TAG ALONG

CHAPTER 2

Hale drove all the way to the apartment she shared with Max. It was actually a miracle she arrived in one piece since she had been really paced out on the road and that added to her maternally inherited poor driving skills had almost earned her a ticket.

As soon as she got inside the apartment she was met by a big cloud of smoke. The smoke detectors had gone off and their irritating noise was on the verge of giving her a panic attack. She needed to get out of here ASAP. She could vividly recall Mason in that burning room calling out to her.
    
" Oh Halie Mowie,... come out come out wherever you are... I'm not going to hurt you again...I promise..."
"Can you even breathe through this much smoke?"
"Don't you find the smoke  detectors' noise irritating?"
" Come with me Halie, I just want to wash my sins away..."

She shook the memories off.
"Max...,Max, are you in here?"
"Max! Where the hell are you!"
It wasn't as much of a question as it was a command.
"Max!"

She didn't want the panic she was feeling to show in her tone and so she automatically switched to command mode.
Something was burnt up really good. She didn't have to have a cookery degree to know that much.

"Max Henry Oxford!"
She could still remember when she learned his full name from his mother. She had payed him a surprise visit early one morning. Both Max and herself had slept in and for her when she lies down to sleep, She does sleep like a log- save for the fact that a log is just peaceful while her, on the other hand, sleeps in all different kinds of position and had a habit of fighting in her sleep whenever she had one of those Mason-related nightmares.

Max always kept a tight grip on her while they slept. He constantly told her that it was because he loved her but she very well knew even if that was a contributing factor, the main reason was because he wouldn't want to be kicked and punched to death in his sleep- no one would.

When Max's mother was finally let in, Hale could hear the commotion downstairs.
"Maximus Henry Oxford!, how dare you keep me waiting at the door for that long?"
Realizing it was a female, Hale couldn't bring herself to not confront her wondering if Max was cheating on her with another woman or if he was cheating on her with me?
It was during the initial stages of their 'flings' as she termed their relationship.

"Uh..uh..we were just getting ready for work..."
"Who is we Max, don't tell me you have another slut here..."
Hale was lost for words as she heard the 'bitch' downstairs call her a slut.
She wasn't just going to stay in bed and listen to some freak call her names while she did nothing.
Letting people go scott free after calling her names just wasn't the Hale Freeman way.

She sprinted downstairs, dressed in nothing other than Max's white tee and pink undies - might as well show Ms. Ugly Freak what she's up against.

When she got to the living room she was shook. Contrary to her expectations, it wasn't a Ms. it was a Mrs. And she wasn't ugly but she wasn't going to admit it.

"Okay you ugly piece of shit who did you just call a slut?"
She was too occupied with thinking of names to call her to notice Max gesturing to her to stop.
She turned to Max, "And you, what a waste, she is clearly triple of your age. I wouldn't be surprised if she came to confront you for missing her hundredth birthday yesterday" She was aware that that didn't add up but she had already said it so she might as well act like it does. " I'm so disappointed in you.'

"Maximus, who is this? "

"Mum, meet my new girlfriend, Hale. Hale Freeman"
"I'm not your girlfriend." She muttered incoherently.
"Hale, my mama, Shirley Oxford."

"Your mom? Oh, now I see the striking resemblance, it had passed me the first time." She said in an attempt to salvage the situation.
Talk about awkward.
She switched up her charm factor- fast
"Heeey Mrs. Oxford. It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person though it already feels like I've met you since your adorable son over here won't stop talking about you and now I see why- he got the good looking genes from you." She was nervous.
Hale stretched out her hand for a handshake.
But she just stared at it in disgust, then sized her up and walked out without a word after throwing Max a look that clearly said; "you could have done better."

The memories of that whole day were engraved in her mind. Because after all her 'fling's' mother hated her. But she highly doubted she would have loved her even without that encounter. It was clear she was still shipping Max with Phoebe- her ex fiance. That's why she kept trying to get them back together.

"Hale, in the kitchen."
It was Max calling out.
She ran into the kitchen to a continuously coughing Max holding a frying pan which looked like it had been used to scoop coal.
It's contents were really darkened and the smoke detectors were still wailing though most of the smoke had cleared out.

"What the hell were you trying to cook?"
"Am omelette- don't you see it?
It's a masterpiece."
"All I see is a mass of charcoal powder. How did it even get that much burnt?"
" I left it to cook and went to watch my game and I totally forgot about it"
Hale wondered who leaves an omelette unattended to go and watch a soccer match? Her dumbass fling apparently.
"Is that my favorite frying pan?"
"Geez Hale, chill out. I'm fine thanks for asking. And yes I would have suffocated from the smoke."

She rolled her eyes.
" Whatever just turn those damn detectors off"
"And you could have just boiled the eggs you know" she reminded him as she turned to leave.
"Or ordered pizza" he supplied.

She stopped in my heels, turned around and raised her brow at him. 
"So now you start using your brain dummy" she intended to tell him, but she realized it wasn't worth it. He was a hopeless case.He would just keep going on and on.
She still maintained eye contact and walked out backwards with her brows still raised at him.

He was looking at her with an amused grin. Another triumphantic win for Max. She knew he loved winning.

When she was finally out of his sight she turned around and ran up the stairs to the bedroom since she really needed the shower.

After the shower she found Max sprawled out on the couch. The house being shook from the music that is blaring from the system.
She yelled out to him
"Order Chinese."
" No I think we'll go eat at the Chinese restaurant dear." He yelled back.
She sighed, walked to the wall unit turn the music down and as calmly as shd could and told him,
" But we can't, remember, I don't know how to use chopsticks , dear" she said the last part through gritted teeth.

"But I don't mind" He smiled innocently very well aware of how much he was exasperating her.
" And neither do I,  but the press,  seem to be everywhere I go, so at least if I'm being caught on camera I should be caught doing things that don't taint my image!" He had finally managed to get on her nerves and he seemed impressed by it.
"I'll cook us some noodles and sauce."
" I thought you said you ain't 'my mama nor wife' " he air quoted the last bit.
She took a throw pillow and threw it at his face - no pun intended.
She was on her way to the kitchen when her phone started ringing;
Unknown caller.
     

       ________________________

A/N💖

How are you guys today?
The novel is still in the introductory part of the story so don't give up on us yet.
There are a lot of changes I've made on character names and on the story's plot but I'll do all I can to avoid confusion.
If you spot an error leave a comment and I'll correct it when I can.
Excuse spelling, grammatical and such errors since this is the first draft.
Thank you for reading.
Don't forget to vote and leave your comments;-).