I wake up slowly, my eyes not wanting to open, staying glued shut. I see Fang’s face inches from mine not snoring as loud, but she’s still asleep. I sit up and I’m immediately blinded by sunlight, fuck you too Mr. sun. Everything that’s happened in the past 48 hours rushes back to my head. Once again, that pit appears in my stomach, and the claw marks on my back…. I gently get out of bed trying not to open the scabs from Fang and not wake her up. I check the closet for the revolver; it’s still there, in the same exact place I left it. I let out a sigh of relief, and even though I’m relieved she didn’t try to find it again, I still can’t help but still feel like this is a nightmare I’ll wake up from. I pinch myself just in case…fuck…I turn to see Fang still asleep, I can’t imagine how she feels. Everything’s been hell for both of us, mostly her. I hear my phone buzz and walk over to it. The time reads 11:23 AM, with 2 missed messages from Naser. One from about 4 hours ago reads, “No, we need to talk now. Is Fang okay?” The newest is “Hello?” from just a minute ago.

 

I step into the kitchen and text Naser, “Can you talk?” his response is nearly immediate, “Yes,” and my ringtone blares. I quickly turn down my phone and peek my head into the living room to ensure she’s asleep; her rhythmic rising and falling chest confirm she’s still fast asleep. I answer the phone and am instantly berated with questions… must’ve picked it up from Naomi “Where is Fang? Is she safe? What the hell are you two doing?! . . .”. I wait for the questions to stop. “Hello?!” 

 

“Fang’s okay, Naser. She’s staying at my…place. She didn’t tell you she was leaving?”

 

“Of course she didn’t” I can hear the disdain in his voice. There’s a slight pause; I take the queue and try to talk. 

 

I can feel a lump in my throat forming. “She…” My voice is shaky. I need to tell him the truth. “Before I say anything else, can you promise that all this stays between us? Please?” 

 

There's a pause and I can hear students passing by him “...okay,” 

 

I hesitantly continued, “She…stole your dad’s gun”...silence on the other side. I can feel myself sweating bullets before he speaks. 

 

“What, why…” before he can finish his sentence, I speak up again. 

 

“She wanted to hurt…” the lump becomes more significant as I pause. 

 

Naser seems to already know what I was gonna say; there’s disbelief in his voice. “…She…she wouldn’t, not her.” My silence only reinforces what I said. 

 

I think back to when Fang and I were on the rooftop, her talking about Naser and how she thinks the whole split between them is because of her. I need to fix this fast.

 

 “What’d you say”…mumbling again, it sounds like he has just as big a lump as I do as he struggles to speak.

 

“Fang told me something a while ago,” Naser is silently listening “she thinks everything between you and her is her fault. She thinks you’re still upset from when she told you that you could fly…but you fell and broke your wing…” there’s silence for a bit before Naser speaks. 

 

“...this whole time…then why does she always seem like she hates me?” 

 

“Fang’s confused why you don’t hate her, she thinks you’re supposed to hate her because of what she did, so she treats you like that.” There’s silence for a moment before I continue, “...Fang doesn’t want to tell you because she’s afraid she’ll just confirm what she thinks is true.” A quick check into the bedroom tells me that Fang’s still asleep, but an audible shift in the covers tells me otherwise. “I need to go, Naser. I’ll try to be in school later this week.” 

 

“No wai-” I hang up, and I can feel the buzz from texts already building up on my phone. 

 

“...Anon?” perfect timing, Fang’s awake. I return to the bed to see Fang sitting with the blankets covering her like a cloak. I plop down next to her on the side of the bed. Fang looks adorable right now. Seeing her like this is a much-needed sight.

 

“How’d you sleep?” She smiles softly as if everything in the past couple of days hasn’t happened. Does she remember last night? 

 

She mumbles softly, sinking into covers a little “…I remember.”

 

She looks away from my face, a look of guilt and deep regret quickly taking hold of her…I need to learn to keep my internal thoughts internal. 

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” I mumble softly. 

 

“I’d rather not,” she says with a hoarse voice. I can hear the sorrow building as she realizes last night was not just a bad dream. 

 

I should say something to turn this around, I don't want her to be like this all day. “I never got to apologize for a couple of nights ago…” She looks at me attentively. She seems conflicted about whether she wants to hear it, but I continue. “I shouldn’t have said those things to you, and….” I hesitate. I don’t know if I should bring up Naomi right now…but I need to talk to her about it to get this notion that I’m only a pawn for Naomi’s plans out of my head. “…My feelings for you are real, no matter what Naomi’s plans are or were,” I hug her tightly “you’re my whole world, Fang” I feel her wrap her arms around my back, and her hands are placed suddenly onto where her claw marks were. “SHIT!” 

 

She jolts back with a scared look, “Are you okay?!”

 

I rub my back a bit, “Yeah…just a scratch.” 

 

She looks at me with that patented mom glare, the same look when I fell down the stairs and got up close and personal with the bollard. “...Take off your shirt.” I hesitate a little, but her glaring is enough to make me take off my shirt without another thought, and I turn my back towards her. There’s silence for a moment as she inspects the wounds. “...Fuuuuck…did I do that?” I slowly nod and feel the bed shift “Stay right there; I’ll be right back,” I watch as she goes to the bathroom and brings her backpack to the foot of the bed “...I brought some first aid for myself in case I got hurt.” 

 

She sits behind me. I jolt a little and feel a cold sting of some sort of ointment and her pinching my back. Almost as fast as the balm is applied, the pain fades, and all the other feelings around that area. Must be a numbing cream. I hear some tearing and feel something wrap around my chest and back. “There.” I rub my back and feel the texture of some sort of gauze bandage wrapped around the claw marks 

 

“...thank you, Fang.” I turned towards her slowly, trying to not mess with the bandages too much.

 

“I’m sorry, Anon…” her voice is softer, she sounds like she's on the verge of tears.

 

“Don’t be sorry, it’s okay, last night was… I’m just glad I was awake when you were. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” I embrace Fang again,softer this time,  and she does the same. 

 

“You won’t go…will you?” she mumbles quietly into my ear.

 

“Go where?” I ask, confused, matching her volume. 

 

“To school…” 

 

I mumble back, “Not today…I just want to spend time with you, but I’ll have to go later in the week, okay?” 

 

“...okay”. We sat in each other’s embrace for a while. Even though I could stay like this forever, we both needed a shower… 

 

“Do I really stink that much?” Mumbling… 

 

“No…the claw marks, and I think it would make both of us feel better. Do you want to go first?” she thinks for a moment, putting her finger under her…chin? That has to be a thinking pose. 

 

“...yeah, I’ll go first.” We loosen the embrace, and she heads to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. I hear the showerhead sputter to life. I decided now would be the best time to call Naser again and fully run-down everything that’s happened. I owe him that much for putting up with me and my recent shenanigans.

 

I look at the texts he sent…shit, I should’ve at least responded. The last text is from a little over an hour ago. “Call me when you can please.” he’s being surprisingly nice considering his position; I’m sure Fang’s dad is ripping him apart. I can’t help but feel bad for him…I need to get Fang home as soon as possible. The phone rings a few times, and Naser picks up, “Anon? Is Fang okay?” 

 

“Yeah, she’s fine…she’s taking a shower right now. Are you okay, man?” 

 

He hesitates a little, “Yeah…I’m fine, tell me more about Fang.” I can tell he’s not telling the truth, but I shrug it off 

 

“Alright, but yeah, she’s still a bit shaken up from everything that’s happened in the past couple of days.” 

 

Naser speaks up again. “Yeah I would guess that she would be…speaking of which could you tell me what’s happened since you two left after prom. I never got a chance to talk to her after what happened….” I can tell Naser’s trying to keep his composure, sounds like he’s about to punch something.

 

“Well, we left after everything that happened, and Fang and I went back to my place and…I told her something I shouldn’t have,” 

 

Naser interjects immediately, his voice stern. “What did you say to her?”

 

I stayed silent, wondering if I should tell Naser what Naomi was up to; either that or I lie out of my ass. 

 

“Lie about what.” I can hear the grit through his teeth…fuck, now I’m really backed into a corner. 

 

“Naser, Naomi said something to me when we were out looking for a venue when we took a break. When you and Fang used the bathroom.” 

 

“What does that have to do with any of this?” 

 

I can tell his mask is slipping. I need to talk fast before he comes over here and slams me into a wall. “Naomi told me that she had a whole plan…to put me with Fang.” 

 

There’s silence for a bit, and he speaks again, “Why would sh-?” 

 

I interrupt him, “Naomi wanted me to ‘fix’ Fang so that you could focus more on her.” 

 

He nervously laughs before continuing, “You’re lying…she wouldn’t do that.” 

 

“When I told Fang she flipped, started breaking whatever she could in my apartment and kicked me halfway across the room.” He’s silent for a couple minutes before I hear  both the artificial bell in the background go off and the showerhead turning off. 

 

“I need to go again, Naser…I’ll talk more later,” he hangs up before I can without saying a word. 

 

I hear the bathroom door creak open a bit. “A-Anon…I need some clothes, please….” The only thing I have left in my closet is a copy of the shirt I’m wearing right now. I knock on the door and see her snoot and hand peek around the door; I hand her the shirt, and she comes out a couple minutes later wearing the same pants she was wearing and my shirt. She looks at me like a guilty puppy as she slowly turns around…great, my only other shirt is ripped. It fits her pretty well, though. Fang looks cute right now, and her blushing tells me that wasn’t just my internal dialogue…also, a loose coin she picked up bouncing off my forehead. 

 

“Ow, what was that for?” 

 

She snickers softly “dweeb,” I hear a low grumble coming from what sounds like her stomach. Her facial expression also confirms that’s where the noise source was coming from. 

 

“Want some uh….” I check my phone, and the time flashes 11:40 AM. “Bit too late for breakfast, give me a sec,” I waltz over to the fridge only to find 2 slices of cheese; this is sad, even for me. I let out a long sigh and poured some sugary cereal for her, breakfast for lunch then. I give her the bowl and start heading toward the bathroom.

 

“When I get out, you wanna go out and get some real food?” She thinks for a moment, with a smile creeping on her face, then nods softly. Wonder what she’s got planned…I close the door behind me and take off the bandages; taking them off is like ripping off duct tape. That numbing cream would make an excellent adhesive…. I get into the shower. The warm water immediately stings the wounds as the balm washes off, I start examining them, and they look better than I thought they would; I guess that balm works like a sort of washable glue too. Neat. Guess I was right about the adhesive part. I freshen up and get out of the shower, putting on my only clothes again. I open the door to see Fang put on the last of her makeup. She smiles warmly at me as she puts on the final strokes of her eyeliner. 

 

“Ready to head out, Fang?”