How Life's Rivers Flow

By Vampire-knows

Lupo

It was close to the end of our Physics class and Fang had barely spoken all class period. He seemed to be mulling over something in his head, gears turning to try and work out a problem that wasn't in the book in front of him. So when he finally spoke up, I was very intrigued with what he said.

"Do you want to come over and hangout at my place after school?"

I stared at him for a second, wondering what exactly he meant by that. I had been around the block, I had known a lot of guys, and with Fang I was leaning more towards the side of actually meaning he just wanted to hang out. I nodded, tapping my fingers on the desk absentmindedly, "Sure. I just have to run it by Lobo after school and then I'll meet you by your car."

We fell back into silence for the few seconds before the bell rang, both of us getting up and leaving for our fifth period classes respectively.


I wandered into my English class, surveying the room for a quick second before heading straight for a pair of desks in the back. Iggy was leaning back in his chair, legs thrown up onto of the desk and arms behind his head. Beside him was one of the popular girls, gabbing away in his ear like he was actually listening.

I reached her desk, gesturing with my head for her to leave, "Be gone, Skittles."

She scoffed, "My name is Skytall."

I stood my ground, raising an eyebrow at her and putting a darker tone behind my voice, "Be gone, Skittles."

She grabbed her purse and moved, complaining under her breath the whole way, and I plunked down into her chair. Iggy was watching me since I had walked over here, and now he caught my eye and raised an eyebrow in question.

"That was an interesting episode this morning," I started calmly, no interest in my voice.

He smirked, chuckling a little before speaking smugly, "What, Lupo, you jealous?"

I leaned forward, resting my elbow on the desk as I face him, "Not in the slightest. I know this is just part of your game."

He shook his head, "I don't involve Max in my games so I don't know what you're talking about."

I opened my mouth, about to retort. That had to be a lie. This had to be part of his game. But I didn't get the chance due to the teacher's entrance. "Lupo Greyback, Sky Weathers, back to your assigned seats."


I sat in the back of US History, eyes locked on Iggy and Max who were seated next to each other. They were chatting away, looking as comfortable as ever, if not more. I kept my concentration on them hidden, though, spending enough time looking away that Iggy's occasional glances back at me hadn't resulted in my observation being discovered.

He was trying to throw me off. This was part of his strategy. It had to be.

But I knew exactly what move to make next to trump him, though I still need to find the right… tools before it could fall into place.


I caught Lobo on the way out to the parking lot, pulling him to the side just out of the main doors, "Hey, I'm going to hang out at Fang's. I hope you weren't expecting some sibling bonding time tonight."

He laughed, "Nah, it's alright. Max and I are going to this bowling alley I heard about."

"You and Max?" I asked, curious as to what his train of thought was for this one.

"Yeah, she's the only one who sounded like she really wanted to come."

"Of course she did," I commented, wondering how bad this mess was going to end up being.

Lobo was about to ask what I meant by that, but he was interrupted by Fang who must of spotted us and jumped right into our conversation, "You ready to go?"

"I am," I smiled, waving a goodbye to my brother before following Fang over to his car.

It was a pure black 1977 mustang with barely any scratches on it. I began to drool just looking at it, getting excited as I opened the passenger door and climbed in. Fang got into the driver's seat, starting up the beauty and listening to her purr for a second before putting her into drive and pulling out of the parking spot.

"You like Lucy?" he asked, smirking at me as he glanced over to see me stroking the dashboard.

"She reminds me of Baby, my old mustang," I told him sadly.

"What happened to her?"

"We had to sell her to be able to afford the move. She was a Boss 302 1970 black mustang with red trim."

He groaned, "Sounds sexy."

"Oh, she was." Silence surrounded us, comfortable and familiar. I watched the road for a while, just taking in the classic rock music that was playing on the radio.

Soon, we were pulling into a driveway of a nice looking house, big enough for a fairly well off family. Fang parked Lucy in the garage and we both got out before heading inside.

There was a homey feel to the house the second I walked in, 90's pop music blaring over some speakers in the kitchen that the door from the garage led into. A woman who could have only been a few years older than my own father was dancing around while mixing something in a mixing bowl, singing along to the song with a little girl who was probably about ten. They were obviously related to Fang, the same black hair and general face shape, though their skin was fairer than his olive tone.

As soon as the little girl saw us, she reached over to turn down the radio connected to the speakers and her mother turned to grin at us, "Hey, baby. Who is this?"

"Mom, this is Lupo Greyback, a new friend of mine. Lupo, this is my mom, Nancy Venom, and my little sister, Artiglio."

"Hi," I smiled at them, giving a little wave of my hand.

"Hello, dear," Nancy nodded in response since her hands were busy with the mixing bowl.

"Hey," Artiglio grinned the same grin as her mother, waving enthusiastically. "Fang, you'll never believe what happened today at school!"

"What?" he asked without so much enthusiasm, something that must have been uncommon when talking with his little sister, I observed, since both her and his mother seemed a bit thrown off.

"They had the students who missed it last year take the gifted and talented test and I got in," she answered, her enthusiasm not dropping one bit.

"Awesome," he smiled a small smile.

Nancy looked his face over like she was trying to figure out what was going on, and then looked at me to see if I had any answers I could convey to her. I just shrugged, not sure anymore what was going on. He had been all fine and dandy at lunch, but ever since then he had been quiet and reserved.

She looked back at her son, "Your father and I are taking her and Gazzy to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate when he gets home. Do you two want to join us?"

"Not really," Fang answered quickly, even though that actually sounded pretty fun to me.

"Okay," she spoke quietly, her voice comforting and collected.

Fang gestured for me to follow him out of the kitchen, leading me through the semi messy living room and up the stairs. Eventually, we came to a darkly colored bedroom that must have been his.

The bed was against the opposite wall of the door and wasn't made, the dark blue comforter loosely covering the lighter blue sheets. To the right of the door was a desk with a nice but older looking laptop closed on top of it and little star wars figurines decorating the rest of the space. But what caught my eye was the electric guitar on the opposite wall that was hooked up to some amps.

"You play?" I asked, gesturing to it.

He nodded, walking over to sit on his bed, "I have for years."

"Nice," I nodded, walking over to lounge next to him on his bed. "So, what's up with you? You've been acting moody since lunch."

"Max turned me down. She's got a thing for Iggy," Fang sighed, his eyes showing his anger.

This took a second to register, my mind trying to put this new information together with what I already thought I knew. Could she? Maybe this thing she had for my brother had disappeared during her time with Iggy. I wasn't surprised at all to think that he might be just that smooth.

"Wonderful," I sighed, looking at Fang. He was lost in his thoughts, those gears turning once again. And then he was there, eyes latched onto my own as he grabbed my face and crashed his lips onto my own. I was frozen at first, but the kissed him back for a few seconds before pulling away from him, "What are we doing?"

"Payback," he growled, pulling me to him again. And this time, we just kept going.