Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Maximum Ride. That's James Patterson's job. I don't own "Hotel California" either. If I did, that would be awesome. I love that song.

A/N: I'm really really really really sorry that I haven't been able to update and that this update sucks like royal hippogriff. I've been busy with school. And I've tried to continue writing but I'm getting writer's block lately and, once again, it sucks. Seriously. Thanks to everyone who put this story on alert and to those people who review. They really are appreciated.

Max POV

"Fang?"

The figure turned around and smiled at me.

There were many things wrong with that sentence. …smiled at me. Fang smiled at me. This is probably a dream, it's the only explanation.

Fang tore his gaze away from me and looked up to the sky.

I looked around me to find that we were back in New Jersey. Specifically, we were at the back yard of my lovely abode. It was already twilight and stars were slowly peaking out in the sky. Everything was being silhouetted by darkness that you could hardly see Fang because of his all-black get up. If he wasn't breathing, I probably would've thought he disappeared or something.

I stood beside him and stared at the stars too. "Beautiful, aren't they?" I asked him.

He dropped his gaze from the stars and stared at me. "Not as beautiful as you. They just don't have that gleam that I see in your eyes so very often." He said.

That was a lot of words. This is definitely a dream.

But even though, I've already realized it was all a dream. I still felt my cheeks heat up at his compliment. … And I've found myself wishing that I wouldn't wake up from this dream.

I mumbled a thanks.

He chuckled, before suddenly dropping to the ground and lying down on his back, hands behind his head. "Come, lie with me" said he, patting the grass beside him.

I hesitated before finally deciding that it won't hurt to do so. I mean, it WAS just a dream. Nothing bad would happen.

I lied down beside him and stared above. "You know," I started, his head turned to look at me slowly, "whenever I look at the stars this way… It makes me feel small. It makes me wonder how big the universe really is and how small we really are. Do you ever think that, Fang?"

I looked at him to find him just staring at me still with a smile. That's getting a bit freaky. "Are you sure you don't just feel small because me and Iggy are way taller than you?" he asked, teasing.

I let my hand lightly smack his stomach. He chuckled and turned so that he facing me, lying on his side in a fetus position. And he stayed in that position, staring at me.

"See something you like, Fang?" I asked him, tease clear by the sound of my voice. It was silent for a while before he said, "Actually, I do," he said movie closer to me. I tense.

I close my eyes, hoping to wake up from this impossible dream. I feel his two fingers gently touch my chin and turn my whole face so that I was facing him.

I kept my eyes closed knowing that if I opened them, I'd be hypnotized.

I couldn't see him, but I knew he was getting even closer to me. So close that I could feel his breath brushing against my skin.

"Fang…" I felt myself whisper, silently begging that he'd stop.

"Max…" The dream Fang said, almost in a mocking tone to mine.

I felt the world shake. It starts from mild but gets stronger as time passes. "Hey Maxie"

I feel my eyes slightly open but I close them again. A dream. A Stupid freaking dream. Argh. I felt my face scrunch up as I felt someone shake my shoulder.

My head hurts so bad. I do NOT have enough sleep.

Who the hell had the NERVE to wake me up when I haven't even had enough sleep? Stupid dream. Stupid Jetlag. Their fault for making me so cranky.

"Wake up. You're the only one who's not ready yet"

Oh Yippee. I thought as I recognized the voice. The one person who I don't have enough heart to kill.

… Fang.

"… no," I whispered, my eyes still closed.

"C'mon. It's almost noon. And it's bad to miss breakfast… Ok, brunch," I heard him say, as I felt his hand remove from my shoulder.

"… no," I replied.

"Wake up or else I'll pour cold water down your shirt."

I softly sighed, defeated. I knew very well that Fang was not bluffing. Mainly because he did actually do that once, just to wake me up.

Bastard.

I sat up.

"Fine. Give me 10 minutes" I mumbled.

10 minutes later, I've only finished taking a shower.

Don't blame me, I was half awake while showering. In fact, I almost used Gazzy's shampoo. Which won't be half bad. But I don't want to smell like a guy. I don't know, there's just something different about a guy's shampoo than a girl's.

I was wrapped only in a towel as I stepped outside, Finding Fang, waiting on the couch. My eyebrows furrowed and I clutched the towel tighter. I was now aware that it only conquered a quarter of my thighs. I didn't bother to wrap my hair in a towel, so it stuck to my shoulders, some of the ends still dripping, leaving droplets to slide down my skin.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

He could only stare at me, seeing my state. The Bastard was checking me out. And then he looked away and sighed. "I thought you were ready? You said 10 minutes."

"I was half asleep. I didn't know what I was saying," I said, in a DUH tone that would've made Nudge so proud. "Now if you're done interrogating and staring at me, I'd like to wear some clothes," I tell him, shooing him out of the room.

Only now did the effect of Fang's gaze earlier affect me. I felt hot all over and not in the way that I was sick. I rarely get sick… but that's not the point.

I turned up the AC a bit. Just to get rid of the heat.

I knew I was falling in love with Fang… but it had to stop. It had to stop right now before I did anything stupid to break us up.

…even though we were never together in the first place.

"Morning, Guys" I said as I strode into the room, immediately heading towards the food.

"Morning, Max" they all said, except for Fang who was busy typing away on his laptop. Nudge and Angel were chatting away laughing at something random that they said. Iggy and Gazzy were watching TV. I could hear Gazzy describing to Iggy what was going on on whatever they were watching. Fang glanced up on me as I walked over to the seats that were around the food cart.

They managed to leave me a good amount of food to eat. Whenever I woke up late, the food would usually be gone. I ended up being cranky and Iggy would always end up cooking for me.

Most of the food was cold but I didn't mind. It was my fault anyway, so I shouldn't really be complaining.

I bit into my toast and reached over for some bacon.

Suddenly, Iggy started clapping. I looked at him weirdly… Okay, no. Everyone looked at him weirdly. And yet again, I don't know how. But Iggy seemed to have realized that everyone was looking at him. He shrugged before saying, "I'm just proud of how Max isn't complaining in the morning like she usually does". I rolled my eyes and continued eating. "And no snappy comeback?" Iggy turned to face me. I sighed, "Just not into it this morning, Ig."

"The great Maximum Ride is in no mood to banter? Are you sure you're not a Max Clone?" He stands up from his seat and walks over to me, sitting across me. I chuckle and roll my eyes, "I think I'd know if I were a Max clone". He stayed silent for a while. As if choosing his next words. He was looking at me directly with his sightless eyes. Like he was studying me or something. If that was ever possible with him. He sighed before leaning back into his chair and giving me a smile. "Well, whatever is eating you up… I hope you figure it out." He said. "Thanks" I mumble to him.

These were the times that I loved Iggy. These were the moments in which I was really thankful for having him here by my side.

He reached over and grabbed a bacon from my plate.

… I take back everything I've said earlier.

"Seriously, Ig, seriously?" I ask him. "Hey, bacon is good. You said so yourself." He simply said chewing on the meaty goodness that was once mine. "I should've known that you weren't here just to comfort me. It's just never like that with you, is it?"

He only smiled at the statement continuing to chew and savor the flavor.

After a 40 minutes, we finally decided to leave.

It would've only been 10 minutes but Angel decided to change into some "better" clothes. It took her 30 minutes to finally decide that she was going to wear a white sundress paired with a pink cardigan that she covered with an off-white trench coat. I can't believe she's going out wearing that into the cold.

(a/n: Sorry if you guys are confused about the weather. I'm officially making it winter so discard anything I wrote that indicated it was summer.)

I told her she was going to regret it later on but she just rolled her eyes at me. … She learned from the best, what can I say?

Everyone was well covered up unlike Angel. I was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, a plaid black and red lumberman shirt, a black leather jacket, and some biker boots. Fang was wearing black jeans, a black shirt, he wore a black trench coat over it, and was comfortably sporting a pair of black high cut converse. Iggy was wearing a white long-sleeve shirt, with one of those puffy vests over it, some washed up jeans, and a pair of slip-on Vans that was way too overused. Nudge was wearing some baggy jeans with a faded My Chemical Romance white shirt that she wore over a sky blue long-sleeve, she wore a pair of white low-cut converse, and she wore a scarf "to keep her toasty" (her words not mine). Gazzy was sporting a pair of dark green camouflage jeans, a shirt that said "Bazinga", a Tribal hoodie, and some Vans.

Right now we were in the elevator, jamming to some elevator music. They were playing "Hotel California". Which was kinda inappropriate in my opinion since we were in a different country. I loved the song though and so did my family/friends. So Iggy was pretty much pretending his phone was a mic and singing the lyrics in a totally loud fashion. Gazzy was pretending to be the guitarist. And Nudge and Angel were too busy laughing their asses off. I was too busy filming it on my iPhone and Fang was just standing there a small smile that can light up my world on his face, his shoulders slightly shaking as he his deep chuckle was audibly echoing in the four sided space.

…Not that I didn't notice.

But soon enough the elevator doors slid open and just like that (pretend I'm snapping right here), Iggy stopped singing, Gazzy stopped playing the air-guitar, Nudge and Angel were trying to poker face as if nothing happened, and Fang's smile disappeared. I stopped recording and placed my phone back in my pocket. I'm not really a bag kind of person. As long as I have pockets, I'm good.

We strode in to the magnificent lobby of the hotel. I guess I didn't notice it yesterday because I was a bit worn out from the journey. The ceilings had paintings on them. The ceiling was supported by pillars that had spirally carvings in them. There were chandeliers… No words can explain. Seriously. It's like some sort of palace.

We passed by the information desk in which there was a blonde staring at me, I looked beside me. Oh, she was actually staring at Fang. Typical. Fang just HAD to be attractive, didn't he? I was about to ask him if he knew her but suddenly, Fang's arm was around my waist, holding me close to his figure. I tensed, "What the—". "Just relax." He whispered in my ear. How the hell can I relax when you're this close to me? I mentally screamed at him. "Play along." He whispered again. I looked at the blonde again, she totally looks lovestruck over Fang. I rolled my eyes, "You owe me." I told him before laughing loudly enough for the blonde to hear and kissed Fang on the cheek before slipping my hand through his coat around his waist.

Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy looked weirdly at the both of us. Iggy on the other hand was asking Gazzy what the hell was going on. Nudge wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at me. And I just shook my head.

Fang turned both of us around, still in each other's arms. "Do you guys want to wait here while I go get a taxi?" he asked them. I stood on my toes and whispered to him, "We can't that blonde looks a bit murderous." "It's not like you can't handle her."

… True that.

I returned to my normal height and waited for them to answer. "Nah, we're gonna get bored waiting here anyway." Iggy answered.

Fang turned us around again, walking towards the entrance. I couldn't help but look back to the blonde. I caught her storming off.

I smirked.

But as we went through the entrance/exit, Fang pulled away from me. He mouthed a thank you to me before calling up a taxi.

…Is it sad that I missed his warmth?

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