Lonely

Chapter 47, Hanger

"Wait, can you make me feel high?" Boomer asked. The other guys laughed, and Max smiled. Sure enough, Boomer got a dreamy look in his eyes. He giggled like a school boy and swatted the air in front of him. He swayed so far to the left that poor Levy had to brace his shoulder against Boomer's to keep him from falling over. Max chuckled and Boomer returned to normal. "Dude, I could just keep you around and never need those drugs." He said. Liam's hair crackled, and even though Boomer saw what was coming, he didn't have enough time to react. Liam pressed his hand against Boomers arm and he almost jumped five feet up in the air like a rabbit when the shock hit. Liam laughed. "There's a high for you!" Nicco shoved Liam. "No need for that, baby brother. Max's isn't even painful." Liam looked appalled. "Baby brother? Everyone knows I'm older than you!" Nicco raked a hand through his bright red hair.

"I thought you were twins." Levy said, looking confused. "They are." I said. Dodger snorted. "If you ask me, I'm pretty sure Nicco could pass as a twenty one year old. Liam looks more like a nine teen sort of age." I thought Liam's jaw was gonna drop at this insult, in which Liam took very seriously. "Boyo, I think you're too young to fully understand the meaning of it. Let's ask our fearless leader." I wanted to roll my eyes. They hardly ever called me by my real name, just fearless leader. "Which one of us looks older?" Liam asked, standing shoulder to shoulder with his brother. I raised an eye brow. "Physically or mentally?" they rolled their eyes in unison, and the others chuckled. I smiled at them. "Personally, Nicco looks older to me. By years." I led. This immediately set off a round of fighting, and we all sat down on the ground to watch them and eat. We had been walking all day and most of the night before. I leaned back on a tree, thinking of Sadie.

*******

"Tell us more about this mystery girl you have, Hanger." Liam begged. They all turned to me where I was leaning back, my elbows on a log boomer had toppled for us to sit on and the rest of my body sprawled out before me. Max was sleeping In the branches of a tree as he often did when we weren't moving. I shrugged." You'll see her in a couple days." It sounded more like I was trying to assure myself than them, but they didn't seem to notice. Dodger rolled his eyes. "all we know about her is that you find her extremely hot, but how do we know she is?" I raised an eye brow at him. "I don't want you to think she's hot. That's for me to think." I said, giving him a smug smile.

"Why're you so damn secretive?" Nicco grumbled, Boomer nodding along with him. Liam snorted. "And you're not?" Nicco raised his eye brows at his brother. "Of course not." This set off a round of arguing that started a wrestling match between the two of them. "You know, I find this rather entertaining." Levy said, folding his arms across his chest. The fight ended abruptly when Liam got Nicco's arm pinned behind his back, threatening to pop Nicco's shoulder out of its socket. "You kept that girl, Maud, from mother for two months." He said in Nicco's ear. Nicco glared. "It didn't stop you from fondling her." Nicco said. Before they could get into a fight any more, Boomer broke in. "You guys wanna make Max fall out of the tree?" he suggested and pointed high above the ground where Max was sound asleep. They all huddled under the tree to scheme.

Very, very slowly I began moving Max out of the tree with my mind, so I wouldn't wake him. I lifted him, his legs and arms hanging limply. He didn't even flinch as I let him float out into the open air. Right above the other boys. I held him there for a minute, long enough for Levy to look up. He nudged Boomer, who looked up. The others did too, and their eyes went wide just in time for me to let poor Max drop the ground and land on the guys. They shouted and cursed and jumped out from under him. He jumped up and backed himself against a tree, eyes wide, ready to fight. Before they could say anything, I couldn't hold it in any longer. I laughed. Hard. I clutched my stomach and had to concentrate to keep tears from rolling down my cheeks from all the laughing. I had only laughed this hard when I had Sadie to entertain me.

I howled with laughter while all the other guys just stood there and watched. Finally, I sat up, still laughing. "The look. On your faces. Was priceless." I said, choking on laughter. Levy gave a little laugh. "I told you he knew how to laugh." He said. I gained control of myself and it was all I could do to keep the smirk off my face as Max stood there. "I couldn't help it. You guys were planning on stupid things." I said. Dodger smiled. "I have to give it to you, you know how to play a good prank." The twins snorted and started fighting about which one of them played a better pranks. Things, for the most part went back to normal.

A few hours later, we had been walking for quite some time, Liam looked up at the sky. "Lighting storm is brewing." He muttered. Nicco frowned up at the sky. "I hate water." He said. Levy suddenly appeared in front of us. Soaking wet. "What? Did you fall into a pool or something?" Levy asked. He shook his head. "Ten miles or so that way," he pointed to his left, "there's a bad storm. I ran right into it." Boomer nodded. "We established there was a storm. Why were you out?" Levy waved his hand. "Just stretching my legs." Dodger adjusted his head phones and pulled his hoodie down to reveal his brown hair. "I hear it." He said. Max stared at Nicco. "Are you afraid of thunderstorms?" he asked, gazing at Nicco. "Of course not. Why would you say that?" he said a little nervously. Liam pursed his lips but didn't say anything.

"I feel what you feel, remember." Max reminded Nicco. Nicco looked away. Boomer shrugged. "I'm terrified of spiders." He said. We all looked at Boomer, who could crush a boulder with a flick oh his hand. "Spider? Of all the things, you're afraid of spider?" Dodger said, then shut up at the murderous glare Boomer gave him. Liam looked at me. "What are you afraid of, boyo? Surely you've got some sort of phobia." He said, jerking his head towards his brother who still looked a little crestfallen. I thought about it, coming up with every monster in the castle. Obviously, he wanted it narrowed down. There was one thing that I couldn't stand. I looked down at the scar of a massive bite mark on my arm, one hidden by the other mangled scars covering it unless you knew it was there. "Dogs."