In August two years later, my nineteenth birthday rolled around. All of us except for Gazzy and Angel were ready to go to college the next year. Fang, Ella, Iggy, and I were all planning to attend ASU, while Nudge was going to the University of Arizona. Gazzy had one year of high school left before he was going to attend UA on a full football scholarship.

I had a small party at my house, inviting just our group of friends. We relaxed, ate cake, and played basketball. Iggy was pretty good, but Gazzy's football skills did not translate to basketball at all. He couldn't dribble the ball once without losing control. It was pretty funny to watch.

Even though I told them it wasn't necessary, my friends and sisters all brought me presents. We sat in a circle in my living room to open my presents.

"Open mine first!" Gazzy said.

"Okay. Which one is it?"

"The big blue one," Gazzy replied. I grabbed the rather heavy present in blue wrapping paper and set it down in front of me. I quickly tore the wrapping paper to shreds and tossed it aside. Fang eyed me warily, as if wondering why he had such a violent girlfriend.

Inside the wrapping paper was a big, blue cooler. I stared at them, wondering why they were so excited over it. "Look inside," Gazzy said, forcing down his smile. I took the lid off to reveal…a pile of ice. I put my hands in the cooler and sifted through the ice until I found several hard objects towards the bottom. Carefully not displacing the ice, I pulled one of the objects out of the cooler and looked at it.

It was a tub of ice cream.

I looked at the label, and it read Vanilla Ice Cream With Bacon Bits. When I read it out loud, I started laughing, hard, and the others joined me. Ice cream with bacon bits was the most ingenious idea in the world. Why hadn't I thought of it earlier?

"Yes, Gazzy. Just yes. Thanks a ton," I told him. Gazzy looked pretty satisfied with himself.

"Mine next!" Ella said. She tossed me a small gift box about the size of a football wrapped in silver. I peeled off the tape and let the wrapping drop. Behind the outer layer lay another layer of wrapping paper.

"Really?" I mumbled, ripping off the next layer. Ella was softly giggling as I ripped off layer and layer of the stuff. I had a feeling I wouldn't like what was inside.

When I got to the center, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a box of condoms.

"ELLA! WHAT THE FREAKING HELL?! I'M SO GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS!" I yelled at her. Everyone was laughing hysterically except for Fang and I. Iggy was clutching his stomach and rolling backwards. I had no doubt he was the one who inspired the stunt. Gazzy and Nudge had tears coming out of their eyes, Ella was completely out of control, and even Angel was laughing hard.

I threw the box of condoms at Ella who didn't look up in time to catch it. It hit her in the face and sent her into a new wave of hysterics.

Still laughing, Ella picked up the box and tossed it back. "Open-it," she managed.

"I DON'T NEED CONDOMS!" I shouted.

"Just open it," she persisted. I glared at her, but she didn't drop her gaze. I opened the box and saw a tiny envelope drop out. The box was empty besides the envelope. I glared at Ella again.

I set the box down and opened the envelope. Inside, there was a hard piece of plastic. I slid it out and read it. It was a twenty dollar gift card to the ice cream shop.

"Wow…" I growled, looking at Ella. "Thanks, though."

"You're welcome, sister."

"Wait a minute. If you gave me the empty box of condoms, where are the condoms themselves?" I asked Ella, raising my eyebrows.

She immediately blushed. "In-in-the trash! I promise!"

"Used or unused?" Gazzy asked. Iggy shoved his brother, who toppled into a chair, which fell on top of him. "Aaagh!" he cried, pushing the chair off of him.

"So, used or unused?" I asked my sister.

"Unused!" she cried, way too quickly and urgently.

I was shocked. "You guys have done it?!" I asked incredulously.

"No! Why would you think that?" she said, looking anywhere but Iggy.

"You should open my gift next," Iggy said, wisely changing the subject. I stared at Ella, knowing she wasn't telling me the truth. I gave her a look saying, this conversation isn't over, before turning to Iggy.

"Which one's yours?" I asked.

"The small tubular one."

I fished around until I found a thin, green tube slightly longer than a typical cardboard center of a roll of toilet paper. I slid the wrapping off, revealing a brown, cardboard tube. I stared at Iggy. "I don't get it."

He laughed. "Tip it on its side." I did as he told me, and a purple…thing fell out. It was a plastic purple tube that tapered off into a dome at one end.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Press the button on the flat end," he told me. When I pressed it, the entire piece of plastic started vibrating.

"I don't get it. What is-NO WAY. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?" I roared, realizing what it was.

Iggy gave me a purple vibrator.

He doubled over in laughter, again, and everyone repeated the same procedure as before, which was laughing so hard they fell over. This time, even Fang was laughing.

Iggy stopped laughing for a moment and looked at me. "Open the cap," he told me. I did as he said, and I was greeted by a purple tube full of m&m's.

"You guys…" I muttered, picking up one of the candies and dropping it in my mouth. "Why didn't it rattle, Iggy?"

"I packed them tightly, and padded the walls, so no noise got through."

"So, let me get this straight. You gave me a hi-tech vibrator full of m&m's?"

Iggy grinned. "Pretty much. Don't worry, it doesn't function as a vibrator. It's unsanitary and plastic, for heaven's sake."

"Oh, jeez. You thought I was thinking about using it?"

He shrugged. "Girls these days."

"Hey!" Ella protested.

"Anyone crazy enough to date me must have some serious issues," he said. "Kidding, babe."

After that, I opened the rest of the presents, which were nowhere near as crazy as the first three. Angel (CRAP. I forgot about her! She wasn't supposed to know about vibrators and condoms! I'm totally going to kill you, Iggy and Ella.) gave me a silver butterfly necklace, which I put on right away, and Nudge gave me a new wallet after my old one ripped in two.

"Fang?" I asked.

"Turn around," he told me. I did as he asked. While I was turned around, everyone suddenly gasped. I turned back around, and gasped along with them. Except mine was the only one that mattered.

Fang was kneeling in front of me, holding a black box with a gold ring in it. "Ever since our first kiss, my life has been like heaven. I don't know where I'd be without you. So, Maximum Ride, will you have the pleasure of being my wife?"

Without hesitation, I nodded. "Yes. A hundred times, yes," I said, fighting to hold back tears.

Fang broke into a grin and took the ring out of the box. He slid it onto the ring finger of my left hand and stood up. I threw my arms around him, and he wrapped his strong arms around my waist. I let my tears flow, and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you, too," he said, bringing his lips to mine. I was aware of my friends and sisters cheering, but the only thing that mattered at that moment was Fang.

There you have it. Falling For Her Matchmaker is officially over. I really didn't want this to end...but this spot seemed perfect. Either here or two chapters ago.

A few thank you's:

Thanks to iluviggyhesthebest for faithfully reviewing every chapter (I think? :P) and offering suggestions/moral support throughout the story!

Thanks to SeaWolf13, DntlessAnnabeth, virls101, zoxy2, LanieBaLanie, and FAXalltheway for being some of my more dedicated and hilarious readers!

Thanks to everyone who has read, followed, and/or reviewed this story. It means a lot, and I wish I could put all of your names here!

I know you're not reading this, at least I'm 99.9999% sure, but thank you, James Patterson, for creating these amazing characters.

Peace out and fly on!

-J

EDIT 1/5/2015: If anyone happens to still be reading this, I've deleted the last two chapters. Honestly, I wasn't happy with them at all and the story has a much better ending right here. If you'd like to know what happens just message me and I'll tell ya but it doesn't add much to the story. Fly on!