I Just Had to Lick the Cookie, Didn't I?

So, we ran out of town,
From everyone who was calling us out;
Relax, relax;
Exhale and breathe, just breathe for me;
You are the earth beneath my feet,
You are my gravity.
"Pocket knife?"

"Check. Baseball bat?"

"In my car. Pepper spray?"

"Check. Kung fu skills?"

"...Hmm, tough one...check."

"Then I'm ready," I stated confidently. Milo smiled and shook his head.

"If you're ready, I'm ready. Let's go," he laughed. We linked arms and half skipped out of the hotel room.

It was dark and grey outside. Clearly it was going to rain, even if Milo and I happened to be out at seven in the morning. Just by the way the air smelled I could tell a storm was coming.

When we got to Milo's car he opened the door for me and closed it as well. I got comfortable in the fake leather---strange, I thought---seat and buckled myself in. Milo came around to the other side and got in as well. Once he closed the door and had himself secured, he started the car.

"My CDs are in the glove compartment, if you want to pick one," he informed me as he pulled out of the parking spot and started toward the exit.

"What's in there now?" I asked. If there wasn't anything in I'd have to pick, and I really wasn't in the mood. Milo seemed like he was probably in to the same music as me, but for all I knew he could have been in to so many different things I'd have to choose between two things I really hated. I mean, he did have the Atreyu shirt that I had really wanted, and I'd seen him with plenty of other items that would lead any normal person to believe that he liked most---if not all---of what I did, but because I was still slightly paranoid about everything I didn't want to take chances. Not that that made complete sense or anything...

"Thrice, Vheissu," Milo stated. I smiled. Thrice is amazing.

"Sounds good," I replied happily.

As we pulled out into the street Milo peeked over at me.

"Are you sure? I have tons of stuff to choose from. Literally. The glove box is full, and I have more in here," he opened the center consul and closed it again, "and right there," he pointed to the small open area beneath the radio and controls. It took me a second, but it soon registered that there had to be at least a hundred and fifty CDs in here, all neatly packed away and stored in those spiffy holders for just the disk itself. "Oh! And I have my iPod," he announced and removed one hand from the steering wheel in order to retrieve the huge black and silver object from his jeans' pocket. "Here," he said, handing it over to me. "You can just plug it in to that black cord and pick whatever. It has everything that's in here and more."

"Even better," I mumbled evilly. This beautiful... "Holy sh!t! One fucking hundred and sixty gigabytes!? Since when is this possible? I didn't even know this existed!"

Milo's laugh rang through my ears. I was still gawking at the device in my hand. Where on Earth had I been when this thing came about?

"That' the fourth iPod I've had to buy. My first one broke. The second one got full, so I bought another of the same one. I still had more to put on them, so I bought this a few months ago. It's nearly full though. I make too many music purchases," he sighed. I blinked once and then shook my head.

"Seriously, holy sh!t. I want one... Wait, no I don't. We can share," I stated definitely. Ten seconds later it dawned on me that my fear might be true still. "Maybe." I switched the switch off of hold and then began to choose from the different options on the screen until I made it to the list of artists.

The iPod wasn't exactly glowing like it was some sort of holy object, but it should have been. And Hallelujah from Messiah should have been playing in the background. This thing was a miracle in itself.

With widened eyes and a dangling jaw, I turned to look at Milo again. He chuckled after glancing at me.

"Plug it in already," he ordered, laughing. I blinked a few more times before slowly following the command, half dazed. "Good. Now pick playlist number thirty-two." After I chose thirty-two---in numbers, like so: 32---I chose the first song on the list out of habit. Once it started to play I blinked a few more times and shook my head.

"Wow. This is perfect for the current situation," I noted.

"Yep. Number thirty-two is unofficially entitled 'I'm Going to See My Parents in the Next Two Hours and I'd Rather Be Dead'."

I circled my thumb around the wheel and scanned through the other songs. The first was the wonderful song playing: I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace. It was literally perfect, for Milo anyway. That was obvious. And me, too, I guess. We both hated our parents---and families for the most part---but loved them just the same, out of complete and total stupidity, though. Hopeless is what we were.

One song in particular caught my attention. It was the thirty-ninth of forty songs, but completely perfect for Milo's life. Maybe it didn't belong in the situation as much as it could, but in general it was perfect for him. Perfect. Some people were bound not to understand, and yet it made so much sense...

"I love Scary Kids Scaring Kids," I said softly, staring at the now unlit screen.

"Me too."

Everything was quiet for another minute as the song ended and another began. I set Milo's iPod down in one of the empty cup holders between us.

"So, uh, I think it would be a good idea not to tell my parents that we're going to you know, get married. As much as I'd love to just rub it in their faces, they need some time to accept that we're together in the first place," Milo said, sounding a bit uncomfortable.

"Makes sense."

"Lovely. Now Jane and Charlie will be away at school. Cadan is more than likely there with Elise so that they're with family when Elise gives birth. She's due in about three weeks," he informed me.

Milo's phone suddenly started to ring. He handed it over to me to answer and kept his attention on the road.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Adriaan, are you going to Milo's parents' house?" Gary asked frantically.

"Yes..." I replied unsurely.

"Tell him to turn around ASAP and go to the hospital. Elise gave birth last night. Do it. I have to go. Bye!" he yelled and then hung up.

"Gary said to turn around because they're all at the hospital. Elise gave birth last night."

"Fucking assholes..." Milo muttered and managed to turn the car around because we were at an intersection.

It took us fifteen minutes to reach the hospital where Elise was supposed to be. As soon as we were in a parking spot Milo killed the engine and practically exploded out of the car. I got out a little bit slower and he seemed impatient to get in.

"What is up with you?" I questioned lightheartedly. Milo snatched my hand and proceeded to drag me into the hospital. He was practically running and all I could think of was when we were running from the paparazzi in New York a few months before. October... It seemed like it had been longer.

I dug my heals in to the pavement---which was rather painful due to Milo's incredible strength. Milo tried to keep going, but I pulled with all of my might on the arm he had a hold of.

"What the hell? We need to get in there! I need to get in there and stab out all of their eyes!" he shouted frantically, finally giving in to my weak tugging. I looked straight in to his eyes and laughed. Granted the eyes I was looking in to were pained and broken, I loved his enthusiasm. And the lost puppy look on his face. That was priceless.

I stood straight up and gently took my arm from him. He kept staring at me with his big green eyes and the absolutely precious lost puppy look on his face.

"In return for not asking any further questions and complying with your orders to hurry the hell up, I am requesting piggy-back transport---" I was interrupted by Milo heaving me on to his back and grabbing on to my thighs in a split second. With a yelp I threw my arms around his neck as he started off running again.

We stormed in to the doors of the hospital, earning a few surprised looks and double takes. It only took a few seconds for people to whip out their cell phones and start snapping pictures of the two of us. Milo wasted no time asking which room Elise was in and then racing up the staircase. He was doing all of the work, so I didn't mind not taking the elevator. Would you?

"Excuse me, sir, you need to sign in," a nurse at a desk called to Milo and me as we tried to pass by. He groaned and hastily made his way to the desk. A few nurses and people waiting about recognized Milo and stared. "Are you...? Are you Maelogan Boone?" the nurse at the desk breathed. Milo nodded and attempted to sign the sheet. I just laughed and shook my head.

"I'll do it, give me the pen and lean forward," I told him. He turned his head slightly to see me and sighed in defeat. Once I had the pen he leaned forward. I had a sense right then that is someone was sitting directly behind us they could probably see me ass, considering I was wearing a dress. A rather short dress...

After I signed Milo and myself in, I turned my upper half around as much as I could to check for peepers. Sure enough, there was a teenager with a phone held out in front of her. She caught my eye and just stared sheepishly.

"If you don't delete what ever picture you just took, I suggest hiring a body guard because I'll kick your ass," I told her fiercely. She nodded fearfully and brought her phone closer to her. It looked like she was deleting it, but I wanted to be sure. "It's gone?" She nodded.

"Give it to me," Milo---much to my surprise---ordered her. She handed him her phone. I watched him click a bunch of buttons and search through a bunch of crap before he handed the phone back to her. "Thank you for cooperating. What's your name?" he asked her nicely while bending his knees to hint that he wanted me off. I rolled my eyes and slid off of his back, immediately straightening my dress out.

"Theresa," she squeaked.

"It's nice to meet you Theresa," Milo stated, reaching behind his back to grab my hand and pull me next to him. "This is Adriaan."

"Hi. Sorry for being a psycho..." I sighed halfheartedly. I mean, she did take a picture of my butt.

"That she is. Now we're going to answer three questions you have and let you take a picture of us. Plus I'll sign an autograph for you, and so will Adriaan," Milo told the girl. She just gaped at us. "Why don't you think on those questions while I get you autographs?"

Milo then tugged me back over to the desk where he asked for a piece of paper and a blue pen. I was a little more than shocked when I found out that we both have to use blue ink or we flip a sh!t. He was literally perfect. I couldn't believe I wasn't dreaming...

We both signed the paper and then the nurse at the desk asked for autographs so we signed another. After that Milo said no more and walked back over to Theresa with her signed paper. She took it from Milo ever-so-gratefully and just kept gaping at us. Once she got a better grip on herself Milo and I smiled for the picture she was allowed to take. And then she got to ask questions.

"Um... What do your tattoos mean?" she asked sheepishly. Milo chuckled.

"Well, they're my reminders. They actually cover the scars from when I tried to commit suicide the first time. The whole purpose of getting them was to remind myself why I didn't want to do it again," he told her honestly. I felt a pang of jealousy that he never bother to tell me that. The worst part was when he grabbed her hand and traced her pointer finger over one of the scars. "Feel it?" She nodded and I felt like cracking her head on the cement wall behind her.

"Uh, well, I totally believe that you two love each other as much as you said, but I just wondered if, you know, you've... I know that's really personal, but I've heard a lot of rumors all over about it," she said.

"No," Milo said simply.

"We're virgins," I blurted and then immediately regretted it. Oops. Milo cleared his throat, squeezed my hand extra tight and then motioned for Theresa to ask her last question.

"Well, I guess your interview in Teen Touch made it pretty clear that your parents kind of disapprove of your relationship, so do you think that could prevent you from getting any closer to each other?" she questioned.

"Love is a form of insanity. Disapproval doesn't make a schizophrenic stop being schizophrenic, so how could we stop loving each other because people don't approve? It doesn't make any logical sense. So no, my parents will not prevent us from getting any closer," Milo informed her. She nodded. "Now, we need to get going. Thanks for your cooperation."

And with that Milo began dragging me again. This time I let him because I knew he was probably mad as hell at me. Why was I so stupid?

"Shit," Milo grumbled out of the blue and then yanked me with him into a room with an open door. There were voices in the hall that sounded familiar.

"Are you sure you don't want to come to lunch with us?" a male voice asked. I knew who it was: William.

"No, I'm just going to go shower. I'll pick up a sandwich in the cafeteria later." Cadan. Their voices were growing closer and their footsteps as well.

"If that's what you want. We'll bring some breakfast for the two of you tomorrow morning. I know I was dying for food after all of you kids were born. That hospital garb just doesn't cut it," Caroline complained as they passed by the room we were hiding in.

Their voices faded as they turned a corner and Milo immediately yanked me out of the room and down the hall to the room Elise was in. Milo just waltzed right in with me in tow. Elise peeked up from the book she was reading and jumped, throwing the book across the room.

"Maelogan! Oh my god!" she screamed. Milo shushed her and then closed the door. Elise giggled and apologized. "I'm so happy yo--- ADRIAAN! Holy hell! Come here, come here, come here, come here! Hugs, hugs, hugs!" she exclaimed ad beckoned me over with flailing arms. I smiled shyly and walked over slowly, Milo still holding my hand. When Elise went to hug me Milo let go and I got to hug her back. She squeezed and released me, only to summon Milo to bend over for a hug as well.

"So where's the baby?" Milo asked after he was standing straight up again. Elise grinned.

"He's taking one of his many daily naps. I wanted to keep him, but everyone ordered me to take a rest. So here I am, all by my lonesome. Well, not anymore. I made them all go to lunch, and I'm so happy I did. This would have been a disaster if they were still here..." Elise sighed dejectedly.

"You're telling me," Milo muttered.

"I'm so sorry about all of this. I really wanted to invite you to the wedding, you know that. And I told Cadan to call you yesterday, did he?" she asked, hopeful. Milo shook his head.

"Gary called me about an hour and a half ago to tell me. We were on our way to my parents' house to tell them that we found each other. It's actually a good thing we haven't seen them. They'll probably start a homicidal rampage," he breathed.

Elise laughed.

"If you want, I can tell them for you. I'll just say the two of you stopped by. That way they might cool off a tad before they see you again. I'd rather you didn't die," she smiled.

"We don't want you to die though. Then there would just be more reason for them to behead me," Milo advocated. Elise shrugged.

"I tried. Well, do you guys want to go see him or what?" she asked excitedly. I nodded and smiled.

"It's a boy?" Milo gasped.

"Mmhmm, let's go!"

Milo and Elise walked faster than I did out of the room and down the hall. I trailed behind because I knew he was mad. It wasn't my place to say what I said, but it just sort of slipped out.

"There he is," Elise said proudly, pointing to a baby behind the glass wall. There were so many...

"Which one?" Milo asked. Neither of us could tell where Elise was pointing. She pouted and then started to beam again. Oh how I envied her motherly glow. I had never glowed in any way EVER. Well, maybe I had, but it wasn't for that long.

"William Wayland Christian. Boone. Obviously," she told us happily. "I personally hated the name, but I only agreed to it because I get to name the next one with no strings attached. What ever I want."

After Elise told us his name I was able to find where the little guy was. For being a few weeks early, he sure didn't look like it. He had a cute little blue hat on and was all wrapped up in some of those hospital blankets.

"Mrs. Boone, how many times do I have to kick your butt back to your room, girl?" a voice called from behind us. We all turned our heads to see a big African-American woman in pink scrubs coming our way with a serious expression. She stopped beside Elise and the two of them giggled.

"Okay, I have to go back to my room you two. While you're admiring everyone else's bundles of joy, you should think about having your own," Elise joked, elbowing both Milo and me as her and the nurse made their way back down the hallway. "Thanks for coming!"

Suddenly Milo's chin was resting on my shoulder and his arms found their way around my waist. He pulled me close to him so that my back was pressed against his chest. I couldn't figure out exactly what was going on in my head. It was like I couldn't breathe because of the way he made me feel, but at the same time I was confused. He was supposed to be mad at me.

"I'm sorry I reacted the way I did. Don't feel like you did something wrong. I know why you did it," he whispered, still staring through the glass at all of the newborns.

"And why is that?" I asked doubtfully. He rolled his head to look at me and I only watched him through the corner of my eye

"You were jealous. I was telling a complete stranger things I never told you, so you felt it was necessary to show that you knew something too. It's my fault and I'm sorry. I should have told you all of that a long time ago, but I was ashamed of what I'd done. Everything's different now, though, so if you ever want to know anything all you have to do is ask... You know, I probably would have told you back then, too."

I sighed and refused to look at him, taking my eyes from him and watching all of the babies sleep.

"I love you, that isn't going to change. I promise," he told me softly in my ear. It took all of my will-power to keep from crying. He meant it, I knew that much, and that was more than I could say for everyone else that had told me those words. I gulped and continued to stare at the little bundles of joy.

Twenty minutes passed and there was silence between us. All around passed nurses and fathers and grandparents. Most of them just glanced at us and ogled their new family member before leaving. Some spoke to us, Milo responded briefly.

"You know what?" he sighed out of the blue. No one was around, surprisingly.

"Hmm?" I hummed and then turned my head to look at him. He took his chin from my shoulder and stood up straight. I tilted my head up in order to keep his face in view.

"I want one. Or ten. Or however many, I don't care. Preferably more than one though," he declared. My eyes widened slightly. We'd accidentally brought up having kids before, but we'd never actually had this discussion. "Sorry."

I smiled and shook my head.

"No, it's alright," I laughed. With some serious effort I pried Milo's arms from me and turned around to face him. He raised an eyebrow at my smiling face. I glanced around to make sure no one was close enough to hear what I had to say and then made sure to keep my voice low.

"We're getting married," I stated. Milo eyed me curiously before nodding.

"Yes, we are," he responded carefully, but then smiled slightly. "Let's go shopping."

I scrunched my face in confusion.

"For what?" I asked.

"I want everyone else to know," he shrugged.

"Nuh uh, you have to pick it out all by yourself."

"But you have to live with it for the rest of your life. I want you to like it."

"I'll subtly drop hints to Gary. He can tell you, but you have to ask him. It shouldn't be that hard. He wants me to model for him, so I'll just do it then..."

"Fine," he grumbled playfully and then bent down a bit. His eyes darted back and forth before resting on me. "What kind of modeling did he have in mind?" he inquired quietly.

"I don't know," I replied. Milo furrowed his brow.

"As long as you don't end up half naked in a magazine, I'm okay with it. You're mine; you belong in my dreams, not some hormonal teenaged boy's," he proclaimed. I didn't object. In a way that embarrassed me then, his words sort of made me more attracted to him at that moment.

I started to blush as Milo brought his head closer to mine. We were hardly a millimeter away when there was a loud banging noise and a bunch of yelling. Both of us jumped and turned our heads to where the noise was coming from. As soon as I saw them I instinctively hid behind Milo.

"If you don't leave this hospital, we will call the police!" William shouted, looking over his shoulder. Caroline marched in stride with her husband, her head down while pretending to be text messaging someone. When William looked forward again he immediately spotted Milo at the same time as some of the mob of paparazzi following him.

"It's Maelogan!" someone yelled. The mob then started to buzz with excitement. Caroline looked up and saw him and then quickly started to actually use her phone. Ten seconds later Milo's front pocket started to ring quietly.

"Could you get that?" he growled angrily. His parents and the mob were growing closer. None of them appeared to have noticed me, though. So I reached my shaking hand into Milo's pocket and pulled out his phone. I flipped it open and tapped the button to read the message.

Distract them. It read, from Caroline.

"Your mom wants us to distract them," I whispered in his ear, standing on my tip-toes. That was a mistake because all eyes snapped to me. William and Caroline got really, REALLY angry all of a sudden and then the paparazzi just got even crazier. Sh!t.

"Run!" Milo yelled and then grabbed my hand and took off. I followed, laughing as we dodged random people in the hall and made our way to the staircase. We made it to the last set of stairs with the paparazzi three floors above us before something bad had to happen. I tripped. And fell. Falling in front of Milo and pulling him down with me for the last seven concrete steps.

"Oops," I whispered, shocked. Milo was on top of me at the base of the stairs. I knew I wasn't hurt and he wasn't either, but the mob of crazed press was drawing nearer. All I could think to do was laugh, but when Milo joined me my breath caught in my lungs and I just stared at him. Eventually he met my gaze with a huge smile on his face. It was right then that I realized how lost in his green eyes I'd always gotten.

Our lips met in a fraction of a second and my fears of kissing him melted away. By the time I even realized exactly what was happening I had tasted him before I felt him. At first it was awkward and I wanted to push him away, but then I understood that this was...right. In mere seconds I'd found myself enjoying the most passionate and mind-blowing kiss ever, and then it ended.

"Hey, I found them!" someone yelled. Milo reluctantly pulled away, leaving us both breathless and dazed. We both blinked and Milo leapt to his feet, pulling me with him. I fixed my dress and then stared down at my shoes while I waited for him to drag me out to the car, but we just stood there.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, glancing up at him.

"Just trust me," he replied quietly and slowly took my hand in his. We were standing side-by-side at the bottom of the stairwell awaiting the arrival of all of the paparazzi that had been following us. Only one reporter stood in front of us with a pad and pen. He was watching us like we belonged in a zoo.

And then the mob came stampeding down the last few steps, but they were all held up so that we had our space. Apparently they weren't as stupid as I had thought.

Once again we were being shouted at with a chorus of "Maelogan!"s.

"We'll answer two questions and as many pictures as you can take, then we have to leave," Milo told them. "You," he said, pointing to one of the reporters.

"So the two of you are still dating?" he asked.

"Yes," Milo answered, I nodded. "You," he repeated, pointing to another reporter.

"Rumor has it that Adriaan suffers from an eating disorder, is this true?"

Milo nudged me in the side and I gulped. All of the people were staring at me and the cameras were flashing. I mustered up my confidence and smiled.

"No. It's something else, but I'm getting better every day," I told them honestly.

"You're welcome," Milo said and then started to drag me out of the stairwell. Once we were out of the door we ran for it, and as soon as we were safely locked in the car again the two of us burst out into laughter. "Can we do that again?" Milo inquired, still laughing. I turned to him, smiling.

"What?" I breathed and tried to stop laughing. He gave me the most loving look I'd ever seen and glanced away for a second.

"I think you know," he teased. I grinned.

"We'll see, but maybe we should get back first," I suggested. He rolled his eyes jokingly and started the car.

"Sounds good to me."

And with that we left.