Disclaimer: I do not own Max Ride.
It had been a few days and we had seen neither hide nor hair of a single Eraser. The Flock was in good spirits, and I'm giddy to say, so was I. Yeah, you heard me right, giddy.
"Maaaax," Nudge whined, "I'm sooo tired. Could we stop? Please?" She had flown up beside me, her russet colored wings beating in rhythm with my pale tan ones.
I couldn't blame her. We had been traveling a few many hours now, and everyone seemed to be a little worse for wear. I just hadn't wanted to cave before anyone else did.
I shot a sideways glance at Fang, who I knew had been listening the whole time. He nodded, and I called out for the rest to begin a descent.
We landed near a large cliff, with some nice trees that covered us with cool shade. It was beautiful here, with a wonderful view of the crashing ocean below.
Nudge landed and immediately laid down in the cool grass, breathing a sigh of relief. I smiled and watched as Gazzy and Angel sat next to Iggy and listened to him as he told them a story. Fang sat down and leaned against a tree in the shade. I looked over the cliff, felt the breeze on my face and had a sudden urge to jump. Sudden urges are fun in that they always seem like good ideas even if they actually aren't. They aren't so much fun in that I always seem to carry them out.
So, taking twenty or so steps back, I ran towards the edge and jumped. Angel yelped, and I heard a scuffling on the grass as someone got up. I tuned it out.
Have you ever jumped off a cliff? I guess not, humans not having wings. Unless you did that bungee-jump thing, but it's still not the same.
This feeling, it's like nothing you could ever feel. The rushing wind, the weightless air around you. Nothing matters for that brief moment. Call it lunacy, call it suspended animation, I call it my one favorite rush. When you lead a life like mine, trust me, you need a little release now and then.
Suddenly, I'm aware of another presence in the air, dropping like a rock beside me. I look to my right and spot Fang, only a few feet away from me. Close enough to reach out and grab.
Sudden urges, as I have mentioned, are both good and bad. A sudden urge to jump off a cliff is okay, for me and the Flock at least. A sudden urge to abandon all reality and tell Fang exactly what I felt when he kissed that girl at the real school, when he made those jokes about it, when he pushed me for being jealous about it; not so innocent.
It felt like nothing mattered when I was falling. And when someone else is falling with me, someone that I really care about, it didn't matter what I'd say to them; what I'd do.
So, as my sudden urge took over my actions, effecting me in my not-caring attitude, I reached out and kissed Fang. It didn't matter. It wouldn't until we came out of the dive. If we came out of the dive.
I felt Fang kiss me back, but like I said, it didn't matter. We broke apart and our wings unfurled.
As we came out of the dive, flying back up to the top of the cliff, Fang blinked in bemusement and... was that a smile?
Before it hadn't mattered; now it did. Boy, did I have a lot of explaining to do.