*Fang's POV*

I'm going to meet Max on the roof now, luckily its flat. It's one in the morning, curse her and her whacked times for meeting. I'm going to be dead tomorrow and dang it! I have a history test then!

Never the less, I'm meeting her.

This could be A) Good. OR B) Bad.

I'm expecting B.

I climbed out the window and onto the fire escape. I don't get the point of a fire escape with only two stories, but its here and I'm grateful for that.

I looked around and saw a silhouette sitting on the ground. A light flickered and I saw she lit a candle. The shadows danced around on her face.

"Hey." I said and walked over to join her. I felt a blanket under my hand as I sat down. Huh, she brought everything. I wonder if she brought food...

"Hey." Max replied. We stared at each other for a few minutes. The crickets the only noise.

"So. You want answers?" Max asked.

I nodded.

She took a deep breath. "Last year I met Sam. We went out for about six months till..he..uh, left." Max paused. "He hurt me, Fang. Verbally and physically. I had bruises all over me. One night, we were hanging out and I said something..." Max shook her head, like she was thinking hard. "It made him upset, he started...kicking me. Ella came in and screamed. An adult came in, saw it and the police showed up. Then he was gone. Just like that."

Silence.

What exactly do you say when the girl you love tells you her previous boyfriend beat her?

I'll tell you what you say.

"Where the hell is he, Max?" I asked in a deathly cold voice. I was going to murder the son of a bitch who did this.

"Calm down. He's locked up...I think." Max said.

I took deep even breaths. How could somebody do such a thing? He must have been a few bricks short of a full load.

And to this day, that saying still doesn't make sense...

"But the point is, Fang. It's been hard these past eight months or so. I really loved him. And...and its been hard to let people in without Sam tugging at the back of my mind. Reminding me they could be gone just as quickly..."

"I wouldn't leave, Max." I stated. A little offended that she would even think that I would.

"What if you don't have a say in the matter, just like Sam?" Max asked.

"There is nothing in the universe that could keep me away..." I said softly.

I hate usually hate showing my emotions, but with Max, its like I can't get them out fast enough.

"Fang...I just don't know..." Max said. I could tell she was fighting herself. She wanted to. But stupid Sam had to go ruin her trust...thanks a lot.

"Tell me this, Max. Do you like me?" I asked, somehow we were only inches away from each other.

She stared into my eyes. I could see the candles fire reflecting in her eyes. She smiled. "Yes."

"Do you think I'd ever leave you?" I asked. Our faces slowly getting closer.

She was a little more hesitant, but said strongly, "No."

"Do you think I'd ever hurt you?"

"No."

"Then what's the problem?" I breathed, our lips centimeters away.

"There isn't one that I can see." She said and then our lips connected.

I slowly pushed her backwards, so I was on top. Max deepened our kiss and I ran my tongue along her bottom lip, asking for entrance. She opened and we explored each others mouths. Then had a tongue battle.

Somewhere along all this, I, or Max, had flipped us over so she was now on top. I prefer it this way. I had to hold myself up, since I weigh more, but with Max, she can just lay on top of me.

Max pulled away to breath and I started kissing down her jaw line. She let out a small moan as I kissed her pulse point. I smirked against her and she brought my lips back to hers.

I didn't know how long this went on. Hours? Minutes? I didn't care either. All I wanted was to kiss Max forever. And I'm pretty sure I would have, if we didn't start to smell something burn.

It was the blanket; we had somehow knocked over the candle in our make out session.

And guess what?

It caught my leg on fire.

That's just freakin' peachy.

"Oh, my God." Max said when she noticed the fire. She quickly got off me and started to stomp on the blanket.

"Trying to send smoke signals to someone, Max?" I said threw clenched teeth as I tried to pat out my pant leg.

She turned to glare at me then saw my leg.

"Stop. Drop. Roll. You idiot!" Max yelled. I looked up at her, eyebrow raised.

"I'm already on the ground! Rollin's going to do squat on this." I gestured to cuff of my pants.

"Damn, I hate when your right." Max said as she took off her sweater and started putting out my own personal fire.

For you sickos out there that are like, 'Whoa, so, Max isn't wearing a shirt?' No, she is. It was just a sweater she took off. She's still got a tank-top on.

She stood up and put her hands on her hips proudly. "I could so be a firefighter."

I smirked and grabbed her hand, pulling her down on me. "Thanks." I whispered.

Max smiled down at me then pressed her lips to mine; before either of us could really get into it she pulled back and rolled off me.

We lay there, in comfortable silence, looking at the stars together.

"See that one there? That's Aquila." Max said as she pointed to a cluster of stars that looked like...a cluster of stars.

"Don't see it." I muttered as I looked to see any sign of a shape.

"See the two triangles that are attached? Those are the wings. And then there's the tail...right there." Max said. I looked closely and those stars seemed to shine brighter. I could make out what looked to be a bird.

"Yeah..." I said, deep in thought.

"Don't you wish you could just fly away, from everything? Just the wide open sky, the wind in your hair, the...freedom..." Max trailed off as she stared adoringly at the constellation.

"How do you know about constellations?" I whispered.

Max smiled. "I used to come out here every night when I was little and star gaze. On the weekends I would go to the library and just study the constellations, then come out here and find them."

"Mmm..." I murmured. My eyes suddenly feeling very tired, the last thing I remembered seeing was Max leaning over me. A small smile playing on her lips. Then I was out.

I was awakened to someone shaking me. I opened my eyes to see Max. We were still on the roof and it was early morning. Kinda foggy.

"Five more minutes..." I muttered then rolled onto my side.

"Come on, Fang. You got to get in your room before everyone gets up." Max said, shaking me by my shoulder.

"I don't give a crap." I mumbled.

"You will when Iggy and Gazzy start questioning you about where you were. Iggy will most likely make some wrong accusations..." Max said.

I groaned. Knowing Iggy, he would. I rolled onto my back and looked up at Max. She held out a hand and helped me up. Max stashed the blanket and candle in a small shed on the roof.

She grabbed my hand and we walked - well more like she dragged me - over to the fire escape and we climbed down. I stopped at my window and turned to face Max.

I put my arms around her waist and pulled her close. She rested her hands on my shoulders.

"Max?" I asked. She nodded, telling me to continue.

I wanted to say 'I love you' but for telling her the first time, on a fire escape just didn't seem...romantic.

"See you in Math." I said and kissed her lightly on the lips.

I crawled into my window and climbed up into my bed. Not even five minutes later the freakin' bell rang, telling us to get up.

Whack! God, damnit! When will I learn?

After I had showered and gotten ready I headed down stairs with Iggy and Gazzy.

"So, what happened to you, Fang?" Iggy asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You're happier, your talking, and your just...back to normal. What happened?" Iggy said.

"Yeah, it was like I was finally realizing my parents were gone. I've accepted it now, though." I lied. It wasn't a complete lie. I had missed my parents the last two weeks.

"Oh." Iggy said. "Listen, man, I'm sorry about all that."

"Thanks, Igs." I said.

We took three seats at the dining table and started digging in.

Max walked in, smiling slightly. Max, Ella, and Nudge sat across from us.

"Hey, guys." Max said, mostly to me. I smirked and nodded.

"OMG Fang? What are you doing here? I thought you were, like...I don't know, just not you anymore. Like sad and depressed. And you ignored us and stuff. Oh, Ella, can I have your pancake?" Nudge said as she eyed Ella's last pancake.

"Yeah, sure." Ella said and Nudge stabbed it with her fork. "So, Fang. Nudge is right, you never sit with us."

I shrugged. "My parent's death finally caught up with me." I lied. "I'm accepting it, though."

Ella nodded. "Oh."

"Ella, are we still on for Friday night?" Iggy asked suddenly.

Ella blushed. "Yeah, Igs."

"Will you two stop playing footsys? I keep getting nudged over here!" Max said abruptly.

"We are not!" Ella and Iggy said together. Both their faces beat red.

"Oh, yeah, 'cause I'm sure Gazzy and Nudge are playing footsies." Max said sarcastically.

Gazzy and Nudge twisted their faces in disgust.

"How do you know it's not Fang?" Ella countered.

Max tried to hold back her blush. "Oh, please, Ella." Max said like it was the most absurd this she had ever heard.

Ella avoided all our eyes and looked down into her food, face red. Iggy shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I'm going to go wait in the game room." Iggy said as he stood and turned to leave.

"I'll come with." Ella called after him and he waited till she caught up with him. Hand in hand they left the room.

I turned back to the others. "Well, that was interesting..." I stated.

Max frowned. "I didn't know they started dating."

"Well, Ella tried to tell you before, but you were all, like, moping around. And not interested. So, she thought you didn't care. Or you disapproved." Nudge said in one breath.

"Oh..." Max mumbled.

"Yeah, oh, Max, can we go shopping this weekend? I got some cash that I've been dying to spend. And I saw these adorable shoes last week when Ella and I went and I was like 'OMG I need those!' but I couldn't afford them. But now I can. So will you go?" Nudge asked.

Max let out a small groan and made the mistake of looking at Nudge. Bambi eyes.

"Sure." Max muttered. Nudge squealed and tackled her in a hug. I smiled at Max's expression.

Review, pls!