I woke up this morning on Dr. M's pull-out-couch next to Fang. I won't go into details, but I think you get the idea. I could tell from his breathing that he was still asleep. And here's the eternal question. Do I sneak away and try not to wake him up, or do I pretend to be asleep until he wakes up, and then he sneaks away? If I choose the first option, he might be offended, but I will avoid some of the weirdness. With the second option, I won't make Fang feel bad, like last night was a mistake and I wanted to get away, but he might feel guilty and wait for me to "wake up" so we can "talk". So basically, either way I was screwed. Why do things have to be so complicated after people somewhat-accidentally sleep together?

I decided to sneak away and try to avoid as much weirdness as possible. Another good reason for choosing option one, Mom was probably going to wake up soon for work, and Ella for school. Now that would be weird, if one of them found us together. It was about five o'clock in the morning, and I think they wake up around six. There was no way Fang would be up by then. He was out cold. Frankly, I was still tired too, so I went to the guest room that Angel and Nudge were sharing and crashed on the floor. About an hour later, Mom woke me up by draping a blanket over me.

"Oh, hi Mom. Are you leaving for work?"

"Yes, it's almost seven. I was just walking by and saw you on the floor. You looked cold. By the way, why exactly are you laying on the floor? I thought you had the couch," she asked. Crap.

"Uh… I was just feeling generous so I let Fang have it… He did something to his back yesterday and I didn't want him sleeping on the floor," I said, very impressed with my lie.

"Oh, no. Maybe I should check him out before I leave. I hope it's not serious," Mom said with concern on her face. Crap-er. I forgot she was a doctor. Kind of.

"No, no, he's fine. Really. It's okay, he's a trooper." I couldn't tell if she knew I was lying or not.

"Oh, alright. But I'll ask him about it when I get home, just to make sure," she said, giving in. Wow. I'm a better liar than I thought. But how was I going to get Fang to go along with it? Not to mention the rest of the Flock! That would involve talking to them about what happened between Fang and me. And talking to Fang about what happened. I don't know which would be worse.

This was going to be extremely awkward, but I had to do it. I walked down the stairs to wake up Fang, but to my surprise, he was already up, watching TV on the couch, which was still folded out in bed-form.

"Good morning," he said, barely looking up at me from the TV. For the first time in, like, ever I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Uh… good morning," I said as I sat down on the edge of the bed in complete awkward silence.

"Listen, we need to talk about last night. I know it's weird but we cant just pretend it didn't happen," I said feeling me cheeks turn red with embarrassment.

"Okay. And it's not weird, Max. Why do you think it's weird? Do you… regret it or something? I mean, I'm really sorry if I pressured you or anything. I swear, I didn't mean to," Fang said, turning off the TV and giving me his full attention. He looked at me with his dark eyes, searching my face for an answer. He looked almost hurt. At that moment, I remembered why I did it in the first place. Fang was amazing. Everything about him, from his fourteen-foot wingspan, to his very, very rare smiles, to his incomparable, frustrating, never-ever-show-your-emotions-ness. I just loved him, and I knew he loved me, even though including last night, he had never told me. But I digress.

"No. Of course I don't regret it. I love you, Fang. I just thought that, maybe, you know… I just didn't know what you thought about it," I mumbled. I felt Fang's strong hand tilt my chin up so that I was looking at him, instead of the rumpled up blanket underneath me, which I had suddenly taken an interest in.

"You could have just asked me how I felt. And besides, Max, you know how I feel about you," he said, leaning closer like he was going to kiss me. I turned my head away and said,

"Not really. I mean, you never say it."

"Max, don't be like that. You know I love you. It's just hard for me to say," he said, his voice breaking on the word "love". Now he was looking down at his lap, twittling his thumbs.

"Just try and get better, okay? I'm serious. I'm gonna start keeping track, and you're gonna have a quota to meet, or you'll be in big trouble," I threatened jokingly. I leaned over and bumped his shoulder with mine. He pulled me closer, and kissed me slowly. His hand was soft on the back of my neck, and I felt his other arm snake around my waist. When we finally broke apart, Fang got up really close to my ear and whispered,

"I'll start now. I love you, Max." He softly kissed my earlobe, and my neck, and my collarbone. I started to giggle uncontrollably.

Just then, I heard someone walking down the stairs. I quickly pushed Fang off of me and jumped off the bed. I saw Gazzy's sluggish blonde form thump down the steps tiredly.

"Hey, Gaz. What are you doing up so early?" I asked, kind or disappointed that Fang and I were interrupted.

"It's eight. Pokemon's on," he replied, and then plopped down on the couch/bed next to Fang and grabbed the remote. He flipped to the right channel just in time for the theme song.

"Fang? Would you come help me with breakfast? In the kitchen?" I said winking at him. Gazzy couldn't care less.

"Max, Iggy always makes bre- Oh! I'd love to help with breakfast!" he said, jumping up from the bed and following me to the kitchen.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. That Pokemon song is catchy," he said, starting to hum the song. Wow, Fang humming. I never thought I'd see the day.

"You're in a good mood today," I said as I walked over to the coffee machine and looked for the coffee can. Where did I put it?

"Why wouldn't I be in a good mood? I'm standing here next to you," he said, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind me, "And I finally got to show you how much I love you last night."

"Two," I said, making an imaginary tally mark in the air with my finger.

"Two what?" Fang asked as I turned around to face him.

"You're at two. You've said I love you twice today. I told you I'm keeping track," I said smiling at him.

"Oh, right. What exactly is my quota?"

"Umm…I'm not going to tell you. You have to figure it out," I said because, well, I didn't really have a number, I was just going to get mad if it didn't seem like enough.

"Thanks," Fang said sarcastically. He reached around me and opened the cupboard right in front of me. He reached in and handed me the coffee can that I had spent ten freaking minuets looking for. If he smirks, I'll punch him.