Chapter 25

We had the whole flock around a blanket, having a little picnic dinner under the stars.

"I'm so buzzed," Max II was jabbering. "You know, it just hit me out of the blue, like, KA-BOOM! And there it is. I'm as gay as the day is long, and I am in love with a swell Irish gal named Im… o… gen!" She slapped her knees with each syllable.

"You're glowing," Gazzy said. "Really, you are."

"Oh my God…" Max II suddenly slumped over. "What if… what if she doesn't swing that way? What if she rejects me? I couldn't take that kind of heartbreak, Max…"

I wasn't sure why she directed that at me, but I would have answered even if she hadn't. "Heartbreak?" I said. "You've spent one day with her, dude."

"I know! But it doesn't feel like that's been all… oh my God, I've got to know. I'm… I'm… I'm gonna ask her to run away with me! That's what I need to do! I'll do it right now!"

She stood up. Fang made a swiping motion with his arm and knocked her off her feet.

"Slow down a little bit," he said. "Maybe she does like you, but if you just up and confess your love for her right here and now, you're gonna scare the hell out of her. There was once a girl named Lissa who made that mistake."

My head snapped up to Fang. Max II was still flat on her back, and stared at him blankly. "Should I know what that means?"

"Well, no, I guess not," Fang said. "Um… this was way back before we ever met, but the flock went to prep school once."

"Yeah, I know," Max said. "I was spying on you."

"That's right," Fang said. "Anyway, there was girl in my class. Lissa. Redhead, smokin' hot. I coulda gone for her, I'll say it."

"Coulda?" I repeated.

"Yeah, coulda. But she ruined that. From the moment she met me, I couldn't get rid of her. Scared the hell outta me."

"Yeah, you were terrified, I'm sure," I muttered.

"I'm making a point here, Max! What I'm saying is, Max II shouldn't be too forward with Imogen. Maybe you should just try to spend more time with her. But don't ask her to elope after one day of hanging out."

"Why not?" I muttered. "You and good ol' Lissa started snogging the very day you met…"

"It was the day after the very day, actually," Fang countered. "And where did it get her, really?" He held up his ring finger and tapped the ring. "This isn't worthless bling-bling, Max. I love you. Always have."

Max II blinked. "But… I don't understand. Why would you be frightened of someone who liked you?"

"It's human nature, even if there's an extra two-percent of something else in there," Fang said.

"Max always runs away from her feelings," Nudge said wisely. "That's what gave Fang initiative to pursue her."

"Oh, shut up," I said.

"What I'm saying is, don't drop yourself into Imogen's lap," Fang said. "We're just assuming here that she'll have you—but you have to give her reason to want for it. You understand?"

Max II sat up and looked around. "You know, you guys are being really cool about this," she said.

"Oh, we're super-super liberal," Gazzy said.

"Say, Nudge," Iggy said, resting his head on her lap. "What do you say we get married here in Ireland?"

"Ooh, that would be cool," Nudge said. "Oh, I can totally picture that! It would be beautiful!"

"Yeah," Iggy said. "It'd be like… a wedding by the lochs."

"Lochs?" Nudge said. "That's Scotland."

"Oh. What word was I thinking of? Moors?"

"I think that's Scotland too, sweetie."

Iggy blinked. "Huh. What do they have in Ireland?"

"Leprechauns," I interjected.

Iggy shrugged. "Anyway, I'm just really loving the weather and the… I guess, just the peaceful atmosphere here. And I said to myself, 'Self, I want to have a wedding on a night exactly like tonight'."

"That's really beautiful, Ig," I said.

"Yeah," Nudge agreed. She bent down to kiss him. "You have amazing ideas, always."

She stood abruptly, and Iggy hit his head on the ground. "Ow," he said cheerfully.

"That's definitely Aaron," Nudge said, staring into the distance. "No way I'm seeing things! That's my ex-boyfriend Aaron!"

"Aaron?" Iggy said abruptly. "So what if it is him? You care?"

"Well, I thought he was dead," Nudge said. "And we were still friends…"

"Nudge… Nudge, baby," Iggy said, taking her by the ankle. "If that is Aaron, and he wanted to see you, he would have sought you out by now, don't you think? He's probably avoiding you."

"He wouldn't," Nudge said. "That's Aaron! I'm gonna go get him!"

Nudge ran off into the night. Iggy sighed.

"Probably avoiding her, huh?" Fang said, sidling up to Iggy. "That was flimsy, Iggy."

Iggy sat up. "I don't want Aaron to be here!" he said. "Either he's here, or Nudge is seeing him everywhere which means he's on her mind. That doesn't spell good news for me! I mean, we were just now talking about our wedding and she takes off to find her ex?"

"Iggy," Fang said gently. "Do you really think that Aaron can steal Nudge from you? Don't you have more respect for Nudge than that?"

Iggy stood still and silent.

"And remember, there's nothing Aaron can do that'll change the way Nudge feels about you," Fang said. "Not even coming back from the dead. Okay? Don't be a jealous thug, Iggy. It's unbecoming. Although I've gotta admit, it looks better on you than on Max."

I threw a turkey leg at Fang. Iggy caught it unerringly and proudly took a bite as we all stared at him in awe.

Nudge returned.

"How's Aaron?" Gazzy asked.

"I don't know," Nudge said. "I lost track of him in the crowd… if it really was him…"

"Did you try—?" Fang began. Iggy slapped him.

"Iggy, I saw that," Nudge said, smiling. She sat behind him and started rubbing his shoulders. "You think somebody's gonna take me away, you big galumphing idiot? I love you so much."

Fang started drumming his fingers. I could tell he was ready to sleep. "Hey," I said. "You know what we haven't done in forever? The goodnight ritual."

I held out my fist. The others eagerly placed theirs atop mine.

"Max, get in on this," I said to my clone.

"What's the goodnight ritual?" she said cautiously.

"Just follow our lead," I assured her. She placed her fist at the top of the stack, and we all tappity-tapped our own hands.

"What… what does it mean?" Max II wondered.

"Nothing," I said. "It's got no meaning at all. It's just a tradition… we used to do it every single night, ever since I was twelve. We tried to use it to… ground ourselves, after all the chaos that started going on in our lives, but after a while use of it just kind of… faded."

Max II smiled. "I like it. Makes me feel like one of you, somehow."

"Well, that's exactly what you are," Nudge said. "Hey, you know what else the flock hasn't done in a while? The fake-name bit."

Fang winced. "I hate the fake-name bit."

"That's because the fake-name bit's funny," I said, "and your idea of humor is pulling the wings off of flies."

"Yeah," Gazzy said. "Let's do it right now. I'm Pope Dracula Quetzalcoatl Coyote Ringo—"

"Don't—don't do the fake-name bit," Fang said. "Let's revive one flock tradition at a time, all right?"

"Right on," Iggy said. "And I'll be Pierre Brando Adewale Shyamalan Baldwin the—"

"Seriously, guys…" Fang said.

"Killjoy," Iggy coughed.

"How does he not like the fake-name bit?" Nudge muttered. "It works every time, doesn't it?"

"Fine, fine, fine," Fang said. "Do the fake-name bit till the cows come home. Just don't expect me to be good at it."

"So that's what bothers you!" I said. "You're no good at it."

"Goodnight, everybody," Fang said, grabbing a blanket.

I joined him. "Emo," I coughed.

"I'm not emo," he said good-naturedly, laying down in a secluded place. "So, Max, what do you think? Good army?"

I shrugged. "I… I don't know. We don't know what the Survivors have. Well, yes we do. They have Jewel. You've seen how many people he can cut down…"

"Not if every one of them is fully trained and equipped to kill him," Fang countered. "No, my love, I think we've got it made."

When he called me "my love" as opposed to "babe", I knew that meant he was dead serious. And that is the kind of Fang I can get on board with.