Time had honestly flown by, and the end of the year was rapidly approaching. That meant summer, which was going to be awesomely spent; especially with Fang. But before that, we also had finals. Finals review had started this week, so we basically had two weeks (including this one) until finals, and then one week of finals, and then summer. Not too far off. Then the best 3 months of my life, would most likely start.
I thought back to right when I'd moved here, not knowing anyone and I remembered how much I hated it, and how hard I tried to stay in St. Louis. I guess there really is a reason for everything to happen. Without the move, I wouldn't have met Fang, or Iggy, or any of the great people here who'd changed my life.
"Yo, Earth to Max…" Iggy waved a hand in front of my face, snapping me out of my deep thoughts. Well deep for me at least. Normally they were food related.
"Huh?" I asked attractively. Sometimes, okay a lot of the time, I wondered what Fang even saw in me since I wasn't exactly lady-like or even presentable sometimes. Or like most of the time.
"We," gesturing to Fang, Colin, Casey and him, "are meeting Ella, Nudge and Blake at the library to study for finals. Care to join us, or are you to busy drooling over Fang?" I blushed, and then realized that was stupid and settled on just rolling my eyes.
"Sure." So we set off to the library which wasn't too far from school. Since Fang and I were taking all the same classes we just brought one book for each subject so we didn't have to carry our entire lockers. Once we got there, we ordered milkshakes from the little café thing, after meeting Ella, Nudge, and Blake and then made our way upstairs to the teen section.
We set up shop in a circle of huge, comfy chairs. Ella and Iggy went off to "go find some books" which I immediately interpreted to making out in the racks between shelves. I'd considered going "to find books with Fang" too, not gonna lie, but then decided that could wait til later. But I had to study, like legit. If I could get a B on math and bio, then I could get As. Thankfully in choir and English and Spanish I needed like a D or something to pass with an A. That's how I roll.
"Hey Max, wanna help me find this book I need for English?" Fang asked casually. Ella and Iggy had just returned looking very pleased with themselves and I confirmed my earlier suspicion. Iggy smirked, wiggling his eyebrows at Fang.
"Get it Max," Colin said giving me a wink. I loved Colin he was hilarious, and I was good friends with him now since it was the end of the year. I rolled my eyes and followed Fang to where he was making his way to a section of empty and secluded little section in the library. I was starting to think we wouldn't be looking for too many books either.
He turned down the row holding the most books as barriers from other people, but I realized all these books were old and decrepit (see, hanging with us you can freshen up your vocab) and pretty much no one would want them. Even like cute, little, old people most likely wouldn't want them. That's how bad they were. But that's besides the point.
I leaned back against one of the bookshelves, and Fang turned to me a little mischievous glint in his eyes. "Find your book yet?" I teased.
"Uh-huh." He walked over towards me. "I just wanted some alone time with you. We haven't had any lately with everything going on." I nodded, and bit my lip with a small smile. He raised his eyebrows and I giggled. Okay, well not exactly giggled, but it was like a girly-version of my laugh, but not giggling cause I find that a somewhat gross and like flirty word. That's not me. I don't giggle.
He pushed the few pieces of hair that continuously fell over my ear no matter what I did, back behind my ear softly. With that, I leaned forward into him, and he held me with his arms as our lips melt. His lips were incredibly soft, but not like gushy and gross or anything. Just perfect. His arms were wrapped around my back, and mine were holding the T-shirt on his shoulders. We tilted our heads, to get a better kissing angle. As I breathed through his nose, the scent of Fang's cologne, which just happened to smell freaking delicious, reached my nose and I smiled under his lips. It was so natural kissing him, and just being with him all the time.
Startled, we jumped a part, as an older woman tapped Fang on the shoulder, "Could you please get that book for me sonny? I'm a little short," she gave a little chuckle as Fang handed the book on the top shelf to her. "Thanks. What a lovely little couple," she said waddling away. Fang looked at me laughing a little, and grabbed my hand. Fingers intertwined, we decided we'd better head back before anyone got too suspicious. Assuming they weren't suspicious already.
We walked back, and they were all starting to get packed up. I check my phone and it was surprisingly already 6:30. Colin winked at me as I grabbed my books and I smirked. I raised my eyebrows at him and Casey and he grinned. He reminded me a little of Iggy sometimes, and he was hilarious.
-LINE BREAK-
I was sitting on my laptop in my room, when I heard the doorbell ring. I figured Ella or my mom would grab and since I'm pretty lazy I just stayed where I was perched on my bed. I heard footsteps come up the stairs, and a familiar, attractive looking Fang walked in. I laughed, as I looked him over and he was wearing nice black pants, a white dress shirt with a gray tie.
"Cute socks," I snickered as he looked down at his white ankle socks. He rolled his eyes. I smirked, and he came over and sat on the bed next to me. He slid his arm around me, and he leaned over and kissed my forehead.
"What's the occasion?" I asked a little confused. Was I supposed to look nice too?
"Well, since school is officially over, I think we deserve a proper date," he announced.
I grinned, "Sounds pretty good. I mean, I haven't gone out on a Monday in like a year, and I think I deserve to be a rebel today." He chuckled.
"Well come on then slow poke, get ready." He gestured to my closet.
"So your saying I look ugly?" I joked.
He pretended to think about it for a while. "Well no. I think you always look beautiful, but I'm not so sure what the restaurant would think." I rolled my eyes.
"Well fine. But Ella better work fast if you want the restaurant to let us in." I grinned. "Ella!"
Ella seemed to be getting even better at this whole make-Max-look-somewhat-decent-fast game we liked to play since I refused to dress myself nicely. This time, I was wearing a thick strapped flowy black tank top that went a little ways past my waist. She added a silver infinity necklace she had, with some silver "diamond" earrings. As rich as my dad was, I highly doubted that he would buy Ells diamond earrings. I was wearing a black pencil skirt that had different colors of teal and greens. Basically it was some skirt that Ella had in her closet, along with a million other things, and I had agreed to wear it. She handed me a pair of black sandals and finally I was ready.
"Well Mr. Date Night, where are we going this evening?" I asked raising my eyebrows at him with a slight smirk.
"It's a surprise." He replied being of little help.
"Helpful," I muttered under my breath and he just smirked. We had just started walking uptown, and he slipped his hand into mine. A warm breeze filled the air, and it made my hair blow back as we walked. Not gonna lie, I totally felt like one of those girls in the movies when they get out of the water and their hair blows back in the wind. Yeah, that's what I look like.
We'd reached the uptown area, and were walking down Main Street, when Fang stopped walking, and directed me inside of Buena Vita, this super good Italian restaurant. Fang must've called and gotten a reservation because we were seated right away and it's normally pretty crowded.
"Max," Fang asked from his spot across the table.
"Mhmm," I replied absent-mindedly from behind my huge menu. I could feel him staring at me through my menu, and I put my menu down, a little startled from the intensity of his gaze.
"Remember that first day when we met?" he asked, still staring strong at me.
"Yeah," I answered, somewhat confused as to where he was going with this.
"I fell for you then and there. And I still haven't gotten up," his dark eyes swirled, and the gold specks seemed to almost twinkle. I blushed, and then smiled a little remembering how he had actually fallen over when he crashed into me on the first day of school. "I don't think I'll ever be able to get up," he added sincerely. This was almost unlike him, to be so straightforward and honest. I grinned.
"Don't worry, I'll help you." Around then, our waiter came and we ordered our food.
"That's another thing I love Max. You're just so different from all the other girls, it's a good different. It's perfect." I blushed again, and then smiled. What was with him being all Mr. Romance?
"Not really, but thanks," I replied smiling slightly.
"Are you kidding Max? There's a reason I haven't had a real girlfriend besides you before. Cause I've been waiting for the right person. And she finally came." I had to admit, he was pretty cute when he was all Mr. Romance and cheesy. We got our food pretty soon after that, and ate pretty quickly. Well okay, come on, I mean it's Fang and me, of course we're gonna eat quickly.
Once we were done, he paid in cash and left a tip on the table for our waiter and we walked outside. The temperature had definitely dropped since this afternoon, but it was still warm enough to be outside in shorts and a t-shirt, and I really wasn't that cold. Fang put his arm around me, and I slid mine around his waist.
"You up for ice cream?" he asked, and I couldn't help but think about how perfect this night was, as I nodded yes. I got black cherry and French vanilla, and Fang got Oreo and moose tracks. We went back outside and kept walking down Main Street, while Fang's arm had found its way around my shoulders. His arm sent warmth shooting through me and it felt nice, despite the nice June weather. I heard a rumble, and looked up to the sky as I noticed it had become a darker gray color. We were on our way back to one of our houses, and it hadn't started to rain yet. We walked a few more blocks, until we reached the block where both of our houses were. By the time we had gotten there though it was sprinkling, and as we turned onto the street it began to pour.
I just laughed and span around in the rain, arms out wide. Fang gave me his lopsided smile, and chuckled. We started to cross the street, and he grabbed my hand. Before I tell you what happens, just picture this in your head. It's pouring rain, but it's the perfect temperature outside; it's kinda dark but all the street lamps are on lighting up the street; you're with your best friend and boyfriend holding hands going down the street. Okay, now once you've got that perfect picture in your head, I can go on. Anyways, Fang grabbed my hand, pulling me back to where he was standing in the middle of the street. No cars were coming, and none were anywhere near as I came over to where he was standing. He had an expression of deep intensity in his eyes, and leaned down smashing his mouth to mine. Well, okay not smashing, maybe I'm exaggerating. Fine, he placed his mouth on mine with great energy and spirit. But either way, his lips came crashing onto mine and I instantly wrapped my arms around him. One hand held my face, cupping it tenderly while the other hand was wrapped tightly around my back. He kissed me with a determination, almost a passion, that'd I'd never experienced before. I kissed him back with everything I had. He tilted his head to get a better kissing angle, and I twisted my neck so I could kiss him better. We stayed in the middle of the street, kissing intensely, for I don't even know how long. But I do know it was amazing, and I never wanted to stop. This was almost like a dream. I mean kissing your absolutely perfect boyfriend in the freaking rain. In the summer. After we had ice cream and an awesome dinner. Please explain to me how it could possibly get better than that. Still kissing, he leaned me backwards, so my back was towards the pavement. Finally, after what felt like years, amazing years let me add, he pulled back. We were both breathing heavily, and then we just stared at each other for a second. Neither of us moved, but then I leaned forward and just hugged him, holding on tight. His arms found their way around me too, and he held on with a strong desire. And guess what? It was still raining. I was pretty much in oblivion, and couldn't even process what had happened tonight so far. After I pulled back from our hug, we both just kinda laughed.
Then, out of nowhere, he swept my legs out from under me and picked me up and started walking home. "Fang!" I shrieked. Well a Max-version of shrieking which is not girly at all.
"Yes?" he chuckled.
"Put me down! I'm not some damsel in distress!"
"You seem pretty distressed to me, Max," he replied amused.
"Yeah, yeah you're hilarious," I muttered. He was still carrying me, and walking up the curb towards his house.
"Geez, what have you been eating?" he joked with his typical lopsided grin.
I smirked, "Ice cream."
"Not a surprise," he replied smiling still. We got to his house, and he carried me up the porch and to the door where he just happened to have a key like in his hand and unlocked and opened the door. I guess his family was gone, but he continued to carry me to the basement where he eventually plopped me down on his couch.
"Trust me, I was already swept off my feet from everything tonight, you didn't need to literally carry me," I teased Fang. He raised an eyebrow smirking.
"I'm sure you were Max," still smirking, he went over to the TV to put a movie in. He came back over sitting down next to me on the couch. I leaned up against him, and rested my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me, and I could hear the faint thump-thump of his heartbeat.
I guess most normal couples, well at least normal girls, would opt for some lovey-dovey romance movie, like the Notebook or something. I mean, yeah I agree that Ryan Reynolds is pretty cute, but still it's a stupid movie. Instead, Fang and I had decided to watch the Dark Knight. My absolute, all-time favorite movie and it was in his top 5. It was probably too bad that I didn't jump or get scared easily so that I could like jump into Fang's arms at the scary parts. But nope, I'm Maximum Ride. That's not me.
We watched the movie, and I almost thought Fang was asleep, with his deep breathing and steady heartbeat. His arms hadn't moved once since he wrapped them around me and I was actually really comfortable. We were both still pretty damp from our walk home in the rain, but now I knew what it was like to get kissed in the rain. It was so worth it. I slanted my gaze form the movie up towards Fang to make sure he hadn't suddenly died on me, but noticed that his eyes were fixed on me, and he had a soft little smile on his face. The more I'd gotten to know him, the more open he'd seemed. When I first met him, he was so much more closed off and almost secretive about himself. He still was, don't get me wrong, but I was just able to kind of crack through his outer layer and see the real him. And it seemed like I was the only one, except for Angel of course, who really knew him and who he wanted to know him.
"What?" I whispered, a small smile approaching my lips.
"I just realized what would happen to me if we ever weren't together. If something ever happened and I could never see you again. That just can't happen," he explain softly, still not breaking his gaze from mine.
"It won't happen." I stated firmly. He smiled, almost from relief, and I leaned my head back against his warm chest. He held me closely, and I turned back to the movie but I couldn't tell if he was focusing on the movie or still me.
He was just perfect. The best part of having him as boyfriend was that he was still my best friend.