Together -- Chapter 41

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Logan, etc.) and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

“You have to be the luckiest guy on the planet,” Original Cindy said to Alec as they and Max and Sketchy sat at a table at Crash a few weeks later. “You’ve got Normal eating out of the palm of your hand.”

Alec grinned. “I’m the best.”

“You wish,” Max said.

“What’s the matter, Max?” Alec said. “Are you still upset because I beat you at pool tonight?”

“No,” Max said. “I’ve just been having a supremely bad day today. I’m thinking that there’s some kind of eclipse, a full moon, and the planets are aligned. Well, at least that’s the reason why you beat me at pool. As for the rest of my day, who knows?”

“What went wrong?” Sketchy asked.

“Everything,” Max said. “Got up this morning and we’re out of coffee. I know, it wasn’t your fault O.C., we both forgot to get more yesterday. I absolutely need my coffee in the morning. Grab my bike and start to go to work and some moron tries to mug me. The only good thing about that is that he’ll be having trouble walking for at least a few days.” Like Becky said, when you can’t do anything fancy, go for old number one!

“Ouch,” Sketchy said. He and Alec both winced.

“Got to work and you all saw how Normal was pissier than usual,” Max said. “Got a flat tire on my first run, almost got groped by a janitor while I was making the delivery on my second run, and I fell trying to do that trick that Normal’s Golden Boy here dared me to do when we were on our lunch. It should have been easy for me, but like I said, everything’s aligned upstairs so I falling on my ass after five seconds. I had a few more crappy runs after lunch and then I go back to my place hoping to have a nice hot bath but the heater crapped out for the millionth time and...damn, this is not my day.”

“Why don’t you look for someone to cheer you up?” Alec teased. “There’s that nice guy over at the bar. The short guy who’s about twenty or so pounds overweight with the acne scars...”

“Not my type,” Max said. My type is six feet tall, blond, blue-eyed, gorgeous as hell, and will be back in town within two weeks. That reminds me, should I get him something for his birthday next week? I don’t think Zack would be into presents, but I feel like I should get him something.

“How about you watch me whip Pretty Boy’s ass at pool,” Original Cindy said. “Would that cheer you up?”

“That would definitely be a start,” Max agreed.

“You’re on,” Alec said. “I am the pool table master.”

“In your dreams,” Original Cindy said. “My older brother taught me how to play when I was a kid and I’ve been playing ever since. Eight Ball?”

“Works for me,” Alec said. They got up and went to an empty pool table. He and Original Cindy grabbed cues and Max racked up the balls for them. “Wanna make this a good one?”

“How much?”

“Fifty bucks,” Alec said.

“And?” Original Cindy said. “You said you wanted to make this a good one.”

“The loser also has to do the winner’s laundry for a week,” Alec said.

“That’s all?” Sketchy said. “That’s fifth grade stuff.”

“Yeah, but do you know how hard it is to clean this stuff?” Original Cindy said, gesturing to the outfit that she was wearing. “Delicate cycle and line dry and all that. This bitch is on.”

“This should be good,” Max said to Sketchy as they watched Original Cindy and Alec.

“Yeah,” Sketchy said. “They’re both really good. Do you know how many games I lost to both of them last week?”

“I lost count after ten,” Max teased.

Sketchy smiled. “Okay, so I’m not the greatest pool player in the world. I’m way better at poker than I am at pool.”

“You are,” Max admitted. “You almost beat me when we all played at lunch a few days ago.”

“You got so lucky,” Sketchy said. “I can’t believe you managed to get a royal flush.”

“Luck of the draw, Sketch,” Max said.

“Damn!” Original Cindy swore.

“I win,” Alec said triumphantly. “I’ll be dropping off my first load of laundry tomorrow. Plus, I believe that you owe me...”

“Yeah, I know,” Original Cindy said. She reached into her pocket and handed Alec some money. “Here’s your fifty.”

“Anybody want another round?” Alec asked.

“Of pool or beer?” Max said.

“Either one,” Alec said.

“I’m good on both,” Max said. “I should probably be getting back to my crib.”

“I need my beauty sleep,” Original Cindy said.

“I’m in the mood for some more pool,” Alec said. “You wanna play, Sketchy?”

“Sure,” Sketchy said. “I think I can beat you tonight.”

“We’ll be seeing you guys at work tomorrow,” Max said. She and Original Cindy went back to their table, grabbed their jackets, and left Crash. “You know, I am in a better mood now.”

“Good,” Original Cindy said.

“Sorry that you lost to Alec at pool tonight,” Max said.

“It’s cool,” Original Cindy said. “You hear from Becky or your boy?”

“Yeah, I did. Zack’s gonna be back in Seattle in two weeks at the latest and Becky said that she’d probably be back not too long after that,” Max said.

“What about Becky’s boy?” Original Cindy asked.

Max grinned. “Jeff’s fine and Becky’s still denying that she has feelings for him. One of these days, she’ll get around to admitting them.”

“Think she’ll take as long as her brother did with you?” Original Cindy asked.

“I don’t know,” Max said. “Somehow, I don’t think so. I’ll do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen. I don’t want to force her, though. That’ll just make things blow up in everyone’s faces.”

“Good call,” Original Cindy said.

“Yeah,” Max agreed. “We’ll just see.”

TBC