Chapter 3
"Hey."
Panicking, I shut my new wallet and placed it in my pocket. Even though I could barely see anything in front of me I knew who it was because you know…raptor vision and all. We had all decided to stay at the opening for the night before heading back to my mom and Ella. I thought I had left the flock sleeping by the dying fire but that was not the case.
I felt the moment of the branches and leaves around me as Fang came to sit beside me. His wings folded tightly against his back. I was trying to calm myself but I was too excited or nervous or whatever you're supposed to call it.
I had been in the tree in the first place just to look at the picture again, my favorite one of Fang and me. In the picture you couldn't see our wings and we looked just like two normal, extremely tall, teens. I know it wasn't like that but still, it's nice to know what it would've looked like. Then again, what would we be like, Fang and I, if we didn't have the wings or the constantly being hunted problems to worry about?
"Max?" I blushed realizing I was doing what I always did. I was trailing off with a million thoughts in my head unable to focus on this. Fang blended well with the darkness of the night but I could still feel he was there in front of me.
"Sorry," I whispered. "Just thinking is all." And I still was. I was thinking that over the past few days or weeks or whenever this love for Fang started that I still hadn't gotten any better at the conversation part. I just couldn't focus on saying all these things to him like I used to. Before we were together, we would talk but now, I just get tongue-tied.
"What about?" He asked, his hand playing with a strand of my hair which probably needed a really good rinse. I might as well put that in to the whole situation seeing as how I'm so awkward with it all anyways.
"Who we would be if we didn't have to worry about wings," I whispered leaning against his shoulder. He was warm all the time to me. Fang had to know that he was my support system and that I needed him. But I couldn't really find the words to tell him without fumbling all over again with my speech. I just hoped he knew because then, it would take the embarrassing me having to say it out of the conversation.
Fang adjusted how he was sitting so he could wrap his arm around my waist. I remembered how something like that months ago would've made me hit him or run away. What do you know- I can learn new things. "It'd be different." I nodded my head, of course it would. "But," my heart stopped in anticipation, "I don't think anything can change us, Max." So how did he, the silent one, the one who barely said three words during Itex or living with Jeb, come to be the one who could say everything I needed to hear?
A Word to the wondering, we don't practice this kind of thing. Fang and I, we sort of just go without thinking during the times when we're alone. I know, strange for someone like me who is always planning. I was happy not to think about too much around Fang. He made everything easier for a second or two which in my life is a lot of little moments.
"So are you nervous?" Fang asked with a hint of teasing in his voice. I swear, months ago, I could barely tell what he meant by what he said because he just spoke in one serious tone. Now, at certain moments, I could tell he was happy or joking. Even in certain times, I see him smiling or his eyes give off some hint of feeling that I had never seen before. Fang had changed but then again, so had I.
I was wondering what he meant when he finally clued me in. "Total's wedding, you have to wear a dress." I groaned and he laughed. I placed my face in my hands to hide my embarrassment. Fang's arm around my waist tightened, "It won't be so bad." I was going to retort with a how-do-you-know kind of statement but I bit my tongue. "Max?" He asked.
I lifted my head so I could see him. His dark eyes so close to the shadows off the tree branches over head where somehow bright. He had a hint of a smile at the corner of his lip. I knew what was coming next but I held my breath and waited. I saw his eyes observe me, memorize me, and I did the same for him. I held on to the way his black hair fell in front of his eyes, the arch of his wings just over his shoulder, and even just how it felt to have his arm around me. I couldn't let it go.
"Happy Birthday," he whispered before closing the distance between us. We had kissed before but the last time we were on the beach as my mom recovered. It had been days since that and in bird kid lifetime, it's like a year. So we both extremely needed this.
I realized soon though that kissing on a branch was not as easy but we didn't break apart. We were tilting our heads, holding each other closely, and just kissing as best as we could. And my heart just went crazy with excitement and all the oxygen in my lungs (and air sacs) was gone. When we backed off to catch a breath I expected some big M-Geek to start shooting at us. But the only pounding I heard was my heart as if it was right next to my ear.
So, we sat there and I knew Fang was looking for disaster to pop in like it always did on such amazing moments like this. But, nothing, silence, and safety as Fang leaned back towards me. I smiled when he kissed me and soon, I could tell he was smiling too. Fang's hand went to the back of my neck and he kissed me again so strongly that I responded. I could care less if my cheeks were burning bright red or that my heart was about to break some ribs. I had Fang and that's all that mattered.
And in my head, the one thought I managed to pull out through the fog as Fang and I kept kissing was Best Birthday Ever.