The Luckiest Girl In The World

"Now I feel like I should be buying you lot dinner," Max said, rubbing the back of his neck. "That's some shit just to have spring up on you out of nowhere." He gave Kathy an apologetic glance. "I know I can't apologize for my face but I sorta want to. I didn't mean to bring you back to...I'm really sorry."

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Kathy opened her mouth. Closed it. Looked at Dante.

She had literally no idea how to deal with a sincere Maxwell Hale.

"I...it's not your fault," she said. "Like you said, you can't apologize for your face."

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Dante didn't know how to deal with it either, exactly.

Dante liked it better when Max was a dead asshole and he didn't have to spend any time thinking about complicated feelings that face may or may not bring up. Even when that face was being incredibly nice.

"Seriously, man, it's fine," he said, offering Max a wry smile with a sincere look stacked on top of it. "Sorry you went for a soda and got a whole bundle of complicated crap, instead."

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"Not even the most complicated thing I've heard today," Max assured them. "My music gets me involved with lots of after school projects here in LA. Complicated doesn't cover the half."

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Yeah, Kathy's face was going on a whole journey through that comment.

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So was Dante's, though likely for different reasons.

"Yeah, you are definitely not your doppelganger," he said finally. "Good of you though, man."

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"My mom's fault," Max said lightly. "She used to teach high school physics before she retired. So she had me coming in to talk about sound waves and stuff and it just kinda stuck."

He grinned. "Also, I'm an aspiring musician in LA. I need all the extra income I can get."

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Fuck.

Kathy had laughed at that.

Just a small chuckle but...

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Dante snickered softly. "What do you play, anyway?" he said. "I used to be lead guitar in a high school band."

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"Piano," Max said with a soft smile. "Took lessons all my life. I was allowed to quit Cub Scouts, football, and the drama club, but piano was mandatory."

To Kathy he asked, "You play anything?"

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"Also guitar," Kathy answered after a half-beat of silence. "Acoustic, though." She gave Dante a crooked smile. "And vocals. Uh, not that I was really in the high school band."

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It was really weird seeing a smile like that on Max's face, Dante noted. "She wasn't really the big, get on stage and shout it out type in high school," he said easily. "I still am, though. Not really the same vibe as piano."

It was harder making small talk when you were squishing down your instincts to flirt at the same time.

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"I did that once, actually," Kathy told him. "You just hadn't transferred in yet."

And had been under the influence of gremlin venom, but she wasn't mentioning that.

For several reasons.

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Max was also squishing. Not because of the obvious age gap now, but because it was in poor taste to flirt with a guy in front of his girlfriend after a dude who looked creepily like you had kidnapped her and died in a standoff.

And this was a Max who cared about that kind of thing.

"What did you sing?" he asked, curious, not even realizing that he's taken a seat at the end of their booth.

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Kathy did. But she answered him anyway.

"A Korean song. Called Love Love Love. There was a whole routine."

She smirked at Dante. "Boots were involved."

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Dante let out a surprised laugh. "Why didn't I know about this?" he asked, settling down in the booth because-- well, fuck, everyone was sitting now. "Fuck, is there video?"

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Oh no. How had she not foreseen this?

"Errr......"

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"That's a yes," Max guessed.

Grinning.

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This was so much easier to do when you had back-up.

... don't think of Max as back-up.

"I need the video, Kathy," Dante said, leaning over with big eyes. "I need it."

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"You didn't even know it existed five minutes ago!" Kathy argued.

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"Her hand is on her pocket," Max muttered into his cup. "Hiding her phone."

This was way better than being accused of being her dead kidnapper!

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Dante held his hand out. "Phone, Kathy."

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Goddamn it. That commanding tone had her halfway through handing over her phone before her brain kicked in. There was just this thing about how he said - ahem.

"I'm giving you my phone," she muttered. "The rest is up to you, junior detective."

And he'd better make good on that commanding tone later, dammit.

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Max was just going to take a loooooooooooooooooong sip of his soda right there. Because...ahem.

Stupid sexy tone.

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