It was about midnight, everyone else was asleep. I was sitting on the roof of the cabin we'd taken over today. Everyone had been thrilled; totally stress free—that is, everyone but me, as usual.
I sighed and shivered as a gust of wind tickled my neck. There were only four rooms, but it was fine. Nudge and Angel were already used to sharing a room and Iggy and Gazzy didn't care about sharing one. Fang and I had our own, which was good. At least for now we would be safe.
Unless the people who actually own this cabin show up, I thought, dropping my face in my hands. I lay back and watched the moon rise up higher and higher. I began connecting the dots in the sky because I was so totally bored. I almost hoped the people who owned the cabin would show up and just try to kick us out. I wanted a fight.
Just then Fang swooped up and landed next to me, checking to make sure I was still awake.
"Yup, still breathing," I said, not looking at him He chuckled.
"Want me to take over the watch?" he asked quietly. I shook my head.
"Nah, I'm not tired enough to sleep. Anyway, I feel better being awake. Just to make sure nothing goes wrong." Fang said nothing, and I watched out of the corner of my eye as he settled himself next to me, lying back like I was. We were quiet for a long time, and finally the sun was beginning to show. I thought about Itex, about all the crap they'd put my Flock through. I felt angry as I thought about how many times one of my Flock had gotten hurt, and I couldn't hide my fuming from Fang.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked, looking over at me. His arms were crossed behind his head and he was using them as a pillow. The one too-long piece of black hair was covering half of his right eye, and without thinking I just kind of, moved it. I blushed embarrassingly and then sat up.
"Nothing," I told him, though I was still angry. He wasn't fooled and he sat up too.
"You can tell me, you know," he said, looking into my eyes. I knew.
"I was just…" I began, unused to the feeling of "expressing myself"—yuck. Fang slid closer to me and wrapped his arms around my waist very, very slowly. My heart sped up and I immediately blushed again.
DO NOT overreact, Max! I told myself furiously, thinking of how many times I'd ditched his attempts to be close to me. He didn't deserve that, and I'd been a total, complete moron and a jerk to him.
"You were just?" He encouraged. He shifted his weight so that I was now leaning against his chest—and le'me tell you, I was not complaining. I sighed in surrender and told him.
"I was just thinking about Itex, and how much it put you guys through," I told him, irritation dripping from my tone. "They hurt you, Angel, Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge, even Total—Total's a freaking dog who couldn't have hurt a fly if he tried"—I was happy Total was asleep and couldn't hear my blasphemous (but true) words—"And they hurt you," I went on quietly, rage hot in my blood. Fang chuckled.
"You already said that," he told me quietly, and I blushed. His hand moved hair away from my neck. "But you forgot to mention something," he said. I turned a little in his embrace and gave him a, What are you talking about? face. He smiled a very small, almost sad smile. "What about how many times they hurt you?" I blinked, confused. Why did that matter? The Flock mattered. He read my expression and seemed to get a little mad. "You matter." He said, his voice strong. "You mean everything," he said.
I almost slid out of his arms. Literally, I think I was this close to melting. The only thing that stopped me was his rough lips as they touched mine very softly. I was startled, but I couldn't have wanted this more. I would've self combusted.
We sat there on the roof for a while. It was peaceful, quiet, and Fang snuck kisses on my lips every now and then. That's when I heard Nudge inside the cabin.
"I'm hungry, where's Max?" I sighed and began to move.
"Gotta go be leaderly," I told Fang, though (and I would never admit it to him) I never wanted to leave his embrace. I stood and he grabbed my hand, standing up too.
"I'm glad you didn't leave this time," he told me, and irritatingly, I blushed again. He did too, so I figured it was ok.
"Me too," I said, not looking at him. I leapt from the roof and landed soundlessly on my feet, sashaying into the cabin. Angel giggled, looking at me, and I immediately stopped, remembering she could read thoughts. Had she heard that whole conversation with Fang in my mind? Was she going to expose me for the soft, mushy, girl that I was.
"What?" I asked defensively as Fang walked by me and took a seat next to Iggy.
"You like, danced in here, Max." Angel clarified, still smiling. I couldn't hold in the relieved sigh that came out of me when she said that.
"Ok, food hunt. Iggy, Gazzy, check north of here." They nodded and left the cabin arguing about some kind of flammable liquid. "Fang, you take Nudge; cover East and South." They nodded and took off a little outside the cabin. Me, Angel, and Total would take the rest.
Luckily the cabin really was perfect. Iggy and Gazzy came back with a whole bunch of grapes from a vineyard they'd found a little ways up. Fang and Nudge came back with vegetables, and Nudge excitedly declared that there was a huge shopping mall a few miles back. Angel, Total, and I found a fresh water spring running miles down the sloping hills. It was deep, maybe 20 ft, and at least 15 ft wide. Perfect. It was really close, too.
"So are we really gonna stay here, Max?" Nudge asked, her chocolatey eyes bugging out of her head in a cute pout. I looked at the rest of my Flock and saw similar expressions on all of their faces—well, except for Fang. Even Total was giving me his 'begging doggy eyes' and had his bottom lip popped out a little. I thought about it for a minute—this could all very well be a trap.
But what if it wasn't? I asked myself. It was definitely worth it to find out, I decided. We could handle ourselves—we'd been doing it for quite a while.
"Alright," I said. "We'll stay." The excited cheers that met my words were worth it. I was attacked by Angel and Nudge and Gazzy as they hugged me. Even Iggy tackled me to the ground. Then Angel got an evil grin. "What?" I asked suspiciously.
Angel stood up and looked at the rest of the Flock. "To the stream!" she shouted. And everyone, even Fang, helped carry a screaming me to the stream we'd found earlier. They all dived in and I was soaked instantly. Then we were laughing and splashing around, just having the time of our lives. For the first time, I genuinely believed that maybe, just maybe, life was finally cutting us a break.
Who knew that very, very soon, I'd be proven so, so wrong?
Yay! Chapter 2! I'm glad some of you liked the first chapter, I'd appreciate more reviews, they make my day! ) I hope you all like my story! Keep reading! Chapter 3 out soon! Thanks!
Falling Rose Petals