Secrets and Stolen Kisses

01

"Golf again on Sunday with my dad?" Archer wondered.

"He and I were just talking about it. I'll see you then," he grinned. "I think there's food in the kitchen if you kids get hungry."

"We'll be in my room," Nate informed his dad as we walked away.

I kicked my shoes off and got comfortable on the bed. Nate only had two bean bags, and he and my brother liked sitting in them, so I got the bed all to myself.

"Why are you so excited, Mimi?" Nate laughed, setting everything up so we could start the movie.

Nate called me Mimi because I used to go by my first name, Amelia, until I was about eight. Eventually, I realized how much I hated the name, so I went by my second name, Madelyn or Maddie, instead, but he never stopped with the nickname.

I used to hate it, but I just got used to it. Besides, if he let me call him "Pickle" instead of Nate sometimes, I was okay with it. I mean, what did he expect if his name was Nathaniel Dylan Reed, and Dyl, which was another thing I called him, sounded like a kind of pickle?

"Because Arch has been bugging me the whole car ride about how we need to finish everything today so you two can plan whatever," I laid on my stomach waiting for the movie to come up on the TV.

"Right. I almost forgot about that," he nodded, throwing the remote at me. "Can you set it up? I'll get the popcorn from the kitchen."

I nodded, looking for the movie we were planning to watch. "You two better go pee before we start. I'm not about to pause a hundred times because you two don't wanna miss anything."

Eventually, the boys both used the bathroom, we all had enough popcorn ready to get our stomachs full, and we were finally able to start watching.

Two movies, about five bathroom breaks and countless side comments later, Nate got a call and excused himself, making us promise not to go on to the next movie without him.

"Yeah, we really aren't finishing all of these today," I told my brother, checking the time on my phone. "We gotta go home after this next one, and we'll still have one more to finish after that."

"I figured," Archer shrugged. "I guess it's whatever."

"You good, Arch?" I worried. "I can ask dad if we can stay here for dinner instead so we can finish it. I'm sure Mr. G won't mind."

He shook his head. "Nah, it's fine. We can finish it on Sunday at home when Nate and Mr. G come over after golf."

"So, if it's not about the movie thing, what's wrong then?" I questioned. I could tell something was bothering my brother.

"Mads, it's nothing," he insisted.

"Archer."

"I got it handled. Don't worry about me," he shot me a smile. "If I need help, you'll be the first to know."

I nodded. "Now stop being so mopey, it's not like you at all."

"Shut up," he rolled his eyes.

"What?" I laughed. "It's true. I'm supposed to be the emotional twin. It can't be the two of us."

"You have a point," he nodded. "Now go call Nate. He's taking forever."

I walked out of the room and towards the stairs, figuring my friend probably went somewhere in that direction.

"No, you're not getting it. My mother said she wants twenty-three tables with eight seats each exactly. I don't care if it's an odd number of tables, you need to make it work."