Disclaimer: I claim no right to the Maximum Ride universe. Thanks for all your support. I hope you like the new direction. Much Love!
Two days later, Nick was still debating about calling her. Of course, he had wanted to call her immediately after she left, but Lissa chose that moment to become violently sick. He waited it out with her and when every possible thing was out of her system, he drove her home. He dodged her for the entire week, not answering his phone and skipping all of his usual hangouts.
He and Jason spent a lot of time going over midterms and what had happened at the party. Jason was sure that the football team was going to go on a rampage after Nick, considering that he had taken out three of the best players.
"I only took care of two. Max floored Dean all on her own," he protested.
"Like he's going to admit he was beat by a girl, especially a delicate looking thing like her?" Jason countered. It had taken a while to convince Jason that Max had in fact knocked out Dean with a kick.
Nick played with his phone.
"Just call her already. She obviously wants you to," Jason said, exasperation clear in his tone.
Nick pushed his phone away. "Not yet. I'll give it a while."
Jason drained the rest of his soda. "Don't let Lissa get you off track. Even I could tell that you were out of the relationship forever ago. Go fucking get her."
Nick stared at his phone, his thoughts drifting.
"Hey." Jason banged on the table. "We going out tonight?" He eyed his friend suspiciously.
Nick jerked back to reality. "What? Sure."
"You now have an excuse to talk to Max. I'm begging you to bring a friend." Jason leaned back, looking satisfied. "I'm not letting you leave until you call her."
Nick pinned Jason with a glare. "Right, you're not letting me leave? Since when have you ever been able to stop me from doing something?
Jason arched an eyebrow and grabbed Nick's phone from the table. He scanned through the numbers, found Max's and hit the send button before tossing it back to Nick. Nick snatched the phone from midair and snapped it shut. Jason scowled. "You are absolutely no fun."
"Uh, no. You do not do shit like that." As the words were out of his mouth, Nick's phone rang. He answered without thinking. "What?"
"Hmm, Nick Munroe. Did I catch you at a bad time?" Max said cheerily, as if she knew what had happened.
"Hey, no, you didn't. I just dropped my phone and …," he trailed off. Jason's gleefully unholy grin annoyed him to no end.
He could hear the smile in her voice as she answered. "I know how that goes. I have a friend just like that, but I'm glad in your case. I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me."
Yeah, right. He thought. An image of her looking up at him with her hair disheveled and her mouth open in light panting breaths, an image from his dreams, danced before his eyes. He coughed. "Doubt it. Just been busy is all. Forgetting."
"Yeah, I'm feeling you there, too." Her voice still sounded cheerful, but it had gone softer and wistful. "OW!" All trace of vulnerability was gone in her shout. "What the fuck! That hurt, you bastard. Go away!" The words were muffled, the microphone of her phone no longer near her mouth. "Augh! No, Iggy!"
"Hullo?" The deep baritone laced with a thick Irish accent startled Nick.
"Yeah?" he said.
"Are you this guy that Max has been going on non-stop about?"
Nick let his mouth curve up. "I dunno."
"Is your name Nick – ugh – Munroe? Get off," he said.
"Give me my phone, God damn it!" Max yelled in the background.
"That would be my name."
"Then just take her out already. I'm fucking sick of hearing about it. Pick her up at seven thirty," the guy snapped.
"Will do. See her then," Nick promised.
"Good, here's Max."
Jason sat across the table red-faced and laughing. Nick kicked him. Hard.
"Nick?" Max came back, her breathing labored. "You still there? Mother fucker!" she shouted, presumably at this Iggy person. He heard maniacal laughter in the background.
Nick stood and left Jason rubbing his knee. "Yeah, I'm still here." He shrugged on his coat. "So, I'll see you at seven thirty, then? I'm cashing in that dinner invite."
"Sounds like a date," she said. "You'll have to excuse me now. I'm going to destroy my roommate."
Nick replied, "Okay. I'll see you later."
"Bye," she said and the line went dead.
Nick snapped his phone shut and settled a glare on Jason. "You are such an ass."
Jason rubbed his nails on his jacket and examined them. "And I also got you a date with your dream girl. You can thank me later. I expect to be best man."
Nick rubbed the back of his neck where a dull ache had started. "Yeah, sure. I'm gonna go. I'll see you tonight." He staggered through his front door several minutes later, the intensity of his headache making him clumsy. He stripped of his shirt, set an alarm on his phone and fell onto the bed. There was no way to get rid of pain like this except sleep. He soon fell under.
Nick stood in the center of his living room and stretched up tall, his arms reaching high and his back arching until he felt several pops down his spine. His wings extended, too, nearly touching the walls.
"Feels good, doesn't it? To stretch them after so long?" a woman's voice behind him sent tingles down his spine.
He looked over his shoulder to see her leaning against the refrigerator, her blonde hair spilling over her right shoulder in tangled curls. Her green eyes darkened with emotions he couldn't quite read. God, she was beautiful. He could see the tips of her wings, white and brown-mottled feathers, hovering behind her shoulders. She was his.
"Do you remember yet? Who I am? Who you are?" She pushed off the fridge and moved forward. "The headaches only get worse as the memories get closer to the surface. They'll stop once you remember everything."
Nick faced her, moving to meet her advance. His hands settled at her waist, his thumbs slipping beneath the hem of her shirt to stroke her skin. He loved the small catch in her breathing the action elicited. "I don't remember much, or anything really. But I have this sense that you-"
Her mouth stopped the rest of his sentence. She pressed closer and the scent of her shampoo made him a little dizzy. Her body was pliant under his hands, but he could feel the strength that lay just beneath the surface. There was so much more to her than he had first realized and, with a start, he understood that he held Max in his arms. She smiled against his lips
Then her body jerked as if something had struck her. Her eyes went wide and she coughed. It took him several seconds to realize that blood was slowly pouring over her lip, down her chin. He shouted, but all sound seemed to have faded away. Her knees buckled and he dropped with her to the ground. Looking up, he saw a parking lot at night instead of the walls of his living room and a familiar figure holding a smoking gun and laughing.
Max went completely limp in his arms, her mouth slightly open and that fierce sparkle leaching from her eyes. He gathered her close and roared.