Deceitful Wings

Chapter 3 - The Man, the Myth, the Legionnaire

Nick laughed at the absurdity of Foxy's grin.

"Please don't make that face at me, you look like a terrible cliched movie villain," he said.

"Well, good," Foxy replied, sitting back and crossing her legs. "That's what I wanted. Now answer the question, will you?"

"Alright, alright." Nick reclined into the couch, his face expressionless. "The kid in me is really tempted to just say yes and be done with it. It's a chance to be something better, a chance to do what I want to do without going through the next four years of dealing with everybody's needs, everybody's wants, and all the things put on my head." He chuckled. "I'm sure you know what I mean, since apparently you're me incarnate."

The red-haired girl looked at him diminutively. "No, you're me incarnate, pipsqueak. But I get you. I wanted something like that at the time too."

"Did you get what you wanted?"

"That's not really a fair question, Nick. I've already lived this whole life, all seventy years of it, and I'm moving on tomorrow; if I still had qualms about that choice, I'd be the most indecisive person in the world." Foxy sighed. "But I'm being too self-centered. You haven't decided to be an angsty badass yet, have you?"

"Well, more than I already am, at least."

"Yeah, you've got me there. But, life is life no matter which option you choose. You'll be happy, you'll be sad, you'll make people happy, and you'll disappoint people. Don't go making out the faster path to be the better one, no matter how tempting it is. Decide based on what you want to get out of life, and which path will give you the most of whatever that is. So long as it's not something stupid like sex, drugs, or rock and roll, alright?"

The left side of Nick's mouth quirked up, into a sarcastic smile. "How did you know about my Twisted Sister fetish?"

"Son, you should've seen me during the seventies," Foxy said, leaning in. "It was a glorious celebration that you'll never experience, and I'm sorry for you."

"And I'd say something about how I'll see the next twenties and you won't, but that'd be a bit morbid, don't you think?"

Foxy fell back into her seat, cacophonous laughter echoing through the room. Thirty seconds passed as she convulsed in hilarity, Nick watching her and grinning. "Oh, I needed that," Foxy said, sitting up again. "I think I've been a bit too worked up about this whole thing. No matter how much faith I have, I still can't help being worried about what's going to happen."

"Well, thank goodness for morbid jokes, then."

"Thank goodness indeed. And thank you for that. But I think we're avoiding this whole main issue, don't you? I was telling you to decide based on what you think is important."

"Alright, alright. You're right, we don't have so much time until my parents get home." Nick relaxed, his face pensive again. "If I had to decide on one thing in this whole world, I'd have to say that emotions are what's worth living for. They're the only thing that brings us out of the monotony of life. Happiness, exhilaration, sadness, terror - the search for new experiences and new friends, new relationships and new excitement. What do you think?"

"With a few developments that I won't reveal, yeah, I agree." Foxy replied, winking. "You'll have to live your life to find out the rest. I'm not telling you, no matter what you say."

"I'll have to settle for that, then. Somehow I know I won't get anything else out of you. No matter how I look at it, though, I can't see the life I have right now having more emotion than what you're offering me. I know, I'd be abandoning my family, my best friends... Sarah, Ishaan, Austin, Bella, and the rest of them. I don't want to do that. But I'm not exactly the most important thing in any of their lives, you know? We're still young, and there're a lot of years left to make friends. I'd feel the worst about leaving my family; I know how much they love me. But I'm not going to not chase my dreams because it will make them sad. That's callous, isn't it?"