Chapter 7
Of course, I was going. Sure it might not be the smartest thing to do, but who ever said I was smart. Plus I don’t really have a choice in the matter. I’m sure Fang, Dylan, and Jeb would disagree but they are idiotic guys. What do they know! The way I see it if I don’t go, the doomsday group will just come to the house probably attack all of us. They might even bomb the house, killing ALL of us. I can’t put the flock in danger. What kind of leader would I be if I didn’t take one for the team every once in awhile. So I had to sneak out of the house, which wasn’t too difficult anyway. Word of advice: if you are trying to keep someone in a house, you might want to bother to lock the backdoor.
2 minutes till noon. I walk quickly down the street, rounding the corner into the parking garage. Piper stood alone in the middle of it. The garage was completely empty. No cars, no people except for Piper. She smiled at me as I walked up to her.
“I’m glad you can follow instructions, Max.” She smiles. Jeez, does she ever stop smiling?
“Yeah, well.” I shrug not smiling back, I couldn’t. Her smile fades as she studied my face.
“You spoke to Dodge?” She sighs. I nod. “Max, I give you my word. You are completely safe with us. We would never harm you in any way.” I nod again, still not smiling. Piper’s word meant nothing to me. Trust was earned.
“So, can we hurry along with this? I’m on a tight schedule.” I cross my arms looking bored. Despite the fact, I was freaking out inside. I kind of expected Piper to pull out a gun and shoot me, but she didn’t.
“My boss sends his apologies but he will not be able to meet you today. He will have me call you when he has some free time.”
“Okay, so um are we done here?” I ask. Wow, I might actually survive this.
“Actually I was hoping you and me could hang out. Maybe get some lunch. I’m buying.” Piper smiled. Hang out? Is that code for something? My eyes narrow. Should I trust her? Probably not, but then again I am hungry and getting a free lunch wouldn’t be terrible.
“Sounds great; where did you have in mind?” I shrug.
Piper had good taste in food, I have to admit that. She chose this old fashion restaurant that sold unbelievable burgers, shakes, and fries. We sat at one of booths; and I stuffed my face with food while Piper tried to keep up with me. She seemed impressed with my skill to seemingly inhale my food. She suggested I sign up for an eating contest at like a carnival, and it actually wasn’t too bad of an idea. Especially when she mentioned first place usually gets money prize. My phone buzzed in my pocket again, I swallow a mouthful of burger and pulled it out. Dylan was calling. I had 6 missed calls from him and 5 from Jeb, and 10 from Fang. I hit ignore once again.
“Who was that?” Piper asked.
“Dylan.”
“So are you and him…like a thing?” Piper wiggled her eyebrows suggestively smiling. I shook my head taking more fries. “Come on, Max that’s like the hundredth time your phone has buzzed.”
“Me and Dylan…” Man, how should I say this? “We aren’t together, but he was literally made to be my perfect match.”
“What!” Piper slapped her hands flat on the table. “You are so lucky! Have you seen that boy?! Yum-me!” Piper giggled. I laugh.
“Okay, I’ll admit he’s kind of pretty.” I grin. My phone buzzes again. This time it was Fang.
“Dylan again?” Piper smirks batting her eyelashes.
“No…Fang.” I said.
“Max! What a player!” Piper laughs. “You got two guys? I’m so jealous.”
“Not exactly,” I sigh. “I was with Fang.”
“Was?” Piper asks.
“Yeah, was.”
“What happened?” Piper asks curiously. I look up at her. She looked sincere, like she did actually care. She wants to know what happened. Not in hungry for information kind of way, but in a …friend kind of way.
“I’ve known Fang forever, we grew up together. He had always had my back. He was my right hand man, but…” It didn’t realize how hard telling this story would be, I mean I knew it wasn’t going to be easy but I didn’t know it was going to be like I was swallowing a big rock when I told it. “But we fell in love, than Dylan came. Things got complicated and chaotic. Fang almost died. Then the talking dog got married and Fang left!”
“You kind of lost me at talking dog.” Piper admitted sadly. “Why did he leave?”
“He left me this note saying how much he loved me but he had to go. He had this crazy idea in his head that he was protecting me by leaving me. Then when he’s gone, I find out me and Dylan are supposed to go off and have kids! Then he calls one day and wants to team up. So we do and he’s got this new gnag and replaced me with literally my clone!” I realize I was raising my voice and calmed down a bit. “Then we all fight, I lose Angel. Fang leaves again. Later I find out Angels off with his new gang.”
“Wow.” Piper breathes. “I’m so sorry, Max.” By the look on her face I knew she meant it. She felt bad for me. Oh my god. Me and Piper were bonding, doing girl talk. Talking about ex-boyfriends and the weirdest thing of all is. I liked it! Me! Maximum Ride! Who feels ill when talking about her emotions! “Max, can I offer you a two pieces of advice?” Piper asks. I nod. “Sometimes we say goodbye to the person we love without wanting to. It doesn’t mean we’ve stopped loving them. Sometimes goodbye is a painful way to say I love you.”
“What’s the second thing?”
“Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cures broken hearts.” She smiles.
