Chapter Eleven
"Hey," was all he said. Then, I was running to him.
The look in his eye made me stop a few feet short of him though. It was different, unlike anything I'd ever seen in his eyes before. It was a mix of many different things: relief, friendship, anger, and another emotion. It was…love. Wait, love? Love?
The next second, however, he was by my side, fingering my necklace whispering, "Where did you find this?"
"What?" I asked, confused. Vaguely, I heard Iggy herding the younger kids away, giving us some privacy. Thank you.
"The necklace, Max," He said, his voice louder, angrier than before, "Where? When? Why?"
"When you flew up to fight the battle," it seemed like a century ago, "You left it. Me, being curious, snatched it up. I didn't get a chance to open it until I found out that you had been 'terminated,'" I stated, my throat closing in. He looked at me, most likely wondering what I was going to say next. I let loose a tear, remembering the sadness knowing that he loved me and that I could never return the favor, "Fang, I thought that you had died. That I would never be able to tell you how much I love you. I'm sorry that I opened it without your permission."
With that, he tilted my head up with the gentle hold of his left hand, flicking away the single tear with his thumb, "Max?"
"Hmm?" I said while trying to capture the tears that were trying to escape.
"I love you, too." Then, like a dream come true, like a princess finding her true love after a lifetime of loneliness, he gave me a sweet gentle peck on the lips. As he pulled away, he said, "You know, that necklace was your Valentine's Day present," then he put his arms around my waist, and leaned down to kiss me again.
I pulled back just in time, though. Leaning, with my back arching over his arms, I put my arms around his neck. He raised his eyebrows, so I said, "Wait, what day is it?"
"February thirteenth. Why?"
"No reason," I responded, and learned in to kiss him again.
But, before I could, though, Iggy came up to us, saying, "Guys, I know that you hormonal teenagers love sucking faces with each other, but everyone else is very hungry."
I just walked away, because, like I had expected, Fang had Iggy on the dirty, rocky floor of the clearing, punching Iggy's guts out, saying, "I don't ever want to hear you say something like that. Got it?"
By then, I was back at camp, searching my backpack- which Nudge and Iggy had graciously saved- for food. I found about twenty energy bars and passed out two for every bird kid, and one to Total, who was about a foot off the ground using his new wings.
I sat down on one of the logs, thinking, listening. Iggy and Fang came back into the clearing then, laughing, obviously, and I tossed them their dinner. After everyone had finished their bars, I ushered them off to bed, automatically calling first watch. Fang called second, leaving Iggy with third.
Angel and Nudge curled up around Total in the empty hole of a long-ago fallen tree, asleep; the Gasman was leaning against another tree; and Iggy was sleeping on a limb. Fang was… next to me? Wow-that was fast. He opened his mouth ready to speak.