Fang's Fantasy

Book 2 chapter 72

Oh no…

Max was standing there, a helpless mouse in front of a hawk. A huge, fat, ugly, stupid hawk. I was sitting in the apple tree right next to Anne's house, watching. I had flown around all night watching their date. The way they were looking at each other while they were eating ice cream made my blood run cold. And when they held hands… it had taken every ounce of self-control I had to not swoop down and carry Max back to the house. Now they were saying good-bye, thank god.

He moved closer to her and touched her shoulder and chin. Then he kissed her. Kissed her! I almost fell out of the tree I was spying from. It felt like time had frozen in an inescapable hell. After a thousand years the fat boy's sister honked the car horn. Max and the ugly one broke apart, laughing a little. She said something I couldn't hear and the horn beeped again. He left the porch calling, "Talk to you tomorrow," back to Max. Not if I can help it…

I flew back through my open window and sat on my bed. Well, Anne's bed, not mine. I reached in my pillowcase and took out the poem I wrote, the one for Max. I scanned it as I had a million times and imagined as always my favorite fantasy. The one where Max was falling through the sky, like she had when one of her head explosions happened mid-flight, and I caught her, like I had that day. Then she would kiss me, like she had that night on the beach when Ari tore me to shreds. But this time I would be in one piece. That kiss. I dreamt of it so often that sometimes I think it WAS just a dream.

Ugh. I took the poem and shred into pieces so small they were almost microscopic. I was disgusted with myself. What a stupid fantasy. She didn't feel that way about me. Never had, and never would. If she loved me or even liked me she wouldn't have kissed that loser, Sam.

On the other hand, I kissed Lissa, but that didn't matter, I hate her. I only kissed her so I could kiss a girl and pretend she was Max. Maybe…

Oh god, dangerous thinking. But I couldn't help myself. What if Max only kissed the ugly boy… because she was imagining she was kissing me. I knew it was unlikely but I had to find out.

I went to her room and opened the door, holding one hand over my eyes. "Whoa, your happy glow. It's blinding." She rolled her eyes at me and pulled off her hoodie. My gut lurched and my face felt hot. Did she have any idea how amazing she looked, always looked? I'll never know. She wiggled her shoulders and untucked her wings a little.

I shut the door, feeling queasy. I had to break the silence somehow. "They wanted to stay up to wait for you, but Anne made them go to bed."

"Good thinking on Anne's part," she said.

"So? How was it?" I leaned against her desk and crossed my arms. I hoped she couldn't tell by my voice that I knew exactly how it was. She looked into my face and my heart melted into a puddle somewhere in the stomach region.

My mind flashed to when fatty had kissed her. If I didn't find out how she felt about him, I would never breath again. "I saw him - what's the phrase? Oh, yeah - 'stuck to you like glue.' So I guess you got along all right." I paused, breathing heavy, waiting terrified for her reply. If she had feelings for that sack of crap, I didn't think I could go on living. She looked at me oddly for what seemed like forever as I slowly died on the inside.

Finally she said, "Yeah, there's a lot of that going around." I felt a horrible combination of fear, anger, embarrassment, envy, and lust. I hoped my face didn't show how I was feeling. She kicked off her sneakers and I sat next to her on her bed, leaning on her headboard, heart beating fast.

I had resigned myself to a meaningless existence, so my voice was a tad tense when I said, "So you like him. I don't have to kill him."

I felt her shrug next to me. "Yeah. He was really nice. We had a good time." I heard some uncertainty in her voice and hope bloomed in me again.

"But…?" I probed.

She rubbed her beautiful temples with her perfect hands. "But so what? He could be the nicest guy in the world," He is so not, "but it doesn't change anything." You're damn right, " I'm still a mutant freak." You're MY mutant freak, "we're still in a situation I hate more every day." We have each other, "we can't trust anyone." You can trust me, "we can't solve the code mystery." We'll keep trying, "we can't find our parents – not that it would help if we did." I love you.

I was silent in my thoughts. Finally I just couldn't sit next to her anymore. It hurt too much to have her so close. I stood and walked toward the door, but I made the mistake of looking at her. She looked sad and tired and… disappointed. She didn't want me to go. I sighed and walked over to her bedside. I knelt down and looked her in the eyes for a long moment. Then, I did what I've only fantasized of doing. I slowly leaned in and kissed her, right on the mouth. Just like that.

I quickly pulled away and mortified, started to stand up. When I had gotten halfway up, Max grabbed my arm and pulled me down on top of her. She slowly put her hands on my face and pulled me closer. Then she kissed me. I was so shocked, for a minute I could only lie there in disbelief that all my dreams were coming true. I kissed back passionately, and closed my eyes.

She rolled over so she was on top of me and deepened the kiss, caressing my tongue with hers. I reached up and placed my hand on the top of her head. She smiled with her lips pressed against mine. That encouragement was all I needed. I moved my hand slowly down her neck and over her back, stopping only when my hand reached her perfect ass. She leaned into me more and reached down to the bottom of my shirt. This time it was me who smiled against her lips as she pulled my shirt up and over my head. I pulled my lips away from hers and replaced them on her gorgeous neck. She moaned in pleasure.

"Fang…" she breathed. It was like an angel speaking to a lowly freak: me.

She pushed my face away from her neck and kissed my chest, right in the middle of my rib cage. It felt so good I almost started to cry. Something I've NEVER done. She put her hands on my sides, one touching my rather impressive scar from an unpleasant fight with Ari. She dug her fingernails in a little and kissed my chest again. Suddenly her eyes widened in fear and surprise. I had heard it too. Footsteps.

Before we could react, Anne burst in the door, her eyes on the floor. "Max, I meant to ask you about a call I got from the school…" her voice trailed off as she looked up to see my hand on Max's ass and no shirt on. Not to mention the fact that her amazing lips were pressed on my chest. Max's face flushed as we realized the same thing at the same time. Anne thought that Max and I were BROTHER AND SISTER.

"Uh…" I tried to explain, for the first time ever wishing Max would take her lips off me. I wisely removed my hand from her ass as she sat upright in the bed, next to me.

"I'm going to leave now." Anne said slowly, obviously uncomfortable and at a loss for words. "Nick, I suggest you do the same. We're going to talk about his tomorrow, you two." Anne left, closing the door behind her. Max and I looked at each other, embarrassed. Suddenly the most horrible thought I had ever had occurred to me: what if this ruined our friendship?

"Damn." Max swore angrily. My heart stopped beating because I couldn't tell if her curse was directed at Anne or me.

"I guess I'd better go…" I said, hating myself.

Max's beautiful brown eyes looked at me with an emotion I couldn't identify. "Goodnight Fang." She smiled and kissed my lips again, as if she could tell how scared I had been. Relief exploded in me with such force, I almost fell over.

"Goodnight." I smiled at her as I stood. I grabbed my shirt and walked out the door, pausing to have one last look at her. I slowly closed the door and walked back to my, Anne's, room. And yes, I smiled the whole way there. That night my dreams were filled with nothing but Max and me in her bedroom kissing. But let's just say this time Anne didn't walk in.