CHAPTER 12

AN: Someone seriously needs to ban me from Barnes and Nobel. I always spend all of my money there. Grr, being a nerd can be hard work.

Max's POV

When I first saw Fang, I wasn't sure what I was feeling. It was completely jarring, this weird feeling that you hear about in books and movies but never actually feel for yourself.

When he saw me, his beautiful dark eyes widened and his perfect mouth dropped open.

I'm sure AJ and Damian were having the same feeling, but I wasn't aware of them. It was just me and Fang, and the rest of the world was just…gone.

Like that, we were running at each other, like in those sappy romance movies. Only, when we reached each other, we clashed awkwardly, and bonked heads. But I didn't mind.

We were holding each other, and I felt tears fabricating in my eyes. It was just so overwhelming, and…I can't even begin to describe the feeling that washed over me. I just felt so whole and complete and euphoric and pissed all at once.

I kissed him intensely, not like a romance movie, but like in an action movie, right before the zombies take over or the building explodes. You know, I'm not quite sure what I'm talking about. It was epic, let's just leave it at that.

Then I pulled back and slapped him, hard. I felt so badass. He just stared at me, appalled.

"You idiot," I began. "You freaking left me. I loved you. Well, I still do, but whatever, that's not the point. Listen to me. I don't care about your mission or that we have to save the world or anything, got it? Where ever you go, I'm following. You can't get rid of me that easily." He tried to kiss me, but I turned my head. "I'm not done yet. Now, I understand that you want to start an army or something, but who says I can't be in it? Who says our whole Flock can't be in it, or the whole Pack for that matter? Who says we can't co-lead? God, you're so stupid sometimes. I can't even believe it." He blinked.

"Now are you done?" He murmured, his voice causing my heart to give a little squeeze. I thought for a second, and then nodded.

"I'm done. You can kiss me now."

•••

When Fang first saw Max, he was in shock. Then the shock turned to Oh Shit, and then Oh Shit turned to pure ecstasy. They hugged and kissed, and he couldn't think of a more perfect moment. Then she slapped him and started talking, and he was mixed between all three feelings.

When she said, you can kiss me now, it went back to ecstasy. All he could think was, my God how could I have ever left this? It was perfect, even for being in the middle of a crowded airport. Especially for being in the middle of a crowded airport.

After they kissed, Fang realized that there was some introducing to be done. He and Damian introduced Else, who looked like she was feeling pretty awkward, to everybody. Then, Damian introduced Fang to his Pack, and Fang introduced Damian to the Flock.

"And this," he said, drawing it out. "Is my Max." She grinned, and Fang's heart thudded. He couldn't even be irritated at the fact that his whole mission was ruined, because suddenly, he didn't even care anymore.

She wouldn't detach herself from his side under any circumstances (that would suck when he had to pee). She wouldn't even let him go buy a personal pizza by himself.

"You're going to run off," she said, getting up to follow him. "I know it." He rolled his eyes.

"I couldn't do that," he told her honestly. Max just shook her head.

"That's what I thought last time," she murmured. Shit, Fang thought, I'm such an ass.

"I promise," he said.

"That didn't stop you last time."

"Well, this isn't last time, okay? This is now." She was unconvinced.

"I know you, Fang. You're the only person I know who is almost as stubborn and persistent as me. Luckily for you, you're not as stubborn and persistent."

"Luckily," Fang agreed.

"But I'm still keeping an eye on you."

"You can watch me all you want. I'm not going anywhere."

•••

Iggy's POV

You know what sucks even more than being blind, having the girl you like think you're a gay pervert, and having a broken wing? Nothing. At all.

I really wanted to talk to Fang, because he had experience, right? He must have done something right, because now Max was all over him. I can't see, and I still knew that. But I've been totally failing at this whole girl thing. I've finally admitted to myself that yeah, I like her and yeah, I want to ask her out. But that's kind of hard when she's completely avoiding me.

Again, FML.

The problem with talking to Fang was that Max was glued to him. Like, Gorilla Glued. So when I asked him if I could talk to him, Max came too. It was like a package deal. And excuse me for not wanting to talk about girls when one was right there.

"Um, can I talk to you alone, Fang?" I sounded like such a creeper. Next I'd be like, I think we'd be more comfortable in the bedroom. Gah, shivers. You can pretend I didn't just think that.

"Make sure he doesn't take off," Max told me, like an overprotective mother.

"Yes ma'am," I muttered as she went back to the group.

"What's up?" Fang asked.

"Well...my life sucks." I explained to him the whole situation with Dory in a mumble, because I was honestly embarrassed.

"So what do I do?"

"Um…I don't know." I blinked. Wow, was he a big help or what.

"Come on Fang. You have Max. How'd you do that?"

"Honestly? I just played it by ear. You know, randomly kissing her until she gave in." My God, he had it so easy. If I randomly kissed Dory, she'd…nah, I don't even want to think about that.

"And she was fine with that?" I asked, astonished.

"Not really. The first few times she took off." Huh, well clearly he was better at bouncing back than I was. If a girl ran away from me, I'd probably lock myself in some room and throw a self-pity party. Well, maybe not, but you never know.

"What do you think I should do?"

"I have no clue, man. That's rough. I guess you should just give her time to think about it or something. She's supposed to be you're, like, alter-ego or something, right? You'd get over it."

"You have a point," I admitted. But who knew how long she'd take to come around?

"So…are we done?" I nodded, and he went back to Max and everybody else.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and instinctively, I spun around and whacked whoever it was.

"Ow!" Dory exclaimed. I gaped. It was such an Oh Shit moment.

"I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine. Who needs a functional jaw, anyway?"

"Oh jeez, I'm sorry. Seriously, though, I was expecting that to be someone's stomach…"

"More short jokes? Really? You owe me now." I laughed in spite of myself. It was just so easy to laugh around her.

"Don't I already owe you for landing on you?"

"Oh yeah, there's that too. Man, you're in a lot of debt. But anyway, I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for being a bitch."

"What? You weren't a—"

"Yes I was. I was also being hypocritical, because I did the same thing to Gabriel last week. So I guess I owe you now, too?"

"You d—wait. I thought of a way we can both repay each other." I felt like I had those little random figures on my shoulder. The one on the right was shouting, Don't do it Iggy! And the one on my left was screaming DO IT DO IT DO IT!

"What's that?" Well, here goes nothing.

"I could take you…on a date."