Sweet Tooth [HS]

THIRTY THREE

The next day.

Max was in a bad fucking mood. Her day had been hectic; her clients had seemed endless and one of them had got her to re-design the stencil about six times before he decided the first one was actually what he wanted. And she'd spilled coffee down herself in the morning so she'd been walking around with a stain on her t-shirt all day. And then Lola had had to leave because she'd cut her finger so Max had stayed later to clear up her station for her. And fucking Finn hadn't stopped staring at her and it was guilt and awkwardness and wanting to scream what the fuck are you looking at? to him all day, which only made her feel more guilty.

By the time she finally came down the stairs of the studio it was nearly 7, and she felt on the cusp of going completely insane. Taking a deep breath, attempting to calm herself down, she opened the door to the office where Rory and Lexie were waiting for her.

When she opened the door, she smiled tiredly at Lexie, who smiled back briefly, before averting her attention back to Rory. He was on the phone and he looked the most serious he ever had in all the years Max bad known him.

"Saturday? As in two days from now?" He asked, almost in disbelief.

Max frowned and sat down on Lexie's lap.

"Who's he talking to?" she whispered.

"Addison Ford," Lexie replied, her voice a mush of excitement and agitation. "I think she wants to get him to New York to start plans for the studio."

Max let out a squeak and Lexie flicked her forehead.

This merger with New York Ink had been the talk of the studio since Rory's big revelation a few nights ago. Everyone had become all excitable and frantic, Max included. It was just so huge. Not just for Rory, but for all of them. To know they'd caught the attention of someone like Addison Ford, and then to know that she wanted to form some sort of collaboration - it all just seemed surreal. It was an enormous compliment to everything The Inkshop had achieved, and it sort of just opened this new doorway for them. They were really that good. And things were just going to get better.

"Yup, OK," Rory nodded, his eyes flicking to Lexie and smiling. "Yep, just send me the details and I will be there," he paused and Max could hear the muffled sound of Addison's voice speaking to him through the line. As if he was talking to her right now. Max couldn't believe it. "No thank you, Addison. See you soon. Bye."

He hung up and released a breath that made it seem like he'd been holding it for the entire call.

"So," Lexie said impatiently. "What did she want?"

"I'm going out there on Saturday. We're going over plans, all that fun stuff. I'll be gone a week." He sounded excited, his eyes were alight and his smile said it all, really.

"Oh my God!" Lexie and Max squealed together and they jumped up in unison, throwing their arms around Rory.

"I can't believe it," Max said when she pulled back.

Lexie nodded in agreement, kissing Rory's cheek quickly. "I'm so proud of you, baby." She said earnestly, keeping her arm slung around his waist.

"No, guys," Rory smiled as he squeezed Lexie closer to him. "I'm so proud of you."

He looked between Max and Lexie as he spoke, and Max couldn't help but admire Rory then. He was a brilliant boss, he cared about his staff and he was so humble, so real with everyone he met.

"Anyway," he interrupted. "We should get going. I'll drop you two off first then head back to mine. Ok? Styles said to get there for nine, so don't be too long shaving your minges or whatever."

Lexie slapped him and Max could only laugh.

***

When Rory dropped them off at Max's flat, Lexie jumped into the shower straight away and Max stood in her closet, trying to figure out what to wear. She wasn't going to go too nice, but she didn't want to look underdressed. Harry had already informed her that there would be an afterparty so that meant there would be some important people she was going to have to mingle with; people with stylists and lots of money and who were probably ten times more attractive than she was. So she just wanted to pull off that look-how-good-I-look-but-I-just-threw-this-together-I-don't-care kind of look. Which was difficult. Hopeless, actually, as she stared in defeat at her limited, inexpensive selection.

"Max, get in the shower!" Lexie screeched as she entered Max's bedroom. She was wrapped up in a towel, her bright red hair almost black from the water.

"I'm going I'm going. I just don't know what to wear."

Lexie rolled her eyes, "I'll find something for you, don't you worry. Now clean yourself, you stink. I'll reward you with a glass of wine."

"My wine," Max laughed as she moved towards the door.

"Yeah yeah," Lexie dismissed, and Max carried on laughing as she walked into the bathroom.

When she came back out, she found Lexie already dressed and sat straightening her hair at the dressing table. She was in a dark green, skin-tight dress, and she looked as she always did. Drop dead fucking gorgeous.

"You look beautiful, Lex," Max complimented.

"Thank you, Maximus. I can't have Rory getting an eye for the rich bitches, you know." She shrugged, grinning at Max in the mirror. "Your wine's over there by that way," she gestured to an enormous glass of wine on Max's chest of drawers. "And your outfit is on your bed."

Max glanced towards the bed, where a long black jumpsuit had been spread. She lifted it up carefully, her fingers taking in the slinky material. It had a low neck and slits at the side, and long blue tassels on the legs. It was perfect. And it was beautiful. And Max had never seen it before in her life.

"I may have bought this for you, before you ask," Max could see Lexie's smirk in her reflection.

"Oh, Lex. Thank you!" Max beamed, running over to her best friend and hugging her from behind. "It's beautiful."

"I know, I wouldn't have bought it for you otherwise," Lexie grinned. "And I knew you had to look good tonight. Fuck those ugly celebrities."

Max laughed, unable to express in words how much she appreciated her best friend in that moment. She didn't know if she'd be able to go tonight if Lexie wasn't with her, holding her hand. Harry couldn't. Obviously - he was bloody performing. And in fact, Harry couldn't hold her hand at all.

It was too public - all eyes were going to be on him tonight, it was his show, his afterparty, his friends. Max couldn't risk drawing attention to herself by holding his hand - her name would be all over the tabloids if she did. And besides, she didn't even know if Harry would really want to.

Tonight, she was only a side character. Max was going to watch Harry with her own eyes being this stranger, being this rockstar, being this celebrity shmoozer who knew all the right people and knew all the right things to say - and she, well, she was going to just observe it all. For the first time.

And so she couldn't even begin to explain how grateful she was to Lexie, how much she needed her best friend beside her tonight.

"You're the best," is what Max settled with, and Max caught Lexie's eyes in the mirror. Lexie understood and smiled knowingly, comfortingly.

"Now get dressed, Max. Rory's gonna be here any minute."