Never Fall in Love with the Fisher Boys

20- Half Time

“Well, that’s a pity,” The tall stranger decided. “He really likes her. Talks about her all of the time.”

“Alright,” I said, not really knowing what to say to that. If he wasn’t creepy before, he sure as hell was creepy now. Sure, Carter had a few groupies at school due to his super stardom on the basketball team but none of them were male. Or over the age of seventeen.

“Maddie!” He exclaimed, making me jump about ten feet into the air because I had no idea how he knew my name or why on earth he had just yelled it. “That’s her name. Do you know her? Maddie… I forget her last name.”

“Really?” I wondered without really being able to stop myself. “He said that?”

“He did,” Owen confirmed, looking a bit weirded out about my sudden interest in what he was saying.

I pinched my lips into a thin line and glanced over at the stranger before returning my attention back to the game in an attempt to just ignore everything that he was saying to me. If I ignored it then it didn’t happen. It wasn’t true. I could just blink and then the words would evaporate from my mind. “Who are you exactly?”

“Did I upset you?” He wondered and I could sense a bit of teasing in his voice, which really irritated me because I had no idea who this guy was and he just seemed so arrogant. Almost like… like a Fisher.

“Are you related to Carter?” I asked, just for clarification.

“Yeah. I’m Owen, his brother,” He confirmed. “I know that I’m a little late but I wouldn’t miss it. And you’re sitting in our spot.”

“Whose spot?”

“Our family’s spot,” He informed me. “This is where we always sit to watch the game.”

“Well, Andy, Will, and Tommy will be back soon,” I said to the man, still trying to figure out how to think about what he just told me about Carter ‘really liking me’ and ‘talking about me all of the time’ because I didn’t know any other Maddie at the school. I sure would like to believe that it wasn’t me that he apparently had a crush on though. I knew by what Carter had told me that he was closest to Owen though, so if he had a crush on anybody, he’d tell Owen about it. I didn’t even want to think about it at all. Just pretend like Owen didn’t just say that to me.

“Right. And who are you?” He asked me with raised eyebrows. “Stalking all of my brothers, are you?”

“I’m just a friend,” I decided to say.

“Whose friend?” He continued to prod.

I looked over his shoulder again but no sign of any of the Fishers or the girls. Although he wasn’t as creepy as I had originally thought, I still didn’t really like talking to this guy one on one. Especially considering what he had just told me about myself. It was incredibly awkward. “Will, Andy, Tommy, and Carter,” I supplied. “Kind of a family friend.”

“Not the whole family considering I don’t know who you are,” He refuted.

“Yeah, I really just-“ I got interrupted when I heard Paige coming up the stairs.

“Maddie,” She called. “They didn’t have any more hot dogs so I got you popcorn. Is that okay?” She wondered, handing me a tall white bag of buttery yellow popcorn before giving Owen an odd look.

I nodded, relieved beyond belief that I wasn’t alone with Owen anymore. “That’s fine. Thanks.”

“Wait, your name is Maddie?” Owen interjected just as everybody else filled in their seats around us. “Hm. Well, shit. You could have told me that.”