Disclaimer: I don't own MR.
"Are we really just going to sit here and wait for the sun to go down?" Tess asked.
"Yup," Iggy answered as he adjusted his shades, even if it was already late in the afternoon.
"We're not going to prepare dinner or anything?"
"Nope, I told dad we'd have a bonfire."
Fang looked up from where he was playing with the sand, building a tiny hill. "You brought marshmallows?"
Iggy grinned and produced a small pack of rainbow marshmallows from his pocket. "I always bring marshmallows."
The four of us were sitting on one of the higher spots in the beach, after Iggy announced that "watch a sunset with my first girlfriend" (yes, it was that specific) was in his bucket list, and then insisted that Fang and Tess join us. It made me fell even guiltier, remembering that I never really said yes to him, and that I mostly wanted to be with Fang. If possible, that was made even worse when the two sat on either side of me.
With the surf, the silence, and the silhouettes, it would've made a good movie ending. A movie that possibly involved two couples who knew each other. Or something that involved friendship ala Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, only without the pants part. But this wasn't the end, because I could tell by the way Iggy's hand slightly inched his way toward mine. I took a deep breath, and started doing the same thing. Our fingers overlapped in a matter of minutes, and soon enough, Iggy slowly put his fingers through the spaces between mine.
"This is really beautiful." Iggy said as he took of his sunglasses. His piercing blue eyes seemed to stare at me, as if it had a brain of its own and was trying to figure out whether I was going to be honest or not.
"Yeah, it is." I replied.
Deep down, my hand was itching for someone else's, someone who wasn't Iggy.
"Pass the string cheese. If there's still some." Iggy said as he tossed a couple of marshmallows into his mouth.
After the guilt-racking sunset watching was crossed of the list, Fang grabbed a lamp and we started setting up a campfire. The menu for the night was marshmallows, hotdogs, and bacon on a stick. String cheese might've been an option, but that was before we started spreading it on each other like it was the latest beauty regiment.
"None anymore." I said, eyeing the empty containers. I loaded my barbecue stick with a combination of hotdogs and marshmallows. Tess was beside me, perfectly contented with classic marshmallows attempted to be arranged in some sort of pattern. Iggy, who was on my other side, was busy folding up a strip of bacon in an accordion style and putting it on his barbecue stick, along with a couple of marshmallows. Fang sat across me, and coincidentally seemed to dig hotdogs and marshmallows, too.
Iggy shrugged and scraped off some of the string cheese on his arm and then used it to cover the bacon.
"Is that even legal?" Tess asked.
"Is that even edible?" Fang questioned.
"Did you even take a bath after getting out of the water?" I inquired.
"Probably, yes, and no." Iggy grinned as he let the flames linger over the bacon. "Remind me to try this with the microwave when we get back."
"Well, whatever you do, use your own." Fang said as he pinched a marshmallow between his fingers and pulled it out from the stick.
"Can we sleep here?" Tess asked as she hugged her knees to her chest.
"We'll probably wake up in who-knows-where, just like in The Hangover Part II." Iggy snorted.
I got up. "Want me to get the sleeping bags?"
Tess nodded. "I'll help you." Iggy said as he stood up, like he was preparing to carry a king-sized bed. I grabbed a flashlight and Iggy followed me as we made the short trek to the house.
"You having fun?" Iggy asked once we got inside.
"You sound like an overly concerned parent." I said as I leaned against the counter. "But yeah, I am having fun." And feeling really, really, really guilty at the same time.
He moved closer until he was a feet away from me. "Glad to hear that," he smiled.
"You planning to sleep out tonight?" I asked, attempting to fill in what was about to become an awkward silence. "The stars look really good tonight."
"I guess. And Fang would probably point out all the constellations like he always does."
Fang. I remembered that night when we were sophomores, spending the evening in the clearing, thinking that a hug was the farthest I'd ever go with him. Which clearly turned out to be wrong.
Iggy moved in even closer, until we were probably a millimeter from each other, him looking down, me looking up, and him closing the distance between our lips. There was no spark; it was only a kiss. And unlike the ones I had with Fang, where I was thinking of him, and only him, I found myself thinking about how I kissed two guys less than twenty-four hours apart and how different people would react to this.
My mom would never ever hear about it, and neither would my dad, who would probably give me some embarrassing talk about safe sex while some guy working for Skype watched and laughed at the conversation. The Gasman would make a face and say something about cooties, even if he obviously knows more than that. Angel would probably also think of different reactions from different people. Nudge would squeal and say that the "love triangle" between the three of us was heating up. Ella would try to compare the two of them to see who was "better boyfriend material". Fang and Tess would not react, though Fang might think about how we kissed less than twenty-four hours before and how the people he knew would react.
And Iggy, who pulled away after almost a minute of making out with a really goofy but genuinely happy grin plastered to his face, would never hear about this, and would be broken if he ever did.
Fang
"Pass the marshmallows." Tess said, mostly to break the silence. I sighed and grabbed the almost empty pack lying where Iggy was sitting a while ago.
"What do you think happened with those two?" Tess asked as she looked at the house.
"Maybe they're still looking for the sleeping bags amongst the piles of useless stuff Mr. Griffith packed?"
"Or…"
Probably making out without any idea where the sleeping bags were. I shrugged instead, and Tess resumed with digging marshmallows from the pack.
After a couple of minutes, Max's flashlight sliced through the dark and the two of them sat down, carrying two sleeping bags each. Iggy was blushing faintly, sort of glancing at Max, who had no reaction. She put down the sleeping bags and started playing with the zipper on Iggy's jacket, which she was wearing.
Yep, they probably spent a minute or two making out and then started looking for the sleeping bags. Tess and I exchanged glances, and from the mischievous twinkle in her eye, I could tell that she was going to convince Iggy's parents to give him a Talk when we got back.
"Any requests?" I asked, grabbing my guitar, to break the awkward glances everyone seemed to throw at each other lately.
"'Campfire song' song." Max called out. "And no way am I singing it."
"Neither am I." Iggy, Tess, and I all said at the same time.
"Nothing from the Jonas Brothers, please." Tess said picking out an overcooked marshmallow.
"Iggy?"
"Nothing from Big Time Rush or anything resembling that." Iggy said.
"What the hell is going on with the guy band references?" I turned to look at Max. "First song that comes to your mind?"
She blinked, before blurting out, "You Suck at Love? Simple Plan."
I adjusted the guitar. "Something I can sing, at least."
I started playing, and singing in a low voice, that according to the drama club last year, something that I could only "flaunt at its maximum power". I watched Tess slightly sway and eat marshmallows. I watched Iggy and Max hold hands and Max manage a small smile, which was sad in a way.
Who was really supposed to sing this song? And to whom was this song supposed to be sung to?
I had a feeling Max knew the answer to both.
Max
We spent most of the evening throwing song requests at Fang, and learning names of constellations and stars that I already knew somewhere in the back of my mind from that lesson one night from Fang. I spent the rest of the evening feeling guiltier by the second. And when I woke up in the morning, I felt like someone from Hangover Part II, only without the major hangover part.
It was really early, but not the type of early where it was totally dark and you still had to use a flashlight to find your way through. There were hints of light somewhere far away, which meant that the sun was about to make its big and dramatic entrance like it always did.
Tess was still sleeping. Iggy looked like he'd been slumbering on the sand for ages. But the sleeping bag where Fang was supposed to be dozing off in was neatly rolled, the sand around it filled with marks which would've equaled to footprints on solid ground. I was tired, but then I wasn't in the mood for anymore sleeping so my only legit option was to follow the tracks. Soon enough, I could see Fang sitting on the same spot where the four of us watched the sun set.
"Too early to wake up on a summer morning huh?" I asked as I took a spot beside him.
He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."
"Me either. Do you usually wake up this early?"
"Only on a school day."
"That's still too early."
"Well, have you ever watched the sun rise? Besides while watching a movie?"
"Nope."
"Then you're going to be amazed."
"Uh-huh."
We spent the next few minutes in silence, watching as the sky change into a couple of different hues and the sun slowly show itself, with the seagulls and other birds flying to it like in the paintings.
"It's pretty, isn't it?" Fang asked, leaning back, his hand precariously close to mine, that sirens were already flashing in my brain, warning me that there was a guy who liked me that could wake up any minute now and see me and his best friend almost hold hands like he never existed.
"Yeah, I guess it is. Sort of looks like a painting."
"I agree with that."
I looked back and breathed a sigh of relief once there was no sign that Iggy or Tess were about to get up.
"I can hear Iggy snoring all the way here."
Fang shrugged off the comment, since they were best friends and all that. "That always happens to him when he's exposed to too much light and warmth. No possible explanation, I guess."
The sun continued to reveal itself. Neither of the two sleepy heads were showing any sign of waking up, Fang was still leaning back, and his hand was still close to mine. Sirens were still flashing in my brain, but there was no plan of moving my hand farther.
"Um, Max…"
"Yeah?"
"Iggy's never going to find out, about, you know… what happened yesterday, way before the campfire?"
The kiss? I wanted to say in the kind of voice girls used when they acted confident. But I wasn't confident. And neither did I want to sound like a total a-hole nor the kind of girl that was used to making out with at least two different guys in a day, which I was pretty sure completely turned Fang off.
"Yeah, that, yesterday," I said in my normal nervous voice, which I swear was true because Iggy's snores in the background was a constant reminder on what could happen.
"He's not going to find out, right?" He asked?
I turned to look at him, making eye contact in a business-y sort of way. "He should never find out."
"Is this a deal?"
"Yeah, this is a deal."
He held out his hand, and I shook it like we were actual businessmen. Our fates were practically sealed.
Yeah, I know I've been gone for two weeks. I swear that I already had the plot, just not how to write it in a completely appealing way that didn't result to another cliché kiss between Fax. Plus my school DIDN'T START THE VACATION UNTIL THE TWENTIETH. How freaking nearing is that to Christmas, huh?
So yes, it's the holidays, where rain and cold winds equal to snow in the tropics. Where prices are suddenly higher and malls more crowded. Where everything, even orange traffic cone icons are dressed up in Santa caps. Where holiday-themed TV show episodes and made-for-TV-movies with a holiday theme start to appear (I'm currently obsessing over episode 11 of Hey Arnold's first season).
So I still apologize for the rush-y-ness of this chapter, or at least most of the parts there. But then I'm too much of a procrastinator to go back and change it. Hey, I'm on vacation people.
This is probably my last post for 2011.
Remember guys, treat this Christmas like it's going to be your last! And don't forget to give me a present by reviewing =D.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS =D