Shut Your Eyes

Sidney POV

The first thing I’d learned when I moved to Pittsburgh was a golden piece of advice that would serve me well over the years to come: never trust Max Talbot.

I didn’t take Colby seriously when he’d pulled me aside and pointed to the laughing Frenchman across the locker room. He made it quite clear, a laugh in his voice the entire time, that while Max was an excellent hockey player and a loyal friend – unchecked trust in him off the rink could land you in a jail cell with a black eye and great story to tell your kids one day.

Simply put, Max was a party looking for a place to happen, and many fun nights and close calls had started when he opened his mouth and the words “just trust me” came out. So when Max wrapped an arm around my shoulder in the locker room and told me I was just gonna have to trust him, I was concerned to say the least. Who knew what Max had cooked up inside that head of his? It was like staring at a bomb and waiting for it to explode.

Nonetheless, I called him once I had scattered some magazines and some bottles of medicine around on my coffee table. Much to my chagrin, I’d had to plunder through some of my still unpacked moving boxes to find the magazines. Even though I’d been in my new house for a few months I wasn’t completely unpacked yet. It was for this reason that the Christmas tree in the corner had remained undecorated. My mother would be absolutely mortified.

“You do what I said?” Max asked after a quick greeting.

I scanned the living room once more for good measure and nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “Yeah, it looks like I’ve been in here all morning. Now are you gonna tell me what this is about?”

“No. Now go watch TV or something, fall asleep even.”

He hung up before I could protest, so I did exactly what he said. I walked over to the couch and laid down on it before picking up the remote and flipping on ESPN. I got so caught up in the highlights from the Bruins game the night before, I completely forgot about Max’s vague instructions or the familiar wicked gleam in his eye when he damn near pushed me out of the locker room. So naturally when the doorbell rang out through my house, I didn’t think anything of it.

I sat up slowly, and walked into the foyer with a lazy stride. Imagine my surprise when I opened the door only to find Margaux Talbot standing on the other side of it, a soft smile on her face. She was all bundled up for the cold December day in a black coat with a bright gold Pittsburgh Pirates hoodie peeking out from underneath. On her feet, I was surprised to see that she had left her usual pair of military style boots at home and had worn converses instead.

“Max called and said you were sick.” She explained, obviously catching on to my surprise.

I chuckled nervously and scratched the back of my head lightly. “Um, yeah. Went home after practice yesterday not feeling too great.” I tried to stay away from naming a specific illness; after all, I didn’t know how much Max had told her.

She gave me a sympathetic smile before digging around her bag for a moment and pulling a DVD out. “Max wanted me to bring this over, that’s why I’m here.”

I took the Guy LaFleur DVD from her hands, a DVD Max had been trying to get me to watch for almost a year – the sneaky bastard, and stepped back to open the door further. “Would you like to come in? You’ll freeze if you stand out here much longer.”

She bit her lip softly, looking down at the ground before matching her clear blue eyes with mine and nodding. “Yes, thank you.”

She wiped the slush off of her shoes before walking into the foyer and removing them entirely, leaving them in a neat line by the door next to mine. Smiling up at me, she waved a small hand in the general direction of the hallway and said in her musical French spattered English, “I’m following you.”

I led her through the house into the kitchen, where I offered her a cup of coffee. She accepted with a smile, so I quickly started another pot and leaned against the counter to look back at her. Maggie was casually perched on a barstool, and with her black coat abandoned in the hall closet and shoes in the foyer she looked strikingly undone – just a sweatshirt and jeans along with a pair of red argyle socks, but it made her look beautiful.

She gave me quick once over and a smile. “You look pretty good for someone with food poisoning; when I had it, I was miserable for two days.”

Mentally, I made a note to ask Max about his choice of illness. “Yeah, I think yesterday was the worst of it. Probably just a 24 hour thing.”

Maggie nodded and took a sip of her coffee. Her bright blue eyes were scanning over the room, catching on every picture or knick knack before moving on to the next. She raised a thin brown eyebrow when she saw the boxes stacked up in the room that was supposed to be the dining room. Chuckling a bit, she looked over to me and nodded in the direction of the boxes.

“How long have those been sitting in there?” I pursed my lips and tried to think of an answer that didn’t make me seem like a crazy person. Giving her a small smile, I shrugged my shoulders and ran my foot over the line where two pieces of hardwood met in the floor.

“Since I moved in.” She gave me a pointed look with a mischievous smile.

“And when was that, three weeks ago?”

“Try three months.” I said with a chuckle and watched as the teasing expression on her face twisted into one of shock.

“You’ve been living in this house for three months and you still haven’t unpacked all the way?”

“I don’t have a place for everything yet. I still have some furniture to buy. Maybe I’ll just take the chicken way out and hire an interior designer to do it.” I admitted with a chuckle. Maggie shook her head disapprovingly.

“No! You can’t do that!”

“And why not?”

She accepted my challenge with a Talbot smirk and took a sip of her coffee. “Because then your house will look like page 245 of some extravagant design catalog instead of a home. Why would you let a perfect stranger decorate a space that’s meant for you to enjoy? That just doesn’t make any sense. Your home should be as uniquely you as you are, so even if that means subjecting yourself to some unpacked boxes and a lot of beige walls until you have time to decorate it yourself, I say wait.”

I’d never heard Maggie talk about something other than photography with such passion. It was surprising, in a good way. Even after her passionate rebuttal, I still wasn’t sure I was up to the challenge. Pouring myself a cup of coffee, I cringed and pursed my lips slightly in thought. “I don’t know…”

“Just promise me you’ll think about it?” She gave me her best version of puppy dog eyes, staring up at me through thick lashes with a soft smile on her face. After taking one look at her, it was hard to say no – not that I would have anyways.

I gave her an exaggerated sigh and rolled my eyes. “Alright, I guess I can think about it.” Her smile widened and she took another quiet sip of her coffee before picking up the DVD case that sat on the counter. She read over the back, which I’d noticed had been in French, and then held it up for me.

“Want to watch it right now? I’ll even help you turn the subtitles on.” Her face held a teasing smirk, which I quickly returned with one of my own as I strode up to her and took the case out of her hands. She visibly tensed as I walked up to her, something that didn’t go unnoticed by me, but relaxed once I reached for the DVD case. Her grin never faltered though, staying fixed on her face even as her eyes flashed with something I couldn’t place. It vanished as quickly as it had arrived, and she quickly returned to the same relaxed state she’d been in beforehand.

“I can understand some French.” In reality the very little French I knew consisted of the obscenities I’d learned from being around Max, Marc, and Kris, and some very basic words like please and thank you.

“Read the first sentence on the back of the case.” Maggie prodded with a chuckle. I looked down at the words and stared for a moment before handing it back to her.

“Yeah, I’m gonna let you handle that.” Maggie chuckled and tucked the case into the pocket of her hoodie before getting up off of the barstool and picking up her coffee mug.

“Where to?” She asked softly, peering up at me with a curious expression. I nodded towards the stairs and grabbed my own mug, careful not to spill the hot liquid inside.

“Game room. I have to grab my cell phone out of the living room first, though.” Maggie’s sock-clad feet padded silently behind my own as I led her through the hallway and into the living room where I’d left my cell phone. As I scanned the various coffee and side tables for where I’d left it, Maggie was busy walking along the wall and looking at the pictures I’d hung up on it.

She stopped in front of a black and white picture of my hometown and tilted her head to the side slightly as she looked at it. “This is a beautiful photograph.”

Her comment was spoken quietly, and I wondered if she actually meant for me to hear it. I turned to see what picture she was talking about – I had a few hung up on the same wall – and smiled when I noticed which one she was talking about. “My sister took that.”

“She has a good eye.” Maggie said as she turned back around and caught sight of my undecorated Christmas tree. After staring at it for a moment, she looked over at me with an amused expression on her face.

“Really, Sidney?”

My mouth forgot for a moment how to form words. I stood there with my mouth gaping slightly before I gave her a grin. “I’m busy?”

Maggie rolled her eyes and pulled the DVD case out of her sweatshirt and set it on the coffee table next to the scattered bottles of medicine. “We can watch that later. Where are your Christmas ornaments?”

I glanced back at the mountain of boxes that were stacked up in the dining room and then back to her. She sighed and wandered over there to grab a box off the top of the stack. “Come on, Crosby, I’m not gonna do this by myself.”

In a little over two hours, Margaux and I managed to unpack every box that sat in my dining room. The Christmas tree in the corner of the living room was covered in glittering ornaments, and topped with a star that I’d had to lift Maggie up onto my shoulders so she could put it on. Books and magazines were stacked where they belonged, pictures were hung on walls, and anything that I absolutely didn’t have a place for was put back into a box and stacked in the garage.

We’d finally made our way up to the game room and put in Max’s DVD, both with new cups of hot coffee on the table in front of us. Maggie watched the movie with a focused eye, but every now and then she would look down and try to pick the dried paint off of the tips of her curls. She’d been painting Max’s living room, and the evidence was all over her hair. She hadn’t noticed it until I’d pointed it out to her on the way upstairs, and all she did was laugh it off and say it would come out eventually.

About halfway through the movie, I looked over at Maggie and smiled. She had fallen asleep on my shoulder, pieces of dark brown curls falling in her face like a curtain. Her feet were curled up on the couch next to her, and her coffee cup sat untouched on the table. Moving slowly so I wouldn’t wake her up, I picked up the remote and turned the volume down a bit before settling back to finish the movie as Maggie slept quietly beside me.

Maggie POV

My phone woke me up.

Max was calling, and his ringtone was blaring in the silence of the game room. My eyes opened slowly, only to shoot open when I saw the soft dark grey material of Sid’s t-shirt next to my face. His chest rose and fell evenly, and I realized that he’d fallen asleep too. I sat up quickly, reaching for the phone on the coffee table before Sidney could wake up and see me borderline cuddling with him.

But he’d woken up anyway from my jostling him with my movements, and stared at me with sleepy, dazed eyes as I fumbled for the answer button on my phone. I finally found it, and gave Sid an apologetic smile as I answered.

“Allô?” My voice was still slightly throaty from sleeping and I prayed Max wouldn’t pick up on it.

“Did you just wake up?” He asked with an amused tone to his voice. Damn.

“What do you want, Max?” I prodded, still too tired deal with his teasing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sidney attempting to smooth his bedhead down. His hair was getting shaggy, and curls were starting to form in his chocolate colored hair.

“I’m just calling to see when you’re coming home, it’s almost five – you’ve been over there for a while.” I looked over at the clock in shock. It was five already?

“I didn’t realize what time it was, I’ll come home.” He barked out a laugh.

“Don’t rush home on my account, by all means; stay as long as you want.”

“I’ll see you in a bit, Maxime.”

“Full name, really? Alright. I’ll see you when you get here. I’m ordering pizza, what kind do you want?”

“My usual.” I said with a smile. I’m not sure why he kept asking, I always got the same thing.

“Pepperoni pizza, extra everything. Got it. Drive safe, and tell Sid I hope he’s feeling better.” He rattled off my order with a practiced nonchalance that made me wonder how much pizza we actually ate at the condo.

“I will. Love you.”

“Love you too Margaux.” He hung up with a click, so I shoved my phone into my sweatshirt pocket and looked over at Sidney.

“How long were we asleep?” He asked, his voice husky with sleep. I chuckled and shrugged.

“Long enough for Max to call over looking for me.” Sidney looked at his phone and his eyebrows rose in surprise when he saw what time it was.

“Damn. You better get going before Max comes over here to get you himself.” He had a teasing smile on his face as he got up and offered a large hand to help me off the couch.

“Yeah, you laugh, but he’d do it.” I followed him down the stairs and into the foyer where I collected my coat from the closet and went to work putting my shoes back on. Sid watched me with a strange pensive look on his face, but I didn’t mention it.

“About that whole interior designer thing…” He started, causing me to look up from where I was perched on the steps tying my converses.

“Yes?”

“What if you helped me?” He suggested quietly, a small grin playing on his face. I stopped mid-tie and looked up at him.

“Are you serious?” He nodded and leaned against the wall, large arms crossed against his chest.

“Why not? I need help, you won’t let me get a professional to do it – it’s perfect. You can come over once or twice a week and we can slowly tackle it together.” I couldn’t keep the grin off of my face. Those beige walls had been taunting me since I’d walked in the door.

“You’re not worried I’ll ruin the whole ‘bachelor pad’ vibe you’ve got going on?” I asked teasingly. He laughed and shook his head.

“You won’t. Besides, I’ll be there too. Someone has to keep an eye on you. I will warn you though; it’ll be a total overhaul: paint, furniture, the works.” Pursing my lips, I thought about it for a minute.

I nodded and smiled up at him. “Ok. Sounds like fun.”

I finished tying my shoe laces and stood up; walking over to the door and waiting patiently while Sidney unlocked it and pulled it open for me. “Thanks for coming by, I had fun.”

“Anytime.” I replied quietly, suddenly very aware of how very alone together we really were. I could see every speck of gold in his eyes as they bore into my own. Looking down, I pulled his phone out of his hands and quickly entered my number into his address book. He watched me curiously as I did so, and I handed it back to him without a word before walking out into the cold December air.

“Feel better, Sid.”

The condo was warm and cozy when I walked in from the cold outside. In the air, I could smell the pizza that Max had ordered and I wandered into the kitchen to get a slice before trying to find Max. I picked up a piece of my pizza (extra pepperoni, extra cheese, and extra sauce) and took a bite out of it as I walked into the living room and found him sitting on the couch with his laptop – glasses on and everything.

“Hé, grand frère.” (Hey big brother.) I greeted as I plopped down beside him. He leaned over and gave me a kiss on the side of the head.

“Hé Mags. Comment est Sidney?” (Hey Mags. How’s Sidney?) Max closed his laptop and looked over at me with a grin. I took another bite of my pizza before answering.

“Lui est bon. Je l'ai aidé déballer le reste de ses boîtes.” (He’s good. I helped him unpack the rest of his boxes.) Max laughed.

“Bon! Il a été commence à ressembler à une installation de stockage, là-bas.” (Good! It was starting to look like a storage facility over there.)

I smiled. Max had a point. “Ouais. Je vais en fait pour l'aider à décorer la place. Choisissez des meubles et de peinture et d'autres choses.” (Yeah. I’m actually gonna help him decorate the place. Pick out furniture and paint and stuff.) He looked over at me with surprise.

“Ah bon? Eh bien, vous devriez avoir du plaisir avec ça. Est-ce que cela signifie mon condo va en veilleuse maintenant?” (Oh really? Well you should have fun with that. Does that mean my condo goes on the backburner now?) I laughed sarcastically at his comment as he smiled.

“Non, il ne pas. Je vais aller prendre une vraie douche rapide.” (No, it doesn’t. I’m gonna go take a shower real quick.) He nodded as I finished my piece of pizza quickly and got up off the couch. I walked over to the hallway before turning around and looking at my brother.

“Oh, et Max? Vous voudrez peut-être dire Sidney que le médicament contre le rhume, il partit ne va pas aider les intoxications alimentaires. Bien essayé, mais.” (Oh, and Max? You might want to tell Sidney that the cold medicine he had set out won’t help food poisoning. Nice try, though.) He looked back at me with a wide grin as I turned and wandered back into my room to take a shower.