Lie Tonight – Chapter 19

By MyNameIsCAL

Ari grew up fast. It seemed like he only started to walk yesterday and now he was well on his way to finishing fifth grade. He was a good kid though, and surprisingly he enjoyed school more than we actually wanted him to.

Things have changed with the others too. Angel was finally living by herself a few minutes away in an apartment. She had her close relationship with Gazzy, and mostly kept to herself, still joining us for dinner twice a week. She adjusted to being around us more, but even I could tell that she still didn't feel in place, and I felt sorry for her, but she did a good job at trying to not make it seem like she felt that way.

As for Gazzy, he had died away from being in the news, spending a lot of time hiding around here. The paparazzi came around every now and then, but he managed to evade them. Although he would be working on a new movie soon, and it wouldn't be long before he was back in the spotlight. He had his off-on relationship with Ella, but I think she just liked the idea of being with someone famous even though I knew Gazzy was ready to commit.

Iggy had his restaurant. It got good business, dinner time being the busiest. Nudge leisurely went in and out, helping him, her business growing steadily. I swear she made enough clothes for Ari that he could wear a different outfit every day. Even Max and I had more than we could handle.

"You've been standing in front of the closet for the past five minutes," Max remarked.

I turned back at her. "Well, we're going to Ari's graduation. I mean, I have to wear something nice, but something I like, and something that Nudge made."

Max rolled her eyes and pulled out something. "Wear this. You haven't worn it yet, and it'll make Nudge happy."

I retreated to the bathroom and changed, coming out to see Max in a dress, something I wasn't accustomed to.

"Well, you look beautiful," I grinned.

She rolled her eyes, but I pulled her into a kiss anyway. I felt her fingers in my hair and we fell into the bed, for a brief moment.

"Hey, we still got a whole graduation and dinner to get through," she said breathlessly.

I laughed. "Ah, of course."

Max rolled her eyes and I gave her my hand, helping her back onto her feet.

When we got to the school, there were lots of parents here, but I felt like we stuck out. Gazzy was with Iggy and Nudge, a couple of people stopping to stare at him before they continued to walk by. Angel stood behind her brother, as if shielding herself from the rest of the people.

"I hope the paparazzi doesn't show up," he whispered. "It's nice not to be on the front of tabloids. They start making stuff up about you when you disappear too."

Iggy smirked. "Did I tell you I was the one that submitted that story about you getting abducted by aliens?"

"What?" Gazzy's voice rose.

"I'm kidding," Iggy grinned.

"I hate you," Gazzy mumbled.

"My friends don't believe me when I tell them I'm related to you," Ari interjected. "Can I take you to say hi to them?"

"Sure thing, Kiddo."

"Cool." Ari led Gazzy off towards where the students were entering.

"He didn't even say goodbye to us," Nudge commented.

"It's cause you're here," Iggy cackled. None of us would ever forget that she always made Ari cry whenever she talked when he was a baby.

"No it's not!" Nudge elbowed him hard and Iggy began to cough, trying to stifle his laughter.

"Enough you two," Max muttered.

Iggy straightened up and took Nudge's hand, letting her lead the way.

We took our seats a couple rows from the front. Through the bottom of the curtain, you could see chairs lined up. Behind us, music started to play.

"They shoulda done something like this when we left the school," Iggy joked.

"Right," Max said, sounding half annoyed and half amused. "The scientists definitely wanted to give us a going away parade."

Gazzy was running down the aisle, jumping into his seat next to me.

"Nice of you to join us," I said under my breath.

"Hey, they wanted autographs," Gazzy sniggered. "I did a couple impersonations of my characters too."

They came walking down the aisles in caps and gowns. Behind us, there were two parents saying how it wouldn't be long that they would be going to high school and graduating to college. I had to agree with them. The past eleven years had gone by so fast.

"Look, there's Ari," Max pointed.

I smiled at him and he gave me a grin, waving at Gazzy who gave him a joking salute. I think the rest of the kids were too busy looking at Gazzy instead of paying attention to where they were supposed to be going. One of the kids almost tripped.

"You're such a distraction," I told Gazzy.

He just laughed and we watched the Ari and his classmates proceed up the stage stairs, taking their seats in alphabetical order.

I can't say I remember much of what the principal said, but I do remember that Ari was one of the few to stop and smile for a picture when he got his diploma. After the whole ordeal was over, Iggy had us over at the restaurant, closed it down just for us.

"So, you excited for middle school, Kiddo?" Gazzy questioned.

"No, I heard there's more work," Ari replied.

"Well, I guess I wouldn't know," Gazzy responded. "But I'm sure you'll do fine. And if your teachers give you a hard time, I'll get Angel to come charm them into giving you an A."

"I'll do no such thing!" Angel snapped.

"Aww, c'mon, Angel, I was kidding."

They seemed like such kids sometimes, I wondered what Ari made of all of it.

A couple hours later, we made our way home, exhausted and ready for summer to start. We said goodnight to Ari and before I could crawl into bed, Max took my hand.

"Where are we going?" I asked her as she started towards the end of the bedroom.

"Just follow me."

Max opened the window and jumped out, spreading her wings just before she hit the ground. I did the same and we flew towards the cliffs in the distance, landing quietly. She took a seat and I sat next to her, our feet dangling on the edge.

"I can't believe he graduated today," Max said. "I can't believe where time went."

I looked up at the stars and then at Max. "I remember when he was just a baby."

She leaned her head on my shoulder. "I remember when were just kids, trying to get away from everything."

I put my arm around her. "You know, it's funny because when that all happened, it seemed like it took forever, and you look back and you try to remember what happened in between, and it's just like, I don't know, too fast."

"I know what you mean."

"Max, I love you," I whispered.

She kissed me. "I love you too, Fang."

And I knew time would always fly by us, and that was the one thing we couldn't do anything about, but I knew that as long as I had Max and Ari and the rest of the flock, then time wouldn't really matter at all.

I hate endings. This one I found hard to end, not because I didn't want to , but because I wasn't really sure how to. I hope this was somewhat satisfying, and if it wasn't, then I'm very sorry to disappoint you.

Once again, thank you to all of you that have stuck with this to the end. Lie Tonight was one of those stories I had to spend a lot of time writing because I didn't really know what I was going to do with it. But this is all a learning experience for me, and even if people read my stories and had nothing nice to say, I'd just say "well, hey, that's okay, at least people are reading it."

I'll have a new story out there for all of you shortly. Check out my fanfiction tumblr website on my profile to learn about some upcoming stuff I've written and what's going on with my current stories.

Thank you again!

}MyNameIsCAL{