In and Out of Love-Chapter 4
By MyNameIsCAL
I had a black eye by the time I woke up. It was almost dinner time now. Crawling out of bed, I pulled on a new shirt and trudged into the kitchen. Iggy and Max were carrying on a conversation. She was unpacking grocery bags. Max must have taken Iggy out after Mom dropped him off. That I was ok with.
"Rise and shine," Max grinned.
I frowned back and sat at the table in my usual spot. Iggy always sat at the head of the table because he was the chef. If it weren't for Iggy, I would have to live off of Chinese takeout and delivered pizza. Occasionally Iggy would teach me to cook something so I could feed myself if he happened to be away somewhere with Ella or the younger ones.
"What're you cooking?" I mumbled to Iggy.
"What happened to you?" Iggy replied. "You sound like someone hit you with a car."
"George punched me," I answered quietly.
Iggy didn't push the matter. Instead, he said, "I'm making chicken."
Max was going through the fridge now, looking for ice. She finally came across and icepack and handed it to me. Reluctantly, I put it over my eye. The cold stung, but it felt soothing at the same time too. She gave me a smile and I grimaced back. I felt like shit. I probably looked like shit too.
Iggy and Max carried most of the conversation during dinner. He had seen Angel and Gazzy today. They had managed to stay out of trouble. Mom was good, as always, and he swore he didn't tell Mom anything about George. It was better that way until Max talked to her. I didn't feel like making up excuses for Max letting George get away when he was obviously trying to hurt her.
"I bought ice cream," Iggy said as he placed our dishes in the sink. "Do you want some?"
I only said yes to make him happy. He was trying to make both Max and I happy. Even when Max was around, I could still be bitter. Sometimes I had to stop myself and tell myself to be thankful that we were still friends and not estranged. I have to tell myself things could be worse, and it makes me feel a little better until I have to think about it again.
Max has been asleep for hours now. Iggy and I sat on the couch, some reruns of an old cop show playing. I told him quietly about what happened earlier. He sounded disgusted at first that Max would let someone go after he attempted to rape her.
"She must have other reasons than pitying him," Iggy contemplated. "But she can't possibly still like him."
And even though Iggy wasn't me, he always denied the fact that Max didn't love me. Sometimes it amused me and other times it really pissed me off. Today, I was just tired of thinking about anything.
"She didn't love him enough to marry him," Iggy went on. "But she loves him enough to forgive him."
"Sounds like me," I muttered.
Iggy sighed. "Yes, to some extent, Fang. But I'm sure she'd choose you over him if she had to decide whose bed to get into."
"Hey!" I snapped.
"I didn't mean it that way." Iggy held up his hands, trying to evade his perverted joke. "No really, Fang, I know she'd be more comfortable around you. You can control yourself."
What was that supposed to mean? I scowled. Good thing Iggy couldn't see me or he probably would have made another remark that was supposed to make me feel better.
"Go to sleep," Iggy finally said after I didn't say anything. "If I'm going to have a monologue with you I mind as well go talk to Ella."
"I'm sorry," I replied.
He shrugged. "Nah, I know it must be hard for you. But it'll work out eventually."
And with those words, Iggy always being the oh-so-wise one, I headed to bed and tried to get some sleep for once.
Around six in the morning, Max climbed into my bed. She put her arm around me and rested her chin on my shoulder. "Morning, Fang."
I turned my head to face her. "Morning."
"Let's go see Mom today," she whispered.
It took me a while to agree. "Alright, we'll go with Iggy around noon."
I half expected to get out of my bed, but she pulled the blankets over us and we fell asleep for another few hours until Iggy came knocking on my door for breakfast.
"Mom will be happy to see you," Iggy told me as I cleaned the dishes.
"Really?" It's not that I didn't believe him, I just wished Mom wouldn't worry about me so much. Out of everyone in our flock, our family, I was the one she saw the least. And here I was, going to her house looking like a half dead person with my black eye.
At least that would force Max to tell Mom about George. Mom always gave good advice. She could talk some sense into Max. Hopefully.
We loaded up the car just before noon. Max wasn't going to let me drive. Even though the only thing that really was left was the black eye. My nose felt normal already. Thank God for fast healing. I didn't think I could ever endure pain if I was a human.
"Keys!" Max snapped her fingers.
I threw them at her and she caught them. She was going to drive my car. Actually it was Iggy's and mine. He helped pay for it and I drove him places, so we shared it to some extent. And now Max was going to drive it. Not that I had a problem with that. I just didn't see why we couldn't take her car.
"It sucks. I need to get a new one," she told me.
And because I always had to let Max win, I didn't argue back.