Chap. 16

Fang, Fang, Fang. Did I Mention Fang?

Max POV

Ahhhh, FINALLY the weekend. I hated school, and Fang did too, and so we put our two uber-ly smart brains together to try to think of a way to skip.

The plan was to ask Mom, and say something along the lines of "School is so boring and we've learned all of this already and haven't you seen our straight A reports so can we skip school, please, please, please, with a cherry on the top?" Well, technically, we didn't really earn the A's. Thank god for Nudge's amazing hacking skills.

When we (actually, I, since Fang chickened out, 'cause he didn't want to be yelled at) talked to Mom, she was unsure.

"Max, I think you should go, just to look out for the Flock."

I rolled my eyes. How could I not? "The Flock looks after itself, Mom. You know that."

She sighed. "I guess I do. I still want you to finish your education, though."

"Mooommmm," I whined. "School is really boring for me and Fang, and -"

Her eyebrows shot up. "Fang, too?"

"Uh, yeah, and we learned this stuff already, back in Virginia, so this is really easy for us. You know we're smart. You've seen our report cards, right?"

"Well, I guess you can stay home," Mom said. Yes! "What's the harm?" she paused for a moment, and then said, "But I trust you and Fang to be responsible, not to-"

"Turn music up too loud, break anything, disturb the neighbors, have a party, or demolish the house," I finished for her.

Mom smiled. "Good girl. I'm leaving for work, and I'm going to drop Ella off at her private school. Can you and Fang drop the Flock off at their school?"

"Sure," I replied.

So, 15 minutes later, I car trip wasted, and 1 Flock less, me and Fang got back home. What to do…

I know! A hot shower. I'll take a hot shower, stay in the shower, stay in the shower some more, and – wait for it – stay in the shower some more.

I grabbed my shower radio, turned it up, and got into the bath.

Aaaahhhh.

Have I mentioned how much I love hot showers?

The warm water felt so, so, so wonderful on my skin. It was relaxing too. Or maybe it wasn't the shower that was relaxing… Maybe it was just the mere thought of not having Angel and Nudge attack me with their makeup supplies or not having to yell and Gaz and Iggy for making more bombs.

Thoughtlessly, I began to sing along with the radio. I was in the shower for, oh, maybe 30 or 40 minutes. It just felt so damn good.

Freshly out of the bath, I dried myself and pulled on some clothes. Nice ones. I felt kinda nervous spending the day with just Fang. What if we don't find anything to do?

My mind was still fogged up from the shower, and I was unable to think of any logical answer. After I hastily yanked a comb through my wet hair, I came out of the bathroom, heading for my room.

Before I reached the door, something grabbed me around the waist. I struggled, but it was hopeless. Let me tell you – I am STRONG. There's no way a normal person could've done that.

I was thrown on my bed, and I flipped over, pulling my arm back for a punch. I found my fist an inch away from Fang's perfect -ahem- perfectly straight nose.

Fang loosened his hold on me, and I sat up, gasping.

"God, Fang! Do you have to creep up on people?" I demanded.

"Yeah," he said, smirking, "but you know you like it."

"I guess I do."

"Good, 'cause I'm going to be doing it a lot." We both laughed. I love the sound of his laugh. Sigh.

Suddenly (A/N: Hate that word, it's so old school, but I couldn't think of anything else other than 'All of a sudden', which is worse) he lips crashed to mine, the 2nd time this week. I instinctively kissed him back, like I always did. I felt Fang nibble at my lower lip, and I parted them. Hesitantly, the tips of our tongues me, just for a second.

And then we were both panting and gasping for air. Unfortunately, we had been so caught up in the kiss we had forgotten to breathe.

We did nothing but lay there for a while. When I thought Fang had fallen asleep, I snuggled up a little closer. He was so warm.

"I love you," I whispered very, very quietly.

I thought he was asleep. He wasn't. "I love you too, Max," he said.

I blushed and buried my face in his chest. "I thought you were asleep," I said.

He didn't reply, so I looked up at him. His face was scrunched up in concentration.

"What?" I asked.

Fang sat upright, really fast. He cocked his head to one side, indicating he was listening to something.

I listened, hard. And I heard it too.

A/N: Hey, hey, hey, babies! Sorry I haven't updated in a while; Me and my fam. have been on vacation, and my mom didn't let me bring the laptop along. Grrrr. She says we "ARE TRYING TO GET AWAY FROM OUR USUAL HECTIC LIFE, SO LEAVE THE DANG LAPTOP AT HOME!!!" So utterly nice of her.

Anyhoo, the good news is that I'm home now and will be updating rather regularly, AAAANNNDDD I wrote ahead a lot. Actually, I wrote so much I had to find another notebook, 'cos I ran out of pages. Yay!

Those last few paragraphs, the kiss and the 'I love you' and the hearing something part was a little different in the first draft… I might up the first draft version in the next chapter.

Wasn't that last part such and evil cliffy? LOL, I crack myself up sometimes. I just laugh for no frickin' reason. :]

Review, review, review, review. Like, NOW. I'm hoping to hit 75- 85 reviews for this chapter.

Love,

IceCweamWuver