What a Wicked Game

Everyone woke up early the next morning to the smell of Lindsey and Paige cooking breakfast. It was as if they had never left each other, the way they were pretty much in sync. They were whipping out eggs, bacon, and pancakes left and right while they laughed and joked around. It was a sight to see.

“Damn, are you feeding an army?” Johnny said, yawning, as he stepped into the kitchen with Jimmy, Matt, and Brian.

“We might as well be since there are six grown men in the house.” Paige patted Jimmy’s stomach when she walked by to put another plate of bacon on the table.

“Do you do this for your husband? Jeez, no wonder he’s getting that belly.”

“Yeah fuck you too, Jimmy.” Zacky came into the kitchen with his eyes still half-closed. He nearly walked into the counter on his way to Paige, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

“It’s okay Zack, Paige loves your body.” Brian said while Jimmy and Johnny snickered.

“Yes I do, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

The guys moved out of the kitchen and to the dining room table to get a start on the excessive amount of food. Not a few minutes later, Paige came out carrying Céline, her and Zacky’s four year old daughter. Her long hair was an interesting shade of auburn, a mix between her parents’ hair. She of course had the same green eyes as her daddy.

Jeremy came out next, leaving Corey to be the last one in bed. Lindsey reminded the guys to save some food for him because they had actually eaten more than half of what they put on the table earlier. She and Paige were right for planning to feed an army. It was surprising that the kids even got some food.

When Corey still didn’t come out after an hour later, Lindsey went to go and check on him. He normally slept in late on Mondays but it couldn’t hurt to see. She walked through the kitchen and down the hallway, her bare feet cold on the hardwood floor. She opened her bedroom door quietly in case he was still sleeping.

He was lying on his stomach with one arm underneath the pillow and the other sprawled out to the side. His hair covered his eyes somewhat but she knew they were closed in a deep sleep. She couldn’t help but smile at him before she sat on the bed and pushed his shoulder lightly, “Hey sleepyhead, everyone else is up and eating all the breakfast.”

He groaned and mumbled something incoherent. When she pushed his shoulder again he took her arm and pulled her down next to him, a squeal of surprise escaping her lips. “It’s Monday, we should be sleeping.” His hand rested lazily at her waist

“Maybe you should be, but I’m not. Paige and I had to wake up early to make breakfast.”

“I’ll get up if you guys made coffee.”

“Now why would I forget that?”

“Thank you, babe.” He held her chin between his thumb and index finger and he brought her face to his in a kiss.

“I need to get out of bed, don’t make me stay here.” She complained.

He smiled, “Don’t worry, I have to head into the studio for a little bit, then I’m going to see Griffin and Angie. I’ll bring some of the guys over later.”

“I have no idea what everyone else wants to do, but I’ll let you know as soon as I do.”

“Sounds good to me. Now help me get up, please.” Lindsey just stared at him with a small smile on her face. She didn’t even make to sit up out of bed. “I have to do everything myself, huh?” he kissed her again before pushing himself off the bed, stretching for a few seconds, and standing up slowly. Lindsey couldn’t help but notice the way his jeans hung low on his hips, revealing the ‘V’ that curved in. His back muscles rippled every time he moved accentuating the infinite tattoo that stretched across his shoulder blades. She had to get out of bed before she caught herself staring too long.

***

“So is it awkward having Brian here?” Paige and Lindsey were sitting at the food court in the mall that afternoon. Céline sat next to them coloring a picture absentmindedly.

After breakfast everyone hung around the house talking and catching up. It was nice, but the kids were getting restless. Zacky suggested that the guys take Jeremy around to have a “boy day” and the girls could do their own thing. The “boy day” made Lindsey apprehensive, mostly because she had no idea what that entailed, but she trusted her brother. Anyway, she threatened to hurt them if anything happened to her son. Paige wanted to check out the mall so the three of them could shop around without having the guys telling them to hurry up.

Lindsey twirled the straw around in her soda cup, “I don’t know. He hasn’t talked to me much but that could be nothing.” She leaned forward and crossed her arms on the table. “You can tell that Jeremy looks like Brian, right?”

Paige nodded her head vigorously, “If Brian wasn’t his dad I’d say they were twins.”

“I was watching Brian when Jeremy came out to see everyone the first night. He looked directly at him and nothing in his face showed that he noticed it.”

Paige shrugged, “Well…it did take Brian a while to notice things like that. He couldn’t even tell that you and Zacky were related at first.”

Only a blind person couldn’t see how she and Zacky were brother and sister. Hopefully Brian wasn’t losing his eyesight. She sighed and took a sip of her soda, “I’m gonna tell him. I have no idea when, but it has to be sometime while you guys are visiting.”

“That’s good. I know you’re nervous as hell about it but it’ll finally be off your chest.”

“I just hope he can forgive me.” They didn’t say anymore on the subject. When Céline said that she wanted to see her dad it was time for them to leave. If she couldn’t see her dad for more than a few hours when he was home from touring, she would get fussy. Paige called Zacky to find out what the guys were doing, expecting them to be out and about, when actually they were already at Lindsey’s house. They had basically walked around downtown all day “seeing the sites”.

On the way back to her house, Lindsey couldn’t help but think about Brian. Maybe he did notice how similar Jeremy looked to him and he wasn’t saying anything. If not, when would be a good time to tell him? She considered doing it as soon as she got home just so she could stop thinking about it but that was the last way she wanted to do it. If she got Brian alone, that’s when she would tell him.

***

At around six that night, Corey came home followed by Shawn from his band Stone Sour, Chris, Mick, Jim, and Sid. He had planned for everyone to come but for one reason or other not everyone could. They all sat in Lindsey’s spacious living room; Sid, Zacky, Paige, and Johnny were talking avidly about something in one corner of the room, Brian and James were leaning against a wall mimicking playing guitar chords, and Jimmy, Shawn, Matt, and Jeremy were watching Lindsey, Chris, Mick, and Corey play Call of Duty.

Lindsey was in the first place so far with the most kills, Chris was second, Mick was third, and Corey was dead last with one kill. They were concentrating most of the time but they would taunt each other every once in a while.

“Shit Corey, who taught you how to play? Sid?” Mick said as he knifed him from behind. Sid could be heard telling Mick to fuck off.

Corey cursed, “You know what, Mick? Suck it!” As soon as Corey re-spawned he shot Mick down with a burst of bullets.

The real competition was between Lindsey and Chris. Jimmy and Jeremy cheered her on while Matt and Shawn did the same for Chris. They weren’t messing with each other as much as Corey and Mick were but it was almost more entertaining to watch how focused they were.

“I don’t think you can beat someone who works with video games for a living.” Jimmy said to Chris.

“Yeah but Chris is pretty good. No offense, Lindsey.” Shawn retorted. Neither of them seemed to hear much. Chris let out an irritated sigh when Lindsey shot him with her sniper rifle but he kept playing intently. He was only three kills behind her.

Meanwhile, Mick and Corey were still teasing each other. By now they had decided to just run around each other and stay out of Lindsey and Chris’ way. “Hey…” Corey said, “hey Mick, guess what? There’s a bug on your face.” He shot Mick square in the head and proceeded to yell loudly. Before he could notice what was happening, his character was killed by a grenade. His face fell, “Aw, what the hell?”

“Sorry honey but you left yourself wide open. I couldn’t resist.” Lindsey said, cracking her first smile since the game started. The rest of the guys laughed at Corey, who looked as if he had really been shot. He looked sideways at Chris, who looked back at him. They gave each other a small nod.

Since Lindsey was concentrating so hard she didn’t notice Corey standing up from the couch and moving around to her end. Chris and Lindsey only needed one more kill to win. She spotted Mick hiding in a bush and was about to sneak up on him when Corey started tickling her, trying to grab the controller from her hands.

“Corey!” she tried yelling in-between her laughter, “Stop it!”

“This is revenge, damn it!” he managed to wrench the controller from her hands, allowing Chris to take the final shot to end the game. He shot up from the couch and jumped up and down triumphantly. Jimmy, Jeremy, and Matt sat there, shocked. Shawn didn’t look too surprised at what Corey did.

“You guys are a-” she stopped herself from saying ‘assholes’ in front of Jeremy. “You guys are mean!”

“Ha! Who’s mean? You’re the one who threw a grenade at me.” He sniffled, “Now I know what you really think.” He put on his best puppy dog face and stared up at her with big eyes. It always managed to work.

“Oh, stop being such a baby.” She stood up and kissed his cheek and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him. Little fights like this always resolved themselves with a kiss and a hug.

The rest of the night went on fairly the same. Shawn, Jimmy, Matt, and Jeremy took a turn playing Call of Duty, the time this time being between Matt and Jeremy. Since no one tried to trick Jeremy, he ended up being the winner, which was surprising because Matt was just as good as Lindsey. She had taught her son well.

It was midnight before everyone left and the guys went upstairs to go to sleep. Corey couldn’t stay the night so he said goodbye to Lindsey and Jeremy. He would be back later in the morning to be with them the rest of the day.