Uppercut (A James Maslow FanFic)

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

(Back to Maddie’s POV)  

I walked down the hall, holding on to both of Devon’s hands as he walked in front of me. Mom had just called for us, letting us know that dinner was ready.

“Ready to go eat?” I asked Devon. His little feet were moving quickly across the floor. My steps were a lot slower. It was so adorable to watch him waddle around. He was getting a lot better at running around the house and he didn’t fall as much anymore. Slowly but surely, he was growing up.

Devon tilted his head back to try and look up at me, causing his blonde hair to stick out in every direction.  A happy smile was placed on his face. He knew what time of day it was and he couldn’t wait to eat whatever my mother had conjured up in the kitchen.

Once we finally made it to the kitchen after our seemingly long walk, I picked Devon up and set him in his highchair, which was seated right next to my own chair at the table. I buckled him in just to make sure he wouldn’t try and climb out. He had been getting more adventurous lately with climbing, and it scared me. That was just another thing added to the growing list of ‘Situations Where Devon Has to be Watched so he Doesn’t End Up Hurting Himself’.

I glanced up to where the many bowls of food were lined up along the counter and stovetop on the other side of the kitchen. Drew was currently making his way back to the table with mountains of various foods on his plate.

“Did you save any for the rest of us?” I laughed, eyeing his huge pile of mashed potatoes questioningly. Sometimes it was hard to believe that someone could eat that much and thengo back for seconds.

He looked up from his plate, grinning, and walked over to the chair next to mine. “Oh, don’t worry. Mom made plenty. We won’t be running out anytime soon.” I didn’t doubt it. With James back home for now, Mom was probably going to go overboard when it came to making meals. Both of my brothers were known to eat a lot.

I wandered away from the table and over to the kitchen. There was more food in the bowls than I originally thought. I grabbed two plates, a baby sized one for Devon and a regular one for myself. I piled them both with mashed potatoes, green beans, and chicken, making sure that Devon’s was cut into tiny pieces. The last thing I wanted was for his to choke, that was just another thing on the list of things I had to worry about.

I balanced the plates carefully, making sure to walk slowly as I went back to the table. Once I made it there successfully, I set down the small plate on the tray of the high chair.

“Yaaaaay!” Devon exclaimed, obviously happy about dinner. He instantly started grabbing handfuls of mashed potatoes. “Yummy. Yummy.”

His messy eating habits made me smile, even though it meant he was going to need a good washing once he was finished. “Eat up, Dev.” I set my own plate down and sat in my chair between Devon and Drew.

I looked across the table at the two empty chairs that were there. My mom was still roaming around the kitchen, getting various things out of the fridge and cupboards. But, James was nowhere to be found.

We had all gotten home sometime within the last half an hour. James had been gone then. Mom almost had a heart attack when she saw the car door to the garage wide open and the sheet that was once covering James’s old dirt bike, in a crumpled heap on the floor. We tried calling him to figure out where he was but, he never answered. It went to voicemail every time. That only worried my mother even more. And even though I didn’t dare mention it to anybody, deep down I felt like something was wrong.