Chapter 14
I opened the door to the house and was immediately bombarded by my brother. Max wrapped his arms around me tightly, squeezing me to him as I threw my own arms around his body.
After a couple seconds of being trapped in my brother’s arms; I was starting to lose oxygen. “Can’t… breathe…” I gasped.
Max unraveled his self from me and held me at arm’s length, with a smile on his face. “Hey Sophie, long time no see.” he greeted jokingly as I laughed.
“Yea, has it been a month already?” I asked rhetorically as I finished laughing. “But seriously, why didn’t you tell me you were coming home?”
Max shrugged. “I wanted it to be a surprise, plus, I didn’t think you’d be out of the house when I arrived. You’re barely out of the house except for work and the occasional weekend out with Piper and Blake, but when I come home all ready to scream ‘Surprise!’, you’re hanging out at a guy’s house.” he states, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms across his chest.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Sorry, you should’ve called and yes, I was hanging out at Jett’s and working on a project for school.” I said, as I took off my jacket and shoes, leaving them at the door before venturing into the living room.
I sat down on the couch and Max sat beside me. “So… when were you going to tell me about your new little friend?” he asked, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.
I sighed and glared at my brother. “You’re telling me that you wanted me to call you at university to inform you that I had made a new friend… or two?” I asked, muttering the last part when I realized that Dillon was kind of my friend. Actually when I thought about it, I wouldn’t mind classifying Axel or Carter as my friends either.
“Two? What; did you suddenly become popular after Christmas vacation?” he asked curiously.
“For your information no I didn’t suddenly become popular. I met Jett at the end of Christmas vacation at work and we’ve been hanging out. When I accidentally stopped by one of his gigs I met his friends and they were cool and not complete jerks like some guys I know.” I stated, finishing off with a suggestive glare in my brother’s direction.
Max lifted his hands in a mock surrender. “Hey, you know you love me; I just didn’t think you were that type of girl.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, I always thought that sooner or later you’d fall for a smart and dorky guy... you know a stick in the mud, but then I come home and your hanging out with a rock and roll guy who rides a motorcycle.” he explained.
My mouth dropped open at his first impression of Jett. Max couldn’t be more wrong about him and he was just like all the kids at school… judging the guy before getting to know him.
Once I got over my shock I glared at him. “You know, if you wouldn’t make assumptions so quickly you would know how wrong you are. Jett’s not like that… sure, he rides a motorcycle but that doesn’t mean anything. He’s not a rock and roll kind of guy at all. He plays an acoustic guitar and covers popular songs on the radio and he’s actually really good when he performs in his friend’s café. Jett’s really nice, sweet, caring and sure, he might not be the smartest person in the world but he’s really artistic and kind-hearted.” I explained, defending my new friend.
Max smirked at me and raised an eyebrow. “So you get a boyfriend and suddenly you get all defensive?” he asked.
My eyes widened slightly. “No, no, no! Jett and I aren’t dating we are friends… F-R-I-E-N-D-S… friends!” I said, stressing the point that we were only friends.
Max smirked at me. “Okay well if you’re not dating then you obviously like him. Nobody I know would defend a guy they just met a couple of weeks ago when somebody insults them.” he stated.
I huffed. “One, all the people you hang around are obviously jerks. Two, I don’t like Jett. And three, we are just friends and it’s going to stay that way so I just wish that you and everybody else would stop assuming that we’re into each other.”
Max rolled his eyes. “Whatever, I’ll stop bugging you, but when you guys together, be ready for a bunch of ‘I-told-you-so’s’.” he stated, getting up from his spot on the couch.
Max walked towards the kitchen as I grabbed the remote that was resting on the coffee table and flicked on the television.
“Is the food card still where it’s always been?” my brother yelled, referring to the credit card that Max and I used when we ordered take-out.
“Yea, it should still be under the fruit basket!” I yelled back.
I started flicking through the channels as my brother responded. “Oh! I found it!” he said, as if we had just won money on a lottery ticket.
I settled on an re-run episode of Criminal Minds, and was about to relax when my stomach grumbled loudly. “When’s the pizza gonna get here?” I asked Max.
He walked back into the living room, sitting in the recliner beside the couch and answered. “I called like fifteen minutes ago and they said twenty minutes, so my guess would be within the next five minutes or else they aren’t getting a tip.”
I rolled my eyes and relaxed into the couch as the doorbell rang. Max was busy on his phone, so I got up to answer the door. As I walked passed him he put his hand out, passing me the food card before going back to concentrate on whoever he was texting.
I opened the door and was surprised to see Axel in a delivery guy’s uniform and my pizza in his hand.
“That’ll be $12.87.” he said, not looking up at me but rather checking the bill on the box.
I coughed to get his attention, which worked as his head snapped up and he smiled. “Hey Sophie, you live here?” he asked, looking happier than he was a couple seconds prior.
I nodded as I handed him the food card and took the pizza for myself. Axel swiped the card into an interact machine that was attached to his waist before returning my card.
“So, will I be seeing you at the café on Friday?” he asked, adjusting his work visor slightly.
I nodded in response. “Yea, Jett invited me so I’ll be there with him.” I replied with a smile.
A small smile graced Axel’s face as he replied. “Well that’s great! I gotta get back to work but I’ll see you Friday okay.”
“Yea, and thanks for the pizza.” I said with a smile, nodding towards the delicious smelling box currently situated on my right hand.
“No problem, see you Sophie.” he said, waving slightly before heading back down the drive way to his car.
I waved slightly before shutting and locking the door and heading back into the living room.
“Who was that?” Max asked, tucking his phone into his pocket and getting up to grab a slice of pizza.
I shrugged as I took my own slice of pizza. “Axel, Jett’s friend, I met him a week ago.” I replied, before taking a gigantic bite of my favourite pizza.
“God, Soph. I don’t get how you can eat so much and be so skinny.” Max said as he pigged out on his own slice.
I shrugged. “Beats me but I could care less… I love food and I’m not giving it up.” I stated and just like that the conversation ended. I spent the rest of the night eating pizza, watching re-runs of criminal minds, and catching up with my brother.
The next day, I woke up got dressed and headed downstairs to make a quick breakfast. I wasn’t that mean because if I wanted to, I could’ve woken Max up but he was up pretty late talking on the phone to somebody so I decided to let him rest.
I finished breakfast pretty quick so I just sat in the living room and waited for Piper to arrive. After five minutes, Piper walked through the door and raised an eyebrow. “Is Max home because his car’s in the driveway?” she asked, not even bothering to say hello.
I rolled my eyes and nodded. “He got back last night but he’s sleeping right now.” I replied.
Obviously Piper didn’t care that Max was currently asleep as she dropped her bag on the floor and bolted up the stairs towards his room. I shook my head in amusement and followed slowly behind her. Ever since we were little Piper and Max treated each other as brother and sister; loving each other one second and teasing each other the next.
I got to the door of Max’s room just as Piper jumped on top of him and screamed in his ear.
Max woke up with a start, thrashing around for a second and successfully threw Piper to the floor while he was at it. After his mini freak out, Max sat up in his bed and ran his fingers through his hair. “What time is it?” he asked while trying, quite unsuccessfully, to suppress a yawn.
I shook my head in amusement. “It’s a little after 7:30, I got up early but Piper here,” I said, acknowledging Piper, who was currently lying on the floor of my brother’s room, “wanted to come and say hello.”
Max rolled his eyes tiredly and smiled at Piper as she got up from the floor. “Hey, now, if you would please excuse me, I would like to go back to bed.” he said, lying back on his bed and relaxing.
Piper hit him over the head with one of his pillows before walking stubbornly towards me. “Doesn’t even have the decency to say sorry.” she huffed.
I rolled my eyes at Piper because technically, it was her fault that she had got thrown to the ground; she did, after all, jump on him while he was asleep. “Hey, who were you talking to on the phone that kept you up so late?” I asked, addressing my extremely tired brother.
My brother rolled over to his side to look at me. “Nobody.” he muttered, before rolling back onto his stomach; however the small blush that had blossomed on his cheeks when he answered didn’t fail to go unnoticed by me.
I grinned. “Oooh… what’s with the blush mister? You accuse me of having a boyfriend yet you keep the girl you’re into a secret?” I ask teasingly.
“If you’re banging some slut while you’re away at university I’m deeply hurt you wouldn’t share that with us.” Piper stated bluntly which had me cracking up in giggles.
Max however, didn’t find it as hilarious because he just let out a moan of embarrassment and turned to look at us. “If I tell you guys will you leave and let me get some rest?” he muttered.
Both of us nodded and my brother sighed, sitting up in his bed. “I met Kara a couple of months ago in one of my university classes and we started hanging out. At the end of November I asked her out and we’ve been dating ever since. There, now leave.” he said, shooing us away and falling back into his bed.
“Why didn’t you tell us you had a girlfriend when you came home for Christmas?” I asked, ignoring his attempt to get rid of us.
Max sighed. “I didn’t want anybody bugging me but if it makes you feel better I was talking to her last night because she’s coming to stay for the weekend before we head back to university so you can meet her than if you want. Now, for the love of all that’s good and holy please get out of here so I can get some sleep.” he said, glaring at us as he pointed in the direction of the door.
Both Piper and I put our hands up in a mock surrender position. Max, once again, relaxed back into his bed as me and Piper backed out of his room quickly and quietly, shutting the door behind us.
As we walked down the stairs, noticing that quite a bit of time had passed while we were talking to Max and we had to get to school, Piper looked at me. “Did you know he was seeing somebody?”
I shook my head. “I had no idea, but hey, if he’s finally found somebody he’s happy with I’m happy for him.” I replied, grabbing my keys off the living room table and walking outside to my car.
Piper nodded in agreement and followed me outside, getting in the passenger seat. I started my car’s engine, pulling out of the driveway and started in the direction of Blake’s house before heading off for another glorious day at school.
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Early Update! And Max is home… and he’s got a girlfriend :) So cute, and you’ll meet her soon. Leave your opinions of the story so far below because I would love to read them !
Next Update: Tuesday
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P.S. OMG thank you all so much because I now have more than 150 votes on this story and over 500 votes all together ! Thank you again and keep up the votes… they are much appreciated :)