Gazzy didn't intend on laying in bed all day, it just kind of happened. For one, it was too hot to do anything outside except for swim and Skua claimed the pool that day. He could have gone to the beach, but that would have meant flying under the scorching hot sun and getting burnt to a crisp. Eventually, he just cranked up the air conditioning and flung himself onto the bed while wearing nothing but Superman boxers.
He kept thinking back to the scenario with Max earlier. She was so sure that he had done something with the woman that she wasn't willing to listen to reason. Gazzy tried to explain that she was Angel's friend and that he had nothing to do with her being in the house. He was sure Angel was just having a sleep over or something- girls did that kind of stuff, right?
What drove him crazy was the fact that Nudge believed Max. Worse- she encouraged Gazzy by saying it was 'normal' and that he was 'old enough'. Both things were true, but Nudge was missing one very key point. He was in love with her and he wasn't willing to waste that on some chick he met at a club. Gazzy sat upright and looked across from him into a full length mirror that hung, cracked, inside of his opened closet.
He studied himself for a second. He had never before worried about his appearance, but he wondered if he should. His hair would get kind of curly if he let it get to long, so he tried to fade it up and comb the long hair on the top of his head back. It was a pretty shade of gold, unless he went a few days without showering, in which case it took a rosy tinge.
He was tan, too. Girls liked tan, right? Nice hair and tan, so Gazzy scored himself twenty points out of a possible twenty.
He also had what Nudge described as 'washboard' abs. Fang had a nice six pack, but Gazzy let himself be cocky about the fact that he had an eight pack accompanied by thick and muscular arms and legs. He added another twenty points to his score sheet, leaving him at forty out of forty.
As for his eyes, well, they were blue and his eyelashes were long and dark, but they weren't glittery or special. He awarded himself five out of ten points. He gave himself fifty additional points when he remembered the size of his penis, which left him with a whooping ninety-five out of one-hundred.
He was almost a perfect score. Any woman would want him.
So why didn't she?"
Gazzy pulled on a pair of jeans and scurried down the step to find- and hopefully confront Nudge. He thought about what he was going to say while he walked. What could he say? Oh god, what if she judged him, or made fun of him or- What if she just didn't say anything? Nudge never said anything. That would be awful, Gazzy decided. He would have to phrase his feelings in a way that she would be likely to respond to.
Nudge, we've been like family forever and but I've never thought of you that way- No, that would be untrue. He had thought of her as family, just not like a sister or anything gross like that.
Nudge, you're hot, I'm hot, let's be hot together True, but not a good enough reason for Nudge to drop what she was doing and fly into the sun set with him. He needed to say something spectacular that would sweep her off of her feet.
"Nudge I-" Gazzy stopped when he entered the kitchen and stared at a skinny white hippie who was sitting on the barstool by the island counter, "Who're you?"
He studied the guy, long bleached blonde hair that was turning a dingy shade of brown and huge pores brought on by too much time in the sun (Maybe four points out of twenty?) and he didn't have any abs or anything. He kind of had a beer gut, but he was also skinny. Not hot.
Gazzy selflessly let him have ten out of forty points, and that was only because he had wicked tattoos up and down his arms. His eyes were pretty, kind of a shinny pebble gray. He let him have ten points for that. He didn't pretend to know the man's dick size and even though he was curious, he didn't ask. He let him score twenty-four out of fifty.
Not a good score.
"Who're you?" Gazzy asked the man.
"Oh, uh, I'm Micah. I live in town. I was gonna take your sister to the beach."
"You mean Angel?"
"Nah... Monique."
"Oh, Nudge." Gazzy clapped his hands together, "That sounds great, so, when are we leaving?"
Fang pulled open the refrigerator which caused Micah to jump into the air in surprise. He obviously wasn't used to Fang's sneaking around, whereas Gazzy had made an invisible shield around him pertaining to what could scare him, "What's going on?"
"We're all going to the beach." Gazzy told Fang.
"Oh cool. I'll get the kids and wake up Angel-" Fang paused, "Do you mind if I invite my sister? I feel like I should get to know her."
"Totally. The more the merrier!" The Gasman put a strong, threatening hand on Micah's shoulder, "So are we taking your car or what?"
"I can't believe you made Micah drive with Angel and the kids." Nudge buried her head in her hand as she pushed open the car door, "I've never been so embarrassed in all my life."
"What's the big deal. Your friend should learn to get along with your family. After all, a friend of yours is a friend of mine, or else he's no friend at all. Nothing. Just gone. Y'know?"
Fang quirked an eyebrow at Gazzy before lugging the cooler onto his back and making his way towards the sand. The shorter woman he had come to know as his sister followed in toe. She was a pretty girl who had been decorated with dark hair and green eyes at birth. She was muscular, which wasn't too surprising after Fang had learned about how she had competed in martial arts and gymnastics tournaments until a year ago after she broke her leg. She still took classes, but her national rankings had plummeted to far to revive.
"So, Luca," Fang brushed a strand of hair behind his ear and looked towards the ocean, "Where'd you get that tattoo done?"
Oddly enough, the most distracting thing about the girl was not her long raven colored curls, cat-like eyes or muscular body. Rather, it was the tribal tattoo sleeve that reached from her left wrist to her chest, shoulder and back.
"I knew a guy." The girl replied coolly, "Why? You want one?"
Fang could feel himself shudder at the thought, "No, I'm good. So, uh, are you in school right now?" He asked as the two began shuffling through the sand.
"Yeah. I just finished my second year in college."
Fang dropped the cooler on a cool spot of sand and sank down onto it, "I kind of wished I had gone to college, but first I was experimented on and then I was chased, and then I fell in love and had a kid- you know how the old story goes."
Luca chuckled and sat next to him, "Yeah, dad told me about that. Word to the wise, by the way, learn Italian. Family reunions will be such a pain if you don't know it. Skye should probably learn to."
"Man, so you already know all about me? I might seem dull now."
"A secret brother can never be uninteresting." Luca elbowed his knee and grinned, "I'm sure there's lots of stuff I don't know about you."
"I know this must all seem strange, but I really hope I can learn more about you. Maybe we can do stuff that real siblings do." He looked over to Angel and Gazzy who were, unbeknownst to them, plotting how to get Nudge away from Micah.
"Of course." Luca assured, "If you have any questions, just ask."
"Well, I have one... but I don't want to seem rude by asking."
"Don't worry about it."
"You have... puncture marks all over your right arm and scars from them under your tattoo. You're not some kind of drug addict, are you?"
"No, it's nothing like that." Luca assured him, "It's... kind of a long story. I'll tell you some other time."
Fang nodded in agreement, "One more question and then I'll leave you alone," Fang turned his body towards her, "What were you doing in our house yesterday?"
"I suppose I should explain that one." Luca cleared her throat, "Honestly, it was coincidence, but I ran into the two blondies at a club and we all just kind of hung out all night. I fell asleep while talking to Angel. I swear that's all that happened."
"You... talked to Angel?" Fang questioned, "My Angel?"
"Yeah. She's pretty interesting." Luca admitted.
Fang fell backwards onto the sand and let the sun rain over him for a moment, "Wow. Maybe you two will end up being really good friends."
Luca shrugged her shoulders, "Something like that."