Nudge POV

Iggy and I had found a coffee shop below. I wasn't sure what is was called because the snow was too thick to be able to read the sign. I recognized someone as soon as I came in. Usually that wasn't a good sign. But this person didn't have a bad feeling to her. In fact I think even Max had liked her once. Wait, was her name JJ from Virginia? What the heck was she doing here, working in a coffee shop in like a thousand miles away from Virginia? Well it beat me, I had no idea.

"JJ?" I asked, making my way to the front counter.

"Oh, hey… Max's little sis?" She said, vaguely remembering me.

"Yup, that's me." I said.

"Oh yeah, Max used to always talk about how you'd never shut up, it's Nudge right?"

"Uh huh." I said. Max used to talk about how I never shut up? Well, true enough.

"And Jeff!" She said. Her eyes brightened when she saw Iggy standing behind me, his hand on my hood, to keep track of where I was. I felt a bit envious, especially since they were closer in age than Iggy and I. "I'm glad to see that you're back with your family. Max was so worried about you that she was almost crying, and you'd know that Max like never cries."

Iggy gave a slight chuckle. "Max almost cried?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, she really missed you." I said. I was just getting revenge for her saying that I never shut up.

"Do you guys want some coco or something, I can make some for you guys for free." She offered.

"No, we're-

Iggy clamped his hand down on my mouth. I inwardly groaned. Would he ever stop doing that? The answer was most likely no.

"That would be great actually." Iggy told her. I was totally fine with it. But it might cost her money to give us the coco for free, that's the only reason I was against it though.

"Okay, you guys just take a seat at one of our tables." She said. "And I'll have it ready in five or ten minutes, alright?"

I nodded and walked over to a two person booth, still aware that Iggy had a hold of my hood. He slid in to the other side, figuring out what his surroundings was within like two seconds.

"So…" he said, trying to think of something to say. "Is this like our first date?"

"Well," I said. "I don't know. Are you always going to flirt with other girls on dates?" I asked.

"Excuse me?" He said, even though I knew he'd heard me clearly.

"You know exactly what I said." I snapped.

"Okay, okay, sorry. I'm just used to doing that." He told me.

"Tell me something that I don't know." I muttered.

He groaned. "Well, we both need to work on things." He admitted.

Guess what he meant for me? I need to learn how to shut up, yeah, yeah I know.

"Sounds like you guys are at the awkward stage." JJ said.

Iggy turned tomato red. "Yeah something like that." He replied.

"What about Fang and Max?" She asked.

"What about them?" I asked.

"Did they finally start dating? I saw Fang glaring at Sam the day after his and Max's date. Well, at least I think he was glaring at Sam, you can never really tell what Fang's facial expression is. But I guess you guys have him a lot more figured out since you've known him your whole life." He said.

"Ha." I said. "Well first of all, Max will probably never admit her feelings to Fang and Fang's not going to do it again. Second, it took me three years to figure out what his look was when he was dangerously annoyed." I explained.

"Oh." She said. "So they definitely have feelings for each other?"

"That's kind of obvious, I mean they can have a whole conversation without even speaking. Just hand gestures and looks." I explained.

"They just won't freaking admit it though." Added Iggy.

"Don't you just love teenage relationships?" She asked sarcastically.

"Oh, yeah, they're the best." I retorted.

"except you're not a teenager yet." Iggy commented.

"Shut up!" I snapped.

"Yup, I see you guys are really working out well." She joked.

"Uh huh." I said.

"Here you go guys." She said setting the mugs on the table. "And don't worry about paying. I just got some Swiss hot chocolate. And a packet only costs about like 25 cents."

I picked it up with both my hands and sipped at it. I held back a yelp, realizing how hot it was as soon as it touched my tongue. Iggy nudged me with his leg under the table. He was giving me a questioning look, trying to figure out whether or not I was okay. I kicked him back, maybe a little bit too hard. I felt bad because I really hadn't meant to.

He nodded as if to say message received. Oops I thought to myself.

"So what are you guys doing here?" She asked.

"Um… we're on a family vacation. Our parents got back from the missionary trip thingy." Okay, so the missionary story was bull, but we were technically on a family vacation. We had been for the past what? Six Seven months?

"Oh, how'd you guys get here?" She asked waving around at the coffee shop.

"We went for a walk and then we got lost then it started snowing." I said, Iggy nodded.

I felt something vibrating in my pocket, my phone. Oh, my gosh. I could've totally used it all along and I'd totally forgotten about it.

I looked at the caller ID. It was Fang? Since when did he call me.

"Hello?"

"Nudge, you and Iggy hurry up and get over here. The hotel's on 934 16th Street." It was Fang, actually speaking in full sentences.

"Why?" I asked. "Did something happen?"

"I'm not 100% sure, but I think Ella's dead." He said, his voice flat on the other line.

"But she was fine a few hours ago, no, that can't be true." I protested.

I hung up, not wanting to hear anymore. I was sick of people in my life dying all the time. Now, Max's sister was dead.

"What's wrong?" Iggy asked.

"Um, Ella's…d-

He shook his head. He knew what I was going to say. He was kind of in a trance now.

As quietly as I could, I slid out of the booth and walked over to the hallway where the bathrooms were. Instead of going into the bathroom I just leaned against the wall and slid down until I was sitting, my hands covering my face.

No, this just couldn't be true.