The Runaways – Chapter 17

By MyNameIsCAL

-Iggy's POV-

It was late, but Fang and Max sat outside the tent talking into the night. I caught part of the conversation before I drifted off to sleep.

"…and you know, relationships these days, and I've watched Josh's girlfriends come and go, it's all about, well you know, sex. I don't…" Fang fumbled with his words. "I don't want us to be like that. I want us to last."

"I think last night was sort of an impulsive thing," Max told him. "I want us to last too."

They said a few more things, but I couldn't pick up on it. And then, Fang asked. "Exactly how much did you hear that night, when I was talking to myself?"

Max laughed. It was the kind of laughter you had when you knew that the answer wouldn't please the person you were talking to. "Well, all of it, Fang."

There was a moment of silence and then Fang spoke. "All of it?"

"Well, you know, I sort of enjoy listening to you talk," Max replied. It sounded like she was smiling. "Oh, Fang, don't look so embarrassed."

I had to suppress my laughter. I've know Fang for a long time and never once have I heard him be embarrassed.

"Well…" he trailed off.

"C'mon, it's late," Max said, still sounding amused. "Let's get some sleep."

The sound of the sizzling fire being put out told me it was time to sleep too. I listened to their footsteps, Fang's hindered by his pain and Max's hindered because she was probably helping him walk. I closed my eyes, still seeing darkness.

-Fang's POV-

I woke up too early for anyone else to be awake. For a while, I stared at the ceiling of the minivan, listening to Max's breathing. She rested against me, looking peaceful as she slept. It only seemed like yesterday that Max had found me in the mall, only yesterday that she told me what happened to her brother. If it weren't for Max, I'd probably be dead or trying to forget about what happened to me. Ever since I found Max, thoughts of my mom or my father hadn't really crossed my mind.

My leg ached. What had woken me was a nightmare of what my father had did to me. Max would never know, but I had them a lot. If she knew, she would worry too much. After all that's happened, I probably shouldn't even be alive, or at least, I should have been in a hospital. I should have gone to the authorities so maybe my father could finally be put in his place in jail and my mother put in rehab. By the end of high school, I'd be old enough to look after myself anyway. And yet while none of that happened, things did happen for the better.

As the sunlight became brighter, Max stirred from her sleep, her eyes fluttering open and finding mine right away.

"Morning," I whispered.

She smiled. "Good morning."

I leaned down to kiss her.

"What was that for?" she asked, surprised.

I shrugged and she smiled again, kissing me back.

We lay there for a while, not saying much, the blankets still wrapped around us. Under the blankets, her hand brushed up against mine. Her fingers slid into mine and I felt her squeeze my hand.

"Nothing beats a morning in the Arizona desert," she joked, looking out the window. "The red rocks, it's a shame we'll be leaving them for California."

Her head rested on my shoulder and we stayed like that until we heard the others come out from the tent.

-Iggy's POV-

Over the next few days, I felt like Max and Fang had gotten closer. It was obvious in the way that they talked to each other. There was a certain softness in his voice as he spoke to her. You could tell he cared about her and she cared about him and that there was nothing that was going to come between the two. Even Nudge noticed.

"The two of them are so sweet," Nudge said as we listened to them talk as Max was driving.

Gazzy sniggered. "Fang being sweet? That sounds like a…"

"Gazzy, shut up," Angel cut him off, but he continued to laugh.

I rolled my eyes. "So where are we now?"

Nudge answered, leaving Gazzy and Angel to their own sibling argument. "We just got out of Arizona."

"Ah, okay," I replied, closing my eyes, wishing I could see the blue sky. Nudge began to ramble, but then I realized she was describing our surroundings. I could almost picture everything, the clouds, the mountains. It was a long time ago when I was able to see, and now, the images of what I remembered became fuzzy, like those memories of sight were fading away as I had gotten comfortable with being blind.

"Could you ever see before?" Nudge asked after a while, her head leaning against me.

"A long time ago," I told her. "Everything I remember seeing seems fuzzy now. Like an old television cutting in and out with a bad signal."

"Can I ask you what happened?"

I had never told anyone before about what happened, not even Fang. He just knew that whatever had happened had been bad. A freak accident, as Fang would have responded for me whenever someone asked.

I rested my arm around her and started, "It must have been fourth grade, I think because I didn't meet Fang until middle school. I was sitting inside my house. Well, it was my old house, and I was watching TV or something, I don't remember. And we lived on a busy street, but I was always careful when I was crossing or when I went to play ball outside. This truck, it just came barreling in through my house. And the truck had an explosion, sending glass everywhere…"

Nudge shook her head. "You don't have to tell me."

I touched the back of my head. "I was lucky I didn't die when a shard of glass embedded itself in the back of my head. They couldn't save my vision, but they saved everything else so I could walk and talk. It was brain damage. The scar is still there."

I realized the whole car was silent now. They were all listening.

"I'm sorry, Ig," Nudge said quietly.

I shook my head. "Maybe it was a story that needed telling anyway."

Alright, here's another chapter. Thanks for reading! New chapter should be around sometime after the weekend.