Max POV
The next morning I was terrified to leave my room. I knew that what Alex had said was most likely true but I couldn't bring myself to do it.
I heard a knock on the door and decided I couldn't hide any longer. I sighed, got out of bed, and opened the door.
Nudge stood there smiling. "Mom made breakfast."
I smiled. "I'll be down in a minute."
Nudge smiled and left. I quickly changed my clothes and joined everyone downstairs. They were sitting around a large table and everyone was stuffing their face. I sat down next to Gazzy and Mom handed me a plate piled high with pancakes.
I dove on them instantly and tried to glance at Fang as little as possible. I noticed that Alex and Dax were sitting right next to each other and I felt silly for avoiding Fang.
I noticed that Angel looked annoyed and kept shooting Fang evil looks. I wondered what it was about but decided I would ask later.
Mom sat down next to me. "I want to apologize to all of you. That party got way out of hand."
Alex shook her head. "I disagree. I thought it was fun."
Mom laughed. "Well, regardless, I still feel bad about it."
Angel suddenly slammed down her fork and turned to Fang. "Will you stop thinking about you and Max?" She screamed and everyone in the room froze.
Alex still had her fork in the air, Iggy was looking in Angel's direction with a look of pure shock on his face, and my mother's hand was frozen in mid air from where she had been reaching for the syrup.
Fang didn't have any expression on his face but I knew his heart had stopped beating for a moment just the way mine had. Everything was so silent.
And then Alex started to laugh. Everyone turned to stare at her but she couldn't seem to stop. Then she pointed to everyone at the table. "The looks on your faces are fucking priceless right now."
Then my mom slowly turned to look at me. I tried my best to meet her eyes but that look. In one of the moments that I had glanced away from Mom to look at the people around the table I saw realization cross Iggy's face.
Iggy shot up from the table and grabbed his plate. "I'm done."
"Me, too." Mom, Fang, and I said at the same time.
Alex frowned at Mom. "You didn't even take a bite." She was still eating her food as if nothing had ever happened.
Mom shrugged. "I guess I'm just not hungry."
Alex shrugged. "I'll eat them."
Mom smiled tightly and handed Alex her plate. I didn't bother with clearing my plate and instead just got up and left the room.
I ran upstairs and planned to hide in my room for the next forty years. Fang caught my arm before I could reach my safe room. "Hey."
I turned to face him. "Hey."
"I'm sorry about that." Fang said with a look in his eyes that at any other moment would have made me kiss him. "I wasn't thinking."
I couldn't keep the smirk off my face. "Well, obviously you were."
Fang smiled and I could have sworn he almost blushed. I playfully punched his shoulder. "Don't worry about it."
Fang kissed me lightly on the cheek before going to his own room. I sighed as I closed my door behind me. I flopped down on my bed and fight the urge to cry because I didn't fully understand why I wanted to.
I heard a knock on the door and I quickly answered it. Mom smiled at me. "Can I come in?"
I nodded. "Of course."
She came in and leaned against my dresser. I sat down on the edge of my bed with my heart beating faster than usual. Mom smiled at me tightly. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"
I nodded.
"You know that you can trust me, don't you?"
"I do trust you, Mom."
She smiled at me. "I just wanted to make sure."
I nodded again as she walked out of the room.
What the fuck?
Alex POV
I finished breakfast and went up to see Max. I brought up a few left over pancakes with me. I knocked on her door before opening the door and just walking in.
She blinked at me and I smiled. "I couldn't help but notice that you didn't stay for breakfast."
She smiled slightly and took the plate. She ate hungrily and I stayed quiet until she was finished. She set the empty plate down on her dresser. "So how was your morning?"
I laughed. "To be honest when I woke up I didn't know where I was."
"That happens to me sometimes." She said with a smile.
I smirked at her. "I have to say I enjoyed breakfast though."
Max blushed. "That's not funny."
I shrugged. "Angel is the kind of girl you have to be careful with your thoughts around."
"Hey, I was careful." Max said defensively. "You only have practice because you have to hide yours around Dax anyways."
I thought about that. "True."
Max sighed and rubbed her hands across her eyes and down her cheeks. I realized with a start that I recognized that movement. I did it all the time when I was trying not to cry.
Max smiled at me tightly. "Thanks for the breakfast."
I knew she wanted me to leave but for some reason I sat down next to her. "Okay, Max, cut the shit. We both know you're trying not to cry."
Max stared at the floor for a while. "I don't even know why I want to cry so if you're sitting there waiting to hear an explanation, you are not going to get one."
I smiled. "I already know why. You're just embarrassed because Angel, Iggy, and your mom know. If I were to be honest I think Fang would have eventually told Iggy and Angel was a given to find out. Your mom knows you and Fang are together so I'm thinking she just needs some time to process things."
Max groaned. "I hate it when other people are right."
I laughed. "If we were to get technical, you would still be right because you are me in a strange way."
"Let's not get technical, it makes my head hurt." Max said with a real smile on her face.
I punched her playfully in the arm. "You'll be fine, kid."
Fang's POV
Iggy barged into my room. "Please tell me that Angel did not mean what I thought she meant."
I shrugged but then remembered Iggy couldn't see it. "She didn't mean what you thought she meant."
Iggy glared in my direction. "You're lying, aren't you?"
"Do you want me to tell you what you told me to tell you or not lie?" I asked as if it didn't matter to me.
Iggy's sightless eyes went as wide as the human eyes can possibly go without popping out of one's head. He controlled himself quickly and then got the look I knew meant he was going to tease me.
"Why were you thinking about that at breakfast?" He started laughing when I threw my pillow at him. "I mean, seriously, man, why?"
"Shut up, Ig, or I'm going to kill you."
Iggy continued to laugh. "It is so weird. I used to think you were the only one smart enough to control their thoughts around Angel but obviously . . ." He let his voice trail off into an unspoken burn.
"Do you want today to be your last day alive, Iggy?" I threatened.
Iggy smiled and then looked concerned. "You did wrap it before you tapped it, right?"
"Alright, that's it!" I jumped off my bed as Iggy burst out of the room laughing like a mad man.
Dax's POV
I ran into Fang as he was chasing Iggy out of his room. I made sure he was sturdy and he seemed to despise the gesture. "Sorry." I mumbled not really meaning it.
Fang only nodded. I cleared my throat and started to continue down the hall but Fang stopped me. "Can I talk to you?"
I nodded and followed his lead into the room. Fang closed the door behind me and waited a while before he spoke. "What happened a breakfast?"
"Yeah."
"You understand?"
"Yeah." I kept my answers the same way he kept his questions: short and half spoken.
Fang nodded slowly. "I don't have to . . ."
"Not at all." I said. I waited for more but when Fang didn't offer I raised an eyebrow. "Done?"
Fang smiled and opened the door. As I left I thought I heard him mumble something about not being too bad but I couldn't be for sure.
In only a minute, I learned Fang had slept with Max, he didn't want me making a pass at her, and I had assured him he didn't need to worry. It would've taken Alex and me several minutes to clarify all of that.
Maybe having a clone wasn't all bad.
