Impress Me Not: The Handyman

Chapter 18

"No, Maya," Solomon rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to actually call him."

Of course, his sister had to be nosey the one day that he was working late. She had found that dumb card in his room. The one that Niko had given him. And, of course, that automatically meant that Solomon liked him.

"Why not!" she was practically bouncing.

"Because he was my boss?"

"But he's not anymore!"

"And what if I don't like him in that way?"

"Solomon, you wouldn't have the number on your nightstand if you didn't like him at least a little!" Maya answered. Why she was so excited about this, he had no clue. But his day had just gotten more annoying, and he wasn't too happy about it.

"Which brings me back to the question of why you were in my room," he crossed his arms and slitted his eyes. "And why were you looking through all of my stuff?"

"I was trying to find something!"

"What could you possibly be looking for that's in my room?!" he yelled. He knew that Maya didn't like it when he yelled. She had already flinched a little from his raised voice. He regretted it immediately as the girl shrank and looked to the ground.

"I was trying to look for that necklace that Somner had gotten for me," she said, her voice became ten times smaller now. "The one I told you that I didn't want anymore, but you kept anyway. I was thinking about wearing it to my next dance recital."

Solomon stayed quiet at that. He remembered the day that she was talking about. Somner had given her a small golden necklace as a present for winning a dance competition. It was thin, but absolutely gorgeous, and had costed Somner at least three of his paychecks. Maya wore it to every dance practice and every recital after that. It was her good luck charm for a long time.

After he died, she couldn't wear it. It just reminded her of him too much. Solomon didn't blame her. But she had told him that she wanted to get rid of it; just throw it away. And he knew that she would regret that eventually if she did. So, he had kept it.

And, now, he got to feel like the worst big brother in history.

"Maya," he hugged her. Thankfully, he knew that she wasn't too upset from his raised voice. She hugged him back and started crying a bit in his arms. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she sniffled. "I won't go into your room, I promise."

"That's not what I meant," he sighed. "I just didn't want you thinking that I liked this guy."

"Because you think I'll be upset that you're getting over him?"

"No," he lied. He rubbed her back to soothe her. It had been a while since she had cried like this. He wondered what had brought him up for her.

"You worry too much about me, Sol," she shook her head. "Why don't you try and do things for yourself? I'm not a little girl anymore you know."

"You're always going to be my baby sister," he kissed the top of her head. "No matter how old you get."

"You need to work less," she sighed.

"I still have weekends off," he told her. "Just for you and I, remember?"

"Yeah, but you don't ever just do stuff that you want to do, Sol," she told him. "It's always what everyone else wants."

"That's not true," he gave her a small smile. "I always cook, even when you want pizza, for instance."

"That doesn't count," she groaned into his shirt. "That's a cruel and unusual punishment."

Solomon couldn't help but laugh at that. They had moved to the couch, where she was still clinging to him. It was something that she always did when she was upset. They had plenty of nights like this, where they both talked about their deepest darkest secrets. They had to help each other when times got rough. That's what family was for.