Fantasy World

Maci fisted the sleep from her eyes as she stumbled into the kitchen. She'd barely slept at all the night before. She had been spending almost all night filling out scholarship information she suddenly needed desperately. 

She stopped short when she saw Steven hugging his sister with a wide grin on his face. At least he had been forgiven it looked like. 

"Your waffle is burning," Stephanie muttered. 

Steven sprang away and darted to the opposite counter where the waffle iron was set up. 

Maci slowly entered the kitchen. She wasn't sure how Stephanie was going to react to her and she was a little scared about that. 

"Good morning," Stephanie said. 

Maci paused in her steps to look at her warily. "Good morning," she mumbled back. She scooted over to the cereal cabinet to pull out her box of Captain Crunch. 

"No! Don't eat cereal!" Steven exclaimed. She looked over at him, waiting for an explanation. "I made you waffles," he mumbled. 

Maci looked at the plate in front of him. She gave him a small smile before putting the box back. "You didn't have to," she mumbled. 

"I wanted to," he announced. He gave her a hopeful smile as he held the plate to her. 

He grinned when she took it from him. "Your waffle is burning," she mumbled. 

"Fuck! That's the second one!" he yelled out as he turned back to the iron. 

Stephanie started laughing from her counter. "I can't believe you're even cooking," she commented. 

Steven frowned while he poured more batter. "Shut up."

Maci sat down on the same barstool she sat on the night after they'd done it. She poured a little syrup on her plate before digging in. The banter between the siblings was still bouncing back and forth, but she ignored it. 

"These are good," she commented once they stopped. 

Steven grinned happily at her. "Good, I'm glad you like them," he told her. 

Stephanie watched her brother beam like a proud child at the compliment. She'd never seen him act that way towards any girl. He truly liked her, Stephanie finally admitted to herself. 

Steven put another waffle on her plate before going back to make his own plate. "You want some?" he asked his sister. She shook her head.

Steven glanced at the time after he was done eating. "Crap, I have to go. I've got a meeting," he mumbled around his mouth full of food. He quickly dumped his plate into the sink before running down the stairs to his car. Both girls watched him leave. 

"So, we need to talk," Stephanie commented as she moved to sit next to Maci. 

Maci had long since finished her own food, but was still sitting there with her plate. "Yeah..."

Stephanie let out a deep breath. "How do you honestly feel about my brother?" she blurted out. 

Maci's eyes snapped to her in shock. "I, uh..." Her eyes fell down to her plate. She cleared her throat. "I like him... A lot..." she mumbled, purposely downplaying it. 

Stephanie stared at her. "That's it?" she questioned. 

Maci met her eyes before sighing. "I think..." She struggled over her words. Her eyes drifted away from her best friend as a blush covered her cheeks. "I think I might be in love with him," she mumbled softly. 

Stephanie almost melted at the expression on her best friend's face. She could see the internal struggle behind her eyes, though. "But?"

Maci looked back at her. "I'm scared," she admitted. 

Stephanie frowned. "What of?"

"Well, you obviously. But... It just... I'm scared maybe things will go like last time. It'll be all great and everything for awhile, but then things will change. He's gone a lot. What if he gets irritated that I don't want to have sex like Kyle did? What if he leaves because of that?"

"Well, he's already got a taste of that," Stephanie commented. Her eyes went wide. "Oh jeez, forget what I just said," she exclaimed. 

Maci laughed softly. "Okay, what I wanted to say. First of all, Steven is completely different that Kyle. He's got self control. He knows when too much partying is too much. He's also more mature. He's around guys a lot older than him almost every single day. Where as Kyle is still living in the high school and college realm. And honestly, I think if Steven's been going this long without any and he's okay with that, I don't think it'll matter to him in the end," Stephanie finished. "He cares about you a lot. He wouldn't just leave you because of that one little thing."

Maci felt her cheeks burn as she stared at her hands. "Are you... Supporting this?" she questioned. 

Stephanie laughed. "I have seen the light. Besides, I also realized if you two ever got married one day, we'd be sisters," she added on. 

Maci smiled at her. "Thank you," she mumbled. 

Stephanie pulled her into a hug. "First rule, I don't want to see all your PDA crap. Second, if you hurt him-"

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," Maci commented. 

Stephanie couldn't hold in the aw that escaped her lips. Maci blushed and shook her head. "You two really do have it bad, jeez," she commented with a laugh. 

Maci shrugged her shoulders. "I guess."

"Well then, as best friends, I believe it is time you tell me the details," she decided. 

Maci gave her a hesitant look. "Oh, come on! You fall in love with someone and I get no details?" Stephanie exclaimed. 

They both laughed. "I don't know where to start," she admitted. 

Stephanie thought about it. "Well, I want absolutely no comments, but I have to ask. Was your first time okay?"

Maci's face turned the color of a fire engine. She couldn't keep the eye contact any more. She wasn't exactly sure what to say. "Better than okay," she finally mumbled. 

"Good. Now moving on," she quickly stated.

Maci laughed. "I don't know... The last game I went to, I had to sit next to these two puck bunnies and they were making such bad comments the entire time. She asked me if I was jealous that she was going to sleep with him at one point. One of them practically tried to give him a blow job in the parking lot. When we were driving away, I leaned out the window and asked her the same thing," Maci told her. 

Stephanie tilted her head back as she laughter, imagining her best friend doing such. "What'd she say?" she demanded. 

Maci shrugged. "She just gaped at me in surprise."

The girls sat at the counter talking for hours. Maci told her stories of their past few months, from finding out about Kyle's newest girlfriend to the emails Downie and she exchanged to the study nights he would spend with her. 

"He stayed up until one or two a few nights," Maci told her. "It was kind of nice having someone keep me company even if it was through Skype. We typically didn't even talk, but it was nice."

Stephanie gave her a soft smile. "Well then, I hope he's around to do that while you're getting your masters. That's sweet of him," she commented. "Even if it is my brother."

Maci laughed and shrugged. "Okay, I have to ask," Stephanie began. "Is it at all weird to you that it's him? Since we grew up with him and all?"

Maci thought about it. "Yeah, I guess so. It's strange to think that the kid that gave me my first hair cut and used to treat me like he treated his sister is now my... whatever you call him," she admitted. "But I guess you just get so used to seeing each other and growing up that those feelings before just mold into something else."

They both looked over when Steven entered the house. "Speak of the Devil," Stephanie said. 

Steven appeared at the top of the stairs. "What? You two talking about me?" he asked. He dropped his keys onto the table along with his wallet and a folder of papers. 

"Yup. Talking about how you smell bad," his sister replied with a straight face. 

He laughed. "I shower often thank you very much. I did after I went to exercise this morning, too," he told them. 

"Uh huh. Do you use soap?" she continued. 

He walked over and forced her head under his arm. "I don't know, what do you think?" he asked with a smirk. 

Stephanie pushed him away. "No," she muttered. 

He chuckled. "You two going to get ready for the day? We were all going to go get pizza still, right?"

"Yup. I call shower first!" Stephanie announced as she got down from her seat to hurry off to the shower. 

Maci groaned, but didn't make a move to get up. "Looks like I won't be getting in there for the next three hours," she mumbled with a small smile. 

Steven smiled back. "You can always use my shower?" 

She nodded her head. "I think I will."

Steven pressed a light kiss to her temple. "Did you two talk?"

She nodded her head. "We talked like best friends do about guys."

He gave her a suspicious look. "What does that consist of?" he asked warily. 

She smirked. "You'll never know," she told him before walking away. 

He sighed as he watched her disappear. He could tell she was still slightly frustrated with him. Even if Stephanie was accepting them, he knew his words got to her. He was hoping he'd make up for that, though. His eyes fell to the folder of papers that rested on the table. He probably needed to put it away before she realized the name of her college was on the front.