a/n: I'm gonna do a little mini-contest, just because. Whoever has the most inline comments by the time I post the next chapter will get a follow! And yes, I'll be counting.

Can you feel this magic in the air?

Must've been the way you kissed me

Chapter 18 ~ Today Was a Fairytale

Max Caldwell

I awoke with a start when I heard a knocking sound at my window. It was the early hours of the morning when the sun was just starting to rise, making me jump to the conclusion that someone was trying to break into the house.

Ripping myself from the sheets, I inched off the bed and slowly made my way to the window. Sucking in a deep breath, I cautiously peered out the window, fully expecting to be faced with a scary guy in a ski mask. Instead, I saw Trey standing on the ground, nearly two stories down, holding a handful of rocks. When he saw me, he broke into a full grin.

I shook my head in disbelief and stepped away from the window, drawing the curtains closed.

I was serious when I said our friendship was over. Pretending to be straight because of his fear of coming out was one thing, but ruining my happiness by blabbing about our affair was another. There was no way he was going to get off the hook for that.

My plans to ignore Trey fell short when he continued to throw rocks at my window. If he kept at it, the glass would certainly break.

Sighing, I returned to the window, unlocked the latches, and pushed it open. "Stop," I ordered as soon as I popped my head out the window.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel. Let down your long hair," he responded with a breathtaking smile.

"Do you think you're funny?" I questioned. "Because you're not."

"Max, I'm sorry."

I rolled my eyes deep into my sockets. "No, you're not."

He gaped at me. "Of course I am!"

I threw him a forced smile and leaned on my hands. "Not only did you almost ruin my relationship with Liam, you also got a hold of drugs and you know how I feel about that stuff."

Trey sighed and adjusted the position of his baseball cap. "I know, Maxxie, I know. I was just sad..."

"Sad?" My eyebrows crumpled together as I looked at Trey in confusion. "Over what?"

"You rejected me," he explained. "I thought that maybe after we did what we did, you would want to be with me since you fall in love with everyone you sleep with."

I tried not to be offended by Trey's words and sighed. I always had a strange feeling that Trey wanted to be more than friends, but I silently hoped it wasn't the case.

"Wait, I don't understand. What about Eric?"

Trey chewed thoughtfully on his bottom lip. "About that ... there is no Eric."

"What?" I said, not quite believing what I was hearing.

It took him a while to answer. "He's not real. I made him up."

And in that moment, I snapped.

Days of rage supressed inside me finally surfaced and I wanted nothing more than to tear off Trey's head and feed him to Lola for breakfast.

That fucking bastard.

The rocks Trey had thrown at my window caught my attention. They were laying still on the roof panels, within reach. I leaned further out the window and snatched one of them and threw it directly at him. I wasn't at all gifted in athletic abilities, but somehow, I managed to pelt him right in the shoulder.

Trey let out a loud shriek.

"Go away!" I yelled at him. "Go away and don't ever come back. I hate you, and I wish you never existed!"

He blinked. "Maxxie..."

"Don't call me that!" I shouted. "Go home!"

His feet remained planted in the grond. "B-but I love you," he stammered.

Unconsciously, I cringed. "Trey, leave before I hit you with another rock."

Trey was hesitant for a while, but he eventually took off running until his body became a blur in the distance.

Releasing a strenuous sigh, I closed the window and shuffled over to my bed, plopping down onto the plush mattress.

Maybe I overreacted. I couldn't exactly blame Trey for doing something crazy and reckless out of love, considering I had done the same thing quite a few times.

But it just wasn't fair! Trey had his chance. He could have stopped me from sleeping with those other guys and moping over Jamie if he just said something earlier. Why would he wait until I was perfectly happy with Liam to confess his feelings for me?

Sighing once more, I reached for my cell phone under my pillow and scrolled through my contacts, searching for Liam's name. I doubted he was awake at six in the morning, but I sent him a text anyway.

- I miss you.

To my surprise, he responded just a few seconds later.

- I miss you too. Do you want to go somewhere today?

I could feel the corners of my lips twitching into a small smile.

- Sure. Where?

- It's a secret. I'll pick you up at seven.

My smile grew even bigger as I typed back a quick smiley face and let out a dreamt sigh, pressing the cell phone against my chest. It felt so unbelievably surreal to be going on an actual date with someone who was interested in me.

Someone who was mine.

Feeling way too giddy to fall back asleep, I scrambled out of bed and slipped a band t-shirt over my head before swinging my bedroom door open and tiptoeing through the silent house. Once I made it to the foot of the staircase, I caught a glimpse of the soft yellow light emitting from the kitchen. When I turned the corner, I saw my mother leaning against the island with her dark hair tied up into a bun and her glasses resting on the rim of her nose.

"Mom?" I questioned. "What are you doing up so early?"

She lifted her gaze from her iPad and smiled at me. "Good morning, Maxxie. I was just looking over the floor plan for the new house I'm working on."

I slid into the high chair and nodded. "Oh."

She set her iPad aside and focused all of her attention on me. "So your birthday is coming up soon. You excited?"

With all the unnecessary drama going on lately, I had completely forgotten about my birthday. "Oh, yeah," I chuckled softly. "I guess so. I'll finally be sixteen."

"Do you want to throw a big party?" She questioned me.

I shrugged. "I wouldn't know who to invite. I'm not exactly popular."

She lifted her brows and pulled her lips into a teasing smile. "Well, you're definitely inviting a special little boyfriend for sure."

I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks. "Mom..."

"Okay, okay," she gave in as she raised her hands in the air in surrender. "What superhero do you want on your cake this time?"

I loosened the collar of my shirt with the hook of my finger and shifted about on the high chair. "Well, how about we just get a regular cake this time?"

My mother's delicate brows rose in surprise. "A regular cake? Since when did you want to get a regular cake? Last year, it was Captain America. The year before that it was Batman, and the year before that it was Daredevil."

Since I was able to comprehend it at age four, I had been a fan of Marvel everything: comics, action figures, movies and tv shows. Even with age, my obsession still hadn't faded away and I insisted on having a different superhero themed birthday party each year.

This year, however, had to be different. I didn't want Liam to think I was a little kid.

"Yeah, but I don't think Liam will be too pleased to find out that I still like superheroes," I explained.

My mom let out a long sigh. "Max, do not let that boy change you."

"He's not changing me, I swear, it's just that ... I don't want him to think I'm immature or anything."

Her lips peeled back into a motherly grin as she reached over the island and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure Liam will like you, no matter what." Returning her attention back to her iPad, she said, "Now, who will it be?"

I sighed, knowing nothing I said would get past her. "Quicksilver."

Satisfied with my answer, she tapped my request into her iPad. "Sounds great."

I watched as she fell silent and continued to occupy herself with her iPad, probably planning my sweet 16th down from the decorations to the music. It was great having a mother who excelled in interior design, but it was a burden when she failed to realize we didn't really need to impress anyone.

I bit my bottom lip. "Hey, Mom?"

"Yes, honey." She still hadn't removed her eyes from the illuminated screen.

"Liam wants to meet up for a little while before school ... can I ... can I go? I know I'm grounded and everything, but I really want to go."

She didn't even take the time to think about it. "Yes," she said immediately. "I'll deal with your father if he asks. Just promise me something."

"What is it?"

She finally brought his deep umber eyes to mine. "I don't want you throwing yourself around, okay? I know Liam may be your first boyfriend, but that doesn't mean you need to-"

"No sex," I interrupted with a tight smile. "Got it."

My mom returned the smile. "I love you, Maxxie."

"Love you too, ma." I leaned over the island and planted a quick kiss on her cheek before darting upstairs to my bedroom.

I practically barged into the closet, rummaging through my clothes and tossing them onto the floor when I decided they weren't good enough. I had gone through three-fourths of my clothes when I realized that I didn't own anything normal.

Dammit.

It took me about an hour to finally commit to an outfit. I ultimately went with a simple buttoned down madras shirt that my grandma gave me, and a pair of skinny jeans. It wasn't as fashionable as I would have liked it to be, but it would have to do.

Liam arrived at the time he said he would which was made apparent by my mother's constant yelling from downstairs. I figured there was nothing much I could do to make my appearance look any better, so I heaved a sigh and jogged down the stairs as quickly as I could to stop my mother from hollering my name.

"Have fun," she called out as I breezed past her, "and be careful."

I barely listened to her as I continued past the front door and descended down the driveway. Liam's eyes met mine almost instantly and I felt a wave of anxiety sweep over me.

He was dressed casually, with khaki shorts, a plain white tee, and his hair astray. He didn't even need to put in that much effort to look absolutely stunning, and that suddenly made me feel a little self-conscious.

"Ready to go?" He asked me with a small little smile.

I nodded. "Yeah, I am."

**

The drive mostly consisted of me changing the radio stations so much that my fingers began to hurt. I wanted to say something, anything, but my mind was completely blank.

I never felt so shy and insecure in my entire life, so why now? It couldn't be because I was nervous. Max Caldwell was never nervous.

But when Liam placed a hand on my knee to comfort me, I felt my whole body go into defense mode and my hands started to shake terribly.

Yes. I was definitely nervous.

Ten minutes later, when Liam pulled onto a rocky dirt road, I caught a glimpse of the scene ahead of us. The dirt road led to a small little shopping center, adorned with the aroma of buttery popcorn, sugary deserts and fast food. Behind all those shops was a breathtaking view of the horizon meeting the water.

With just a few more seconds, Liam turned onto the path leading to the beach and parked the car under a white oak tree.

"The beach?" I questioned as I turned to face him. "Before school?"

He shrugged. "Why not?" Not waiting for an answer, he slid out of the driver's seat and circled around the car, popping open the trunk.

I stayed put in my seat, fiddling with my fingers. Contrary to popular belief, I wasn't as put together as I made it seem. Sleeping with ton of guys was natural to me, but going on dates was something that I never had the privilege of doing. How does one act in such a setting?

Liam tapped on my window, pulling me out of my thoughts. "You coming?"

I glanced over at him to see he was holding a picnic basket in his hands. "Huh? Oh, um, yeah."

I propped open my door and jumped out of the Audi, trudging after Liam who had already begun his descent down the sandy hill. I tried to catch up to him, but failed by toppling over myself in the process. He didn't look at me, but he must've noticed because he started to laugh to himself.

"Are you laughing at me!" I accused him.

He shook his head. "Nope, not at all."

I rolled my eyes. "It's not funny. If you told me where we were going, I would have prepared myself for the beach!"

He finally spun around to face me, beginning to walk backwards. "More than you already have?" He questioned with a raised brow. "I don't like your shirt."

Just fucking great! I spent years trying to find the perfect outfit and he didn't even like it! Could I be any more of a walking failure?

Liam seemed to notice my newly sulking mood, because he was quick to take back his words. "Not that it doesn't look good on you, it does. It just doesn't really look like you. You usually wear t-shirts and stuff."

I frowned. "Again, you could have given me a heads-up before I wore this ugly shirt!"

Liam smiled. "It doesn't matter. You're going to take it off, anyway."

My heart sunk to my stomach. "What?"

He whipped back around and continued to walk down the hill, not even bothering to clarify what he meant. Eventually, he picked a spot close to the water and set up two large towels next to each other, and placed the picnic basket on top of them.

I watched as he smiled to himself and stood to his full height, reaching down to grab the hem of his shirt and pulling it up over his head.

I took a step back. "W-what are you doing?"

"I'm going in the water." He had completely discarded of his shirt by now, leaving only his hard rock abs for me to gawk at.

"I didn't bring my swimsuit."

"Aren't you wearing underwear?"

I chewed nervously on my bottom lip, demolishing my meticulously applied lip balm. "Um, not really."

His mouth fell open for a split second before he broke out in full-on laughter. He definitely wasn't helping with my pre-existing self-conscious mood.

"Hey," I whined, "stop laughing at me."

He ignored me and continued to laugh to himself. It got to the point where I was really starting to get pissed off. There was no way I could fit into these ridiculously tight skinny jeans if I wore underwear. There was nothing funny about that.

I huffed loudly as I folded my arms against my chest in disapproval. "Stop it."

He still hadn't stopped laughing as he made his way to me. "I'm sorry, Max, that's just ... really funny." His lips twitched into a grin. "You're really adorable."

I narrowed my eyes into thin slits. "I'm glad I can amuse you."

"Oh, come on, stop taking things so seriously." In one quick move, he wrapped his arms around my waist and hoisted me up over his shoulder. I kicked, twisted, and turned with all my might in an attempt to break free of his strong hold on me, but I failed miserably.

Before I could comprehend it, Liam had already waded through the water until he was at a reasonable distance from the shore. I should've expected him to do something evil, so I shouldn't have been surprised when he tossed me into the cold salt water.

"My hair!" I shrieked as soon as I resurfaced.

Liam was having the time of his life, laughing like his life depended on it.

I wanted to be mad at him for ruining my clothes and my hair, but I couldn't. Not when this was one of the only times I saw him genuinely happy. I didn't want to take his happiness away from him.

"I hope you're satisfied," I muttered under my breath.

He snaked an arm around my waist and tugged me closer to him. "I am, thank you for that." He swooped down and planted a quick kiss on my lips.

I gave him a playful eye-roll. "You're horrible."

His hand dropped to mine and his fingers enclosed around mine. "Come on, let's eat something." He led me out of the water and to our designated spot on the sand. Kneeling to the ground, he began to rummage through the basket he prepared for us. "Ham and cheese or PB&J?"

"Ham and cheese," I replied softly as I took a seat on one of the colorful towels.

He tossed me a wrapped sandwich along with a juice pouch and took out one for himself.

We sat there in silence, legs crossed and eyes fixed on our sandwiches. I was halfway done with my sandwich when I decided to speak up to end the bitter silence.

"My birthday is coming up."

He lifted his turquoise eyes to mine. "Really?"

"Yeah, the second of June," I responded with a soft smile, "and my mom's throwing a party. I want you to come."

He nodded. "Yeah, I'll be there."

I didn't need to see myself to know my cheeks were probably a deep shade of crimson. "Awesome."

Liam let out a short, bitter laugh. "Ten bucks says that Marcy is hiding behind a tree somewhere, watching us and seething through her teeth."

I swallowed a lump in my throat. My face was just starting to go back to normal and I didn't want Matt to mess it up again. "She is?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but I wouldn't put it past her."

I slouched forward and blankly stared at the rest of my sandwich. "I don't want to get beat up again."

Liam's eyes flicked to mine and his brows knitted together in concern. "I'm not going to let her do that to you, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

Silence settled between us again and I didn't feel comfortable finding a conversation topic anymore. I really wish there was some kind of rule book that talked about how these dates were supposed to be carried out, because right now, the only action I was getting was from my sandwich.

Once Liam was finished with his sandwich, he crawled closer to me with a proud smile plastered on his face. My body stiffened the minute his hand caressed the side of my face and I silently hated myself for being so uptight about this. He dove into the crook of my neck and kissed the skin there, trailing his soft kisses down my neck, onto my collarbone, and back up to my face.

Slowly but surely, I found myself giving into the pleasure and let myself relax. Liam reached under my shirt and brushed his hand on my bare chest, flicking over my nipples with his thumb. I tried to keep my composure but I had practically consented to everything that was about to come the minute he lifted my shirt over my head and tossed it to the side.

He captured my lips in a desperate kiss as his hands weaved their way into my hair, grabbing onto handfuls of it. Not long after, I fell back onto the sand and let Liam climb on top of me, pressing our bodies together. He continued to kiss with me with a hungry fervor as my hands wrapped around his neck and our bodies moved together in sync.

Pulling away from my lips momentarily, Liam trailed kisses down the length of my stomach, stopping at my navel. His hands glided down my arms until they rested just above the waistband of my jeans.

Finally coming to my senses, I jerked up. "Wait."

He gazed back at me with curious eyes.

"I'm not really supposed to be having sex, remember?"

His lips curled into the most seductive smile I had ever seen. "Technically, this isn't sex." Without waiting for a response, his fingers undid the button on my jeans.

I sucked in a deep breath as Liam tugged my jeans down to my knees, allowing my erection to spring free. Just as he prepared himself to go down on me, I just had to interrupt.

"We're on a public beach," I pointed out, even though there was no one in sight.

He responded with a teasing hum, but he did nothing to slow his pace. In the matter of seconds, his hand gripped the base of my cock and his mouth slowly descended on the tip. My whole body shivered at the contact and I threw my head back as a moan escaped my mouth.

He ran his free hand along my stomach as he continued to work me with his mouth, going slow at first, then quickening his speed. Every time he lowered his mouth onto my cock, I felt my muscles quiver with pleasure and I was even more satisfied at the fact that Liam was able to arise these feelings in me.

Not much time passed before I felt my body starting to tense up. I didn't want to come just yet, so I pulled myself out of Liam's mouth.

He looked up at me in bewilderment. "What are you doing?"

I responded by crashing my lips on his. He didn't object, because his lips melted against mine and his arms curled around my waist almost instantly. I didn't spend much time kissing him and moved onto caressing every crevice and groove of his stomach. A soft moan fell from his mouth and I smiled, knowing I could have such an effect on him.

Undoing the button on his shorts, I pulled them down slowly, leaving him in only his boxers. I took one glance at him to see that he was biting his lip in anticipation.

I kissed him again with one hand caressing his cheek and the other hand pressing against the bulge in his underwear.

He broke away from the kiss. "Max," he breathed lustfully.

Sending him a mocking smile, I hastily tugged down his boxers and nearly gasped when I saw his impressive length. I had seen a lot of dicks in my life, but they didn't quite compare to Liam's.

"Wow."

"Max."

"Right, right, sorry." I shook myself out of my temporary stupor.

I ran my hand along the length of his beautiful cock, twisting and turning the angle every so often. I could tell Liam was starting to get annoyed with my constant teasing because he sent me a deadly glare.

"Patience is a virtue," I stated.

"A virtue I don't have," he countered.

I gave him a quick smile, and then slowly lowered my mouth onto his length until I had it all in my mouth. I heard Liam moan softly and took that as a clue that I was doing something right.

I sucked lightly on his shaft, and used my free hand to gently tug on his ball sack, leaving not one area untouched. His hands found their way into my hair, pulling gently, and when I looked up at him, I saw his eyes were closed shut and his mouth was wide open, allowing his moans to roam free.

"Oh my god, Max, shit."

Seeing him so emotional made me crave attention too. So in addition to pleasuring him with my mouth, I used my free hand to jerk myself off.

Doing this for Liam felt way better than any other blow job I gave my long list of ex boyfriends. None of them really appreciated it, and that was probably because none of them really appreciated me. But for some reason, I knew Liam appreciated me.

And it felt really good to be appreciated.

I didn't expect Liam to last such a short amount of time, so I was utterly surprised when he shot his load into my mouth with no warning whatsoever.

Liam made it a bigger deal than it was. "Oh my god!" He practically yelled. "Max, I'm so sorry. I have tissues and stuff, if you wanna..."

I rolled my eyes at him and swallowed the slightly salty liquid in one gulp. "It's fine."

He gawked at me. "Are you ... Are you sure?"

"Yeah," I reassured him. "You taste really good."

Liam opened his mouth to say something, but he thought better of it, and just blushed.

I smiled at him. "I don't want to be late for school."

He nodded. "Yeah, you're right. We should probably get going." He hastily stuffed everything back into the basket, but I grabbed onto his wrist before he could stand up.

"Liam, thank you," I said to him.

His brows furrowed. "For what?"

"For this," I clarified, "I really had fun."

He smiled. "You're welcome."

After we got dressed and packed everything away, we rushed up the hill to the Audi. Liam quickly threw the picnic basket into the backseat and slid into the driver's seat, starting up the car.

I reached for the door handle to get inside, but something in the near distance caught my eye.

The white oak tree we were situated under had letters engraved into the tree trunk. I had to squint my eyes to read them, and my heart nearly stopped when I did.

There, surrounded in a giant heart, were the names...

Liam & Scotty

I redirected my attention to Liam when he blew his horn. "You coming or are you just going to stand there?"

I took one last look at the tree and gave Liam a forced smile as I opened the door and slid into the passenger seat. "Yeah, uh, sorry."

As Liam backed out of the spot, my eyes remained fixed on the tree. As much as I didn't want to, I couldn't help but think that this was their spot.

It belonged to Liam and Scotty.

Not us.

**

a/n: okay folks, I finally updated. I'm sorry for the long wait, I was traveling most of the weekend so I couldn't really use my computer.

Anywho, my question for you guys is ... Would you be okay with a book about Trey as the third book in the KB series instead of the book about the twins? If so, the twins' book will be the fourth book, and Xavier's book will be written alongside Trey's book but it will be kind of like a standalone book. Let me know your thoughts.

If you happened to like this chapter, then please leave a comment and a vote. I always love reading your comments.

Until next time,

Lara <3