~~~
Is love really the tragedy
The way you might describe?
Or would a thousand lovers
Still leave you cold inside
Make you cry…
These tears of pearls
All these mixed emotions
We keep locked away like stolen pearls
~Stolen Pearls~ Savage Garden~
~~~
Max pulled on an old t-shirt and shorts and gathered her hair into a haphazard ponytail. Alec had abandoned her for a taller blonder girl with the promise that he would keep her out of Logan’s stomping grounds. Max had reluctantly consented but only at the thought of having the apartment to herself. She walked over to the stereo Alec had not so legally acquired and flicked it on.
~~~
“I never thought that I’d change my opinion again, But you moved me in a way that I’ve never know, You moved me in a way that I’ve never known, But straight away you moved into position again, You abused me in a way that I’ve never known, You abused me in a way that I’ve never known, So break me, shake me, hate me, take me over.”
Clap, clap, clap, the slow, almost mocking applause filled the silence following the song’s end. Max spun around, her spatula microphone clattering to the floor. Alec lounged against the doorframe looking absolutely gorgeous. A black t-shirt clung to his lean frame and a denim jacket was thrown over his shoulder in that sexy cowboy sort of stance. Max was suddenly painfully aware of her own ragged attire. A thrift store shirt she had taken scissors to and a pair of threadbare shorts.
“Hello beautiful,” he drawled.
Max planted her hands on her hips and glared at him, I thought you were on a date.
Alec gave a snort of laughter, “I was,” he replied, “She wasn’t my type.”
“That didn’t keep you from fucking every other leggy blonde who glanced your way,” Max retorted.
“Didn’t say I didn’t fuck her,” Alec smirked, tossing his jacket on the table and peering over Max’s shoulder. “Cookies!” he cried happily.
Max slapped his hand away, “None for you,” she snapped.
“Why?” Alec asked, feigning hurt.
“Because you’re a jackass,” she replied.
“But a helpful one,” Alec said, reaching behind her to pick up the open bag of flour that still sat on the counter.
“I’ll just put this away for ya,” he continued, starting towards the cupboard. Alec reached a loose floor tile and stumbled exaggeratedly, tossing the flour over his shoulder in the process. He turned back to study his handiwork, satisfied. Max stared down at herself in disbelief; she was nearly coated in the white powder.
“Aw! Did you make a mess Maxie?” Alec crooned.
“Not yet,” Max replied as she reached down and grabbed a handful of flour, flinging it at him. Alec ducked away and laughed as the flour smacked into the wall. He brushed some of it into his hand and launched himself at Max, rubbing it in her hair. Max squealed and tried to wiggle away but the attempts were weak and halfhearted, it had been far too long since she was able to laugh like this and it was not exactly something she wanted to escape. She found herself backed up against the stove and slowly leaned down to retrieve the bag of flour when Alec’s attention wandered to a streak of flour her face had left on his shirt. He rubbed at it and was reaching for a paper towel when the remaining flour came raining down on him.
“Payback’s a bitch,” Max giggled, her body shaking with laughter, as Alec spit flour from his mouth and blinked it away from his eyes. Flour floated down through the air in a sort of freak indoor snowstorm.
“You got me Tiger,” he admitted with a grin, “But guess what I got?”
“What?” Max asked, suddenly very aware of the way that they were pressed up against each other.
“A cookie,” he replied, smiling happily as he snatched a cookie off the counter and shoved it into his mouth.
“Yeah and you’ve got flour right… here,” Max murmured, extending a finger to point to a random point on his neck as her tongue darted out to lick it off.
She heard Alec suck in a lungful of air and let it out shakily, “You’re gonna get burned, he said, his voice a near growl, obviously not referring to the oven behind her.
“Burn me,” Max purred. The second the words left her mouth Alec’s lips smashed against hers in a bruising kiss. She could taste the chocolate of the cookie as the kiss grew more intense. Alec weaved his hands in her hair as he backed her against the sturdier surface of the wall. Max raked her fingernails down his back, all inhibitions having been locked away the second she threw the flour at him. They broke apart only to allow Alec to tug his ruined shirt over his head. Max nuzzled Alec’s neck as they stood panting, both marveling over the power of a single kiss. Alec shook away a lock of hair that flopped into his eyes and then he heard it. The single whispered word, more of a groan than anything else but it was like a punch in the gut, causing an almost physical pain. He pushed out of the room leaving a dazed Max behind.
A single word. A single name. Not his. Logan’s.
~~~