"Frustration"
He leaned up against the gigantic oak tree. He just couldn't get it. I don't understand…He thought. I like her. A lot. Aww, who am I kidding… I'm head over heels for that girl. And I think she likes me back! So what's the big deal? Love should be 1+1=2. But it seems like, whenever I try to put that into work, it's 1+1=11. He took a deep breath in and sighed. Pull it together Fang. You can't show this to the flock. You're Mr. Strong and Silent. You're the foundation of this plateau. He sighed again. "Man up. So she doesn't like you back. Big whoop. You can't hide out in this forest forever. You have to go back and be normal. Get your head in the GAME." He leaned over and dunked his head into the stream that was running by and absentmindedly blew bubbles, cleansing his mind of the frustrating thoughts. "Oh well. Better luck next time, oh God of Failures." Fang crouched down and leaped into the air, flying back to the motel the Flock was staying at. He landed on the porch, carefully furling his wings in so as not to hit something and wake people up. However, he knew he woke someone up.
"Fang, where've you been?" asked a sleepy Iggy. Fang lay back on his bed and sighed.
"Nowhere Ig. And it seems like whenever I try to go somewhere, the end result is the same: I ain't gettin anywhere." Iggy nodded his understanding.
"Max still being a naïve idiot, huh?" Fang nodded.
"Yup."
"Any signs of her actually responding in a loving way?"
"Snowball in hell Ig, snowball in hell."
"Well then!" Iggy clapped his hands twice quietly. "I daresay you are completely and utterly screwed!"
"How long'd it take you to figure THAT out, oh Crap for Brains?"
"'Bout the same amount of time it took you to come up with that comeback, oh Tar for Hair!"
"Hey," Fang sent a glance at Iggy, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. "No comments on the hair." The two of them chuckled lightly, and went to sleep.
The next morning, Fang woke to the sound of Max banging on the guy's bedroom door.
"Hey sleepyheads! Wake UP! It's morning!" Yay. Morning. Max. Torture. I'm putting those words all in one group. Little did Fang know that was exactly the same thing Max was thinking.
I won't be able to face him this morning. How's this going to look to the Flock? Maximum Ride, pushing her own brother/wannabie boyfriend away just because she can't figure out her own feelings! Good job Max!
Fang got up first, walked into the one bathroom, closed and locked the door. He leaned over and stripped himself of his nightclothes, which were appropriately black T-shirt and black sweatpants, and boxers, which were also kind of funny seeing as they had "Maximum Ride! Can she save the World?" written on them. He looked at his reflection in the mirror that was just above the sink. What's wrong with me? I look fine, I think. My breath didn't smell. I brushed my teeth like, five times last night before I kissed her. Maybe it's just my personality. Well, worrying about it now won't help me. He climbed into the shower, setting the water on full spray, ¾ of the maximum heat. Oh wow, wrong combination. "Maximum" and "heat"? Wow, maybe I shouldn't have taken this shower after all. He hadn't realized how tense he was until the shower reached the right heat setting and his muscles relaxed. Screw the word combinations, I really need this. After what he figured to be around 15 minutes, he climbed out of the shower and dried his hair out with a towel, afterward tying it around his waist, and walked into the room, where he found an unexpected sight.
The room was empty of people except for Max. She, currently, was rooting through Fang's stuff, which wasn't a lot. "Can I help you?" he asked kindly.
"WHA???? Oh! Oh! Oh. It's…..you." Her eyes darted nervously around the room, finally landing on him, but not looking him in his eyes. She looked him up and down once, twice, three times before she blushed crimson and said, "I was, uh, um, looking for something?" she said timidly, pulling at her hair.
"Yeah. Two things. One, that was pretty obvious, you looking for something. Two, why are you looking for something in my stuff? I didn't steal anything that you might have had standing on your dresser on the right hand side sitting next to a bottle of pink stuff I don't even want to know what it is." Not yet anyway, he amended. She looked at him skeptically, then said "I'm not telling you. Good luck with that." She then walked out the door with her head held high. I handled that pretty well!, she thought, whilst Fang watched her leave with both eyebrows raised as high as they would go.
"Ooooooooo-kay then." He turned around and closed the door, then bent over his stuff and put a black shirt on over his wings. I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank GOD Anne put those slits in there. Then he put on black jeans and a black jacket on, the jacket also having slits. I really need a new color, he thought, then walked out the door to where the Flock was waiting, Nudge and Angel talking about Total who was walking around their feet, looking nervous. Gazzy and Iggy were talking about God-knows-what, and Fang's-glad-he-doesn't-know. Max was talking heatedly to her mom, who said "Fang" and "you" and "together" several times, occasionally throwing glances at him. So that left Jeb. The person he really didn't want to talk to. The person who looked distracted, like he was talking to himself in his head.
Finally, Dr. Martinez said, "Who wants to go to iHop?!" Weirdly, everything got really quiet, and then everyone said "MEEEEEEEE!". So that started the morning off.