Cheating Death – Chapter 18

By MyNameIsCAL

Max's original plan had been to fly somewhere to get away, like Hawaii where years ago we had our first official date, the place I had brought Max back to when I asked her to marry me. But seeing that I wouldn't be up for flying and leaving that far from home was risky, she had gotten Iggy to cook for us instead, a makeshift romantic dinner right in our kitchen. It was nice of Max, but I felt guilty even though she told me not to. Then again, I felt guilty about a lot of things.

I stood in front of the mirror after taking a shower, shaving and rinsing my face with cold water. Was it me, or did I look older? Yet, I felt like none of us had really changed that much, maybe we all just looked worn out.

Entering the bedroom, I found Max sitting on the bed. She had laid clothes out for me.

"You can wear something else if you want," she offered. "I mean, wear pajamas for all I care."

I started to pull the clothes on, shrugging.

"Are you okay, Fang?"

"Yeah, maybe I'm just getting over paranoid," I replied.

She stood, pulling me into a hug. "I'm sorry, Fang."

I rested my chin on top of her head. "Do you remember when I asked you to marry me?"

"Of course I remember. We were in Hawaii, on the beach," she replied.

"And I got down on one knee, in the sand, and you said that I was going to ruin my new pants," I laughed, kneeling down on the floor, smiling.

"Then you asked if I would marry you and I said yes," she continued, taking my hand.

"I slipped the ring onto your finger…" I stood up, reenacting the motion. "And then I pulled you into a kiss."

I craned my neck, leaning in. Her arms came back around me, and I kissed her deeply. When we broke apart, Max smiled up at me.

The day seemed perfect. I lay with Max on the roof, like we had used to when we needed to get away from the flock. The sun was going down and I could smell Iggy's cooking coming from inside the house. Max had an arm across me, her head on my chest. I twisted her long hair in my fingers, watching as the day said its farewell to the sun.

What had happened earlier, we didn't speak about. Gazzy or Mom or Ella never came up in conversation either. We were in denial, and there was no hiding it, but tonight felt different, like those things had existed a long time ago, like we could stop worrying. Eventually reality would come back and hit us in the face, but it was hard not to let go, especially because we had a reason to, even if only for a little while.

"I miss this," Max whispered.

I took a deep breath, trying to relax. "I do too."

"Would it be wrong to say that I feel like we've lost each other since all this happened?"

"No, I think I'd agree with you on that."

Max didn't say anything for a long time. We let the thought of that sink in, not wanting to really believe it.

"Then let's find a way back to where everything was before," I said slowly.

She rolled on top of me, lips meeting mine. Everything started to slip away, like it was only just the two of us in the moment we were getting caught up in.

Dinner was by candlelight in the kitchen. It felt like being in our own private restaurant, Iggy our chef and server.

"Ig, you should go home," Max insisted.

He shook his head. "Nudge is looking after Gazzy."

But I got the feeling he didn't want to go home, or maybe my sixth sense I was getting was just what Angel was channeling to me. It was hard to tell the difference these days.

Max opened her mouth to say something to him, but he walked out of the kitchen, muttering he had to go to the bathroom.

"What's up with him?"

"Nudge and him have been fighting," I shrugged. "I'm sure they'll be alright."

I started to cut into my steak and Max began to eat. Iggy's food was nothing but the best, making us forget all over again about everything. I wondered if he felt the same way eating it.

"Do you remember that awful food we had on our honeymoon?" Max asked.

"Oh, yes," I laughed. "It was only awful because we've been spoiled by Iggy's cooking."

"But it was really just awful, I mean who can eat that?"

"The rest of America." I smiled at her.

"America needs better taste in food."

Light conversation continued until all the food was gone. We cleaned up the kitchen and filled the dishwasher before making our way to the TV room. Iggy left a note in there saying he had left to go home. I sighed reading it and sat down on the couch.

"Don't worry about him," Max whispered, climbing on top of me. "He'll be okay."

"Of course," I agreed, letting Max distract me from my thoughts.

Updates will be slow for the next couple of days. I'm writing out multiple chapters in a row so when school comes around, I won't have to worry about keeping up.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Update should be after the weekend sometime.