Love is Blind – Chapter 44
By MyNameIsCAL
I sat awake in my hotel room, clothes strung across the floor, Iggy in bed next to me with the blankets draped over him. He still seemed to have a smile on his face even though he was sleeping. Quietly, I got out of bed and hung up our clothes. They were expensive tuxedos after all. I smiled to myself, remembering how Iggy and I had come in, undressing each other.
Knock, knock.
Sighing, I made my way to the door. It was Max.
"Hey, what's up?"
"I can't sleep." She frowned. "Do I even want to know why you've got only boxers on?"
I gave her a grin. "Probably not."
She rolled her eyes. "I was wondering if you would come to the roof with me."
"Alright." I grabbed my pants out of the closet and pulled them on, along with Iggy's shirt, and then we made our way down the hall and up the staircase.
There wasn't much of a view up here, and we sat with our feet hanging off the edge. Phineas had booked us the hotel so we wouldn't have to drive home after a long night. It wasn't far from Gabe's house, and I swear if I tried hard enough, I could make out the outline of his neighborhood.
"Do you think Phineas' parents will get over themselves?" Max questioned.
I shrugged. "I'm sure they will."
She nodded in response.
"I guess Iggy and I have been lucky," I said after a while. "You all took it very well. And to think, you could have just disowned the two of us."
"We would never do that," Max shook her head. "Not after everything we've been through together. That would be…ridiculous."
"I—I know."
She rested her hand on top of mine. "We should probably go back now."
I took in a breath, resisting the urge to shake her off. "Yeah, we should."
And then she leaned in and kissed me.
"What the hell are you doing?" I pushed her away.
"I…I…"
My instinct was to run, and so I did, straight back to my room without looking back.
Iggy was still in bed, undisturbed. I climbed in, pulling his arm around me. He let out a grunt, lacing his fingers through my own.
"You're too nice, Fang," he murmured. "She worrying about, John?"
"Yeah." It was a lie, but I'm sure it was what she had been up thinking about.
Iggy breathed out in my and ear and I shivered.
"If I wasn't so tired, I'd say we should do it again," he whispered, undoing the buttons of my shirt.
I turned to face him, and then forced myself on top of him. He gave me a grin, and I pulled the blankets over us, thoughts of Max fading away.
The serial killer appeared dormant as the summer began. Phineas and Gabe were off to tour Europe for their honeymoon. They emailed us pictures every day, and I wondered if Gabe was relieved to be a whole continent and some countries away from the man that tried to kill Phineas. But it was nice to see the stress absent from Gabe's face. Iggy, uninterested by the pictures, said we had to go to Italy one day to eat all the good Italian food.
Right now, we were packing up the car, ready to head out to California. Phineas had lent me the keys to his beach house since he and Gabe were going to be away for a good chunk of the summer. John and Max were coming with us, but Ella had declined saying she was going to give Mom a hand at the office.
"Are you sure you're alright with John coming?" The question surprised me. Max and I had said little to each other since the incident on the roof. It was getting to the point that even Iggy grew suspicious, but he trusted me enough not to press on about it, saying that it wasn't any of his business.
"Yeah, I mean, he definitely needs a vacation," I managed to answer. Besides, it wasn't my decision to make. It had been Iggy's idea to ask everyone else to come.
She nodded, heading back inside to grab the last of our bags.
I drove first, Iggy riding shotgun. Using the rearview mirror, I could see John with a tired smile on his face, talking into Max's ear, making her smile. Part of me was glad Iggy couldn't see me watching them.
"Are we driving straight there or are we stopping?" Iggy questioned.
"I'd rather not stop." I turned my attention back to the road. "You want to plug your iPod in or something?"
It was going to be a long day. We made a few stops to stretch our legs, and wings. Iggy made sandwiches before we left and we spread a blanket out at one of the picnic areas to eat them.
"Why is it that I can't make sandwiches like you?" I elbowed Iggy.
But he shook his head. "We were running out of mayo so I had to conserve. I figured we'd just buy a new jar when we get back home."
I let out a sigh. It was only because I said something about his cooking that he had to find something wrong with it. Sometimes, I think he thought I just tried to say nice things for no reason.
"They're great, Iggy. Stop worrying." Max punched him lightly.
John took the wheel next, Max in the passenger seat. Iggy had his hand in my hair, asking me to describe the scenery. It was something I was used to now. When you couldn't see, touch, smell, hearing, and imagination was all you had left to figure out the world.
"Hey, Iggy, can I ask you something?" John interrupted.
"Sure."
"Were you always blind?" John lowered the radio. "I don't know. Just wondering, I mean, it must be hard."
Iggy shrugged. "A long time ago, before I probably could remember anything. But you know, I guess you could say I'm used to it."
John looked unsure of how to respond.
Iggy now gave me a sheepish grin. "Besides, you people that can see miss everything."
