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Max's pov...
I storm onto the cliff and see the flock wide awake. "Where'd you two go?" Gazzy asks suspiciously.
"No where." I snap.
I hear Gazzy grumble, "Well somebody woke up on the wrong wing." (Prolly doesn't sound right but who cares? Lol)
I'm sure Fang is right behind me. Turning into the shadow at my shoulder like he used too. I just wish it would feel the same as it did. Even though I know it won't.
"Went out for a night fly?" Angel asks.
"And I got an uninvited guest that followed along." I mutter.
Angel eyes both of us. No telling what's going on in that mind of hers. I start feeling uncomfortable under her scrutinizing stare and shift. Fang does the same behind me.
"Would you cut that out?"
"What?" She asks in that innocent way of hers.
"Staring. You're looking at me like a thanksgiving turkey that you're trying to decide how to stuff. Stop it."
"Are we going back to Dr. Martinez's?" Nudge comes up beside me, standinga head taller than me.
"Yes," I say, my tone still holding an agitated edge. "We should be leaving as soon as possible."
I start walking back towardsthe cliff edge, Fang still following. "What do you want from me Fang?" I say sounding tired in my own ears. I don't bother turning around to see the blank expression that I know is on his face.
"I don't want anything from you." I feel him come closer and I go stiff. I can't help it sometimes when I do things, I just react with out thinking. I go super stiff, barely breathing. He moves to my side. I see his hand twitch beside mine, maybe
itching to hold it like mine is itching to hold his.
"We're ready!" I hear Iggy call out. But it sounds like he's speaking through a pillow or something. For some reason I zone in on our hands. Then Fang's eyes. Then...
Gazzy runs in between us knocking me down while Fang stumbles. I fall with an'oof!'. I glare at Gazzy who is flying in circles in the sky. Fang is suddenly in front of me reaching his hand down. I don't even ignore it and get up on my own like
/I'd normally do, I surprise myself and grab his hand in my own. He pulls me up and quickly lets go. He starts walking the opposite way and I watch him flexthe fingers on his hand that I just held.
I puzzle over that and then get the rest of the flock ready to fly back home.
"Fang!" I call out. "We're leaving!" I wait for a few seconds until I see his dark form appear from behind a boulder. I watch him as I unfold my wings then shoot into the air, eager to get home where something is normal.
After hours of flying consumed in my thoughts but very aware of Fang beside me, I see we're close to home. I think of mom and Ella waiting on us and I smile.
"What're you thinking about?" Fang says from beside me. I immediately drop the smile and feel the wall come up that I've made. I don't mean to do it and I certainly don't want to but it just happens. After someone has hurt me a wall comes up, andFang
hurt me... very badly.
"Home." I say bluntly.
He must get the strange idea that I don't feel like talking to him and he shuts up. He flies a little closer to me to where the tips of our feathers almost touch. Black skimming over tan. Fang must have been trying to do this discreetly. I don't pointout
that I noticed because I see his dark eyes flit down, meeting my own, and I quickly avert my gaze.
I must admit, after twenty years of not seeing his wings, I forgot how gorgeous they are. The afternoon sun shines down on them, making them look a blackish-purple. I find myself fighting the urge to rub one of his silken feathers between my indexfinger
and thumb. The idea startles me.
I finally see the collection of houses that means we're home. I sigh. I can't wait to put on my pajamas and curl up in my bed to sleep. I lost hours of sleep last night and I can feel it weighing my eyes down.
We finally land in the driveway and Ella bursts through the front door and shouts Iggy's name. He follows her voice and of course they embrace and kiss. I look behind me at Fang and see him watching them, taking in the scene before him. Then his eyesfind
my own and I can't look away. What is going on in that head of yours?I find myself thinking.
"Fang!" My mom shouts from the front door, making Fang and I break our stare. "I was wondering if that was you behind my Max!" She starts walking towards us. "You've gotten taller! And even more handsome if I do say so myself." She makes Fang blushbecause
if the motherly ways she's making a big deal about him. You know what I mean. The whole "You've gotten taller!" And the whole even more handsome thing she said. (Which I agree with. Not that I'll tell anyone.)
She ushers us to the house asking Fang a bunch of questions that I know are driving him insane.
Iggy and Ella are on the couch when we walk in. She's sitting practically on his lap with her head on his shoulder and he's got his arm around her. They look like they're about to kiss which makes me really uncomfortable. "Hey! No PDA for crying outloud!"
They kinda scramble up from the couch at the irritating way my voice sounds.
They both blush furiously even though they're married. "We didn't realize you all walked in." Ella says sheepishly. I fan my hand in a doesn't-matter way.
I look around for mom and see she's coming out of the guest bedroom. It was Fang's initially but got turned into the guest bedroom after a few years. I would lay on his bed and cry which sounds really overdramatic now that he's here again. She tellshim
it's his again and he just nods.
Eventually everyone makes their way to their own rooms and it's just momand I up.
"So..." she begins and I know where she's headed. "Are you okay?"
I kinda ignore her at first then give in. I need to talk it out before I burst. "It's weird having him back." We wait a few more minutes and I get thefeeling sheknows I have more to say. She waits on me for a while sipping from her mug.
"He tried to kiss me..."
She doesn't react like I thought she would- spewing her coffee out of her mouth, eyes wide and blurting out questions. Instead she just primly sets her mug down and fold her hands on the table. "Well he must've missed you very much."
I don't know how to answer her and I know what she may be fixing to ask. "He still loves you Max." I stay quiet and feel tears threaten. "The question is," she says quietly. "Do you love him?"
I struggle for a few seconds. There is no doubt about it in my heart that I love him. I don't think I've ever told her that I love him and I know it may realese the tight hold it has on my heart to say the words. Two simple words-
I whisper them, barely audible. "I do."
Sorry it's been a while since I've posted on this story, so I did a longer chapter.