Lie Tonight – Chapter 9
By MyNameIsCAL
For an entire week, Max avoided me. Iggy was constantly calling me, trying to get me to get Max and me to explain to everyone else what was going on.
"You can't let them start assuming things," Iggy said. "I've stopped Nudge several times from going to your apartment."
"I know, Ig," I sighed. "But she doesn't want to talk to me."
"Well, then force her to."
I thought for a moment. "Alright."
It took a long time for me to get up from my bed after finishing my call with Iggy. But he was right. I needed to talk to Max. We needed to get through this together. Not that Angel's lying justified the situation Max and I were in, but if Sam was willing to move on without ill will towards us, then why shouldn't we?
I entered her room, which was really just the guest bedroom, and sat on the edge. "Max, we can't go on like this."
She answered by not responding.
I let out a sigh. "We have to do this together. And things will work out in the end. I know they will and I know that you know they will too."
Still, she laid in bed, her back turned to me.
"Remember I told you the day Angel lied to you was the day was I was going to ask you to marry me?"
"Yes, I remember," she replied weakly.
"Well, Max," I said, touching her arm. "I'm asking you to marry me, Max. Like you should have five years ago."
I pulled out the ring, waiting for her reply, anxiously.
She turned, pulling me down so that I was face to face with her. "I'd be a fool to say no, Fang."
Taking her hand, I slipped the ring on. It was finally where it was supposed to be, on Max's finger, not locked in my drawer.
The only thing left to do was explain to the flock.
Max and I waited at Iggy's restaurant for everyone to show up. We sat, almost anxiously. Iggy knew, and now Nudge knew. She seemed shocked at first, but even Nudge would admit that it was hard not for her to see a little happiness in it all.
"I always thought Fang had picked out a nice ring," she said in a whisper, like saying it too loud would upset some unknown balance.
Max gave a small smile, but the fact that Iggy and Nudge had accepted it without much protest seemed to distress her.
"If it makes you feel any better," Iggy spoke up. "Sam still comes around here. He brought his brother here the other day. It would be nice if I could tell him you were doing well instead of making up a lie."
She let out a sigh now, looking at her ring.
"Angel is coming, by the way," Nudge said. "She just called before you came. We all thought she had taken off to wherever she's been."
"Ah," I didn't know what else to say.
"Well, they're coming now," Iggy said quietly, his eyes finding the door even though he couldn't' see. "But whatever they say to you, just know that Nudge and I are behind you one hundred percent."
"Thank you," Max muttered, heading to the table.
"You're what!" Gazzy blinked in disbelief.
"Pregnant," Max repeated.
"And it's Fang's?" Gazzy asked.
I nodded.
He let out a breath. And then suddenly, he turned to Angel. "Hey! You have explaining to do too!"
"What I did doesn't justify what happened between them!" Angel hissed.
Gazzy glared at her. "This never would have happened if you didn't lie, Angel. So fess up."
She sneered at him, but confessed anyway. "Alright, jeez, Gazz, I lied, okay? I lied because I was mad at Max and jealous that she and all of you were happy, so I made it up that bad things would happen to us if they got married."
Unlike her reaction to Max and my confession, Mom seemed disappointed now. "How could you do that Angel?"
Angel sucked in a breath, unable to bring herself to say anything nasty to Mom. "Because I'm never going to be happy."
And then Angel got up and headed towards the door.
"Don't walk away from us!" Gazzy shouted after her.
"Goodbye," she scoffed, slamming the door behind her.
We sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity before Mom spoke, always the diplomat. You could tell that even she saw the bright side to all of this. "Well, Max, you and Fang are going to be parents now. It's a big responsibility."
"I know," Max answered, sounding a little dazed.
Mom went on, all of us listening. "You understand that what happened, what you did, was something that could have done irreversible damage to Sam, and even to us as your family. You and Fang are lucky, Max."
"I know," repeated.
"But being a parent is a wonderful thing, so I must say, congratulations, both of you," Mom finished quietly.
She stood and hugged Max, and you can only imagine there were more tears to go around.
Thanks for reading as always! Chapter 10 should be on it's way soon. As you can imagine, there's not much left to this story really, so if you have anything you'd like to see, or anything that I've forgotten about, please tell me!