Fang had wanted to spend time with his family Saturday night, so we agreed on just hanging out on Sunday. I pulled up to his house and saw two little faces pressed against the window. When I got out of the car, Angel and Tommy came running out of the house and hugged me around my legs. I patted each of their backs with a hand.

"Are you Max?" Angel asked sweetly and I laughed at how cute she was. Both of them, actually.

"Yes I am."

"Oh! Well, I'm Angel and this is Gazzy. We call him Gazzy cause he farts a lot." She waved her hand in front of her nose. "And I made this for you!" She handed me a piece of paper with a drawing of "me" on it. I smiled.

"You're a very good drawer."

"I helped!" Said . . . Gazzy.

"Well you both are very good drawers then." I looked up to see Fang leaning in the doorway. I motioned him over with my head and he snuck up behind Angel, picking her up into the air. She let out a small, happy squeal and started laughing.

"Come on." Fang said. As Gazzy walked beside me, he took my hand. It was amazing how trusting these kids were. When we all got inside, I saw Fang's mom chopping up some onion in the kitchen. She spotted me and put down the knife, wiping her hands on a dish towel. As she walked over to me, her eyes shone.

"It's been so long since I've seen you, Max." She said as she hugged me. "You haven't changed a bit."

"Hi Lucy." I smiled at her. "You haven't changed that much either." She gave me one more quick hug and headed back to the kitchen. "Lunch will be ready sometime in the next hour."

"Thank you." Fang and I said. We went into his room which had all different shades of gray and some black. There was also some blue scattered around. Fang closed the door as I drifted over to his bed, sitting down. He came and sat next to me.

"So, what do you think?" He asked just as I spotted an old picture of us. I picked it up.

"Cute." I told him and he chuckled. He had kept it on his nightstand. He took it from me.

"You know," he said, "I remember this day."

"I do too."

***FLASHBACK***

*11 years ago*

"Alright kids," said Fang's dad. "It's ready." Fang and I jumped up from the couch where we had been anxiously awaiting our surprise for the entire day. We ran out in to the back yard to see a tree house in the tall oak. It had a tire swing coming down from one of the branches, a ladder for climbing, windows and doors (even though they were only cut outs of the wood), and a porch going completely around the tree house. It even had a little fence. Fang's dad was just crafty that way, very artistic.

Fang and I stared, wide-eyed, at the tree house. We smiled at each other and raced up the ladder. Inside the tree house, it was filled with snacks, two bean bag chairs, a radio, and some things to draw and color with.

It was a five year olds' heaven, practically.

The wind was blowing really hard and I climbed up on the fence. Then I carefully leaned forward and grabbed hold of a large branch.

"What are you doing?" Fang asked me.

"It feels like I'm flying! Try it!" I yelled. He climbed up next to me and also grabbed hold of the branch. The wind blew my hair back and Fang looked over at me, smiling. I closed my eyes and laughed.

That was when his mom took the picture.

***PRESENT DAY***

"It's one of my best memories." Fang told me. Then he set it back down on his nightstand. I looked at him with a semi-surprised face

"Really?"

"Well, yeah." He answered. "I just remember how fun that day was. We ate so much candy! And then we got stuck after my mom took the picture and she had to climb up to get us." He paused for a moment. "You know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"You're involved in most of my best memories." He said, laying back.

"Seriously?" I asked him and I laid my head on his stomach. We kind of looked like a T. We heard a slight knock at the door and then Gazzy's voice.

"Fang? Can I come in?"

"Yeah." I felt Fang's stomach tense up as he spoke. Gazzy walked in.

"I wanted to show you and Max something I just . . . are you guys going out?" He changed the subject so quickly and I sat up to look at him. Fang propped himself up on one elbow and replied calmly, while I would have probably started freaking out.

"No. Why would you think that?"

Gazzy shrugged. "I don't know. You guys just seemed all cuddly." I met Fang's eyes and we sort of made a disgusted face at each other. There was no way, no way, I could ever go out with Fang. Gazzy's innocent blue eyes looked at us.

"So what were you saying?" I asked him.

"Oh! I made something that I wanted to show you guys a cool new firework I made!"

"You make fireworks?" I was so confused.

"Um, yeah." He said in a "duh" tone of voice. Fang and I got up and followed Gazzy downstairs and into the street. He told us to stay back as he lit the firework with a match. He ran back to us.

The firework started off by spinning around in circles, making the sparks fly outward in a swirly pattern. Then it stood upright, all by itself, and turned into a fountain looking explosion. Every time a spark hit the ground, it turned into a small, black-looking rock. Gazzy ran forward and started picking them up. He handed them out to me, Fang, and Angel.

"What are they?" I asked, examining them closely.

"Snappers!" He agreed perkily. "Throw them on the ground!" I did and it made a loud popping sound. I actually jumped a little bit. Fang and Angel smiled over at me and then we all started throwing them at the ground. Fang and I had a little war by throwing them on each others feet.

"So do you like it?" he asked and we laughed, telling him we loved it. Then I told him about how Iggy liked to do stuff like building fireworks and explosives and how they could get together.

Yeah . . . it probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had.