The Runaways – Chapter 37

By MyNameIsCAL

Okay, okay. Time to like push forward a lot, yeah?

Five Years Later

-Fang's POV-

I probably feel older than I should. My leg has been causing me more trouble lately, but you know I'm quite used to it. It's sort of a been there, done that kinda attitude I've got towards it. Although sometimes I do feel like an old man, hobbling around with my crutch. Max always looks amused when I do, and well, I guess it's just easier to smile back at her.

Nudge is in her third year of college, majoring in fashion. She brought Iggy along with her, and they've got an apartment a five minute walk away from her campus all the way in California. They come visit often though.

As for Angel and Gazzy, they're both in high school. They're good kids, still the same little kids I met all those years ago, and yet they're a hell of a lot more mature than I remember. They're probably the ones that make me feel the oldest.

Max and I have this place by the beach. It's small, a one story little cottage almost, picked out so I didn't have to strain myself going up and down the stairs. We're getting married soon, by the way. In one week exactly. It's nothing big, just here on the beach, Mom and the gang invited. Oh, and Ella too. She's a veterinarian like Mom now.

Wow, I'm calling her Mom. A lot has changed, hasn't it?

"Let's go walk on the beach," I tell Max.

She raises an eyebrow. "I thought you said your leg's bothering you."

"So what?"

"Alright." She gives in, and I make a mental note not to complain later about the pain. Although the truth is that I need practice walking on the sand. Despite living on the beach, I rarely go walk on it. Watching the ocean from afar is fine by me.

I take her hand as we go through the doorway. She says nothing as I leave my crutch propped up against the fence.

We start towards the water, but halfway I'm already out of breath. We lie on the sand instead, and I pull her close.

"You're an idiot," she murmurs, kissing me on the cheek.

"But I'm your idiot." I kiss her back.

She smiles and we lay there for a while, eyes closed, taking in our surroundings.

My mind drifts away from the beach though. It's been a while since I've thought about the past. It was only just this morning that I had seen Josh's face on the news. He was busted for running a drug operation. It didn't surprise me. I hadn't talked to him since before I ran away with Max to help the others. Needless to say, he never felt I was a loss to whatever business he was dealing with.

"Fang?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you ever wonder what it'd be like if everything turned out differently?" Clearly she had been thinking about everything too.

"Sometimes," I answer and then sit up. "C'mon, we still haven't got to the water yet."

She ends up helping me stand, and we trudge through the rest of the sand, finally reaching the ocean. I dip my feet in.

-Max's POV-

Fang seems to have loosened up over the past couple of years. I remember when we first moved away to here. He had been ambivalent about leaving everyone, as much as he wanted to. There are days I still catch him with this look of sadness in his eyes, and then there are days like these where there seems like nothing in the world is wrong.

"We shouldn't walk too far, or you'll never make it back," I say, trying not to sound like Mom. She was always telling him this and that so he wouldn't get hurt. That's probably the thing that gets to him most, people telling him what he can't do.

"You know, if you hadn't helped me that night at the mall, I probably would have found myself alone. I've only been surrounded by my mom and her drugs for the whole beginning half of my life. To say I wouldn't have fallen into using them if things had turned out differently would be a lie." He takes my hand, looking out at the ocean. "It's the reason I'm afraid of taking the pain medication the doctor gives me. I'm afraid I'll turn out like my mom, or my dad."

"I wouldn't let you."

He gives me a small smile. "Yeah, I know."

Okay, guess I'm writing the wedding now. Switching to present tense I guess for the last couple of chapters. So these next few chapters will sort of be like a huge epilogue? If that makes sense. Sorta like what's going on presently, heh.

Anyway, closure coming in the next few chapters. Like I've said before (probably), I'm a sucker for happy endings.

For the next chapter, I'll probably switch to either Iggy and Nudge's POVs or Gazzy and Angel's.

I'm probably only rambling like this because I'm tired, and that's what I tend to do when, well, I'm tired.

Thanks and stay tuned.