I am soo sorry it took me longer to update than usual. I already had the chapter written over the weekend, but I wasn't in love with it and if I'm not in love with it then I'm not posting it. Anyways, enjoy and, as always, REVIEW!

Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride

MPOV

"You proposed?" I choked out. Didn't he tell me he was going to break up with her? Not freakin propose! Sometimes I worry about this boy's thought process. I backed up against the counter for support as I tried to process this.

He shakes his head and looks at the ground, "Not exactly,"

Not exactly? I would've laugh my butt off at that, but settled for a disbelieving scoff. That got his attention because his head snapped up and his eyes finally focused onto mine.

"Let me explain," he pleaded. I know, Fang, pleading? I wouldn't have believed it either if it weren't written all over his face right now.

"By all means, I'm not stopping you," I said coldly motioning for him to continue.

He let out a defeated sigh and told me about lunch with his parents and his parents' brunch with Lissa's parents. By the end of his whole story, I did feel a little bad for the whole situation, but how hard is it to just say, 'NO!'? Yeah, not that hard.

"So, technically, she's my pre-fiancé, but she doesn't know that yet," he concluded. Sometime during the story, Fang had scooted out a chair from under the kitchen table that still had a candle burning for our 'date'. This is not how I expected the date to go…

A deadly silenced settled upon us and I knew that I had to be the one to break it. I looked down at my feet as Fang waited for me to speak, "This has gone way too far," I whispered, "We have to stop before we get caught and ruin everything,"

I flinched as I heard the chair scrape against the floor suddenly, signally that Fang had gotten to his feet. "Max, I just need time. I can fix this. Just…stay," he said I little anxious.

I shook my head; some hair falling in front of my face. I blinked, hard, once to force the tears that were collecting at the brim of my eyes back. Once I have successfully cleared my eyes of all the fogginess, I looked up to see Fang.

His hair was still tousled in different directions and his face begging. He looked right back at me and studied me the way I was studying him. I wondered what he saw because I hope that I was hiding all traces of hurt.

He took a step closer to me, one hand reaching out desperately to me.

I shook my head again and pressed my back farther into the counter to put distance between us. I felt a tug at my heart when I saw the hurt that crossed his face, but I just know that if he touches me I'll crumble. "I think you should go," I whispered.

Fang closed his eyes and breathed in deeply before letting it out slowly. He wiped away all traces of emotion so that now his face was impassive as ever. When he opened his eyes, he looked down in thought then he suddenly snapped his head up. The look in his eyes showed that he made a decision, but a decision that was unknown to me.

He took another step closer, despite my pleading eyes for him to just stop where he stood. He was right in front of me when he whispered, "Does your heart race when you see me the way mine pounds painfully in my chest when I just think about you?"

Yes, I thought to myself as my breath left me. Fang rested his hands on either side of me on the counter so I couldn't escape. I was determined to show no weakness, so I stared blankly right back at him. I will show no emotions because lately, I've been getting too soft. Like marshmallow soft. Like teddy bear soft. I think two examples are enough…moving on.

"And how about when I touch you?" he whispered, getting impossibly closer. His fingers caught a lock of my hair, which had fallen from behind my ear, and tucked it back to where it belonged. His hand lingered on my cheek and I melted into the feeling of his hand.

My eyes were going to flutter close when I realized that I was giving in. Desperate to put space between us, I turned around so that my back was to him. That way he won't be able to see my will crumbling at every word he said. "The door is over there," I said as I nodded toward the door.

Unfortunately, I didn't think this all the way through because he just pressed his body up against my back. He reached over and brushed all my hair to once side of my neck so he exposed the whole left side of my neck. He craned his neck ever so slightly and brushed his lips up and down my neck, leaving the occasional kiss here and there.

I couldn't help the warm blush that crept across my face. "Does your mind ever wander to me because I can't make a coherent thought when all I think about is you," Fang whispered against my skin.

"You should go," I said a little weaker, but there was some assertiveness in it. Not much to make him leave, though.

His lips left a warm trail up my neck and rested on my jaw line. I reluctantly let out a small sigh when Fang started to kiss my jaw. He was just sooo close to my lips that I could feel it.

JUST KISS ME, ALREADY! No, Max. BAD! You don't want him to kiss you because then you will be in it for good. But he said he'll fix it. He also said he is engaged. PRE-fiancé.

I really need to be medicated if I'm hearing not one, but two voices in my head fighting the pros and cons of this situation…straitjacket optional.

"The way I'm the only one who can make you blush. The way you look at me with your brown eyes. The way you make me feel when I'm around you. I mean, are you listening to me? The way you bring out the corniness out of me, but I'm not ashamed because I love you," He said earnestly in my ear.

He loves me? was all I could think about. My head was swirling with Lissa, my parents, Fang's parents, school, friends, and Fang.

I turned in his arms only to be a centimeter from his face. "You love me?" I asked a little unsure.

"With all my heart," he whispered. Then his lips were on mine. They were slow and soft, perfect for this situation.

I felt everything in this kiss. Desperation to not lose me, shame to have betrayed me, joy that I'm not running, and just…love.

My hands slid up his strong chest and grabbed hold of his neck while his hands secured my waist to him. Fang moaned in my mouth when my tongue traced his bottom lip. I smirked before deepening the kiss. He pushed me even more into the counter to get closer, which a piece of paper wouldn't be able to fit in between us right now.

I know, I know. You are probably giving me shit for totally being headstrong one moment to being all wishy-washy like Frosty the Snowman…yeah, I'm comparing myself to a fictional snowman, that's how drastic this change is.

I was the first to break away because I needed air. Times like these I wish I had air sacs or something. (haha, see what I did there? Stupid?…maybe. Creative?…to me, hell yeah!)

While I tried to catch my breath, Fang continued to kiss up and down my neck and on the side of my face. My hands found their way to his hair and were now entangled with his soft locks.

I gasped when I remembered the food that was still sitting at the table, "The food!," I told Fang.

He pulled away and looked at me questioningly. "You cooked?"

I nodded proudly at Fang, only to see him looking over my shoulder. Before I could peek to see what he was looking at, he reached over behind me. When he straightened up, he was wearing the crooked smile he wore only around me.

To my embarrassment, Fang held up an Emperor's Wok carton that our dinner that I 'cooked' came in. Busted.

"Yes, well, the emperor was nice enough to stop by and help a little," I replied coolly.

"That makes me feel a little more relaxed about eating the food on the table, now that I know you didn't cook it," he said while motioning to the table.

I faked a hurt expression, "I am an excellent cook,"

We both looked at each other for a second before busting out in laughter. "You actually…went out to…buy food…already made and…take credit…for it?" Fang said between laughs. Which, for him, were more like uncontrollable chuckling. "That's, like, food plagiarism!" he added.

I wiped away the tears that formed at my eyes from laughing so hard. "Come on," I said, grabbing Fang's hand and towing him to the table, "I'm starving,"

We sat down, still recovering from out laughing fit, and began eating. For the rest of the night, we didn't talk about anything involving our little situation. He just needs time. I repeated to myself.

We forgot about everything and just enjoyed ourselves, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it couldn't last.


"Okay, class, make sure you're keeping up with your project and making process…" my teacher droned on.

Shoot! I totally forgot all about that project. I have barely even started because I had soo much on my mind that I just forgot. I got out my notebook and wrote a reminder to work on it when I got back to my apartment tonight.

I was scribbling down my reminder when my teacher dismissed the class. I gathered up my stuff and headed out the door to see Iggy and Nudge walking down the hall toward me. I waited for them to get closer before joining them.

"Hey Nudge. Hey Iggy," I greeted.

"Hey," Iggy said simply. Nudge on the other hand, not so much…

"MAX! I'm so glad we ran into you. Well, not literally because that would hurt like no other. Anyways, I wanted to thank you for staying back with Iggy and me for movie night. I swear Lissa can be a real bitch sometimes. I know she's like your friend and all, but that was soo uncalled for and did you see…" Nudge was silenced by Iggy's hand.

I wasn't really shocked by her rant. Trust me, after almost eight years, you get use to it. "No problem, Nudge," I replied and shrugged to emphasize my point.

Nudge smiled; well I think it was a smile. Iggy still had his hand over her mouth so I couldn't really tell.

"Ow," Iggy yelled, "she bit me,"

Nudge had a smug smile on her face while I laughed at the look on Iggy's face.

Iggy playfully glared at Nudge who gave him an innocent smile. Iggy crumbled fast and encircled her into his arms, smiling down at her. Nudge looked so tiny and fragile in his arms, but she also looked like she fit in his arms.

I noticed we had walked outside when I heard someone calling my name. I looked toward the source to see Sam jogging over to us. I mentally groaned, can't he just leave me alone? I pleaded.

"Hey guys," he greeted everyone.

"Hey, Sam. What's up?" I asked as interested as I could look, but hey, I could care less what's going on in his life.

"Nothing, just saw you guys walking out and wanted to say thanks for inviting me for the weekend. I had a lot of fun," he said sincerely. Now I was starting to feel bad for ignoring him most of the weekend.

"No problem. It was nice having some more guys around," Iggy said with Nudge still neatly tucked to his body.

"Yeah, it was a good time. Well I gotta run, but I just saw you three and thought I could run over here for a second," Sam said as he started to walk toward a group of guys I hadn't seen earlier.

"See ya, Sam" Nudge waved to his retreating figure.

"Oh, and tell Lissa I said thanks for the invite," Sam said over his shoulder.

"Will do, man. Take it easy," Iggy called back.

We stood there watching Sam catch up with his buddies before Nudge, of course, spoke up. "That was weird," she said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, it's weird that someone would say thanks to people who invited that person to spend the weekend with them. What has this world come to?" I shouted the last part a little louder.

Nudge smacked her hand over my mouth to quiet my loud rant. "You are too sarcastic for your own good," Nudge replied shaking her head.

"Well, this is an interesting turn of events," Iggy stated, referring to the motor mouth herself quieting someone else for once.

Nudge removed her hand from my mouth and I gasped for air dramatically. I regained my composure before asking, "Why was that weird?"

"He wasn't, like, crazy over you," Nudge said with a confused look on her face.

"What are you talking about, babe," Iggy joined in.

"He usually is all gaga when he's around Max and stares at her, but he was just…normal," she finished shortly.

"That was the shortest thing I think you've ever said," I said in shock.

"I'm serious," Nudge said a little irritated, but the smirk on her face gave her away.

Iggy shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe he moved on. Besides, that sick puppy look he got when he wasn't around Max was sickening. I'm glad he's over it,"

I chuckled at the picture that Iggy painted, "Thank goodness! He was really getting on my nerves," I said with a sigh.

Nudge looked deep in thought before shrugging it off too.

I said goodbye to the happy couple and headed back toward my apartment. I sighed as I plopped onto my couch, the events of a few days ago running through my head.

He just needs time, I found myself repeating to myself frequently. I know Fang is will do anything for us, but what worries me is what he'll have to go through for that to happen. All I can do is hope that it will work out and we can be together.

He just needs time…but what will happen when time runs out?

REVIEW! I might not be able to update till next weekend because I have an out of town soccer tournament this weekend, but the more reviews I get the faster the update will be! Yes, that is a bribe… REVIEW! I think I said that already. Well, third time's a charm so….REVIEW!