I had a chance to watch 20 minutes of the Maximum Ride film. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting...

Love or hate, whatever comes first.

"Max, throw harder," Fang yelled from halfway across the yard. His dark attire seemed like a tiny dot from where I was standing.

I folded my arms, frowning at him, "I don't care how hard I throw, I'm not going to make it that far."

It's been two days since Fang tricked Brad into giving him ownership of his company. We were finally back in Lakewood and Fang was back to having dinner with us every night. He managed to somehow balance running two major companies at once, but I never bothered to ask him how he did it.

Fang shook his head, drawing his arm back to throw the football back to me. He shifted his weight on his front foot, shooting the ball towards me.

I squinted at the ball against the sun, starting to run backwards once I realized that I was too close. I watched as the brown blur spiraled closer to my face.

"Umff!" I yelped in surprised as I tripped over the edge of the fountain, falling backwards into the fountain. Just to top it off, the football landed straight onto my stomach.

I groaned with disappointment, leaning completely back into the fountain, letting the water cover my ears and the sides of my face. I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to bear the sun.

"Even Total's not that desperate enough to catch a ball," Fang's shadow loomed over me, making my vision darken.

I opened my eyes one at a time, "I didn't see the fountain."

His laugh was muffled by the water surrounding my ears, "Here," he generously held out his hand.

I sat up slightly and tugged his hand sharply so he collapsed into the fountain with me.

Fang dove in face first, but immediately lifted his head out, spitting out water, "That wasn't necessary."

I lifted my hair out of my face, letting the water drip down my face, "I know. Just wanted to."

"We gotta get out of here. We're gonna get a cold."

I shrugged, standing up with my clothes uncomfortably clinging to my body. I struggled slightly to remove the soaking sweatshirt off to leave me shivering in a random shirt.

"Max,"

"What?" I turned around when Fang wrapped his hand around my wrist. I raised an eyebrow, watching him stare at me, "If you're going to say something, say it."

"I don't have anything to say," Fang responded casually.

"Well, great. That means I can go and change."

"Not exactly," Fang tugged my hand, causing me to stumbling into him. Without hesitation, he molded his lips over mine.

My eyes widened, but I quickly shut them. Oh man. What is happening right now.

Fang's soaked clothes transferred to mine, pressing cold water onto my skin. He angled his head, deepening the kiss.

I attempted to mimic his movements, wrapping my arms around his neck loosely. I don't think I'm fucking up right now.

His hands slid down to rest on my waist, his fingers brushing against my sides.

I let an embarrassing high pitched squeak, jerking my entire body away from him. I clenched my sides, trying so hard not to blush.

Fang smirked, stalking closer, "Max, are your sides ticklish?"

My mouth fell open, but nothing came out. My brain was shifting from one thought to another, wanting to deny it, but also wanting to ignore the whole thing.

He wrapped one arm around my waist, using the other to lightly brush his fingers against my sides.

I gasped, jerking my body to the side, letting small laughs out, "Fang-" I cut myself off with a another fit of giggles, "Stop- or I'm going to make your life hell!"

"Fang, what are you doing?"

Angel's sweet and innocent voice saved me from dying of laughter.

Fang quickly released me, his torturous fingers leaving my sides, "Did you know that Max is extremely ticklish?"

I wiped away the tears at the corners of my eyes while keeling over slightly. I deep breaths to control my wheezing gasps.

"Her feet are really ticklish too," Angel laughed, clenching a bouquet of small flowers in her hand.

"Angel!" I protested, picking up my sweatshirt from the grass.

She shrugged, handing me one of many purple flowers, "I don't think anyone would want to touch your feet anyways."

My eyes followed the path that Angel took to the meadow nearby Fang's house. Vix and Gazzy weren't far behind, holding identical red buckets.

"Why do you have only purple flowers?" Fang asked as he accepted a purple flower.

"Purple is my favorite color," Angel explained, skipping into the house with the flowers dancing between her palms.

I twirled the flower in between my fingers, examining it closely. The environment calmed drastically, leaving only the cool autumn air and the rustling of the leaves, "What was that earlier?"

"I owed you," Fang explained lamely.

"For what?" If we're honest, I probably owe him a lot more.

"I deceived you."

I raised an eyebrow, demanding an explanation.

"You kissed me and I still followed you home," Fang started heading back to the house.

I stood there for a second before breaking into a light jog to catch up to him, "You didn't have to repay me like that. I would've been fine with food or something."

Fang stopped once he reached the door and turned to look at me, "Are you saying you didn't like it?"

Oh man. Gah, "Uhh," I stumbled over my wording, trying to explain that I didn't like it when in reality anything that would come out of my mouth would be a lie.

"Got it," Fang smiled, letting out a small laugh. He slid the glass door open, leaving me there was a flushed red face and mixed emotions.

I hate that he knows that I'm ticklish.

"Max, wake up. It's almost ten and you aren't in the yard doing something stupid,"

I groaned, tossing an arm over my face to shield the bright light. My temples pounded together, trying to smash my brain into pudy. The last few days, my health has been declining with the weather.

Gazzy and Angel sat on the edge of my bed, shaking me slightly with small hands.

I shifted, throwing the blankets over my head. My mouth was parched with no moisture to soothe it. I felt uncomfortably hot and sticky under the multiple layers, but couldn't find the energy to throw them off.

"Gazzy, Angel. Go do something besides bother Max," a soft voice echoed off the walls.

I could vaguely hear the protests of my siblings as they were shoved roughly out of the room.

The covers were jerked back roughly as cold hands placed themselves on my forehead.

I pried one eye open and made out Ella's blurry figure. Her features were really fuzzy and her long hair blended in with her clothing.

"You got a fever. I don't even need to take your temperature. It's probably from when you fell into the fountain a few days ago and then kept working instead of changing. Idiot," her hands were replaced with a cool, damp rag. Ella muttered something about bringing food, but I already blocked off all my senses.

I jerked up, panting. I placed my hands on my blanket covered knees. I blinked, trying to get rid of the dots covering my vision.

"Iggy made you some soup."

I glanced to my left, glancing at Fang.

In his hands was a bowl of chicken noodle soup. His other held the towel that was plastered on my forehead hours ago.

Angel and Vix were sitting on the floor together, drawing animals and awkward imaginary creatures. They disregarded me since they were too entranced with the colored pencils.

"When-" I paused and cleared my throat once I heard my hoarse voice, "When did you get home?"

"An hour ago. I told Ella she could go eat dinner while I watched you." Fang dipped the spoon in the spoon, carefully bringing it towards my mouth.

Dinner? How long have I been sleeping? "I'm not hungry," I muttered. I wasn't being stubborn. If I was hungry, I would've yanked the bowl out of his hands and started drinking the soup like water. My stomach protested at the sound of the sloshing soup.

Fang reached over and pinched my nose shut, his fingers slightly digging into my skin.

I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing what he was planning. I'm probably gonna pass out before I take a breath. After a few moments, I succumbed to the burning in my lungs and opened my mouth to take a deep breath.

At the moment, Fang shoved the spoon not so nicely into my mouth. He tipped in forward so the soup would glide down my throat.

Unfortunately, the soup did not go down. Quite the opposite.

I spat out the spoon, leaning over the side of the bed to regurgitate all my stomach's content. The burning in my throat accompanied the disgusting gagging noises that were coming from my mouth. I coughed several times, only noticing that Fang was standing with vomit all over his lap.

Vix and Angel were cracking up in the furthest corner of the room, their little faces turning red.

"That's what you get Fang!" Vix laughed, squealing when Fang held his arms open for a hug mockingly.

I grimaced, distracted by my burning throat and the sour taste lingering in my mouth.

"C'mon, Max. We need to clean you up," Fang stepped over the puddle of puke, wrapping his arms under my armpits to drag me out of bed.

I let out a muffled protest as I was tugged out of my warm cocoon.

Fang dragged me into the closets bathroom, lying me down on the cool tiles, "I'll be back. I need to burn my clothes."

I shut my eyes, feeling the headache coming back. I looked around the bathroom from the new angle, mindless observing my surroundings. Why is there so much dust on the floor. Is that a hairball?

"Here, I got you," Fang wrapped his arms around and me and made me stand up on wobbly legs.

I shifted back and forth before placing my hands on the granite counter tops. I turned on the faucet and didn't hesitate to stick my whole head under. The water engulfed my head, cleaning off the sticky puke. I probably look beautiful.

Fang turned off the faucet and handed me a towel.

With shaky hands, I patted my face dry. Disregarding Fang, I hobbled back to my room, ready to go back to sleep. I had just enough energy to collapse on the bed, not even bothering to pull the covers over me.

"You have a lovely mountain of tissues next to your bed," Fang commented as he pulled the blanket over my body.

My body protested, saying it was too hot, but at the same time crying out that it was freezing. With glassed over eyes I turned to Fang, "Thanks for letting me puke on you."