~∞ ROSES ∞~

Chapter Twenty-Three: Rose-less

Later that night-

"This is so good…" Lupo mumbled, her mouth crammed with food. She looked down, her silver streak of bangs covering her face, as she blushed.

Iggy sat across from her, watching with his pale blue eyes, as Lupo blissfully ate the pasta on her plate. His own plate lay untouched, as he amusedly watched Lupo devour her Pasta Marinara.

She stopped mid-bite, her cheeks flaring even more, as she straightened her back, and delicately wiped her mouth. "… Uh, aren't you going to eat?"

With a chuckle, Iggy reclined in his seat. "Nah, it's not that great…"

Lupo's jaw dropped, quickly coming up with a statement to defend Olive Garden. "How can you say it's not that great? This is like Heaven! In your mouth!"

Iggy shrugged loosely, his lips quirking up to a grin. He relaxed his arms behind his head and said, "All I'm saying is that I could do much better."

She raised an eyebrow dubiously. "I doubt you can."

"Is that a challenge?" Iggy smirked.

Lupo shook her head, trying not to smile. "No. It's another date."

Lightly laughing, Iggy grinned. "Well then… Challenge accepted!"

The mood suddenly became serious, and the two young adults stared into each other's eyes. Lupo felt herself shiver from the intensity of Iggy's blue gaze. Gosh, I feel like a puddle of mush… She scolded herself. But his eyes… They're just so… pretty. And he can cook!

"Lupo?"

"… Yes?"

"You… You have something right there…" Iggy muttered, pointing to the corner of her mouth.

Her tongue poked out of her mouth, in attempt to get rid of the pasta sauce, and he chuckled lightly. "Is it still there?"

He nodded. "Here, I'll get it for you…"

Lupo's heart pounded erratically in her chest as he leaned closer and closer, before he was just an inch away. Her eyes flickered down to his lips, his eyes, and then they fluttered closed, ever so slowly.

And then she felt a napkin wipe the sauce away.

Her eyes flew open, confused, only to see Iggy trying to stifle a laugh. "You – You – You… Diphead!" Lupo shouted, trying not to laugh herself. "You're such a tease!"

Iggy let his husky laugh loose, and she struggled to maintain her non-blushy composure. "My dear, I believe the correct word would be flirt. Then again, I only am a flirt around, well…"

"Around?" Lupo asked anxiously.

He looked down, cheeks tinted pink. "Around those who I really like."

STOP! STOP BLUSHING! Lupo screamed at herself internally, trying to fight the heat from shooting to her cheeks. It was unsuccessful.

"Well… does that mean that hypothetically… you like me?" Lupo wondered curiously, a small smile forming on her face.

Iggy scratched the back of his neck. "Hypothetically speaking, well then, yeah."

"I don't hit people I like, even if they were a tease… So hypothetically speaking..."

"You like me?" Iggy asked.

She gave a small nod. "But we were being hypothetical, of course," Lupo mumbled.

He grinned, and placed his hand gently on her cheek, causing them to flush. "So hypothetically," Iggy teased, "if I kissed you, you wouldn't be angry?"

Smiling softly, Lupo shook her head. "Hypothetically, no." This is so awkward!

Iggy leaned in over the table, closer to her, just as he did previously, staring into her golden-brown eyes. Her head tilted upwards, the slightest bit, and just after their lips brushed together, Iggy's cell began to ring.

He pulled back, cursing, and apologized to Lupo. "I'm really sorry, Lupo, but it's Fang, and I have to get this…"

She nodded tightly, and leaned back in the booth chair.

"Hello?"

"Iggy…" Fang's slurred voice came from over the phone. Is he… drunk? Iggy asked himself incredulously. Fang? Drunk?

Iggy got up from the table, muttering the word, bathroom, to Lupo, clutching his phone to his ear. "What the hell, Fang? Why the f*ck are you drunk?"

"M-Max…" Fang hiccupped. Iggy's eyebrows furrowed. Max?

"Is Max with you?" he demanded.

"N-No… We… I… She… Broke up…" Fang muttered.

"What? When?" Why would they have broken up? The two were inseparable!

"Tod-day. Earlier… Sam…" Fang said brokenly, his words mumbling together.

Iggy could hear an audible gulp from the other side of the telephone line. "Dude, put the alcohol away!" Iggy yelled.

"N-Not… gonna h-help anything…" he sighed.

"Neither is you being so wasted on your ass that you can even remember why you drank in the first place!"

A choked cry was heard. Is he… crying? "It… h-hurts… too… much…"

Iggy felt his heart drop in sympathy for his friend. "Hang on, buddy. I'm coming to getcha." Lupo will understand.

…

Two weeks later-

He stood, slumped up against the wall of Max's dorm. Memories from two weeks ago flooded into his brain. Iggy helping him into bed. The drunken phone call. Getting the alcohol out. Crying for the first time since his dad left. And then last, the thing he wanted to remember the least.

Max's face when he broke up with her.

Even after two long, dreadful weeks, he still remembered the shocked, hurt look on her face like a picture.

Like it was burned into his memory.

So here he was, standing outside her dorm. Over the two, miserable weeks, Fang had come to a conclusion.

He was too much in love with her just to let her go. She meant too much to him.

The door of her dorm opened, and she stepped out, her face solemn, almost completely void of emotion. You did this to her! Fang yelled at himself.

"Max…"

She spun around to face him, her eyes widening, and then narrowing in anger. "What are you doing here?" Max spat, trying to fight the overwhelming feeling that tried to overtake her, wanting her to just run and throw her arms around his neck.

"Just let me explain…" he begged.

"Wasn't it enough? 'Everything I felt towards you was a lie'? Doesn't everything, mean everything?" she yelled, blinking back un-fallen tears. "What more do you have to say?" Max asked, her voice nearly cracking with anguish.

He wanted to let the tears out himself. "Max…"

"Don't call me that! Don't say it like you still love me! Like you ever loved me!" she screamed.

"How could you believe what I said before?" Fang blurted. "I tell you I love you multiple times, but I tell you I hate you — no, I don't even say that — once, and you believe me? How do you know it wasn't set up, or I wasn't blackmail —"

She cut him off. "Well were you?"

He didn't answer quickly enough. "Ma —"

"Fang. Just stop, okay?" Max pleaded, blinking back her tears that were beginning to fall. "There's one thing you didn't do — something I could never forgive you for," she said quietly.

Fang opened his mouth to speak, but she silenced him with a whisper. "You never showed you were scared of losing me. The only thing you can do now is just leave me alone."

With those words, she walked away.

And that's when he let the tears come.

If that's what you really want… Then I'll leave you alone. If you don't want me to be a part of your life… I won't.

Without you… I feel empty.

A rose-less rosebush.

But just know… You're wrong Max. I was scared all along.

"I'm scared of losing you, Max…" Fang whispered. "But I already have."