Shut Your Eyes

*Max POV*

Maggie was smiling.

It was small, more like a hidden smirk than anything else, but it was the first unforced smile I’d seen on her face since she arrived in Pittsburgh. Vero had dragged her back upstairs after telling Marc and I where they would be, and as Vero chattered away about something called a mani-pedi, Maggie smiled, and it made me smile too.

My smile went away however, when Marc and I turned back to the pile of metal and plastic in front of us. In the twenty minutes we’d been down there we’d unpacked the box and stared at the contents.

“Cela at-il livré avec les instructions?” (Did it come with instructions?) I asked and Marc shrugged.

“Je ne sais pas.” (I don’t know)

I threw my foot out a bit and kicked the pile of parts lightly. Turning my head in Marc’s direction, I pursed my lips and made a suggestion.

“Tu souhaite obtenir une bière et d'appeler des renforts?” (Do you want to get a beer and call in backup?)

Marc nodded. “Ouais, sonne bien.” (Yeah, sounds good.)

We wandered back upstairs into the kitchen, grabbing some beer out of the fridge and leaning against the counters. Marc pulled out his phone and texted Staalsy, Tanger, Geno, and Sid, laughing to himself as he did.

“Pourquoi tu ris?” (Why are you laughing?) I asked slowly.

“Ils pensent qu'ils viennent plus pour jouer au ping-pong. Je n'ai pas leur dire que nous n'avons pas mis la table ensemble pour le moment.” (They think they’re coming over to play ping-pong. I didn’t tell them we haven’t put the table together yet.) A sly smile painted itself on Marc’s face and I barked out a laugh.

“Tu bâtard sournois.” (You sneaky bastard.) I said with a smile and Marc just grinned and shoved his phone back in his pocket.

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“You didn’t tell us we’d have to put the damn thing together.” Jordan whined from the floor. Staalsy was lying face down in Marc’s carpet, his freakishly long arms and legs sprawled out like a police chalk-drawing.

“You didn’t ask.” Marc replied with a snarky grin.

While Jordan’s lazy ass was on the floor, Marc, Sid, and Geno were putting together the ping-pong table. Kris and I had started a game of NHL on the Xbox after being told we were more in the way than anything else. Apparently Geno was an expert on ping-pong table construction.

The door slammed upstairs, and the distinct sound of Vero’s giggle could be heard throughout the house. Like a pack of wild animals, our ears perked up at the noise, even bringing Jordan’s head up off the carpet.

“Who’s with Vero?” Kris asked, one eyebrow arched as he looked at the ceiling above him. Two pairs of footsteps could be heard bustling around in the kitchen, before they went off in the direction of the stairs. The noise faded away as they stomped up the steps, laughing about something.

“Maggie.” I answered absentmindedly, still staring at the video game in front of me.

Four pairs of eyes were on me at once. Marc didn’t even blink, just kept screwing bolts into their proper places. I stared back at everyone, suddenly very confused.

“Why are you guys looking at me like that?” I asked slowly.

“Maggie’s here?” Sid asked quickly, huge brown eyes fixed on mine. I looked around the room, only to see Geno, Kris, and Jordan doing the exact same thing: staring. Jordan had even sat up, blonde hair sticking out of his penguins ball cap.

“Yeah…” The word left my mouth slowly. I watched Marc repeatedly ask Geno for a screwdriver, but the large Russian wasn’t listening. Marc let out a frustrated huff, leaning over and snatching the tool off the wood. Why were they acting like this? You’d think I’d just grown a second head.

“Do you guys not like Maggie?” My voice had an edge of frustration. They weren’t acting like this yesterday, what had changed in 24 hours?

Marc threw his head back as a laugh erupted from his chest. Geno wouldn’t make eye contact with me anymore. A light blush had painted itself onto Sid’s cheeks. Kris pursed his lips slightly as he stared a hole into the wall. Jordan was nervously looking between everyone, mouth hanging open a little bit in discomfort.

That’s when it hit me.

“No. No, no, no.” I stood up from the couch, pointing my finger at all of them. “Not Maggie. She just got here, and you’re all acting like there’s a brand new toy in the toy box. Stay away from her.”

I glared down at Jordan who was staring at me with a guilty look on his face. Shoving a finger in his direction, I sent him the most intimidating big-brother look I could muster up on such short notice. “Especially you.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Jordan asked Sid quietly, earning a smile and a shrug from the captain.

“Calm down, Talbo. I gave them the speech yesterday.” Marc said as he carefully twisted a nut onto a bolt. “They’re harmless.”

“Calm down? I have four hockey players drooling over my little sister and I’m supposed to calm down?”

“No one is drooling.” Geno pointed out from his spot against the wall.

“It’s an expression, Geno.” Sid clarified, and the large Russian mouth formed an ‘O’ in understanding.

“Ok, keep going Max.” Geno demanded with a wave of his hand and a smile.

The rest of the boys laughed at Geno’s calm demeanor. I wasn’t amused.

“I’m glad you guys think this is so fucking funny.” I was afraid they would do this, but I can’t say I was shocked. Maggie had this effect on people. When she was in high school, Will, Frank, and I had our hands full, damn near beating boys off with a stick. Maggie was oblivious though, blue eyes wide shut to all the attention she received in the hallways and much to my chagrin, the boys locker room. Now another one of my locker rooms would be filled with comments about my sister.

Marc spoke up first, a calm look on his face. “Maggie’s very pretty, Max, you can’t expect them not to notice that. And they can’t really stay away from her if she’s going to be in town for a while. She’s your sister, and Vero and I’s friend. She’s going to be around a lot in the near future. So they think she’s attractive, so what? I’m sure a lot of people think she’s attractive, Max.”

Vero poked her head over the banister, scaring all of us in the process.

“What are you boys yelling about down here? Maggie and I are trying to watch a movie upstairs.”

“Max is mad at us because we think Maggie is pretty.” Jordan deadpanned from the floor. Vero rolled her eyes and stuck her hands on her hips.

“Max, Marc, let me talk to the boys for a minute.” The look in her eyes invited no arguments.

Someone gulped audibly behind me. I followed Marc up the stairs silently, wondering what Vero had to say to them.

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*Sid POV*

Angry Vero was back.

Her eyes scanned each one of us, an unreadable expression on her face. A sigh worked its way past her lips.

“Boys, I know that you don’t mean any harm, but please try to look at it from Max’s eyes. You’re his best friends. She’s his baby sister. He hardly gets to see her now that she lives in Philadelphia, and the second she gets here you’re all foaming at the mouth! Please try to keep it in your pants for once.”

We stayed quiet, partly out of guilt and partly because Vero would have flipped out if we had tried to say anything. She stomped back upstairs, leaving the four of us that were left downstairs to stare at each other.

Not sure what else to do, we all sat down to a game of NHL, waiting for Max and Marc to come back. After ten minutes, they were still MIA.

“Why Max and Marc still up there?” Geno asked once he realized that Talbot and Flower hadn’t come back down after being banished by Vero.

“Why don’t you go find them, Geno.” Kris suggested quietly, his eyes never leaving the screen at the front of the room. Geno got up and tromped upstairs, leaving his spot on the couch empty.

After another ten minutes, Geno had disappeared upstairs as well. Kris was giving me a ‘What the fuck?’ look and craning his head around to look at the stairs.

“Maybe we should go find them.” Jordan suggested as he hopped up and raced up the stairs two at a time. Kris and I followed behind him, getting more and more confused as we entered an empty, quiet kitchen. Jordan led our little search party through to the living room and dining room before deciding to venture upstairs.

A soft noise was pouring out from under Marc and Vero’s bedroom door. We opened it to find something we weren’t prepared to see.

Marc and Vero were curled up together in an armchair by the window while Max was lying on his stomach on the floor, large blue eyes trained on the TV that hung on the wall. Maggie was sitting Indian style on the bed, a large fluffy pillow on her lap, and Geno laying down next to her, his head at the foot of the bed.

“We are watching movie about killing birds.” Geno announced happily and I watched as Maggie swatted him gently on the leg with a small smile.

“We’re watching To Kill a Mockingbird.” She corrected quietly, blue eyes shining with amusement. Geno and Maggie had hit it off quite well at lunch yesterday, and if I was being totally honest with myself, it made me a little jealous. Whether it was his broken English, or his eyes (every girl seemed to love them), I wasn’t sure, but Maggie seemed so comfortable around him compared to the rest of us. He looked back at her with a wide smile.

“I do not see difference.” Maggie rolled her eyes, and Geno turned his attention back to the movie.

Jordan took a spot on the floor next to Max, and Kris stretched out on the couch that sat at the end of Marc and Vero’s king-sized bed. I was about to join Jordan and Max on the floor when a small soft voice interrupted my thoughts.

“You can sit up here if you want, Sidney.” Maggie watched me with pale blue eyes as she raised a hand to lightly pat the empty space next to her. It took every ounce of self-control not to jump over Kris and the couch and land next to her. Instead, I sent her a wide smile and walked over to the empty side of the bed.

I carefully arranged myself on the bed next to her, putting a lot of effort into looking nonchalant. She made me nervous, but in a good way. I could barely hear the movie in the background, all I could focus on was the kink and curl in her hair and the way she smelled like flowers, not in a overwhelming way like some girls did, but like someone had hidden jasmine in that wild hair of hers. Max’s little tirade and Marc and Vero’s warnings long forgotten, I sat close to her, our arms almost touching.

She smiled at me once I was done arranging myself on the fluffy blanket Vero had strewn across the top of the bed. “Comfy?”

I nodded and gave her a toothy grin. “You can call me Sid, you know.”

My masculine pride swelled a little bit when I saw a rosy tinge come into her cheeks. In actuality, I wasn’t comfortable, not in the slightest. Maggie made me feel like I was back in high school, crushing on the girl that had a locker near mine. Every ounce of dignity I had left my body when she was around. She made my heart pound and my ears ring. Every muscle was tensed just from being this close to her. Maggie was making me uncomfortable, but as I watched her full pink lips silently form words as she quoted the movie without even realizing it, I knew there was no one else I’d rather be uncomfortable next to.