Thunder: Back Through the Rain-Chapter 15
By MyNameIsCAL
---Fang's POV---
I sat alone on the roof of the hotel, in the rain. Time seemed to pass by, whether I kept track of it or not, but Max and Iggy should have been back by now. Maybe they didn't care enough to check up on the rest of the flock.
"Gazzy said I could find you up here."
Startled, I jumped, throwing a punch blindly.
"Jeez, Fang, relax." It was Max. She pushed my fist away, sitting down.
I stood, thinking about flying away. What made her want to talk to me all of a sudden? But I sat down next to her anyway, staring out into the city.
"So we're going to try to track down Jeb," Max told me.
I let out a laugh. "We're never going to find him."
"We can try."
"And what are you going to do? Look around and search blindly, hoping he'll just appear in front of us?!" I scowled.
"Then what do you suggest to do? He's the only one left that can help us. We have nothing else to run on," Max snapped back.
We sat in silence for a moment.
"Fang…" Max spoke more softly now.
"Yeah?" I was exasperated.
She hesitated, but the words that came were firm. "I'm sorry."
I wanted to be angry, but the words "I'm sorry" slipped from my mouth too.
Now there was more silence, full of awkwardness.
Emotion overcame me, though. "I miss you, Max."
She's the one staring off at the city now, crying. "I miss you too."
I reached to wipe her tears away, but she took off, flying, and then I was alone again, in the rain.
---Iggy's POV---
Max returned from talking to Fang sooner than I thought. She lay next to me in bed, her breathing faster than normal. Stress.
"This isn't going to work," she breathed out.
"What isn't going to work out?" I asked.
"Finding Jeb, helping Fang, you and me," she replied.
I took her hand. "It'll all work out in the end."
She didn't answer me though. Instead, she let go of my hand and turned away from me. I knew I was going to lose her. But I had lost myself over the past few weeks with Max and grown an attachment to her. At the point in time, I really did love her, and letting her go seemed impossible. But deep down inside, I also knew this was never meant to be. She belonged with Fang, and I agreed with that, but this was the first time where I actually felt important and where someone would always listen to me. And hell, who would have ever thought that Max would be my first kiss.
---Max's POV---
I've made an executive decision that we were heading home today after getting something to eat. There was too much going through my head and I needed to clear my thoughts by flying. It would be good for all of us. I could figure out how to straighten out my relationship with Iggy. Was I stupid? Yes. Did I really love Fang all along? Yes. But did Iggy really fall for me like he had been saying? I wasn't so sure anymore. And that scared me.
I let Iggy take my hand, just so he wouldn't talk. Nudge was rambling about something. I don't know what. But it was starting to annoy me. Angel was the only one answering back. I was surprised she wasn't stalking our thoughts. If I were her, that's what'd I'd be doing. I certainly would like to know what's been going through everyone's heads lately. I'm sure their thoughts weren't pretty to hear.
"Hey, Max," Nudge suddenly stopped her flow of talking to Angel. "Are we going to find a place to eat soon?"
I looked around. We had been circling the same block for a while now.
"Uhm," I stammered. "Let's go here."
I led Iggy across the street, the flock following, to some taco place.
---Fang's POV---
I haven't said anything to Max since last night. She seemed preoccupied. I wondered if it was me in her thoughts right now. Part of me felt bad for Iggy. Didn't he see in the end he was going to get hurt anyway?
"You talked to her last night?" Gazzy whispered as we went across the street.
"Yeah."
"And?"
"We apologized to each other."
"Oh." Gazzy frowned. "So what's gonna happen next?"
"I don't know."
---Iggy's POV---
The silence made me uneasy. Usually it was the talking of the flock that helped me get a bearing of my surroundings. But they weren't talking. There was only the noise from the surrounding tables around us. If I didn't have so much on my mind, I wouldn't have been so anxious. But Max wasn't talking, and there had to be something wrong.
But I already knew what that was.
"So, uh, someone want to read me the menu?" I asked quietly.
Fang was the one to answer instead of Max, who I was expecting. He read, patiently, the list of items.
"Ok, thanks."
He didn't say anything back though and I was back to sitting with only my thoughts to occupy me. The trip home was going to be a difficult one.
---Fang's POV---
It was good to be flying again, but my leg hurt a lot. Even in the sky I still took up the rear. Gazzy was in front of me. Angel and Nudge were behind Max and Iggy. Every now and then Gazzy would drop back to talk to me. But he knew I didn't really want to be talked to. It was just he felt bad that everyone else was having a conversation and me, being crippled and all, was stuck in the back alone.
We were flying over the red rocks now of Arizona. Home wasn't that far away. The sun was setting. It was beautiful. But none of us were going to notice because we were too caught up in each other.
What a shame.