Once Upon a Time (Editing)

Chapter Six -- Jay

I awoke the next morning with Max still sitting next to me. My head was still on his shoulder, his arm still around me. We were still sitting on the floor, backs against the side of the bed. But we were no longer alone. 

Sam sat across from us. His chin was resting on his chest, his eyes closed. But he wasn't sleeping. 

"Sam?" I ask quietly.

His head lifts and his eyes open. "Yes?"

"Good morning."

"Good morning." Sam had a smile growing on his face.

I pushed my hair out of my face. "Why so happy?"

"Why not?"

I glare at him.

"I caught you two together," Sam whispers. 

"What?" I ask in confusion.

"You two spent the night together."

"Did not," I say.

"Did to," he spits back. 

"Did NOT!" I say, moving onto my knees. Max stirs beside me. 

"Did to," he sings. 

Max wakes up at the sound of his brother's voice. 

"Did not," I say again with less force. I turn to face Max as he sits up. 

His hair is sticking up in the back and his eyes are blurry with sleep. I look at him for help, trying to get him to notice what was going on. Max looks at me, and smiled happily. I met his gaze and flick my eyes over to where Sam was. His eyes followed them. 

Max became instantly alert. His jaw set and the smile fell from him face. "What do you want?"

"How 'bout your girlfriend tells you?" Sam asks, putting emphasis on girlfriend. 

I can feel the heat rising to my face. I curse myself mentally for not being more prepared. Then I silently curse the morning. Taking a deep breath to calm to rising emotions inside me, I look at Max. Ignore Sam, I tell myself. 

Max looks at me with his green eyes. Yesterday they had more blue in them, but today his eyes were more green. Focus, I tell myself. 

"Sam thinks that we, ah, ah," I pause, suddenly out of breath. How do I explain this? Panic grips me, and I can't speak. 

"Jay," Max says, taking my hands in his. He smiles at me. "You can tell me."

I nod, embarrassed at my loss of words. "He thinks that we, ah, spent the, ah, night together." I close my eyes, so as not to see his reaction. 

Max lets go of my hands. I hear him get to his feet and walk over to where his brother sits. Then I hear Sam get up. The share hushed words, words that I'm glad I can't hear. I hear other things, things that I don't want to picture. 

The bedroom door slams open. I hear Jack's rough voice, "Stop it!"

Max and Sam break up whatever they are doing, I can hear their feet shuffle as they step away from each other. 

"You two need to stop this fighting. I know that you both are just showing off for Jamie, but you need to knock it off." I can picture Jack standing there, a small smile on his face as his brothers look around in embarrassment. 

I open my eyes and get to my feet. And I gasp at what I see. In the few seconds that I had my eyes closed, they did a lot of damage. Sam's left eye is the color of mud, and he clutches his side. Blood drips down from his nose. Max looks like he got off better, with a bloody nose and some bruises along him arms.