Ok. So, to put it lightly, semi-epic chapter.
The flock has a DARN GOOD OLE' TIME terrorizing D.C. and this chaptie was very refreshing to write.
... I'm trying to summarize this story in a few not-too-revealing words, but too much happens, so I won't try. Happy blow-shit-up/Independance Day my fellow Americanos! If you're not from the USA and are reading this, happy fourth of July! Yaaaay... -cough- anyhoo...
Chapter 10! Ohmygod. I made it to the 10 marker. I deserve a party and lots of Lindor Truffles (dark chocolate) for this! Hah!
Alrighty, I won't bother you guys longer- and I'll tell you ahead of time, I'm assuming that Max will have babies, not lay eggs, so she's going to have boobs. If she's an egg-layer, why would she need them? Ohhh. Stumped you...!
Thank you all so much for reviewing! I really love hearing them!! Enjoy my tenth chapter of Just Like Flying!
Thanks!
We got off the metro rail at the Smithsonian around nine. The sky was a perfect, clear blue with enough cloud cover to give some occasional shade.
Eve was walking fine, but Mary kept propping her up with her shoulder. Mary looked a little anxious and had told me on the train, "I've never been around this many people." The sardine can had gotten pretty freaking packed within the forty-five minutes we were on it, and I had been getting nervous, too.
I hate crowds.
Anyway, we got off at the Smithsonian stop and went up to ground level. I'll tell you once and I'll never repeat myself ever again: IT WAS HOT. The flock automatically groaned when the wave of dry heat swept over us.
"It's like an oven!" Nudge fanned herself with her hands.
"At least its not humid. I'd take an oven over a sauna any day..." Iggy added, using a pamphlet he had found on the train to fan himself. Mary exhaled and looked around. She walked away from Eve and picked up a pencil. Doing some expert maneuver with the stick of wood and graphite, she twisted her long, creamy hair into a bun but left a few stands to cover her scales. They blended in pretty well with her skin and she closed her gills. Mary smiled.
"Ta-da!" She bowed as Eve started laughing. Her laugh sounded musical and I was instantly happier when I heard it. Everyone seemed glad to hear Eve laugh. Fang was even smiling slightly.
Iggy frowned. "What happened?"
"She put her hair up with a pen," Gazzer told him.
"A pencil," Jonah corrected, hugging Eve from behind. She giggled and my eyes wandered to the second piece of cloth we had wrapped around her thigh within the last half hour. The bleeding had stopped and Eve seemed happy again. That was good.
I felt guilty for even letting that happen.
Mary did too, I saw it on her face.
We got breakfast at McDonalds (ew) and headed over to the memorials. Eve had been eyeing them all morning, so Jonah finally asked if we could go sight-seeing.
"But shopping!" Nudge added, begging me.
"Later, Nudgie, later," I told her, heading over to the Washington Monument.
"But I really NEED to go shopping."
"Nudge, it can wait," I said as she moaned from the torture. Fang walked next to me, looking ahead. Gazzy, Angel, Iggy, and the fishies were all about ten feet in front of us. Iggy had SOMEHOW convinced Mary to let him hold onto the back of her shirt for a guide.
Flashback time.
"Hey, Mary. You're nice and everything, aren't you?" Iggy asked, walking up beside her. Mary glanced at him and looked confused.
"Sure?" she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"You want to be my guide?" Iggy asked, smiling like a doofus. Mary saw his expression and burst out laughing. Awkwardness over.
"I'd be honored." Iggy held onto the back of her shirt and kept on smiling.
End flashback. Haha. Isn't that cute?
We toured the Washington Monument then strolled along the reflection pool (Gazzy jumped in it with bad results) and up to the Lincoln Memorial. Nudge stayed clear of everything and had her arms crossed over her chest. At first I didn't understand it but I remembered the time she had been moved to tears after touching the Vietnam Wall. I frowned. Poor Nudgie.
When we made it up the huge stairs of the Lincoln Memorial, Eve stood staring, slack-jawed-, at the hugeness of the room. She craned her neck backwards to gape at the ceiling then let out a happy squeal. "Mary! Mary!"
She sprinted over to Mary who sat on the steps next to Jonah. They were arguing about something, but I didn't hear them. I was too preoccupied with Fang.
Every now and then, he'd crack a joke. This confused me. Fang was not the cracker-of-jokes kind of person. He was the silent, loner, semi-regular sarcastic in-put sort of guy. I could tell he felt awkward doing it, too, and I wished I knew why.
After Eve and Angel had their fill of the giant sixteenth president, and after Iggy finally snapped from boredom after a comment from Nudge ("Oh, wow. Iggy! Look at that!" "I'm trying!") we decided it was time to find a store to go shopping. Nudge grinned and ran over to a passing stranger. She looked like she was in her pretty twenties, with a long sundress on and a camera over her neck.
"Excuse me, are there any places to go shopping around here?" Nudge asked, flashing a brilliant smile. How charming.
"Oh," the woman said, sort of in awe of her cuteness. "There's a plaza sort of close by... oh, look at you- I'll give you directions, hold on..."
She rummaged through her purse and pulled out a pen and sticky-notes, jotting down the address of somewhere. Nudge continued to smile.
Fang tapped my hand and before my heart could do a mini-flip (it was STILL doing that), he pushed a loose lock of my hair behind my ear. I looked up at him just as a cloud passed overhead. His dark hair fell in front of his chocolate eyes while the sun got a little brighter, giving him a slight halo around his head. I tried not to drool.
What.A.God.
"Yes?" I asked, putting on my best normal attempt and trying to seem like a cloud just moved out of the sun's way to make a pretty glowing thing of light around my head. Too bad I messed up on my perfect smile. A slight gust of wind knocked another strand of hair in my face and went into my mouth. I coughed it away, gagging slightly.
I am what you might call "a highly functional autistic."
Fail.
He laughed, pushing that strand behind my ear as I blushed again. "You seem... tense. What's up?"
I sighed and told him the truth. "Still a little worried about Eve... and did you hear Mary and Jonah earlier?"
"Yeah. Sounded like Mary's still worried, too. You two are really alike..." he trailed off, turning to look over at where Mary, Eve, and Jonah were all sitting. They rested on a bench by the bus-station, not used to this much walking. I watched him gaze in there direction for a second. I was about to ask him something else when Nudge trotted by, smiling brilliantly.
"Let's go!" She barked and went to stand at the bus-stop.
I didn't know where we were, but we were at some plaza place.
So many clothes stores. They all looked so... expensive. My hand went to the wallet in my pocket, clinging to it automatically.
"Ok, flock. This is how we're doing it. Boys, go find stuff. Girls, go find stuff. Fang, I'm giving you a credit card- go nuts-" he rolled his eyes and took it. "-Nudge, since you're the stylista, do you want to help Mary and Eve pick out stuff?"
She smiled at me like I had just given her a million dollars plus a blow pop. "YEAH!"
"Right, team. Meet back here in... an hour. Go!" the boys sighed and walked off. My little band of girly girls on the other hand... well, they had more enthusiasm, to put it lightly.
Nudge grabbed Eve and Mary's hands while Angel jumped up and down behind her. "Eve, you are the cutest thing so I'm sticking you in all the dresses I can find! Mary- with those curves, can you say APPLE BOTTOM JEANS?!"
"Boots with the fur..." Angel did the wave. Mary looked a little confused but Eve was smiling happily, watching Angel and Nudge break out in dance.
This was going to be UBER-FUN! Are you sensing the sarcasm?
...shortie got low, low, low, low, low, low, low... low... WHAT?!
Nudge burst through the store's door, scaring the clerk, with Eve and Mary in tow. She pulled them by their hands and set them off looking around the more feminine clothes. I wandered over to a rack of jeans and plain, boring, but comfortable looking shirts until Angel showed up beside me. "Remember that time Fang said you looked nice looking like a girl?"
I blushed remembering it. "Yes. Why?"
"I'm making you look more like a girl." And that was that.
I followed as my cute, blonde, darling, Angel, pulled out a frilly shirt or pair of jeans every couple feet. Eventually, she had about ten things in her little arms. She beamed at me then before I knew it, I was shoved into a dressing room.
I pulled off my shirt and jeans and stood in front of the mirror. I was so THIN. Pure muscle. My hands went to my chest. I had NO boobs, whatsoever.
I caught myself thinking about Mary's CLEARLY larger bust and shook my head. Why am I comparing myself to her? Stop it, Max. I bit my lip and tried on the first shirt of the pile.
It was red and had lace along the neck-line and sleeves. I tried it on. Can you say MOVING TARGET? I moved on to the next one. The simple top had a line of frilly things over where my boobs should be but are not, and draped over my chest and down far on my hips. Believe it or not, it gave me a little bit of a figure. I pictured Fang's hands around my waist, the fabric folding against his arms as he pulled me closer to him... FOCUS!
Four failed attempts later, I tried on a pair of khaki capris Angel had selected. They fit well and were just girly enough to make me look sort of cute. I imagined Fang's hands snaking down my back and into the pockets... and I silently slipped them into the "good" pile.
There were three sets of extremely girly lingerie. I sighed, knowing I needed that stuff, and tossed them on the good pile.
After going through everything, I stumbled out of the dressing rooms with the rejects in one hand and the good-stuff in the other. I put the crappy ones on the return-rack and walked down the aisle. Nudge stood by the entrance to the dressing rooms, waiting impatiently.
"What are you-" before I could finish my sentence, a door whipped open and slammed into my face. I jumped back, trying not to drop the clothes, and ignored the pain building in my nose. I looked up and saw Eve walk out of the dressing room.
She had on a sky blue dress that went below her knees. The sleeves were cut low on her shoulders and went down far on her hands. It was pretty snug around her arms but loose everywhere else. The dress hung from a line of lace at her neck/shoulder line thingy and didn't hug her body at all.
Eve looked like a doll. Cute, frilly, and cute.
She tilted her head (plus the baseball cap/wig) and looked at herself in the mirror. Nudge started giggling by the door. "YOU LOOK ADORABLE! OH MY GOSH- Max, can we buy it? Please?"
"What? No- she couldn't wear that without drawing attention," I argued as Mary walked out of the dressing room at the end of the hallway, looking down at herself.
She was wearing an equally frilly but tighter pink dress with way too many ruffles in way too many places. Mary looked up at us, frowning. "It's creepy."
"It's unique," Nudge replied, clapping her hands together. Angel walked in next, holding a small cluster of clothes for herself. She looked at Eve.
"Oh...!" then she looked at Mary. "...my..."
Mary sighed. "See? I look like a Victorian prostitute."
"... true..." Nudge mumbled. Mary shuffled back into the dressing room to try something else on. Eve tugged on my shirt and I looked at her. She was so cute in that dress with her baseball cap. I wanted to hug her but resisted the urge. "No?"
She was referring to the dress. I thought about it briefly and was about to say no when Nudge walked up behind Eve and pet her head. ADORABLE!
"Please, Max? She's just so cute in it," Nudge smiled at me, knowing she would win.
And she did.
I stood at the register, less than pleased, while the cashier-in-training frantically rang up our shirts, a dress, frilly under-stuff, and four different pairs of pants. When she was finished, I wanted to put Mary and Eve in their new clothes as soon as possible, so I asked her if they could go put them on in the dressing room. The cashier agreed and Mary took Eve away to change.
Just then I heard the door swing open followed by Gazzy's laughter. The boys filed into the women's clothing store very loudly, all holding one bag of clothes each (I thought briefly about how everything Fang bought must be black. Maybe navy blue for a change...). Every head swiveled to look at them suspiciously. "Max! Look what we found for Jonah!"
I looked at Jonah. He was wearing a dark green turtleneck and did NOT seem happy about it.
"It's freaking hot out there," was all he said.
Gazzy whispered something to me and winked. "He's colorblind."
Fang and Jonah looked around the store, trying to find our two missing girls, and noticed the huge selection of lingerie in the corner. I saw them both blush, eying the bras.
Sexist perverts. Too bad Iggy can't see. He's the worst.
Gazzy reached forward and grabbed a bag from my hand while I was looking back at the dressing room, seeing if Mary or Eve were walking out yet. But then I realized something- he had grabbed the bag with MY stuff in it.
Lingerie and all.
"That's m-mine!" I stammered, trying to snatch it back but ended up pulling it out of his hands. The bag fell to the floor in what felt like slow-motion and a hot-pink, lacey bra (albeit, small bra) and matching underwear fell out of it.
The group got quiet.
I think my face was about the shade of a tomato...
I stared at the set of... I can NOT believe I'm using this word... lingerie... that had fallen out of the bag, Max's bag.
Hot-pink. And lace. Why does she do this to me?
I looked at her face and saw the color flush in. About seven seconds went by before she lunged down, shoved them in the bag, and trotted back to the dressing room. I heard her ask "ARE YOU TWO DONE?!" but was too busy getting my mind under control.
I imagined Max wearing those. JUST those. The usual thing happened.
My jeans got tight-
"Is it weird in here or is it just me?" Iggy asked Jonah who was looking embarrassed like the rest of us.
"It's just you," was the collective answer.
Angel and Nudge had been gone the whole time, still browsing at clothes over by the door. Max walked up, didn't make eye-contact with any of us, and headed out the door. Mary and Eve went behind her, both of them wearing turtlenecks. Mary's was pink, Eve's was blue. Pink looked good on Mary and blue was really cute on Eve. Pink looked good on Max's face, too.
And I was turned-on.
But anyway...
After the lingerie incident, my flock and the fishiest fish-fish followed me outside and into the plaza. I heard them talking about where to eat lunch when I saw- HALLELUJAH- a pay-phone!
Okay, so there are tons of them everywhere. But I finally remembered why I needed one!
I ran over to it and immediately dialed the long distance number of my "mother's" house. The phone rang two times before I heard Mom's voice.
"Hello?" she said. I missed her so much!
"MOM!" I practically screamed into the phone.
"MAX! Where are you? Are you guys okay?" she sounded so concerned about us. I felt home-sick.
"We're fine, Mom. And we're in... a city. We just bought some new clothes and we're going to go get lunch. Are you holding up back home?" I asked, smiling.
"Oh, yeah. You know- business as usual. Ella's at a friend's house- I wish she were here to talk to you... I'll just tell her you said hi, ok?"
"That'd be great, Mom. So... well, I have to go... I'm kind of..." I spun around. My flock were all standing really close to me, listening in. I covered the receiver with my hand and shooed them. They shook no. I sighed. "-surrounded by the flock. They wanna say hi."
I held up the phone and I think the line might have shorted out after they all screamed hi at once. Other people in the plaza turned to look at us. "Mom, it's been great talking but I have to go- I love you."
"I love you to, Max. Call more often! I'm worried about you."
"I know, Mom. Bye." I hung up the phone, a little sad about how I was worrying her. I could hear it in her voice- she had been stressing. I felt bad, to say the least. But I couldn't feel home-sick right now. Looking at my flock, I smiled and pretended to be Invincible Max.
"Who wants lunch?"
My flock was hungry.
VERY hungry.
We assaulted a burger-joint down-town and pushed three tables together. We settled in and devoured our first burgers. By the time I was on my second, Nudge spoke up. When does she not speak up? "Can we stay in D.C. tonight, Max? We just had the most awesome-" she glanced at Eve, rethinking her use of words. "-shopping trip and stuff. Can we stay in a hotel or something? Please?"
"No." I answered immediately, not really thinking about it. Nudge started to complain, listing reasons why we should and I agreed with them all. She said that Eve need a bed to sleep in, not a car-seat. True. Nudge pointed out that a hotel would be safer than a van and a trip back to it on the metrorail. Also true. Gazzy pointed out how much he loved hotels. Okay, sure. Angel added how that would top off a really good day. I gave in to the cuteness and agreed.
And the crowd went WILD.
We found a hotel overlooking the river that ran through D.C. The windows seemed breakable, which pretty much sealed the deal for us.
Max used the information from one of the Eraser's wallets (apparently he need fake I.D. and stuff? And hey, I thought they were all retired anyway... guess not.) to get us a room.
... not US a room. Like... me and Max... we're not... like... FLOCK US... wait, no... that sounds weird... get a grip, Fang.
The flock and the fishies were all going to share a room. The man at the front desk told us our room would include a king-sized bed, two twin bunk-beds, and a couch. Enough for everyone to sleep in if they squeezed together. Max didn't want to risk separate rooms after this morning's fight.
Max unlocked the door and Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy all ran inside. Iggy clung to the back of Mary's shirt. By this time, they were getting pretty friendly. They had been talking consistently for the past few hours and Mary had warmed up to Iggy, who was thrilled that she was getting used to him. Jonah went in and I was last, closing the door behind me.
The room was really funky looking. Just... funky. Kind of awesome, in the weird, retro, "bring back the 80s" kind of way.
"Jonah, Mary, and Eve- you guys take the big-bed," Max started rolling out orders for sleeping arrangements. I sat down on a big, squishy chair by the window and watched as her hair shifted in the light while she tried to pull tangles out of it with her fingers. Max got blonder in the summer, making her hair a little more bronzy. I liked the color. It was pretty on Max. Brought out her freckles and her eyes. I liked them, too.
I liked Max. A lot.
"Nudge and Angel, you guys share one of the bunk-beds. Gazzy, you take the chair Fang is sitting in. Iggy, you can have the last bunk-bed. All six feet and three inches of you."
"Right..." Iggy sighed, feeling his way over to the minibar. He paused and looked over his shoulder at us, grimacing. "Is the carpet really lime green?"
"The limiest," I answered him. He shrugged and went through the snacks.
Wait. Me and Max were going to be sharing the couch...
When the clock struck five, Max ordered eight boxes of large pizza. The flock had settled in and Nudge, Eve, and Angel were on their second pay-per-view movie. Iggy and Gazzy had just left to go play in the arcade downstairs when the arguing coming from the bathroom escalated. Mary and Jonah were getting into it now, so I looked over at Max. She was trying to ignore it, but felt me staring. She gazed at me with those oval, brown eyes and sighed. We stood up and went over to the bathroom.
I opened the door and stepped inside, followed by Max. Mary and Jonah fell silent.
Mary was sitting, cross-legged on the sink. Jonah stood in the corner, drawing pictures on his arm with eye-liner he had found somehow. Max and I sat on the shower rim, waiting for them to explain. When they didn't, I asked. "What's going on?"
"I'm ticked off," Mary started braiding her hair. It was really long stuff, but she moved quick.
"Obviously," Jonah snorted, rolling his eyes. She glared at him.
"What's your problem? First, you tell me to stop worrying so much about Eve- they put a GUN to her head, Jonah," she spoke in loud whispers, frantically braiding her hair. She finished one side and moved on to the other. "And now you're mad at me because I got mad at you because you weren't worried like I was worried-"
"I get it." Jonah finished a cloud on his wrist.
"No, you don't! They could have killed EVE. My Eve! Your Eve! The little girl we've cared for since we were three! Since we were little! Why are you not mad?"
"I AM mad, Mary. I'm worried about it, too."
"But you told me to forget about it!"
"I was just trying to get you to calm down! She isn't even hurt that bad, Mary! And we both tried to protect her so-"
"How well did that-"
"Stop it," Max mumbled, glaring at both of them. They shut up. "It was an accident. She's okay now. I won't let it happen again."
Max stood up, looking a little sad. I stood up and took her hand. Only she noticed, but didn't swoon or anything like she had been doing all day. Yes, I could tell when I made her nervous. It was so freaking cute.
"Why would they do that to Eve... why her?" Mary put her head in her hands, leaving her unfinished braid to twist undone over her shoulder. "Why not me..."
"Because she's more valuable," Jonah answered, looking guilt-ridden. Mary looked up, glaring at him.
"I don't care if she's more valuable than I am! Wouldn't it make more sense not to hurt her if she's more important?" Mary mumbled, finishing her braid. Max stood completely still at my side. I tightened my grip on her hand and put my other hand on the small of her back. She didn't move, but I felt her skin shake.
Jonah looked up, looking at nothing in particular. "They used her to threaten us because they thought you knew. She's pregnant."
Ohhhh. Cliff-hanger. Plot-twist.
Oh snap! What next?! When will it end?
Oh, and I want a few more pictures before I give out the link, so just be patient for the fan-art, ok? And I drew a REALLY cute Fax pic... ah!
I wish I could add more commentary, but it is 11:57 pm and I want to post this TONIGHT. Not early tomorrow MORNING, so yeah! I hope you liked!
Review? Hug? PM? Anything? LOVE YOU!
Edit: I had just posted this at 11:58 p.m. when I previewed and saw a mistake I just HAD to fix. So technically, I posted this chapter twice... lol? -annoyed by stupidness-