And chapter #2. I think it get a bit Faxy, but nothing too terrible :P Happy reading.
I was woken up by the sound of footsteps upstairs. It really sounded like a herd of baby elephants were up there, but when I was fully awake I realized that the flock was already up and ready, pulling on any extra layers of clothing they might have removed the night before.
"Fang," I looked to who was calling me. It was Max. "The kids came down here to tel us that their mom is planning on redecorating the basement today. We gotta move." I nodded, getting up and started to fold the blanket that I was sleeping on. The rest of the room was already pretty tidy, the trays from last night stacfked in a corner and the pillows and blankets stacked in another.
"I think we should leave something for them,"' Nudge began. "I mean, they gave us a place to stay and some food to eat, and they got rid of the Erasers and M-Geeks when we were to messed up to do anything about them. I think we should leave them some money or something."
"No, we can't give them money, we barely have enough for ourselves. They have a house, they should be fine."
"Well, maybe we can give them something, like, sentimental." Iggy piped up.
"Yeah," Angel agreed.
Max thought this one out quickly. There wasn't anything that we could give them that they would understand. The only thing memorable about us is our wings. It's not like we can rip those off and give it to them.
"Fang, that's it!" Angel exclaimed. "We can give them something from our wings." She looked at everyone who was nodding their head in agreement. I was a bit lost, but I nodded anyways.
"Open your wings Gazzy." Angel said as she walked up to him. Gazzy frowned in confusion but complied anyways. His wing span took up a good part of the basement, but the off white color almost looked as if it belonged there.
Angel ran her hand along his right wing, slightly combing her fingers through the feathers. One of the feathers came loose and fluttered to the ground. Pouncing on it, she held it up for us to see.
"Let's leave a feather from each of our wings. That way it can explain how we were hovering in the air yesterday. It's also an unforgettable sentimental object." Nudge clapped in excitement and turned to Iggy to find a loose feather of his.
I stretched my wings out slowly, ruffling the midnight black feathers. There was one on my left wing that I couldn't quite reach. I tried pulling my wing in slowly, but it just got wrapped up in the pleats. I tried shaking my feathers to help cut it off. Nothing was working.
By this time everyone else had already gotten their feathers out and laid out on the ground. Angel was writing a note to them thanking them for their hospitality. Max was watching my difficulties from across the room with an amused expression on her face. I glared at her, not liking the embarrassment that was slowly coloring my cheeks. She just grinned wider and slowly made her way over to me. Her ankle still hurt and the beds that we used last night were not good for an aching body.
Finally she stood right in front of me, extending her hand just a little to pluck the feather off of my wing. I still glared at her. Placing the feather in my hand, she looked up at me.
"Don't hurt yourself, big boy." She shot me a grin and started to turn towards the kids.
I grabbed her arm, making sure it wasn't the hurt one and pulled her back around to face me. She looked up at me in surprise, but it quickly turned to fear when she saw that I wasn't joking.
I glared at her, communicating with my eyes that she would have to pay for this little stunt later. But, Max is Max so she just shrugged it off, breaking out of my grip.
"Alright kids, we left our sentimental present, are we done yet?" Max asked, looking over each of them. They all nodded. Picking up their knapsacks, we headed to the basement door that led outside. The hinges creaked when Max pulled at the handle, but it opened enough for us to squeeze through. As soon as all of us were through the door, Max shifted the backpack on her shoulders and started to run as best she could on the sore ankle. We all kept up, some of us better than others.
Once we crept through too many backyards and a few alleys, Max finally stopped running.
"Why didn't we just U and A?" Gazzy asked, barely winded but his cheeks were tinged pink. All of us nodded in agreement.
"We don't know if that mash up of freaks is gone yet. We have to be extra careful from now on. We are only flying when absolutely necessary. But now, we need a hotel. Let's get further into town, then we should be able to find a good place to stay." We all nodded. It would be very nice to have an actual bed tonight.
Max looked around, deciding to follow where most of the traffic was heading. We all followed along, silent for the exception of Nudge.
"I think that we could get a nicer hotel this time Max. I mean there are some okay places out there and we've had our share of sketchy hotels, but I think that if we splurged to get some 4 star hotel that everyone would enjoy it and there could be a nice pool that we could swim in. And the mash up wouldn't even think to look in a nice hotel, they would probably look for some hole in the wall thing, so we can be safe…." She continued, talking to a very quiet Max. I doubted that she was actually listening to Nudge's crazy schemes but no one told her to shut up yet, so they continued.
"Then we could all share rooms and you and Fang can share, because you love him so much," Max's eyes flashed to mine and her cheeks colored. I smiled to myself. Max would always be uncomfortable with that. "And then we can eat lots of good food sent up to our rooms, and that would be good so no one will have to see us…" as Nudge talked about the different food, my stomach grumbled. I was being greedy, but the way Nudge's motor mouth described things made it sound so good.
"ALRIGHT! We'll get a good hotel!" Max threw up her hands after Nudge said something about a shower. We all cheered, excluding me, but I gave Max a hug to show my appreciation. She turned to look at me, wrapping her slender arms around my neck. Smiling a big smile, she reached on her tiptoes to touch her lips to mine.
"Love you Maxy." I whispered once we broke apart. Max rubbed her nose against mine in an Eskimo kiss. "Love you too, Fangy." Kissing her once more, I pulled back, excited to get a nice hotel room with Max. Preferably with one bed.
Max kept my hand in hers as we searched for a payphone. Angel pointed one out that was down the street and we all followed her to it. Since it wasn't big enough to cram six kids in there to look at the phone book, Max and Nudge went in, looking for a good hotel that they could both agree on. We all waited outside.
Iggy became bored pretty quickly and started pressing his face against the plexie glass door. Gazzy joined him and started making weird noises to go with the faces. The girls were completely oblivious to the boys, pouring over the phone book, flipping pages after a minute of looking. Angel and I watched as the boys moved around, pressing their faces on different spots of the phone booth. It was pretty comical once Iggy hoisted Gazzy on top of the phone booth so Gazzy could make faces at them while hanging upside down. Max's eyes flicked up for a second looking directly at Gazzy before dismissing it and looking at the book again. Her brain caught up with her eyes and she looked at Gazzy for real.
Their reaction is what got me on the ground holding my stomach in laughter.
Max screamed at the sight, and Nudge soon followed suit. Gazzy started to crack up but kept his face pressed to the side of the booth, creating a horrid sight. The girls attempted to get out, climbing the side of the phone booth and giving up and clinging to each other. The phone book was getting ruined under their feet but they didn't care, still screaming. Gazzy cackled some more, but after having his fun, he jumped off. Nudge was in tears by the time Gazzy was on his feet, and Max wasn't looking so great either.
The girls tentivaly moved out of the booth. They glared at Gazzy who was still chuckling. I was picking myself off the ground, wiping tears out of my eyes. Nudge was also, but for different reasons than I.
"GASMAN RIDE! What the h-e- double hockey sticks was that for?" Max yelled, everyone growing somber very quickly.
"It wasn't my fault you guys over reacted! You didn't even notice when Iggy was doing it. You just caught me at the wrong time."
"We thought that you were some sort of experiment gone wrong from the school. I totally thought that I was going to die. Your face was so scary when you started to laugh, it looked like someone dropped you on your face when you were little, or someone hit you with a frying pan….I don't know, but it was one of the more scary things I've seen," She finished with a pout, glaring at them.
Max glared at them too for a minute. After a minute, she sighed giving into their pitiful faces.
"While, you guys were acting like dumb–" she quickly glanced at Angel who was in her own little world. "Idiots," she corrected herself. "Nudge and I found one that we both liked. We just have to call them to get the directions." Max moved to the phone booth, looking at the chewed up phone book that her and Nudge's frantic feet ruined.
"Well, this is going to be a bit more difficult." She picked it up, and surprisingly the page they wanted wasn't ripped out of it. Finding the hotel, she made me read out the numbers as she dialed them. I put the phonebook back, waiting for Max. She talked to them in her phone voice, all polite and chirpy. I admired her way of flipping moods so quickly, but then again, it was a bit unsettling.
After thanking them one too many times, she hung up, changing back into a kick-ass leader. Taking a breath she looked over at the end of the street, where the intersection showed the street names.
"Alright, it shouldn't be far from here. Just a few blocks." I grabbed her hand as we all started to walk again. She smiled at me swinging our hands slightly. I smiled a crooked grin before letting go of her hand. I had an idea. She looked sad, but quickly looked away so I couldn't see her eyes. I fell back to where Iggy was walking.
"Can you take this for me?" He looked at me with his sightless eyes. I stared back, not thinking that he couldn't see me. "Please?" I asked. Huffing he grabbed the backpack out of my hand and slung it on his other shoulder. "Thanks, man." I said quietly before moving up to where Max was. I side stepped in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. I bent a little.
"Hop on." I told her. When I didn't feel anyone getting on, I looked back. She was staring at me in confusion, not really understanding what I was telling her.
"Hop on my back Max, I'll give you a piggy back ride." She looked at me like I was crazy. "Get on!" I shouted, exasperated. She quickly took a half step back, jumping enough to get securely on my back. I hooked my arms around her knees, hoisting her up when I straightened out. Her arms went around my neck loosely so I wasn't getting strangled, but the rest of her body was a ridged as a board.
I felt her relax after we walked about a block. She wasn't heavy at all - it actually felt nice having her pressed against me like that. Her hair tickled my neck were she was resting her head on my shoulder, but I didn't care. I could feel her breathing through my back, the way her curves were so much more potent in this position. I know that Max has been a lot more open lately, but I've never felt her so close.
Of course I had to keep these thoughts as PG as possible, since there was a certain mind reader that tended to give Max all of my personal thoughts about her. I heard Angel's giggle, and I knew that she agreed with me.
I will update again sometime soon because I have some more written after this. I'm going to try to work on all my stories as soon as exsams are completed. I know you feel like I abandoned you, but have no fear...Ella is here. :P Sooo corny. Review again if you enjoy singing in the shower.
Love Ella
