday bunch. Three German Shepherds and a Great Danish. Boy do those boys run." She laughed, pushing a lock of stray hair the wind had blown into her face. "You look familiar. I'm Lace. I'm originally a Silver." She extended a hand to shake while the other keeps a tight hold on all five leashes.
Max shook her hand and grinned. "I go to Gould, I'm Max. I have been slacking on my training so I just started to jog every morning... well until I decide I am too tired to drag myself out," he said, laughter and honesty shining in his grey eyes. He was very capable of laughing at himself. He knew he was lazy.
Her smile softened at the boy's mirth. "Well, you could help me with walking the dogs if you want. I think I broke the momentum of running now. So if you could take two of them, we could run together." Lace handed two leashes towards Max. "It would be easier if you introduce yourself to them. They won't give you any harder a time if you at least tell them your name."
Max took the leash and got down on one knee to introduce himself. He remembered from when they had a dog back in England that dogs are less intimidated if they are higher than the person they are meeting. "Hello pooches. I'm Max and I am you exercise facilitator for the moment. What are your names?" His answer was a few good licks from both of them.
Lace's smile widened when the dogs took an immediate liking towards the new boy. "You've got natural instincts. Which is cool by the way." She grinned although a blush was starting to form on her cheeks. She wasn't used to being so open with her comments especially not to a guy as cute as Max. To avoid further embarrassment, she started their run again. "Excuse me if I'm not chatty while we run. I like to keep my stamina. Even these little ones are hard to maintain sometimes, you know?" She turned to Max every now and then as she spoke.
"Silence is not scary to me," Max said with a grin. He stood up and joined her running, paying more attention to the dogs than he had previously. He wished his father allowed pets they made running much more fun than jogging alone.
Running with three dogs was less hectic and she found herself being able to talk even freely without losing too much energy. So she spoke the first thing off her mind. "Well, this changes things...I can still talk." She laughed before pointing out the obvious. "So you have an accent. What I can tell is it's British. So you're obviously not local. Or you are but you've been in England for so long you developed an accent...which ones seems to be more feasible?"
"Well I have dual-citizenship. We moved here from London almost four years ago," Max confided, though it wasn't much of a secret really. My dad is a mechanic and they make better money here. We all took the test almost immediately or at least as soon as we were eligible."
"That's awesome." Lace enthused. Turning a corner, she looked at Max in the corner of her eyes and thought to herself that wasn't she lucky a guy as cute as him was running with her? And with the shirt off even. She made herself look to the front and continued to keep her pace. "So I'm not entirely good with the whole getting to know you bit since my only two friends have things in common with me and we've bonded from there...you have any suggestions of making things less complicated for us from that standpoint?" she wanted to add that he must have had more experience than her seeing that girls would be nuts not to approach him.
Max blinked and frowned a bit as he considered her questions. "I suppose we can see if we have anything in common," he said, hoping their parental situation wasn't similar. I have a little sister. Oh and I used to have a dog back in England. He was a sheepdog named Rex. I play soccer and I like to party. I also play rhythm guitar and was in a band way back."
"Oh I have an older sister." Lace revealed with a smile, though kept the fact that Henley was her step-sister to herself. "And she's the coolest girl you'll ever meet." She gushed about her elder sister. She really did look up to her big sister for so many reasons. "I can't keep a pet at home since my mom doesn't really like it untidy and stuff so I have this dog walking business. Oh! You should meet with my friends Dare and Takumi! They have a band and I'm sure they wouldn't mind a newcomer in their circle!" She grinned, another part of her life she was quite proud of.
Max smiled at her enthusiasm, thinking her friends and family were lucky to have such a great supporter. "I would love to meet your friends. I haven't played in a while so they probably wouldn't be that impressed with me. I try not to go home if I can avoid it. My dad might grab me and force me to work in the garage. Since I hate that more than anything else, I try to stay out of sight. It's clever of you to work out a business where you can do what you love."
"The garage? You mean you have to work with cars?" Lace didn't know what's so bad about that but she supposed Max must have other dreams and aspirations. She had her own dreams and aspirations as well so she reckoned she should understand. "I've always wanted a pet but my mom put her foot down on it so I didn't have a choice." She shrugged. They ran a few more blocks before Lace decided to stop for a bit for a drink. "Hey, you wanna run some more or would you like to stop for a drink? I know this juice bar right around the corner that does really good celery and green apple juice." She suggested, wiping the light coat of perspiration around her collarbone and temples.
"Sure a drink would be good," Max agreed. He wasn't sure about celery and apple juice, but it wouldn't kill him to try it. "Do you want to do something with animals when you graduate?" he asked. He hadn't really figured out what he wanted to do. Something with Soccer would be great. He was good, but not enough to do professional he thought. Maybe teach. "I don't really like being a grease monkey, though I liked working on my bike. If I could do bikes full-time that would be different."
She led the dogs to the juice bar she had proposed and made sure Max knew she was listening by nodding here and there and making sounds of agreement. "Oh I hope to be a veterinarian one day but I'm still a Sophomore. Shouldn't be dreaming too big just yet. I have my whole life to decide on a major you know? I love animals no doubt but I don't have to make a career out of it." She shrugged. They arrived at the small hole in the wall stall and she ordered a celery and apple juice and asked for a few plastic dish bowls of water for the dogs. Setting the bowls down, she let the dogs have a drink while she pointed Max to one of the small tables opposite the stall. "Don't they have bike garages though?"
Max ordered the same drink since Lace recommended it and paid for both of them, he didn't want her to think he didn't trust her taste. He then went to sit at the table to hold it. He leaned back and crossed his leg on top of the other one as he watched her discretely. He hadn't paid much attention to girls or guys for that matter. With his situation at home, he wasn't sure bringing another person into the picture would be a good thing. His father got set off by the oddest things. Lace seemed really nice though and he thought he would like to get to know her better.
When Lace rejoined him, he said, "Yeah there are Bike garages, but my father would have ten kinds of fits if I went to work for someone else. He has a temper I don't like to tempt." Mainly because his sister might be the one it got turned on. His father knew how close he and Didi were and that the best way to hurt him was to take out his anger with Max on the younger girl.
Not knowing the full extent of Max's father's rage, she just nodded and sipped her juice. She felt his eyes on her and couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable. She wasn't used to being the center of any kind of attention. She wondered what he was thinking right then. "So how's the juice?" she asked, trying to divert his attention.
Max took a moment to think about the juice, as he had been drinking it without thinking about it. "Refreshing," he finally said. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't sweet enough to really make him want to repeat the experience. "So are you into really healthy stuff all the time?" he asked for if that was true, it was something they definitely didn't have in common. His idea of healthy was fish and chips accompanied by Light Ale.
"Oh no...!" Lace shook her head and giggled. "Hardly. I love junk food as much as the next person. I just happen to like stuff like this too." She held her juice cup for emphasis. Her parents brought her up to be moderate in everything. As much fun she had with her tennis lessons and dog walking, she also put a lot of time into her studies. And as much as she loved pigging out on foods full of sugars and carbs and fats, fruits and vegetables are never far behind on the menu. "I'm no diet freak but my parents brought me up differently than others I suppose." She shrugged, sipping more of her juice.
Maxi let out a breath in relief, wondering why it mattered so much. "My mom died when I was eleven and my dad doesn't really cook, we lived on Pub food until we moved here. I do a little cooking, mainly breakfast, but dinner is mostly take out. Maybe it will change when Didi starts Home Ec, but somehow I doubt it," he said with a wry laugh. So far Didi showed little interest in anything but clothes and boys. "Hey... would you like to go out with me tonight? Maybe see a movie, get a burger or something?"
Lace bit her lower lip at the news about Max's mother's passing. She couldn't even begin to fathom the thought of losing either of her parents. She loved them both way too much. Max was brave to admit it. She knew she would be in complete denial if one of her parents passed away. She patted her new friend's hand gently. "I'm sorry to hear about your mother." She said softly before retracting her hand and cupping her plastic cup with both hands and looking down while he talked about food and Didi, who Lace assumed was Max's little sister. She almost choked when Max asked his question. Her eyes bulged and she looked up at him. "On a school night?" was her only concern apparently. Going out with a boy wasn't exactly any different than going out with anybody else to her but on a school night?
Max chuckled and shook his head. "It's Friday unless you have a Saturday detention I think we would be okay," he said wondering if she was trying to let him down easy or something. "If you're busy, it's okay I know it is late notice." He had never asked anyone out before and thought he must've done a really bad job at it.
"Oh right...it's Friday." A bright red blush spread across her pale cheeks. She covered her face with one hand and shook her head. "Sorry I must be completely out of it to not remember this was a Friday." She looked up and hoped Max wasn't already regretting asking her out. "Um...I've never really gone out with a boy before. Not if you count Dare and Takumi of course. Because I went to the pet shop with both of them on Wednesday." "I'm not busy. I'm never busy on Fridays and weekends. Well unless someone had an emergency and wants me to walk their dog on a Saturday afternoon or something. But I have an even this Saturday for brunch. Bree Marcus invited me...I wonder if I could invite someone. You would like Bree. She's really nice."
Max didn't mention he knew Bree, because he only knew her in the way most athletes knew top cheerleaders. "I've never gone out with anyone either, so don't be embarrassed," he said with a smile. He wasn't sure if she was asking him if he would like to go to the brunch or not. "Well I would like to meet your friends," he said hoping that didn't sound pushy or anything. He just wasn't sure what to say as she hadn't said yes and instead talked about other things that might or might not be invites.
"I'm not embarrassed. I don't mind going out with you. But...don't you go out with your friends? I mean you can't be that new." She tilted her head slightly to the left. "You must have some friends you hang out with."
Max blinked. "I don't date my friends," he said wondering if this girl was mental or Psychic that she picked up on the fact that he was bi. He knew he didn't act gay and he had never even looked at anyone in their school. "I party with my friends or as you say hang with them, but I don't date them... I wanted to take you on a date."
The revelation that Max had just asked her out on a date left Lace staring at the boy. "A what...?" She gulped slightly, her voice practically inaudible. She had never been asked out on a date before. She knew what it was and she knew the people who go on them are the popular people. And as she knew, he was an athlete...a jock. He was popular so why would he ask her out on a date? "Um...I've never been...why are you asking me though? I'm not popular."
"Do I seem like a social climber?" Max asked laughing. He had never been known to do things for popularity. "I am just a guy asking a girl he thinks he likes out for a movie... Maybe if it were the Duchess of Windsor's Charity Supper I might be more socially conscious, but for now I would like to go out with you, Lace. That is if you think I won't ruin your social standing."
Laughing, she tapped Max's arm lightly. "What social standing? Mine doesn't exist." She looked at Max incredulously when it finally registered that Max might like her. "I...okay...I'll go out...on a date with you." She blushed even deeper. She was going out on a social outing with a really cute boy who might like her. She was so glad she had kept to her routine today.
Max smiled brightly and took her hand. "Well they are idiots if they can't see how great you are," he said, thinking he couldn't see any reason why she wouldn't be popular. Probably she just wasn't pushy or bitchy enough. Well he wasn't much, but he would do his best to make everyone notice her and increase her social value. "Well we're going to be late if we don't pay attention." Not that he cared that much, but he didn't want her getting in trouble.
Her hand gripped his when he took it as her blush deepened. Now that the situation had changed, Lace was deeply aware of every little thing he did that she hadn't even noticed what he said until she heard late. Blinking to get out of her daze, she looked at her watch and her eyes bulged out. "Oh my gosh! I'm going to be so late!! I have to go! I'll see you in school, I have to return the dogs now and oh my gosh!" She took in shallow breaths as she gathered the dogs up who yipped and barked excitedly when they picked up on her panic. "Come on boys!" She tugged their leashes and they shot off, yanking her along in the direction of home.
Max couldn't help but chuckle as the dogs dragged her along. She was cute, a bit dorky, but still cute and really nice. He gathered up their garbage and threw it away before heading home to get his books and clothes. He didn't change as he had P.E. first period, but he would want clean things for the rest of the day. He hoped they did see each other for she had forgotten to give him her number.
