AN: So this is my one-shot drabble. I know that I didn't post this month's one shot drabble collection update, but that was because I got super invested in it, aand it turned into this really long story. SO enjoy and apologies if the characters are a little OOC.
And just as an interesting thing: if you guys like this one-shot a lot/review a lot it might become a two-shot or short story thing. It really depends on you guys as readers! So R&R guys! 3
~Alice :)
Today was one of those it's-so-happy-I–could-barf-up-rainbows days. (Read: h-e-double hockey sticks on Earth.) Well, to say that again, it was a great day for rest of the flock. It started when I went down stairs looking Mr. Dark and Quiet, and I bump in to Nudge. "Hi, Max! Fang says that he's out today, so he said to tell you that you shouldn't worry and then he told me to-". At first I thought she had stopped breathing or something, but it turned out, she had shut her adorable trap all by herself! Nudge just stopped, by herself! I mean, come on, we are talking about little miss motor mouth! No hand slapped over her mouth or a kiss from Iggy (I need to have a little "chat" with him. Keeping Nudge quiet is not an excuse to make out in front of the entire flock), no sir! This was 150% herself.
Speaking of which, where is Fang, as in the guy who has really dark wings, and clothes? My boyfriend, who decides to kiss me at times and at others simply piss me off to no end? (Although he'll never admit it, and reader, don't think that anything sexual has happened. Because nothing has.) At this point I'm starting to think that either ITEX injected me with some weird drugs that are making me see things, or clones have invaded our humble little abode (wow, I'm using big girl words today). Fan flipping tastic, I'm rambling about random conspiracy theories at 8 AM in the morning. Nudge seemed to clam up whenever I mentioned him at the breakfast table. Something's going on here. Angel, what is Nudge thinking about? And my little baby, who usually gives me a sweet smile before gushing all about everyone's little secrets, simply giggles and thinks back It's not nice to read other people's minds, Max. I sigh, come on Angel! I'll give you extra cookies later when mom comes over. All she does is shake her head and skip away. Little devil-angel.
"What's with that face, Maxy-poo?" Of course I recognize the annoying drawl of the ginger that can't see me.
"Gazzy, I swear, if you imitate one more voice in the next 24-hours, all your bombs and candy are taking a nice trip to the nearest incinerator." Did I mention that not long ago I discovered (a miracle!) an incinerator? I know that its usually for all that trash that people see to throw away, but hey, they won't ever notice me dropping random crap when I'm flying.
Gazzy gives me this horrified look before rushing towards his room and locking the door. That should keep him quiet until noon. Unless he conveniently decides to blow something up. Then of course, we're all kind of screwed. I think that this might be the…seventh (…?) house we went through. The amount of explosives that are probably hidden in our house and yard that comes from our yard probably rivals the entire bomb content of a small country. But Mom and Jeb learned their lessons after the third house, so now we live on remote properties with large vast swaths of land that could be…accidentally blown up without too many consequences (aka. a phone call from the cops. We tended to get those…frequently. Of course Angel's brainwashing powers were amazingly useful whenever we visited the police station).
Which brings me back to the problem at hand. Fang. Knowing my amazing little flock of super hungry bird kids and I, we need as much food in the house as possible. But of course, we were running low on rations (read: feasts), so Fang volunteered to be Mr. Bright and Early, like he usually is, and pick up some goods after his morning flight. Given that we lived a good ten-minute flight away (for the town's safety) we usually made grocery runs every few days. And trust me, all the cashiers knew us very well (and younger girls were always giving Fang elevator eyes, which pissed me off to no end).
So that eliminated to possibility of him being lost. I mean sure the bags are heavy but it shouldn't take him more than two hours to fly there get some food and come back! What if he got hit by a commercial airplane or shot down by erasers? What if ITEX had secretly been stalking us this entire time and would take advantage of the fact that Fang was gone to attack? What would happen then? Was the house safe enough? Were there enough back up measures? If I set the house on fire after trapping the ITEX baddies in here, would it explode? If it did, where would we move next?
I'm practically burning a hole in the floor with my pacing, it's been about six hours, I'm starving and to make things worse the younger kids are all playing outside, making this freaking house way to flipping quiet. You can see why I would be the teensiest nervous, right? And cue dramatic music, because at that moment, the doorbell rang. It might be ITEX, or an Eraser, or an evil scientist. To be safe, got a knife from the kitchen apologizing to Fang for breaking my promise of not touching anything from the kitchen, and hid it behind my back. Then putting on my best everything-is-fine-and-I-am-not-thinking-about-killing-anything-or-injuring-anything look, I opened the door. "Hi, how can I help you?"
The first thing I see: a shady figure holding a really bulking bag that looks like a bomb. My knee-jerk reaction: kicking the thing the h-e-double-hockey-sticks away from the house and then whipping my knife out like a badass. And the first thing I hear is, "Hey Max, mind telling me why the sharp side is facing you?"
"Fang! Where the hell have you been? Do you know what I've been thinking this past hour alone!"
"That ITEX was going to invade and that I was killed in the process?" He said nonchalantly. "Yeah, I figured you would freak out." As he walked into the kitchen with the large amount of food (thank goodness) that he had managed to pick up while I was busy being angry (being angry is a fulltime job. Trust me.) He added dryly, "Although I didn't expect it to be so bad that you were considering killing yourself. And on that subject, what did I tell you about the kitchen?"
"Fine. Sorry I freaked out Fang. And no, I was not trying to kill myself." There, everything is all fine and dandy.
"Ok," he said quietly, suddenly appearing right behind me. I choose not to start the stop-doing-that-what-breathing-argument. I have lost that one so many times, I refuse to keep track at this point. (Also because I suck at math, but that's not the important thing here.) "But you still broke your promise."
"Only because someone decided to stay out for six hours!"
He only chuckled, walking down the hall. "Ok, Max. I'll just leave it there."
"Where the hell were you?" I hissed as I followed after him.
"Nothing that you need to know," he said. I learned this after a long time of dating Fang, but his jaw will clench when he's trying to hide something.
"What are you hiding, Fnick?" I taunted, purposely calling him by his annoying nickname.
He sighed in annoyance before replying, "Nothing. Just some dinner plans for you and me…tonight. That was all he said before quickly pecking me on the lips and closing the door to his lair. A few seconds he opened the door and threw a box outside, which conveniently landed right in front of me. "Oh yeah, you might want to wear this, Fmax."
He got me a dress. A freaking DRESS. What part of 'I don't wear dresses' does he not understand? First he goes out planning a dinner date and forgets to tell me, and now he's telling me to wear a dress. Although I do have to admit, if I wasn't pissed at him, I might have actually thanked him. The dress is pretty nice. It's a sleeveless dark purple with a poufy skirt that ends a little above the knees. The whole thing has a lace overlay (fashion vocab from Nudge, wow). I am so going to kill him later.
But I am Max, the most tom boyishly fashion challenged girl of the flock! And the only two that I could trust to give me decent advice were unfortunately…Angel and Nudge. Who were probably going to give me the extreme make over of my dreams…and cake my face with make up and torture me with things called curlers and mani-pedis and all horrors of beautification. I didn't really have a choice. By myself, I would never think to clean myself up on a date. But this was Fang we were talking about. He was pretty hot, and if I didn't dress up, I would look like a homeless child next to him, leaving all the annoying little Lisa's and Bridgett's in the world to drool over him. So not happening. I'm going to suck it up and dress to intimidate anyone who's going to give him any look tonight. Ha. Take that, Fangirls!
After hours of tedious make up applying, nail painting and other things that my traumatized mind had blocked out in order to preserve my sanity, I was almost ready. I had just finished zipping up my dress, and I had to admit, I was looking good. The wedge sneakers were great, super schmancy and easy to run in. What else could a paranoid bird kid ask for? Just as I was about to leave, Angel and Nudge shrieked, "Wait!" I turned around, giving them my what-is-it trademark glare.
"We still have to style your hair, and pick out your jewelry!" Sigh. What I would do for a really nice pair of jeans right about now. But I sat back down on the bed, and I waited for them to finish messing with my already glossy and beautiful hair. Angel was twisting it and then Nudge pinned it to the side. They gave each other satisfied grins before turning around and rummaging through their massive collection of thingy-ma-bobs and shiny things.
"Here! Put these on!" Nudge squealed. "Hurry, hurry! You only have five more minutes." Well, if you put it that way, Nudge. I slipped on the black tinted metal bangles on my right hand and a small silver chain anklet on my left leg, and finally added a black cord necklace with a silver four-leaf clover charm.
"Am I good to go, girls? I asked." After a few oohs and aahs, commemorative photos and hi-fives, they nodded, and I got the hell out of there as fast as I could and bumped straight into Fang. Who did a double take, and stared at me, with his jaw on the floor (hahahaha…not literally, but close). Wiping the shocked look off of his face, he managed to say, "Wow Max, you look, ravishingly beautiful today."
I could just feel the heat coming off of my face, but I kept my cool. A girl has to stand her ground, especially when her boyfriend is the second most sarcastic member of the flock. (I am obviously the first.) "Gee, thanks Fang. I must say you look ravishingly handsome tonight as well." My reward, a small smirk from Fang.
"Come on, it's a bit of a flight from here," he said as he tugged at my arm.
I looked back at the house. Call me paranoid or crazy, but I can never, ever trust Iggy to look after the house for more that a couple hours at a time. And only after I've given him my extra special warning about not blowing up anything. "IGGY, IF THE HOUSE IS IN FLAMES WHEN I GET BACK, I WILL PERSONALLY SEND YOU TO JOIN IT IN HELL! AND IF I FIND OUT THAT YOU HAVE SCARRED THE OTHERS BECAUSE YOU DECIDED TO MAKE OUT WITH NUDGE, THEN I WILL BRING YOU BACK TO LIFE TO PERSONALLY TORTURE YOU! YOU GOT THAT?"
"Sure thing, Max!" came the fearful reply of my favorite blind guy. Don't you just love scaring the ever-living daylights out of people?
Turning back to Fang, I gave him a grin, "Ok, we are good to go." Just as I was about to take off, he placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked at him questioningly.
His only answer was, "It's a surprise."
"Can I open my eyes yet?" I asked for the billionth time. Somehow Fang had convinced me to a) let him carry me and b) agree to close my eyes until we reached our dinner date. At first I was like 'oh hell no'. But of course he chose that time to take advantage of the fact that I become totally unaware of anything else when he kisses me. The next thing I knew, we were flying. So I didn't whine or complain. I simply let him enjoy his surprise for me. I mean deep down, I knew that he loved whenever he could surprise me with little gifts, like the time he gave me the necklace I'm wearing, or the time when I felt like I was going to die because I had the worst period cramps ever and he spent the entire day acting like my human heating pad by massaging my stomach with his warm hands, or another million things. Did I want him to stop buying me stuff? Yes. Did I want him to stop with the little deeds he did for me? No. So I just let him have his fun and decided to be happy that he loved me this much.
"Max, we're here." He said after a bit. I slowly opened my eyes. What the heck!
There was a clearing, with a small pond, decorated with floating lanterns and twinkle lights hanging from trees. There was a small picnic blanket, with a cooler next to it, and I could smell delicious food from up here. "Fang…" I said quietly, not knowing what to say. This was definitely not what I expected. I was just expecting the usual go on a dinner date and a movie and come home, make out and then fall asleep together, usually with me lying on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. "I love it," I whispered, with a couple tears in my eyes. I was so glad that the girls had waterproof make up, because I was definitely going to need it tonight. "Why all of this? Why not just a simple restaurant?" I sniffed.
"Because I love you," he whispered back, before tenderly kissing me on the lips. Then he moved to my cheeks and my forehead, before tucking my head under his chin.
"Me too." That was how we stayed for a couple minutes, silent, unmoving, just listening to the wind and to each other.
Fang broke the silence. "Come on. I can't let the food Iggy made go to waste, can I?"
I grinned. "No, you most certainly cannot, Fang." Living with a should-be world-class chef had its perks.
Landing, we quickly staked out a nice view of the moon. Fang busted out some awesome Greek salad, cream of pumpkin soup (my favorite), steak, quiche, and to my intense delight, and chocolate-dipped strawberries.
We made small talk in between bites of heavenly yumminess. I told him about the hell of a day he had, and he told me about how hard it was to coerce Iggy into making the food.
Somehow, while eating, I ended up in his lap. Shifting so I could get comfortable I looked up at him. He had a worried expression on his face. "Is something wrong?" I asked.
"It's nothing," he replied, immediately masking his previous expression with a small smile. "I'm just thinking about how I'll probably never see you in a dress again," he sighed. He leaned back, pulling me with him so that my head lay on his shoulder.
"Shut up, Fang," I snorted.
"It's true though, isn't it," he countered, chuckling. "You'll probably throw it in the incinerator tomorrow morning."
"Hmmm…you know I was actually planning on saving this one."
"Oh really?"
"What? Can a girl not own a single dress? Is it illegal or something?"
"No, it just seems, so not-Max."
"Well, Fang, I'm going to keep it, just to spite you." I stuck out my tongue at him. I am so immature sometimes. But then again, I'm never truly serious, always 50 percent sarcasm 30 percent pissed and 20 percent everything else.
"I have one more surprise for you," he whispered in my ear.
"Where?" I asked, wondering what it was.
"Just face the pond and don't turn around," was all he said. Well I wasn't going to spoil the fun now, was I? Obediently, I turned around, waiting. I heard him looking around for something, and I heard the grass brush against his feet as he walked towards me.
"You can turn around now." Immediately, I spun around, happy that I could finally figure out what he was hiding, hopefully a chocolate cake or something else sweet.
How wrong I was.
I saw Fang getting down on one knee. Firmly grasping my hand in his, he began to speak. "Max, I know you probably weren't expecting this, and you might be really pissed at me, but just hear me out. We've only been together for two of the nineteen years we've been alive. But those two years have convinced me that I will never find another person who can be my equal in anyway. You're a fighter, a mom and a wonderful sister to the rest of the flock, but to me, you will always be Max." When I finally registered what this whole speech was about, I started to tear up, I gasped and placed my other hand over my mouth.
"Hey Max, don't cry. I want this to be the last time you think I'll leave, the last time you doubt us. I want you to be happy, but most of all I want you. I could go on about all this cheesy crap, but I won't." At this point, I can feel the faint trickle tears running down my face, and I started to tremble a little at effort of trying not to full out sob right now. "Maximum Ride, will you do me the honor, of becoming my wife?"
I couldn't see straight, and I heard myself breathing heavily. But at the same time, I was probably smiling like an idiot. "Yes, you idiot! Of course I'll marry you!" I laugh as I throw myself at him. Catching me, he held me tightly to his chest, spinning me around as he kissed my lips with all the energy he had.
When he finally put me down, I noticed that he hadn't presented me with a certain something. "Aw, Fnick, were you too poor to buy me a ring?" I teased.
"I don't think we're that poor, Fmax." He brought out a small box from his pocket, and gave it to me. I struggled for a few minutes, wondering how to get the damn thing to open before he sighed and decided to do the honors (preferably before my mind exploded from the complicated-ness of the box). "So, what do you think?" he asked when he saw my gaping mouth. "Is it good enough?"
I was speechless. It wasn't glitzy or anything, it was a simple silver band, but the middle of the ring was the killer. There was a small sapphire with tiny metal wings just sticking out from underneath. "It's perfect…but mind telling me where the heck you managed to find enough money for this?" Hey. Iggy, Fang and I all work so that we can buy enough food. Food and food only, and occasionally we save enough for a dinner date. But a legit sapphire and ring are waaayyy out of the question.
"Don't tell Jeb, but I managed to hack his bank account. So it's a victory for us." It's not like I'm still mad at Jeb for doing what he did, but that doesn't mean I can't give him hell now. "Can I put it on now?" he asked. I nodded. Smiling, he slipped the ring on my right hand. "Phew, I got the size right," he sighed in relief.
"Yeah right," I said, rolling my eyes, "you probably measured my finger while I was sleeping." He looked away guiltily, admitting that he had. Oh well, it was just one of the sweet ways he gave me attention.
I think we must have stood there for a long time just staring at the ring on my finger. I think it was getting late or something, because I suddenly let out this big yawn. "Someone missed their bed time," Fang chuckled. "C'mon, we're camping out tonight. Let's clean up so we can get some shut-eye."
It turns out that he had brought a massive pile of pillows and five quilts and another five blankets. Somehow he had managed to stash them in this awesome cave right next to the clearing. It was underground, but the entrance faced the sky. After cleaning up we headed to the lair of soft comfort and jumped in. It had an amazing view of the stars. I was leaning on his chest and he was running a hand through my hair. Occasionally I would lean up to kiss him, and we would slowly brush lips until we felt satisfied.
Just as I was about to fall asleep, he asked, "Does this mean I'll get to see you in a dress again?"
I snorted. "Just for our wedding, Fang."
"Hey, I want one for the honeymoon too."
"You're such a perv, Fang."
"Hey, a guy can only ask for so much."
"Whatever, perv. Night."
"Love you too, Max."
AN: So that's it for this month. Will post again at the end of May. Cya! Please Read and Reivew! I would loooove your feedback on this piece. ;)