“C’mon, you guys! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”
“Cody, calm down.” I laughed as he dragged me out the front door of our house, followed by Brendon and our dad. We were all fancily dressed and ready for Cody’s dinner at the autism center, which he was really excited about. I wasn’t sure if he was excited to see Evan again, or if he was excited for the party, or both, but it was an adorable, heartwarming sight.
I was wearing a dark blue dress that went over one shoulder and was held against my midsection with a thick beaded black belt that matched my black heals and bracelets. I hated heals, but sometimes, they were necessary.
“Evan’s really coming?” Cody asked, bouncing with excitement beside me in the backseat.
“Yeah, he is. We’ll meet him there, buddy. He’s really excited, too.” I told Cody.
“Does he like pizza?” Cody asked me excitedly.
“He loves pizza.” I grinned.
“I can’t wait to tell him that there will be pizza there. He’ll be so excited!”
I bit my lip to suppress a laugh. Cody could be so adorable sometimes. Well… all the time. But I’m his sister, I’m supposed to think that.
The drive to the therapy center wasn’t a long one, and soon, we were parking in the large parking lot in front of the building that had big letters on the front that read “Harry Palmer’s Children’s Therapeutic Center” with bright yellow doors that led inside of the building.
Once inside, the familiar scent of cleaning supplies and rubber hit my nostrils. The walls were all painted in ways that a little kid would find entertaining, and each one had a different theme. The hallway that we were walking down first was covered in long grass, bugs, and birds as if we were outside and laying in a peaceful meadow. We then turned down another hallway that put us in space with stars and the whole solar system painted onto the long wall.
We turned into the room that was labeled “Ballroom” and had a sign under it that read “Welcome to Palmer’s Annual Family Party!” just like it did every year.
“Welcome!” A lady chirped behind a small table that stood in front of the opened door with a list of names in front of her. “And hello there, Cody.”
“Hi, Miss. Jenson!” Cody grinned at the lady. “This is my sister Maggie, and my big, big brother Brendon, and my daddy.”
“It’s so nice to meet you, Maggie and Brendon. Mr. Harris, it’s nice to see you again.” The lady chirped with a warm smile. “You are at table 13, your other guests are already there.”
“Thank you, Miss. Jenson.” My dad said warmly. It made sense that only he knew her, since he was the one who dropped off and picked up Cody from here every day.
“Enjoy your night.” She beamed at us as we walked around the table and searched for the table that was labeled with a 13. Every table had a blue table cloth covering the round surface with eight chairs surrounding it. The room was dotted with closely packed tables with a stage at the front. There were different colored balloons hovering over every table as a center piece and the same balloons decorating the stage and a small open area in front of the stage that would soon be used as a dance floor for the energy-filled kids.
“Over there.” I said, pointing to where I saw two black-haired boys and Laura sitting at one of the tables. Evan had his back towards us but when Jason saw us coming, he nodded at me and said something to his brother, causing Evan to turn and look at me. When our eyes met, his green ones were glowing with something I couldn’t decipher.
“Hey.” I chirped as Evan stood up and we shared a lingering hug.
“You look great.” He whispered in my ear.
“You don’t look too bad yourself.” I giggled with a slight blush. Evan was wearing dress pants and a dressy white shirt, the same as my dad, Brendon, and Jason. Laura had on a clean cut black dress and her hair in a side pony over her shoulder. She looked really pretty tonight, but still looked nothing like Evan or Jason.
“Where’s my hug?” Jason pouted, standing up along with Laura as he wrapped his arms around me for a quick hug.
“Laura, this is my dad, Brian, and my brothers, Brendon and Cody.” I told Laura when I realized that our families hadn’t met yet. Well, Jason met my brothers that one time, but that was it.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Laura said with a polite smile as she shook hands with my dad.
After Jason shook hands with my dad and Brendon with Laura, we all sat down at the table once more.
“Can I sit next to Evan?” Cody pleaded. “Please, please, can I?”
“Sure, buddy.” I chirped, pulling out the chair to Evan’s left and helping Cody into it before pushing it closer to the table. I was about to pull out the chair to Evan’s other side, but he stood up quickly and pulled it out for me.
“Such a gentleman.” I cooed with a slight blush.
He grinned and bent down, kissing my cheek softly. “Only for you.” He whispered before sitting down in his own chair once more.
Laura and my dad fell into polite small talk, along with Jason and Brendon- I think they were talking about high school, since they were in the same class. Cody was talking to a boy he knew at the table beside ours, which left me and Evan to have a conversation by ourselves.
“Thank you for coming.” I told him, holding hands under the table. “It really means a lot to Cody.”
“I’m glad to be here.” Evan said with a grin. “And my mom was thrilled when I told her that she was invited. She was really excited to meet your family.”
“Well, they seem to be getting along, so that’s good.”
“I expected them to.” Evan chuckled.
“Me too, I suppose.” I sighed.
We went through dinner, which was indeed a heaping serving of pizza, much to Cody’s excitement, with light conversations filling the table. Cody bragged to Evan about a new Batman cape that my dad had just bought him and Jason and Brendon had laughed about some high school memories that they shared. It was a good time, and it was really nice to see Cody so happy about something. I don’t think I’d ever seen him so happy and excited.
“Can I have everybody’s attention up here, please?” A lady’s voice piped from the stage. I looked up to see Miss. Stacy, one of the ladies I knew from around the center whenever I stopped by with Cody, she was standing on the stage with a microphone stand in front of her. Quickly, everyone fell silent around the large room and we all listened for what Miss. Stacy would say next.
“Thank you.” She grinned with that heart-of-gold smile that probably makes her well-liked with the kids. “Now, before tonight, we asked all of our shining stars to prepare a poem or a song. Maybe a dance or anything to express themselves. Please be silent while everybody performs and know that it really takes a lot of guts to get up here and show you guys these cool talents, so support them. It’s always okay to mess up sometimes. Okay, so to start us off, we have Bridget Scott singing a song for you.”
Everyone started clapping encouragement for the nervous-looking brunette girl who was now scampering onto the stage with a piece of paper in her hand. Miss. Stacy walked to the left side of the stage to give all attention to Bridget, but she stayed on the stage with a warm smile on her face.
Bridget’s big brown eyes searched the crowd and when she found who she was looking for, she beamed as if she’d found a pot of gold before clearing her throat quietly and stepping up to the microphone that Miss. Stacy had already lowered to Bridget’s height.
Without an introduction, or talking at all, she took a deep breath and started singing her song, that I assume she wrote, maybe with some help.
I love my mommy, Daddy too.
My brother Jimmy and our dog, Boo.
I love them when they make me smile,
and read me stories about that crocodile.
Even though I won’t be here too long,
I hope they smile when they hear my song.
And when we go out to that one lake,
I hope they laugh at the memories we make.
I love my mommy, Daddy too.
My brother, Jimmy and our dog, Boo.
And when it’s dark, I look up at the moon.
And I tell Grandma that I’ll see her soon.
That was the end of the song and when she put the microphone down, she had a serene, proud smile on her face. Everybody started clapping, but you could see the tears in everybody’s eyes.
“That was sad.” Evan whispered to me. “Do you know her?”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, Bridget has a brain tumor, she comes here so the therapists can help her cope with her condition. Doctors say she won’t make it to Christmas.” I choked, obviously affected by the sad song.
“She seemed happy, though.” He whispered in shock.
I nodded and took a drink of my water. “She is, but that’s the sad part. Nobody should have to be okay with dying, especially not a little girl so young.”
He opened his mouth to speak but Miss. Stacy interrupted him from the stage. When I looked up, Bridget was gone and sitting back at her table with her teary eyed family.
“Thank you for that lovely song, Bridget. She is such a wonderful singer. Now, we offer the stage to Mr. Cody Harris.”
My jaw dropped, as did Brendon’s and my dad’s. Cody? Our Cody? He doesn’t get on stage. He can’t get on stage. I was sure that they called the wrong name until Cody turned and grinned at us excitedly and hopped off of his seat and hurried towards the stage.
“Now, this is Cody’s first time speaking in front of a crowd, so we should really support him. It’s all about trying and Cody is trying, that’s all we ask for here.”
We all clapped as we watched Cody hurry to the stage with a proud grin on his face and as he pulled out a piece of crumpled paper from his pocket.
“We asked Cody who his biggest role model was and this is his answer. Ladies and gentlemen, here is Cody.”
And again, we applauded as Cody stood at the microphone and looked down at the paper before he started speaking with a strong stutter, but he was talking nonetheless. “I don’t have a role model. I have four. Number one is my daddy, because he loves me and he feeds me. He feeds me pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie. Number two is my brother, Brendon, because he’s so so so big! He teaches me how to be a big boy and how to be strong. Number three is my big sister, Maggie, because she helps me be happy and she makes me laugh a lot. She’s so funny. Especially when she dances around the house when she talks about her boy, that’s really funny. And number four is Evan. He likes Batman and I like talking to him. He’s really cool. And he makes Maggie happy. I like seeing Maggie so happy. I hope Evan likes me, too. I think we’re friends. I want to be done now. Okay, bye.”
He folded the piece of paper back up and shoved it in his pocket before he jumped off of the stage and hurried back to the table as the room filled with applause, including our whole table. Brendon, Jason, and even Evan were standing up and hooting like boys do and I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.
“Did you like it, Maggie? I worked really hard.” Cody beamed proudly as I wrapped him in a tight hug.
“I loved it, Code. It was really cool. I’m so proud of you.”
Cody went around the table, receiving a congratulations and tight hug from everyone around the table before he took his seat again.
“He likes me better than you.” I sang teasingly towards Evan.
“Why do you think that?” Evan pouted, very sexily, might I add.
I grinned at him. “I was three, you were only four.”
“Well, I’d hope he likes you better than me, you’re his sister.” He told me with a crooked smile.
I shrugged smugly. “Yeah, I am pretty great.” I joked.
“I think so too.” Evan whispered.
“Do you say things like that just to see me blush?” I asked with raised eyebrows, but I could feel the burn on my cheeks.
“Well, they’re true. But the blush is definitely an added bonus.” He teased softly just before Miss. Stacy picked up the microphone again with a friendly grin on her face.
“That was wonderful, Cody! Our next performer is going to show us how well he can play his trumpet. Please welcome to the stage, Jack Meson!”
The little kids, aging from three to fifteen, got up on the stage and performed some kind of talent. Singing, dancing, acting, or just giving small speech like Cody did. Public speaking was a huge hardship for Cody, and for a lot of autistic children, I assume. So this talent show that they do during this dinner party is really helpful. At least, that’s what Cody’s therapists say.
After about half an hour, the last girl left the stage with the lingering tap of her shoes and Miss. Stacy was at the microphone again. “Wasn’t that wonderful? We have so many talented shining stars here and we thank every one of you for getting up here and sharing your amazing talents with your friends and family. Now, the DJ is set up, so we hope that you have a wonderful and safe time on the dance floor, and there is some left over pizza in the back, if anybody is still hungry. Enjoy, ladies and gentlemen!” And then she was off of the stage, taking the microphone stand with her so that the little kids could dance on the stage as well as on the little opening at the front of the stage.
Just as Miss. Stacy disappeared off of the stage, music started playing from the corner of the room where a DJ was indeed set up. Most of the kids immediately made a bee-line for the dance floor to wiggle to the beat of Who Says by Selena Gomez.
“Hi, Cody.” A little girl’s voice piped from beside the table. I looked over to see the frail brunette girl standing there with a shy smile on her face as she greeted my brother.
“Hey there, Bridget.” Cody said timidly and I stared agape at the two shy little kids. I didn’t know Cody had a crush!
“That was really cool, what you said on stage.” She complemented my brother.
His pale face blushed and I don’t think I’d ever seen my him blush before. No- I know that I’ve never seen my baby brother blush before. “Th-thanks. That song that you sang was really cool, too.”
“Thanks.” Bridget beamed, also blushing at his compliment. “So, do you wanna go dance or something?” She asked timidly.
Cody grinned widely as he looked at our dad. “Dad, can I go dance with Bridget? Please, can I?”
“Yes, go dance. Have fun.” My dad answered with a warm smile.
Cody grinned wider and took Bridget’s hand in his own as they made a quick bee-line for the stage.
“I’ll give him props.” Brendon spoke once they were far enough away so that they couldn’t hear us. “She’s cute.”
“She’s eight.” I reminded him.
“And if I was eight, I would think that she’s cute.” Brendon said, rolling his eyes.
“Little kid crushes are so cute, Hanna would be squealing like a pig right now if she saw that.” I giggled.
“Why isn’t Hanna here?” Evan asked curiously.
“Well, usually tonight is a night that I just spend with my family, so I don’t invite my friends.” I explained.
“But we’re not family.” He pointed out.
“Cody really wanted you here.” I told him with a smile. “And it was the perfect time to get our families together. Anyway, care to dance?”
“To Selena Gomez?” Evan asked with raised eyebrows.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Well, it’s a little kids party, what do you expect?”
“We’ll wait until the next song.” He told me with a smile.
“Fine.” I sighed dramatically.
“I’m going to go introduce Laura to Stacy, we’ll be back soon.” My dad announced as both him and Laura stood from their chairs and scurried away from the table towards the table where all the employees were seated.
“First name basis already?” Jason asked with raised eyebrows.
“I’d be worried if I was you two.” Brendon smirked at me and Evan.
“Because you think our parents are going to get together?” I snorted in disbelief. “Please, Brendon. You know Dad.”
He shrugged, but we both knew that I was right. My dad would never even try to date- especially my boyfriend’s mother- since my mom. He’s still not over her and dating is impossible for him.
“I’ll go show you my favorite room.” I grinned at Evan, planning on showing him part of the cafeteria that had dancing food painted on the walls. I always thought it was funny and adorable, and it’s right next door, so we didn’t have to walk across the center. “We’ll be right back.” I announced to Brendon and Jason.
“Going for a quickie in the bathroom?” Brendon asked with a teasing smirk.
“Brendon!” I shrieked, completely mortified at what he’d just said.
“What?” He asked innocently. “You think I don’t know what you two have done?”
I gaped at my blunt brother, but didn’t really know exactly what to say.
“Look, I don’t care about what you do. I don’t want to know anything about it either, but if you get her pregnant, I will kill you.” Brendon told Evan.
“Brendon, shut up.” I groaned in pure, agonizing embarrassment. Never in my life did I think I was ever going to have this conversation with Brendon. Never did I want to, either. It was a topic that I was happy to ignore.
“What?” He smirked. “I’m just being a good brother.”
“You’re being an ass.” I snapped, taking Evan’s hand and pulling him towards the dance floor for One Time by Justin Bieber. As we left the table, I saw Brendon and Jason subtly fist bump. Gosh, sometimes I can’t stand boys.
“Justin Bieber isn’t much better than Selena Gomez.” Evan teased as we started dancing around with the little kids.
“Well it’s either this or discuss our sex life with our family.”
“What about the room you wanted to show me?”
“Yeah, so I can get teased about it? I’ll pass.” I mumbled.
“Was it the cafeteria?” He teased.
I chuckled and blushed softly. “It scares me how well you know me.” I mumbled with a smile.
“Well, it scares me too.” He said playfully.
My blush deepened slightly. “Getting all mushy in front of a bunch of kids, not to mention both of our families? Oh so romantic.” I teased.
He smirked and bowed slightly. “I try, I try.”
I giggled and listened as another song started playing, Our Song by Taylor Swift. “C’mon, we’re not going to like anything that they play here.”
“How do you know what I like?” Evan challenged. “I’m pretty sure you haven’t figured out my music taste yet. I may very well be a huge Taylor Swift fan.”
I rolled my eyes at him with a small smile. “Okay then, we can stay and dance to this if you want.”
“Really?” Evan scoffed.
“Yes.” I nodded. “If you really wanted to, I would dance to Taylor Swift with you. She’s really not a bad singer, just not my type of music, I suppose.”
“Then why would you dance to it? Just because I said that I wanted to?”
“Yes, of course.” I chuckled, putting my hand in his as we made our way back to the table and out of the little kids’ hectic dancing, which was just awkwardly throwing their limbs every which way and moving their hips to their own beats. It was such a carefree sight. Nobody cared about the beat, or how ‘normal’ dancing would look. They just danced how they wanted to dance. No pressure. “I don’t really care what we’re dancing to, as long as you’re there, I really don’t care.”
“You said that just to make me feel bad about making that joke, didn’t you?” Evan asked me skeptically.
I grinned at him with a small nod. “Yes.” I giggled. “But I did mean it. If you really had your mind set on Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez, then I’d dance forever with you. Although, I know your real weakness is Bieber.” We sat down at the table again, where my dad and Laura were now sitting again, along with Jason and Brendon. They were all in deep conversation over some sports team that I wasn’t interested in at all.
After a few minutes of talking over the music, a slow song started playing. It sounded like one of those Disney singers, but I couldn’t be sure. Most of the little kids wrapped their arms around one of their friends and started dancing around the dance floor like a lot of the parents had started doing on the dance floor. However, Cody wasn’t dancing, like I thought he would, he just returned to the table with a glum frown on his face.
“What’s wrong, bud?” I asked him and sat his thin body on my lap as he pouted.
“Nothing’s wrong.” He huffed.
“Just go ask her to dance.” Evan whispered to Evan with a small, encouraging smile.
Cody’s jaw dropped at the boy sitting beside me and then he gained his composure. “I-I don’t want to dance with Bridget!”
“I didn’t say that.” Evan insisted with a small, almost unnoticeable smirk.
“Okay, well maybe I do. But I can’t just go ask her.” He mumbled in distress.
“Cody, you’re seven.” I snorted. “Asking a girl to dance is no big deal, it’s not like your purposing to her or anything. It’s just a dance.”
“Maggie, please.” Evan scoffed at me. “I think this is a man’s problem.”
Cody grinned and then nodded at me. “Yeah, Maggie. You’re a girl.”
I raised my hands in mock defense. “Fine then. I’ll leave you to your man talking then. I’ll just go dance with Bridget.” With that, I sent them both a feigned glare before sauntering over to where Bridget was standing by herself on the edge of the dance floor. I offered her a dance, and we danced around the small area as she told me about her new pet rabbit. As we danced, I noticed Evan giving Cody a pep talk in the corner of my eye, Brendon and Jason also had joined in the discussion and I can’t help but notice that they’ll probably embarrass my poor baby brother. But maybe it was for a good cause.
“Why does Cody keep looking over here?” Bridget asked me timidly halfway through the song.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think he likes you.” Okay, so maybe Brendon wasn’t going to be the only one to embarrass Cody.
“R-really?” Bridget stammered with a thick blush. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, he keeps looking over here, doesn’t he? I think he wants to ask you to dance, but he’s a little shy.” Just as I finished talking, Cody and Evan started walking over to where I was dancing with Bridget on the dance floor.
Cody gave Bridget a shy smile and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Hey, Bridget.”
“H-hi, Cody.” Ah, young love. They were so adorable and shy!
“Maggie, will you dance with me?” Evan asked me out of the blue.
I gave him a confused frown but when I saw the look in his eye, I could tell that I should say yes. “Yeah, of course. I’d love to.”
He smiled at me and then we took to dancing, a little far away from Cody and Bridget so that we couldn’t hear what they were saying.
“He would only ask her if I asked you.” Evan explained. “And I figured you wouldn’t hurt my ego by rejecting me in front of your brother.”
“Oh, I totally don’t have a problem rejecting you.” I teased. “But I figured accepting this dance would help Cody.”
“What would I do without you?” He smirked.
“I have no idea.” I teased with a grin.
He chuckled softly and pulled me closer to his chest before whispering in my ear. “Me neither.”
I stifled a giggle and looked over to see Cody dancing, arm’s length like the rest of the little kids, with Bridget. They were both blushing immensely and it was probably the cutest thing I’d ever seen. “Well, I guess your man talk worked.”
“That’s because us men understand each other.” Evan told me.
“I guess so.” I laughed before we fell silent and the song ended, being taken over by another up-beat song that the kids seemed much more comfortable dancing to with their creative and careless dance moves.
“Let’s go take a walk.” Evan finally muttered.
“Yeah.” I agreed quickly. “Sure.”
He took my hand in his and we went for the round table to announce to our parents and brothers that we’d be back soon. I glared at Brendon, daring him to say something, especially in front of dad, but he stayed silent. It’s not like we’d do anything inside of a children’s therapeutic center. That’d kind of freak me out a little bit, to be honest. When my dad told us to be back in fifteen minutes, we agreed and made our way out of the ballroom, down a hallway and then outside to a small patio kind of thing. It was a wooden deck that held a small children’s table and a small slide. There was a railing that encased the patio and on the other side of the railing, there was a small pond. It was only a foot deep, I could see the bottom of it from where I stood, but it was cute to look at.
“I’m really glad that Cody likes you so much. Surprised and worried, but also very glad.”
“Surprised?” Evan questioned curiously as we sat down at the children’s table with our knees jutting out due to how low the seats were.
“Cody doesn’t talk to many people, just his family and therapists. Well, and Bridget and a few other friends. But he doesn’t do well with strangers. He gets really anxious about it.”
“And why are you worried?”
I shrugged. “He gets attached easily. Must be hereditary or something.”
“That’s nothing to be worried about.” Evan assured me softly. “I’m not going anywhere.”
That bugging pit in the bottom of my stomach returned from a dark place. That little reminder that at the end of the summer, Evan would be gone. He would pack up and off to Ohio he goes. Now, it’s not only me it’s going to affect, it’s Cody too. But what can I do about it? I’ll just enjoy the moment and that’s all I can do. That’s all anyone can do.
“It would have been so much easier if you could just stay here.” I muttered softly, more to myself than to Evan.
“I know.” He agreed softly, taking my hand in his. “I know, it would.”
“I don’t know how I’m going to tell Cody, he’s going to be crushed- the kid already admires you.” I said.
He gave me a small smile. “You’re a really great sister, Maggie.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked curiously. “I don’t do anything that every other sister wouldn’t.”
“Yes you do.” He said quickly. “You care about Cody like a parent would. I can tell how protective you are of him, I can see how much you really love your brother. Your whole family.”
“I guess we kinda grew up as a tight-knit family.” I mumbled. “I don’t really think of my family as tight-knit family, we fight a lot. Then again, I guess that’s just because we care so much. You know, fighting about stupid things like curfews and being too over protective.
“You’re really supportive of him, too. I think that seems like a lot of pressure.” He mentioned.
“Of his autism? We don’t have much of a choice, we can’t get rid of it or order a refund child.” I said sarcastically. “It’s not easy, caring for a child whose different, but after a while, I guess it just turns into habit. It’s part of my life style now. I couldn’t imagine what my life would be if Cody wasn’t autistic. Of course, it’s hard sometimes still. Like getting those weird looks people give us when we’re at the stores.”
“I hope you can meet Emma someday.” Evan said softly. “I think you’d really like her.”
I smiled at him. “I’m sure I will. She seems sweet.”
“You think?” Evan asked with raised eyebrows.
I nodded. “Yeah. I mean, from what you’ve told me and the pictures I’ve seen of her, she seems sweet. But then again, all I know about her is what you’ve told me and the pictures I’ve seen. So all I know, she could be a devil’s child.
Evan laughed softly and stood up from where he was sitting. “She’s not that bad. C’mon, we better get back in there before your other brother gets any ideas.”
“He already has ideas.” I grumbled, completely mortified at the idea once again.
“Hey, at least I’m not being skinned alive, right?” Evan grinned at me, cupping my face in one of his warm hands and moving a strand of my hair behind my ear.
“That’s the bright side. A very bright side.” I said with a grin, taking his other hand in mine.
“Do you think that this means that he’ll let you stay the night sometimes?” Evan asked, his voice full of hope with a playful, boyish smirk on his face.
We made no move to get back inside, but just stood outside on the patio, staring at each other and when he finished his sentence, I smirked and moved my lips to his ear. “What makes you think I want to spend the night?” I whispered with my eyebrows raised, playfully challenging him as I pulled away and crossed my arms defiantly in front of me. “Maybe you weren’t any good.” I turned around to go back inside, but Evan quickly held firmly onto my hand and pulled me back towards him, slamming my back into his front and sending tingles shooting through me with the contact.
He lightly kissed my neck, causing my breath to hitch. “Baby, three times in one night kinda tells me that I’m at least a little good.” He whispered in my ear.
“Okay, you have a point.” I rasped. “You’re at least a little good.”
“Is that all?”
“That’s all for now, we need to get back inside.” I giggled, pulling on his hand, yet again, only this time he let me drag him back inside and down a short hallway back into the crowded ballroom where the dancing was beginning to dwindle down into a few headstrong, energized little kids. But most of them had retired to sitting at their table or falling asleep in their mother’s arms.
“Well, you were gone long enough.” Brendon chirped once we were seated at the table again.
I gave him a dirty look and noticed that neither of our parents were at the table. “Where’s Dad?”
“Cody wanted to show him something in one of the rooms and Laura went to the bathroom.” Brendon answered. “You really were gone for a long time.”
“We went out to the patio.” I told him with a pointed look to try to intimidate him into shutting up, but of course he wasn’t shaking in his skin, much to my disappointment.
“Really? Outside?” He teased.
“Kinky.” Jason chuckled.
Both immature boys started bursting out in laughter as they subtly fist bumped and continued laughing. I really didn’t see what was so funny, we didn’t even do as much as kiss the entire time we were gone.
“I would stop them.” Evan said. “But you’re blushing, and it’s adorable.”
“And it’s annoying that you never get embarrassed.” I mumbled to him with feigned annoyance. Well… it was a little feigned.
“Oh, good. You’re back.” Laura beamed at me and Evan. “We were about to put out a search party.”
I smiled innocently at her and wondered if Brendon and Jason had spoken of their newfound amusement of my sex life in front of Laura. I’d be even more mortified, and I really hope she wasn’t suspicious of anything that had happened on the Fourth. “Sorry we took so long, I was just showing Evan the patio.”
“That sounds nice.” She chirped.
“Everyone’s back. Are we all ready to go?” My dad’s voice beamed and I looked up to see him carrying a sleeping Cody towards our table.
“I’m ready.” I announced, realizing how tired I really was. We’d had a big night, and I was pooped.
“Yeah, I guess I’m ready too.” Jason piped.
Evan and Brendon muttered their agreements and we all stood up from the table, saying goodbye to Miss. Stacy and a few more employees that seemed to be very fond of my dad and Cody. They were kind of like a huge family here and I tried to remember that I should come more often. It was really a nice place, with really nice people.
When we got outside, I knew that I’d have to say goodbye to Evan for the night and no matter how pathetic it makes me sound, I really didn’t want to. But asking to stay with him in front of both of our parents and immature brothers, that was definitely out of the question.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” I told Evan, wrapping my arms around him tightly.
He kissed my cheek lightly. “Sure, I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you, Princess.”
I leaned back just enough to give him a chaste kiss on the lips with the reminder that my dad was just a car away playing the back of my mind. “And I love you right back.”
“Maggie, hurry up!” Brendon yelled from the car a few spaces away from where we were standing at Laura’s car.
“You should go.” Evan chuckled at my idiotic brother.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I should.” I pried myself off of Evan and took a step back. “Thanks for coming tonight, it meant a lot to Cody. And to me.”
“I’m glad that I came, it was a lot of fun.” He said with a smile. “It meant a lot that you invited me.”
I gave him one last smile. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Maggie.”
“Margaret!” Brendon sang from the car.
“I’m coming, don’t call me that.” I snapped, hurrying over to the car and with one last wave to Evan, I hopped into the backseat of the car, along with a sleeping- and now snoring- Cody.
“Cody sure had a good night.” My dad chirped. “He’s exhausted.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” I giggled at my sleeping brother.
“He wouldn’t stop talking tonight.” My dad said from the front seat. “About his new best friend, Evan.”
I smiled and looked out the window as we pulled away from the therapy center and towards our house. “Yeah, they get along really well.”
“That’s really not fair.” Brendon complained. “I’ve been trying to get him to talk to Bridget for months, but he would never budge. And with just the snap of Evan’s fingers, they were dancing the night away.”
I laughed at that. “He’s not Mary Poppins, Bren. Nobody listens to their brother for dating advice, even seven year olds know that.”
“Whatever, it’s still not fair.” Brendon mumbled.
I chuckled and rolled my eyes at how childish my brother could be. The rest of the short ride was silent, mostly due to all of us most likely being exhausted from the night.
Once we got back home, I got dressed in sweats and a tank top- my version of pajamas for the night- and decided that before I could go to sleep, I really needed to eat, considering there was a loud rumble coming from my stomach that wasn’t going to go away. When all the lights were out downstairs, I assumed that Brendon and my dad went to sleep by then, so I tip-toed downstairs and into the kitchen where I made a bowl of Frosted Flakes and sat at the small kitchen table to eat.
“What are you doing up?” Brendon’s deep voice made me jump out of my skin.
I looked up to see him in the living room, walking towards me as he padded into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of potato chips. My potato chips of o wasn’t mistaken, but I was in a loving mood, so I didn’t complain. “What are you doing up?” I fired his question right back at him as he sat across from me at the table.
“Hungry.” He mumbled.
“Me too.” I said, taking another bite of cereal.
“Did you have a good time tonight?” Brendon asked randomly.
I nodded. “Yeah, I did. I had a great time, I love seeing Cody so happy. What about you, did you have a good time?”
“I did, too. That Jason kid is cool, and Laura was nice.”
“Yeah, she is.” I agreed. “And of course you’d think Jason is cool, he’s just like you.”
“Well then he’s cooler than I thought.” Brendon smirked, causing me to roll my eyes. “But seriously, Maggie, Evan is a good guy. Way better than the last one.”
“I agree.” I mumbled. “Way better than the last one.”
“But if he does end up turning out like Dennis, I’ll put him six feet under.”
“I know.” I sighed. “But he won’t. Evan is… well, he’s… different.”
“I can tell.” He said genuinely.
I bit my lip in thought for a while before finishing my cereal and finally deciding to speak up. “Hey, Bren, can I ask you a question?”
“Are you going to ask me how I know about you sneaking out on the Fourth?” Brendon asked with raised eyebrows. When he took my silence as a yes, he continued. “You and your friends really shouldn’t talk so loud when you’re talking in the living room.”
“Oh.” Was my genius response. “But then why didn’t you murder him? I don’t get why you’re taking this so lightly. I figured that you’d freak if you ever found out, but you’re just being… you.”
He was silent in thought for a moment, and then opened his mouth to reply. “Evan is a good guy, like I said. And it’s obvious that he makes you happy, Maggie. Hell, I’d never seen you so happy. And it’s not just you, Cody’s in love with the kid too. That kid is changing this family for the better and I’m not going to stop you from being as happy as you are, as much as it pains me and disgusts me.”
I stared at him wide-eyed for a moment, definitely not expecting such a deep answer, especially not from my brother. “Oh.”
“Not what you were expecting?” He smirked.
I shook my head. “Not at all.”
He shrugged and stood to his feet. “Hey, I can be sentimental sometimes, if I want to be.” He said defensively.
“Yeah.” I snorted. “Don’t take my chips with you.”
“Why not?” He questioned.
“They’re mine.” I pouted, rinsing my bowl off in the sink.
“Too bad, baby sister.” Brendon grinned taking off for the stairs with my bag of chips in hand.
I sighed, deciding not to chase after him, I’ll just make him buy me some more later.