So...

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Dinner Anyone?

I nervously walked to the stove to turn off the pasta and began to toss the salad. Sidney was sitting behind me and I could feel his eyes burning a hole through my back. I took in a deep breath and forced a smile on my face. I handed the plate to him and he kindly thanked me. I sat down across from him and began to eat.

“I hope you like the salad. It’s very, very simple.” I poked a piece of lettuce with my fork.

He nodded and smiled. “It is, very good.”

We ate in silence for a few minutes and he was done with his plate while I had barely touched mine. “Are you done?” he nodded and I took his plate starting to serve the dinner. “So,” I paused, thinking. “What’s your favorite movie?” I looked at him over my shoulder.

He seemed confused but answered. “I don’t really have one, but if I had to pick I’d say maybe 300.” I nodded. “What about you?”

I shrugged. “I’m an old movie lover. Casablanca, maybe. But I’m also a big Willa Wonka fan.” I turned around and handed the plate.

“This is delicious. You made all this?” he looked at me while taking a giant bite.

“Yea, I’m a big cook. I love it. It sort of calms me down.” I took a drink of water. “So, what’s your favorite band?”

Sidney shook his head. “I don’t really have one.”

“Any favorite type of music?”

He put his fork down and thought for a moment. “I’d say rock. That’s mostly the music playing in the locker room.”

I took a bite out of my chicken, feeling a bit more relaxed. “Ok, so if you had to see someone in concert, who would it be?”

“Well,” Sidney began, putting down his fork and taking a drink of water. “Probably Three Days Grace or someone like Metallica. That Muse you were playing wasn’t bad either.”

I smiled and held up my glass. “Well I applaud your above average taste in music Mr. Crosby.”

He looked at me for a moment, before a grin grew on his face and he clinked our glasses together. “Thank you.”

I laughed and felt the tension between us start to fade as he began to laugh as well. Eventually the laughter died and everything became quiet as we looked at each other. I stared at his eyes. They were sweet…kind… warm…safe. I snapped out of my trance and cleared my throat. “Are you done with this?”

He looked down and nodded slowly. “Yes, thank you,” a serious tone in his voice.

“So what do you think? Still have enough room for desert?” I placed the dirty plates in the sink.

“I honestly don’t think I could eat anymore. I really shouldn’t have desert.”

I grinned walking over to the fridge. “Ahh, but this isn’t just some fatty desert. It’s healthy, or sort of.”

“I’m not sure if I should.” He gave me an uneasy look.

“Yes, but you haven’t tried my carrot cake,” I grabbed the cake and placed on the table.

He stared at the cake and glanced up at me with an amused look. “Ok, you’re on.”

I could only smile.

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An hour and several pieces of cake later, Sidney and I were sitting on the floor of the living room with two forks and a half eaten carrot cake between us. The Cure was playing in the background. And surprisingly, the awkwardness had disappeared and we were actually having a decent time.

“What do you think? Are you liking The Cure?” I took another bite out of the cake.

He chewed on his piece of cake humming. “Yea, I actually do. It’s soft but not too soft. I like it. But not as much as I like your chicken parmesan.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Really? Well that’s very kind of you to say. Are you a chicken fan?”

He shook his head. “I’m actually not much of a fan. I’m more of a steak guy. And lobster. But that was really delicious.”

I let out a small laugh as we fell into silence again. I looked up at him as he ate some more cake. For the first time, he wasn’t so serious around me. It seemed almost as if he was having a decent time. I didn’t realize I was staring until he looked up and raised his eyebrows.

I smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to stare. It’s been taking me this whole time to realize that I’m having dinner with you,” he looked a bit serious at this comment, so I added. “In the sense that I never thought you’d have dinner with me.”

He still seemed confused but nodded anyway.

I eyed him for a moment, unsure if I should ask the question that had been bothering me for the past few days. I should’ve decided against it, not wanting to ruin the normal evening we’ve been having but I needed to know.

“So,” I picked at the crumbs near the cake before glancing up at him and stuttering. “Can I ask you something?”

He stopped, mid-bite as he nodded, a small smirk on his face from how nervous I seemed.

“Did you not like me? Like before? Or, now?” I looked down at my hands, only focusing on them.

He sat up a bit straighter. “What do you mean?”

I played with the loose threads on my shirt. “I don’t know.” I sighed. “I mean, I’m not accusing you of anything, it’s just before you seemed to have some sort of dislike towards me. Like whenever we would be alone together, you’d become very serious. I get that you don’t talk very much to people you’ve just met. I’m the same way, but you just seemed to not like even being around me, that’s all.” I took a breath after speaking.

I looked at him for a moment as he looked down. I was regretting saying anything. I should have kept my mouth shut.

“No. I don’t not like you. I’m not sure why I got like that. I mean I’m sure there’s some explanation, but that doesn’t matter. I’m sorry if you felt that way.” He looked up seeming very sorry.

I shook my head. “It’s ok. How about we just move past this and be friends?”

He nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Ok, so from now on, no more awkwardness. We’re friends. You say hi, I say hi. You tell me stuff, I’ll tell you stuff. You can count on me for anything, deal?” I stuck out my hand.

He seemed unsure of what to do, but took my hand and shook it. “Deal.” We both smiled at each other.

“So Max tells me you’re the editor at the same magazine Peyton works at?” he leaned against the couch.

I nodded. “Yea, I’m the layout editor. I just decide where everything goes to make it look pretty, basically.”

He slowly nodded. “Did you always know you wanted to do that?”

“Did you always know you wanted to be a hockey player?” I winced mentally slapping myself for the stupid comment. “Sorry, ignore that last part.”

He laughed, amused by my apology. “It’s ok. So did you?”

“No, not exactly,” I paused, pursing my lips. “I never really knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life,” I admitted. “I mean I never really found something I was passionate about. I have hobbies that I love, but not really a passion. And I love my job. It’s fun, not a hassle like everyone in this world seems to think that of their job.”

Sidney nodded, pressing his lips together. “What are your other hobbies?”

I bit my lip, thinking. “Photography, cooking, baking and reading if that counts.” I laughed.

“Well maybe one day you can show me how to cook or bake something. Although I’m not promising it’ll come out edible,” he commented.

I laughed. “Just say when.”

He looked at his watch and sighed. “I should get going, we have a 9 am practice tomorrow.”

I nodded looking at the microwave clock seeing it was midnight. “Wow, it is late. Time really went by fast.”

He let out a small laugh. “Yea, well that’s what happens when you’re having fun.”

I raised my eyebrows, a smirk making its way on my face. “You were having fun?”

He stood up slowly. “Yea, you’re easy to talk to,” he shrugged casually.

I stood up and stretched. “I think I’m going to like this whole friends thing here.”

He laughed picking up the cake and forks. “Do you need my help with anything?”

I put the cake back into the fridge. “No, it’s fine really. You were my guest. You don’t need to do anything except go get some sleep for tomorrow.”

I followed him to the door as he put his shoes back on and pulled on his jacket. “Thank you for dinner. It was great.”

“And thank you for saving me from eating alone tonight, again.”

He gave me a confused look. “Again?”

“Yea, there’s been like four other times these past two weeks. Peyton’s always getting caught up at work.” I shrugged.

“Well if you ever need company, I’m here friend.” He smiled zipping up his jacket.

“Thank you friend.” I opened the door as we walked out. “Goodnight,” I called to him. He waved at me and walked to the elevator.

I closed the door and began to clean up the mess Sidney and I made.

Change of Plans

I let out a yawn as I stretched my arms above my head and stood up as I watched the guys start leaving the ice. I began walking back towards the locker rooms searching for Peyton. Again, she sent me a text saying she’d meet up with me in there.

I closed my phone and began walking, trying to ignore all the thoughts racing in my head of how awkward any communication with Max or Kris would be. I was more nervous of what Kris would say or do in front of everyone. I took a deep breath as I slowly approached the doors of the locker room.

“Hey Brooke!” I turned around to see Matt Cooke grinning at me like a child. He opened his arms and pulled me into him.

“Hey Matt, how are you?” I patted him lightly on the back.

“Oh you know, tired from practice and all. I’m going to go shower but we’ll talk later?”

I nodded and smiled. “Sure.” I turned back around to spot a bench and went to sit on it. My phone vibrated in my back pocket and Peyton had said she would almost be here. Great. How do I avoid total conversation with Max, Kris and maybe Sidney?

I don’t know what it is about Sidney, but he sort of scared me. It seems as if he had some sort of hatred or dislike towards me. I’d understand it if he had a legit reason, but I honestly can't think of anything I’ve done to make him act so serious around me. My thoughts were quickly interrupted by a huge shadow covering all the light. I looked up to see Kris’ back facing me as he was talking to someone.

He turned around and stopped; only staring at me. He ran a hand through his hair. “Uh, hey Brooke.”

“Hi Kris. How are you?”

He seemed confused by the question, probably surprised I responded so quickly but nodded anyway. “Good. Just a bit tired from practice.”

“Brooke!” I looked behind him to see Peyton and sighed in relief.

“Peyton, you’re here.” I stood up and ran my hands up and down my jeans.

She nodded. “I’m here. You ready?”

“Oh like you wouldn’t believe.” I muttered and nodded.

Peyton nodded at Kris. “Bye Kris.”

“Uh, bye Kris.”

He nodded softly. “Bye Brooke.”

We began to walk but were stopped when we reached Max. Peyton froze and stared at him. “Uh, hi Max.”

Max nodded softly. “Uh, hi Peyton.” He looked at her for a moment but quickly walked away.

She sighed. “I am so happy to be going home.”

I nodded in agreement. “Tell me about it.”
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“Peyton! Have you seen my phone? I swear that thing keeps getting lost!” I checked my coat pocket.

She walked into the living room. “When did you have it last?”

“When you sent me the text in the locker room.” I mumbled. “But I put it back in my pocket.”

“Which pocket?”

I furrowed my brows. “The back pocket of my jeans. Why?”

She threw her hands in the air slightly. “I told you to stop putting your phone there! Not only can anyone steal it easily but it constantly falls out.”

I sighed sitting on the couch. “Well I guess I finally learned.”

She shook her head as she put on her shoes. “Alright well I have to go back to work to get this story in and talk to my boss real quick. But I should be back in about two hours, just in time for dinner.”

“So, I should get started cooking.” I waved as she closed the door leaving me alone again.
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I stirred the pasta sauce around the pan as I danced around to my loud music. Muse’s Supermassive Black Hole came on. I began taking out the plates and wiping them with a cloth. I began dancing around the whole kitchen and was totally in what people refer to as the zone. Everything would’ve been fine if someone hadn’t decided to bang on the door. I jumped about a foot in the air making me drop the plate.

I groaned staring at the shattered pieces on the floor. I paced to the door angrily and swung it open yelling at the person. “What!” My eyes immediately grew seeing Marc and Sidney standing there shocked by my anger. I smiled sheepishly as I felt my face growing warmer.

“Wow,” Marc said. “I didn’t know you were such an angry person.”

I sighed, stepping aside and letting them in. Their eyes soon followed the small pieces of glass that had recently been broken. I slid across the floor turning off the music. “Ok, now I can hear you.”

Marc pointed to the floor. “What happened here?”

I let out a sharp breath and bent down with the cloth. “I don’t care how much I like you, I’m not a fan of you making me ruin a perfectly good plate.”

He laughed. “Sorry.”

I glared at him. “That was part of a $150 set.”

He grew very serious. “Oh.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t care for the result of your inability to knock a door like a normal person.”

“We knocked normally at first, but no one answered and suddenly the music got loud. So we had to knock louder,” Marc explained.

I sighed and got up with all the broken pieces in hand. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be mean I just really liked that plate.” I smiled. “So, is there anything I can help you with?”

He smiled and nodded. “As a matter of fact there is.” Just then, his phone started to ring. He nodded to Sidney who just shrugged.

I wiped my hands and smiled at him. “Is everything ok?”

Sidney cleared his throat and smiled slightly. “Yea, we just came by to return this.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out my phone.

“Oh thank you!” I took my phone and hugged it. “This thing is like a bad charm or something. Thank you for returning it. ”

He let out a small laugh. “You’re welcome.”

Marc came back. “Sorry about that.” I nodded as I saw him look around the kitchen. “That smells great. Did you cook that?” I nodded again as he looked at the table set with two plates. “Oh, got a hot date tonight?”

I laughed as I saw Sidney start to shift uncomfortably. The phone began to ring as I picked it up. I excused myself and was back within minutes. I looked at them. “I don’t suppose you guys would want some chicken parmesan with some pasta and salad?”

Marc smirked. “Did your date cancel?”

“No, that was Peyton we were supposed to have dinner but she got caught up with something.” I shrugged.

“Well I would love some, but I kind of have something to do.” He checked his phone. “But I’m sure Sidney would love to stay and have some!”

I glanced at Sidney who was giving Marc a serious look. “Oh, it’s ok. He doesn’t have to.”

He shook his head. “No, I’m sure he wants to.” He nudged Sidney. “Right Sid?”

He glanced at me and smiled a bit before looking down. “I wouldn’t want to bother you or ruin your night.”

I had to smile at how shy he was being. “No, you wouldn’t be a bother at all. I’d love to have some company for dinner. If you want.”

He looked down for a moment before looking at me and smiling sincerely. “I’d like to stay and have dinner with you.”

“Great! Now that that’s settled, you guys have fun. I’ll talk to you later!” He walked out to the living room and called a goodbye before closing the door.

I looked at Sidney who had his hands in his pockets and was swaying. I sighed and managed to put a smile. “Shall we?” I pointed to the table.

“Yes, let’s.” Sidney walked past me and into the kitchen. He was about to have dinner with me.

An Unexpected Visitor

“You know Brooke, you really are going to be sorry when I’m gone and you never see me again.” Max put his arm around my shoulder as we made our way out of the arcade. Payton and I had decided to take them to an old arcade where barely anyone went. The guys all wanted to play separate things, so we decided to meet out front in a few hours. Max had somehow stuck with me and wouldn’t stop talking.

I crossed my arms as we walked. “And where exactly are you going that I’d never see you again?”

He shrugged. “Nowhere, I just think when you stop coming by for practice, you’ll miss me too much.”

I shook my head. “Where is everyone?”

He nodded behind me. “There’s Flower and Sid.”

I nodded. “I can call Peyton but you should call Jordan and Kris.”

He took out his phone and began dialing and walked away. Marc and Sidney came over to me. “Hey Brooke.”

I smiled awkwardly. “Hey Marc. Hi Sidney.”

He returned a not so convincing smile. Marc noticed the silence and began to talk. “So-” His phone started to ring. He smiled and excused himself as he walked talking on his phone. Great. Maybe this isn’t going to be too awkward.

He put his hands in his pockets and looked around. He had a hopeful look as if someone would come by.

“Pants.” Ok, I could’ve probably come up with something better than that.

He gave me a strange look, and almost smiled. “What?”

“I meant to say I like your pants, but I sort of skipped to the end.” I laughed nervously.

He let out a small laugh. “Well, thanks.” He looked at me for a moment, before he grew very serious and looked back down. He glanced up at me and opened his mouth. “I-

“Found them!”

Seriously, people need to stop interrupting people trying to say something.

We both looked up at Max to see Jordan, Kris and Peyton walking behind him. Peyton came up to me and put her head on my shoulder. “Thank you, you’re here.”

I patted her head. “What did they do to you.”

“Jordan wouldn’t let me or Kris leave until he beat my high score in that shooting game.”

Jordan grinned. “And I did beat it, thank you very much.”

I shook my head smiling, glancing at Sidney, who had gone and was talking to Marc quietly.

Max quickly texted something on his phone and put it in his pocket. “Come on guys, we should get going. It’s getting late and we don’t want to get mobbed at the hotel.” They nodded and started to walk back to the car.

Kris looked confused. “But it’s only like 3 in the afternoon.”

“Still, we have to go.”

Peyton nodded. “Yea, I have to go to.”

I looked at her. “Where?”

She thought for a moment. “Uh, I promised I’d go see my parents.”

I nodded slowly “Ok, sure. Come on Peyton, let’s go home.” I said pulling her to the car.
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“Peyton! Have you seen my phone? I swear I had it today.” I walked back out into the living room and looked under the sofa.

“No I haven’t seen it. Did you check your jacket?”

“Yea.” I let out a long breath as I sat on the couch. “Oh forget it. I’ll look for it later.”

She came out of her room looking even nicer. “Where did you say you were going again?”

“With my parents.”

“And your going to your parents looking like that?” I eyed her heels, tight jeans and silky top.

“Brooke you’re too funny. I gotta go. Bye.” Without another word she slipped through the door.

I sighed looking around the empty apartment. I decided I would have a movie night and order endless amounts of Chinese food. And so I did. I put in Pride and Prejudice and began to watch it. Midway through the movie, there was a knock at the door.

I opened the door and saw Kris. He gave me a small smile. “Hey.”

I shook my head slightly. “Uh, hey.” I smiled and stepped aside to let him in. “How are you?”

He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “I’m ok. You?”

I nodded. “I’m good too.” I stared at him for a moment. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Well, everyone sort of left to do something else and I had nothing to do. And Max suggested that I should come over here because you might be lonely and said we could get to know each other better.”

“Of course he did.” I muttered under my breath. “So you came here out of force? Or because I’m a last resort?”

He looked down at the floor not knowing what to say. I smirked and giggled. “I’m just joking. So I ordered some Chinese food. Do you want some? We could continue watching the movie I was watching.”

He smiled at me and took a seat on the couch. He sat a fair amount away from me but enough that I could smell his cologne. I’ll admit, it smelled too good that I couldn’t focus during much of the movie. I smiled to myself.
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“How could you not get it?”

Kris shrugged. “I don’t know. I just don’t.”

I threw my hands slightly in the air. “But it’s Peter Pan! It’s just amazing!”

“I still don’t get it.” He took another spoonful of ice cream from the carton and kept the spoon in his mouth. After we had finished Peter Pan we just sat there talking. Not of anything in particular, though. It felt nice to speak to him. I felt comfortable. I leaned on the armrest of the couch and he sat across from me, only a carton of ice cream separating us.

After a moment of silence he spoke. “Can I ask you something?”

I stuck the spoon in my mouth and nodded.

“Do you have any other friends besides Peyton?” I raised my eyebrow at him and he quickly responded. “Not that I think you’re lonely or anything, but Max just made it seem like she’s the only person you ever talk to.”

“I know he’d give me a reason not to like him.” This earned a chuckle out of him. “I do. Just not as good friends as Peyton. She’s probably the closest friend I have. I have other friends that I hang out with but I don’t speak to them much. I don’t need friends. I have Peyton and besides that, I’m perfectly fine on my own.”

“And me. I’m your friend Brooke.” He smiled at me. That adorable smile of his.

I smiled back at him. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For coming tonight, whatever the reason. You saved me from a very boring night. You’re good company.” I put my spoon in the empty carton and set it aside on the floor.

He grew slightly serious and looked down. “You’re welcome.” He adjusted himself on the couch and focused on his hands. “And I did have a reason for coming actually.”

I tilted my head slightly. “Really?”

He nodded. “I didn’t just want to come over out of boredom.”

“Then why did you come?”

He took a long pause before sighing. “I like talking to you and-”

I frowned. “And what?”

“I wanted to see you, even though I get nervous around you,” he shrugged.

I raised my eyebrows slightly. “Why?”

He scratched the back of his neck. “Because ever since the day I met you I thought you were insanely pretty.”

I took in a deep breath and began to feel my face growing warmer. I bit my lip slightly and looked down at my hands. He thought I was pretty? I tried to think of a response, but no words came to mind. I couldn’t think clearly.

I had no idea what I was doing. That became apparent when I looked up and his face was inches from my face and I didn’t move. I looked into his eyes and down to his lips. He moved in close enough that I could feel his breath on my face.

He slowly leaned in and pressed his lips to kiss the corner of my mouth. “I think I really like you,” he whispered.

He pulled his face away just an inch so that I could still hear him breathing. I had no idea what I was doing but I didn’t pull away and before I knew it I moved my hands up his shirt and around his neck. Without hesitation, he kissed the corner of my mouth again and then moved to my lips.

When we broke apart I couldn’t even move from the shock. He opened his mouth to say something but was stopped when a noise came from the door. There was shuffling on the other end of the door. I heard voices whispering and muttering and quickly got up to go see what it was. I opened the door and saw Peyton and Max there.

“Brooke hi! Look who I found out in the hallway!” she pointed her thumb behind her back at Max who stood their looking confused and unsure of what to do.

I nodded slowly eyeing the two of them and noticing they were both dresses extremely nice. “Hey Max. What are you doing here?” I asked leaning against the doorway.

He smiled nervously. “Oh you know just here to,” he looked around as if someone would come save him. “To, uhm-”

“Max?” I looked behind me to see Kris coming to the door, ignoring Peyton standing beside him. “What are you doing here?”

“Kris!” He pointed his hands towards Kris and let out a nervous laugh. “I came here to pick up Kris!”

He looked confused. “You didn’t even know I was here.”

Peyton nodded. “Yea. Hi Kris. What are you doing here?” she looked between us. “Were you two doing something?”

“No.” Kris and I said at the same time, looking at each other and smiling slightly.

I cleared my throat. “Kris just dropped by to, uh,” I looked behind me next to the table by the door and picked up the empty Peter Pan case and hold it in the air. “He came by to drop this off for me.”

Peyton raised an eyebrow. “He came to drop off my copy of the Peter Pan movie?”

I looked at the case that read Property of Peyton in black marker. I laughed nervously. “Yes?”

Kris cut in and began to put on his jacket. “Well, I really should be going. It’s getting late. We have to get up early tomorrow.”

Max nodded. “Yea I’ll see you guys later. Bye Peyton. Bye Brooke.” He waved and started pacing down the hall.

Kris turned to me. “Thanks for tonight Brooke. I had fun.” He smiled and waved to Peyton.

I smiled as I walked inside the apartment after Peyton. “So, weird you running into Max like that, huh?” I began to pick up the trash around the living room.

She took off her coat and went to her room to change. “Yea. Weird. I saw him outside when I came back here.”

“I thought you said you ran into him in the hallway?” I put the dishes in the sink and crossed my arms looking at her coming out of her room.

Peyton stood there staring at me. “Oh, yea I meant that.” She paused for a moment. “Well, look it’s 11. I’ve got to get to bed. We have to go to the rink tomorrow. Goodnight!”

“Uh huh.” I nodded and dumped the carton of ice cream in the trash.

“Oh,” she peered her head from her doorway. “Weird how Kris just decided to come over right?”

I blinked at her a few times before forcing a smile on my face. “I should get to bed too. Goodnight!” I called walking to my own room and shutting the door.

Thinking and Some More Thinking

I let out a long sigh as I turned over in bed. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Max had said about Kris, and I don’t know why.

I also couldn’t stop thinking about Sidney. I don’t know what it is but there’s something about him. I felt the need to talk to him. To have a real conversation with him. To be as comfortable with him as Peyton seemed to be. I wanted to get to know him beyond what other people saw.

I stared up at the ceiling, kicking the covers off of me and looking at the clock. 6:05. Might as well get up. I got up and opened the door walking to kitchen finding the lights turned on. I saw Peyton sitting by the counter looking down at her cup of coffee.

“Hey, couldn’t sleep either?”

She looked up at me shaking her head. “Sadly, no.” She poured coffee into another cup and handed it to me. “Why couldn’t you sleep?”

I put sugar and cream into my cup thinking of what to say. I couldn’t tell her the reason I wasn’t able to sleep was because thoughts of Kris and Sidney were occupying my mind. I shrugged. “Just thinking.” I sipped my coffee cautiously. “What about you?”

“Same. So what do you think we’re going to do today, assuming the guys are going to want to hang out.”

“I’m not sure. I just know I don’t really have the energy to be running around trying to keep up with Max.”

She nodded drinking her coffee. “Yea.” She paused for a moment before saying, “Is something going on between you and Kris?”

Peyton smirked a bit at how genuinely surprised my expression was. “What are you talking about?”

“Is something going with you two?”

“Why would you ask that?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Just seems like he has a thing for you. And you aren’t necessarily pulling away or anything.”

I looked at her for a moment before sighing. “Max got to you didn’t he?”

“He might’ve mentioned it.”

“When?”

She immediately sat up straight and looked down. “That’s not important. So, answer my question.”

My whole body stiffened as I searched for the words to say. If I lied, she’d be able to tell. The thought of something going on between Kris and me made my stomach churn. I had no idea what I felt. “I don’t know.”

Peyton gave me a weird look. “How could you not know?”

“By not knowing. I can sort of tell he gets a bit nervous around me and is always trying to constantly make conversations with me. I just don’t know how I feel about him.”

“Is that all?”

Yes. That and this whole Sidney thing, which I didn’t even know what to call. I sighed. “Yes.”

“What about Sidney?”

I looked up at her, my eyes widened a bit. Maybe I said my thoughts and I hadn’t noticed.

A small laugh escaped her lips. “Come on Brooke. I know you. You didn’t honestly think I didn’t notice how you look at him when no one’s looking and smirk. Because I did.” She grinned.

“Maybe I did.” I mumbled downing the rest of my coffee. I cringed at how hot it made my throat feel.

“Brooke, what’s going on?”

I looked at her as she gave me a warm look. There was no point in lying to her. She knows me too well and would eventually figure everything out. I walked over to the couch, sitting and throwing my head back, moaning. “I don’t know! I don’t know what’s going on!”

She came over and sat next to me. “Just try to explain.”

I took in a deep breath. “I can see that Kris may have a crush on me, which is hard to imagine considering who he is and how he can have almost any girl. And I’ll admit he is cute and slightly charming. But, there’s also something about Sidney. I have the feeling like I should talk to him. I want to talk to him, and I’m not entirely sure why.”

She stayed silent for a few minutes, unsure of what to say. She finally let out a long sigh and spoke. “Want to know what I think?” she didn’t wait for me to respond. “I think that you have grown an infatuation with Kris because he’s nice to you, and you being as naïve and sweet as you are, are confusing it with real feelings. And with Sidney, I think that you’re attracted to him because he’s so quiet and you may have some real feelings for him. Oh and I think he likes you too. I catch everything, so whenever you’d talk with Kris, he looked as if he wanted to punch him. He also looks at you when you’re by yourself and just smiles.”

My jaw dropped and my eyes were about to come out of my head. Did she really just say that? Did Sidney really look at me? My expression quickly grew serious thinking if she had a point in everything she said. I stared at her not knowing what to say.

There was a knock at the door and Peyton looked at me as if I should know who that was. She got up and went to open the door. Huddling through the door came Marc, Max and Jordan. I sighed looking at the floor.

“What are you guys doing here so early?” Peyton stepped aside letting them through.

Max opened the box of donuts he had and took one. “Well we wanted to hang out but if we went out in the middle of the day, we would’ve never seen you guys.” He swallowed a bite. “So we decided to come earlier. Plus that way we get to spend more time with you.”

Jordan and Marc came over to me. “Uh, Peyton, is she ok?” Marc looked at me.

“Yea, she’s fine. Brooke say hi to everyone else.”

I looked up. “Who?” She stepped aside and through the door came Sidney and Kris. I bent down and buried my hands in my face letting out a long sigh. 

Movies and Conversations

“Move over.” I shoved Peyton lightly with my hand as I sat next to her on the couch with a book in the other.

She handed over the carton of cookie dough ice cream and grabbed the remote. You see, this was something we did every Saturday morning. We would sit on the couch and eat ice cream for breakfast while watching lame shows. Usually I would read. This was a tradition we started when we first moved in together and we stuck by it.

“So are we going to do anything today? Or do I get to stay looking horrible for the reset of the day?” She asked changing the channel.

I glared at her. “You’re kidding right?”

“What?”

“You’re gorgeous 99% of the time!” I threw my hands in the air to emphasize my point.

She gasped, mouth open. “Am not!”

I rolled my eyes. “Yea, ok.” She denied it as much as she could, but she was beautiful. She was tall and slender, had perfectly glowing skin, wavy hair and a pair of hazel eyes that knocked you out. Ever since we met senior year in high school, I was jealous of her.

“Brooke, you okay?” Peyton shook me a bit.

I shook my head slightly and smiled at her. “Yea, sorry I was just thinking. I don’t know. Do you feel like doing something? I really don’t mind staying in today.”

She grinned. “Staying in it is. We can order take out and watch totally lame movies all day. It’ll be rad.”

I laughed opening my book and starting to read. Her phone vibrated as she opened it smiling. I gave her a look and she only smiled. I shrugged and got up to use the bathroom. I was halfway there before she spoke. I heard some shuffling going on in the living room.

“Hey, you never told me what you thought of the guys.” She called out to me.

“Honestly? I really liked them. Thank you for introducing them to me. I didn’t know you were good friends with them. They’re nice to hang out with,” I paused. “Even Max. I will admit, he does liven things up. Why do you ask?”

“I just wanted to know.”

When I walked back, I saw five very tall boys standing in our living room. I raised my eyebrows in slight surprise. “Peyton, our living room has been invaded by very large creatures.”

She laughed coming back in. “Marc was the one that texted me. Although how he got number I have no idea.”

He gave her a smile. “I have my ways.

“So you like me huh?” Max grinned at me.

I sighed. “I knew saying something about you would come back to bite me in the ass.”

His jaw dropped and had an offended look as the other guys laughed. “You know what? I don’t want to be friends with you anymore. Come on Peyton, you’re my new best friend.”

She shook her head. “I’m going to have to pass Max. I don’t enjoy being your last resort. And I don’t think I could handle your accent. It’s too much.”

“Fine!” He went over to sit on the couch to cross his arms and pouted. I walked back to the couch to sit on the edge and put the book back on my lap to start reading. “Hello! Do you not care how upset I am!” I stared at him with a blank face, blinking. After a while he muttered something, which made me look back down.

“So I’m assuming you guys wanted to do something today?” Peyton called from the kitchen.

“Yea Max dragged us here because he said he wanted to hangout with you guys.” Marc smiled at me.

I had only read a couple of pages of my book before I felt someone sit next to me. I looked up to see Kris looking at me smiling. “Hey, how are you?”

I let out a small laugh before smiling. “Hi. I’m good thank you. And yourself?”

He shrugged looking down at the floor. “I’m ok I guess.”

“You guess? No, that is simply not acceptable. We have to do something about that right away. Don’t worry I’ll make you feel excellent!”

Kris laughed nodding his head. “Ok, if you say so.”

“I do.” I closed my book and got up. “What do you guys feel like doing?”

They all looked at each other with blank faces. “We were kind of hoping you would know.” Jordan spoke up reminding me that he and Sidney were even there.

I looked at Peyton. “What do we do? I mean we didn’t exactly have the best plans.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Is the mall too dangerous? It is a Saturday.”

I nodded. “Yea, it’s probably packed. How about we grab something to eat and go to the movies? It’s pretty early so no one will be there.”

“Sounds good. Hey guys how do you feel about going to the movies?”

They all shrugged. “It has been a while since we’ve seen a movie.” Marc said looking up from his phone.

“Alright, let us get changed really fast. We’ll be right back.” I went into my room to change and quickly came out letting out a long sigh.

Jordan gave me a confused look. “What’s wrong?”

I looked at him shaking my head. “Peyton?”

She called from her room next to me. “Yea?”

I stepped in front of her door. “Hand it over.”

She opened the door and stared at me. “Hand over what?”

I glared at her crossing my arms. “You know what. My brand new leather jacket that I bought two days ago.”

She gasped mimicking my stance. “Are you honestly thinking that I stole it?”

“No I’m not thinking, because I know that you did. You always steal my stuff.”

“That is so not-” I pushed her aside and walked in her room. “Brooke, no!” The door slammed. It was quiet for a moment before there was a loud smashing of things and clattering of furniture. She yelled. 

“No Brooke!” It went silent again before I finally opened the door and coming out with my jacket on.

She came out behind me. I adjusted the sweater underneath the jacket and looked up to see the guys staring at us completely weirded out by what just happened. Marc cleared his throat. “You guys have a very strange relationship.”

I smiled. “Yea, well Peyton has a habit of taking things that aren’t hers.” I paused raising my eyebrows. “I saw that.”

“How did you-”

“I can also tell when she’s making faces behind my back. It’s a talent I have.” I shrugged and walked back into my room. I let my hair down and decided I’d leave the waves in my hair. I put on some lip-gloss before grabbing a scarf and tying it around my neck. “Peyton let’s go.”

“I’m almost ready.”

I shook my head looking myself over in the bathroom mirror. “No you’re not!” I called back. “You and I both know how long you take, especially on your hair. You’re pretty enough as it is. I don’t know why you put so much effort in.”

“Fine! I’ll be right out.”

I applied a decent amount of eyeliner before having the feeling of being watched. In the middle of dong the other eye, I looked over at the guys. Marc, Max and Jordan had no expression and looked completely interested in what I was doing. Sidney was smiling slightly and Kris was smirking at me. I furrowed my brows before slightly kicking the door shut.

“Ok Brooke I’m ready.”

I walked out, grabbing my phone and keys. “Do you want to drive?” She shrugged and took the keys handing me my purse. “Let’s go guys.”

They all started shuffling out the door. When I closed the door I turned around to see Max smiling at me. 

“Can I help you?”

“I’m just wondering something.”

“What?”

“Are you looking pretty for Sidney or….Kris?” He smirked.

I sighed. “I’m not even going to answer that.”

--------------------------------------------------------------

I laughed shaking my head, watching Max and Jordan trying to best each other at some game that was in the theater. After we saw a movie, they saw the games and ran over to play each other. Marc and Sidney went over to look at some large picture and Peyton was in the bathroom. I was sitting at a table looking at all of them, still unable to believe that I was actually hanging out with them.

“Hey.”

I looked up to see Kris standing awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. “Hey.”

He took the empty seat next to me. “Are you having fun?”

“I am actually, even though Max constantly kept talking throughout the whole movie.” I shrugged and smiled.

He laughed. “Yea, well that’s Max for you.” I nodded as he smiled at me before looking down at the table.

Only then, is when I really took a second to look at him. I had to admit, he was insanely adorable and his accent only helped. He seemed to get somewhat nervous around me. I couldn’t forget the fact that he had introduced himself to me twice and was constantly looking for something to talk about. And in no way did I mind him trying because it was incredibly flattering and sweet since no one ever noticed me in that way. I smiled looking at his long hair falling on his face. He looked concentrated. As if he was waiting for something. I began to smirk to myself before he looked up and had a confused look on his face.

I let out a nervous laugh. “Sorry, I was just thinking.” I looked up to see what the guys had been doing before my eyes fell on Sidney. He stared at me with a blank face. I furrowed my brows until Marc nudged him and seemed to whisper something to him. Sidney shook his head and looked back down. Kris’ voice interrupted my staring.

“So, uh-” He cleared his throat as I looked up at him. “How’s life?”

I shook my head smiling at his failure at attempting to say something better. “Well, I’m at the movies with a group of the Pittsburgh Penguins. And I’m sitting next to Kris Letang having a conversation, so I’d say life is pretty good right now.”

A smirk grew on his face as he ran a hand through his hair and put his cap back on. “Thank you. It’s nice to be talking to you too.”

“Thank you, even though I don’t really see why. There’s not necessarily anything remotely interesting about me.” I shrugged let out a small laugh.

He looked at me for a moment before opening his mouth. “Actually-”

“Oh lord! This girl in the bathroom kept bugging me about how she loved my jeans and where I got them. I told her I couldn’t remember except that they were form some vintage shop and she looks at me like I have three heads. How could she not know what vintage means!” Peyton stood in front of Kris and me as I simply stared at her.

“Oh man Peyton. Of course that would happen to you.” I looked at Kris who had looked back down and let out a long sigh.

“Hey guys can we go now? I’m getting tired of losing to Jordan.” Max came over and sat on my lap.

Jordan soon came after him laughing. “You’re just mad because you cant play and you’re French.” He gasped opening his mouth to say something but soon closed it, frowning.

I tried to push him off me as I tried to catch my breath. “Max, I can’t breathe. You’re too heavy. I’m begging you, get off of me!”

“I am not fat! How dare you call me fat!” He got up and stormed off to go over to Marc and Sidney.

I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Oh, the headaches that boy gives me.”

They eventually came back and Marc began talking. “Well, we’re going to go. We don’t want to but coach has to talk to us and we are kind of tired so we’re going to rest. But tomorrow we will spend the whole day with you guys.”

“That’s perfectly fine. Don’t worry about it. I hope we didn’t wear you guys out too much,” I paused. 

“Or bore you too much.”

He laughed. “No it’s fine. We had fun, really.” We all got up, walking outside the theater heading towards our cars. We said our goodbyes watched them get in the car.

Kris stopped in front of me not knowing what to do, before finally waving awkwardly. “Bye Brooke. I’ll see you around.”

I smiled in return. “Bye Kris.”

Once he got in Max stopped turning to look at me. “I don’t care what you say, I still think he has a thing for you. And he looked like he wanted to punch Peyton for interrupting your conversation.” He smirked turning to look at Peyton. “Uh, bye Peyton. See you later.”

She scoffed slightly. “You wish Talbot.”

He got in the car as we waved to the boys. “Take care.” I looked back at Peyton giving her a confused look. “What was that about?” I asked motioning to the car driving out of the parking lot.

She sighed putting her arm around my shoulder. “Come on let’s just go home. I feel tired.” She pulled me as we fell into step walking back towards the car.

And I couldn’t help but think about what Max had said all the way home.

We're Not Girls

I let out a long yawn as I covered my face and rubbed my eyes. I was way too tired and the 2 cups of coffee I drank didn’t help much. Thankfully practice was almost over and I could go home and sleep. My eyes were on the floor thinking about how peaceful I would be in my bed. My eyes slowly moved back up as I saw Kris standing in front of the wall. He was looking at me and kept his eyes on mine.

A smirk grew on his face. “Didn’t sleep much?”

I nodded. “Not really.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when Coach Bylsma called him. He gave a tiny smile and scratched his head. “Well, I guess I’ll talk you to later.” He skated off before looking back at me one more time.

The team gathered around to listen to what Dan had to say and I got up to stretch. I looked at my watch seeing that practice was over and started to make my way over to the locker rooms. When I had gotten there, I was almost trampled by the guys making their way in and out of the locker room. I stood beside the wall, leaning my head. I closed my eyes and was starting to fall asleep until I felt a piece of paper hit my face. I sighed, forcing my eyes open to find max standing in front of me smiling.

“Really? You have nothing better to do than to throw things at me when I’m trying to sleep?”

He didn’t answer for a second looking down, trying to form an answer before looking back up and grinning. “Nope.” He put his arm over my shoulders and walked into the room.

“It’s cold in here,” I decided crossing my arms from the instant chill I felt.

“Anyways,” he continued as if I had never even spoken and sat down on the bench pulling me with him. “So, what are we going to do?”

I looked at him. “About what?”

“Oh! I didn’t tell you? We have two days off before our next game, not including today, and we’re going to be hanging out!”

I tilted my head. “Do I get a say in this?”

His jaw dropped as he gasped and put his hand over his heart. “Are you saying you don’t want to hang out with me?”

“Yes, because those are exactly the words that came out of my mouth,” I shook my head and glanced up to see Kris coming in.

He came right beside me to put his stick by his place and smiled at me. “Hey Brooke.”

I returned his smile. “Hi Kris. How was practice?”

“It was good. I’m kind of glad it’s over. I am so tired.”

“Well, you do deserve some rest.” I smirked at him watching him laugh slightly.

“I want to eat too. Have you eaten? Cause I’m starving.” He put his hand over his stomach and looked at me smirking.

I shrugged. “I’m a little hungry, all I’ve had is coffee.”

He smiled. “I’m going to go shower so you don’t have to be next to me when I smell all this bad. I don’t want you to get the wrong impression of me. I’ll see you in a bit?”

“Yea.” I smiled as I watched him disappear into the steam coming from the showers. I turned back around to see Max raising his eyebrows at me. I sighed. “What?”

He pointed back over at the showers. “That!” A smile slowly appeared on his face. “All the smirking. The ‘you do deserve some rest’ and the  ‘I don’t want you to get the wrong impression of me’” He repeated trying to imitate Kris’ voice. “Do you like him?”

I snorted shrugging his arm off my shoulder and standing up. “Are you kidding me? I was just talking to him. It’s called being polite.” I crossed my arms.

Max stood up grinning at me. “No, he was flirting with you,” he frowned for a second, “Or he was trying to but you didn’t see it. He has a thing for you. It’s so adorable. My Brooke’s all grown up!” He pinched my cheek.

I swatted his hand away uncrossing my arm and pointing to the showers. “You think that was flirting? Ha! I don’t know what you’ve been smoking. He does not have a thing for me, nor do I have a thing for him. Next thing you’re going to be telling me I have a thing for Sidney because I was talking to him. Oh, yea did you see the way I smiled at him the other day? I am just pining for him! The whole time during practice I was swooning over Sidney!”

Max put his hand on my arm, “Brooke, I think that’s enough.”

“No seriously! I’m day dreaming about Sidney all day,-”

“Ok, Brooke I get the point,” he scratched the back of his neck laughing nervously.

“I’m just dying to say, ‘Sidney, I know I just met you but I really like you and I’m just dying to-”

He interrupted me. “Brooke!”

“What!” He nodded behind me. I turned around to see Sidney standing around with a confused face. At that moment, I felt my face turn into 15 shades of red as I backed up next to Max. “Oh, Sidney. Hey. I was just, uh. I wasn’t, you know. It was just to.”

“She was just trying to make a point but she didn’t mean what she said. It was part of her point.” Max assured him. “And she just happened to use you as an example.”

He glanced at both of us before slightly nodding. “Ok. I’m going to go shower.” He walked away leaving Max and I with confused faces.

We both looked at each other, completely frazzled before he shrugged. I let out a breath of air and slumped back onto the bench. “I’m going to go shower too and see if any of the other guys want to go get something to eat.” He turned around before coming back to me and lowering so he could speak into my ear. “I still do think Kris has a thing for you because he doesn’t talk much, especially just when he’s met somebody. And I think you have a thing for him to. You just don’t know it yet.” I could hear him grinning as he made his way to the showers.

-------------------------------------------------------------

“Let me get this straight. You went two months on only eating vegetables?” Jordan asked as we walked in to the almost empty little café.

Peyton nodded and shrugged. “I was in college. I was stupid.”

“Whoa, that’s impressive.” Jordan, Marc, Max, and Kris laughed. I smiled and looked to see Sidney was in the back and only smiled slightly. Jordan and Max put about three tables together making enough noise for people to notice them and start whispering. “Well, safe to say that people will recognize us. Let’s go order guys.”

“Brooke, I can order for you. What do you want?”

I pursed my lips thinking for a moment. “I don’t know, whatever looks good.”

She nodded. “I know what you like.”

“Hey I want that!” Max yelled looking at Jordan. “Jordan order what you’d think I like.”

He laughed. “Sorry, I don’t know what you like. And we’re not girls, so either way I wouldn’t do that.”

He pouted crossing his arms. “Fine.” He walked with the rest of the group as I took a seat. I looked for my phone in my purse before giving up and deciding I could text people back later. When I looked back up I saw Sidney standing awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. I smiled slightly. “Would you like to sit down?” He hesitated for a moment before taking the seat in front of me. I sighed. “I’m sorry about earlier.”

He gave me half of a smile and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I know Max can sometimes say things that get you to say even weirder things.”

I chuckled lightly. “Yea I guess so. I’ve actually been trying not to say too much. I mean I wasn’t to keen on our first encounter. I would’ve waited until you talked to me when you figured I didn’t freak you out. I still can’t believe that I’m talking you or any of the other guys. But that’s just my fandom getting to me.” He laughed slightly and I looked down and my hands starting to fiddle with my fingers unsure of what to say next. “Aren’t you going to eat something?”

He looked at me seeming to be caught off guard at how quickly I changed the subject. However, he smiled. “Marc said he’d bring my food for me.”

“Oh.” I glanced at him watching Marc and everyone else, probably hoping they’d come back soon as well. “So, are you a health nut?”

Sidney gave me a confused look and blinked a few times before shrugging his left shoulder. “I guess you could say that. I do watch what I eat and I try to be pretty healthy to stay in shape. But I do have some sweets every now and then. Maybe one little piece of chocolate every few months.”

My eyes widened. “Seriously? I don’t think I could survive that. I love chocolate way too much. Especially dark chocolate.” I frowned. “Wait, so let’s say one of your biggest fans baked you a batch of warm, delicious chocolate chip cookies, you wouldn’t eat them?”

He thought about it for a moment before answering, “Maybe. If I hadn’t had anything sweet in a while, but even then, I’d only eat one.”

I lifted my hand up slightly and smacked it on the table. “Are you kidding me? What if she’s a little girl and tells you you’re her favorite hockey player.”

He shook his head and smirked. “How do I know she isn’t lying and put something in those cookies to make me horrible at hockey. What if she makes me get fat? I don’t think I’d like to risk not being able to fit in my jeans. It’s too much if my thighs grow huge.”

I stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter at what he just said. His eyebrows rose for a second before he joined laughing with me for a while. He began to calm down and looked down before glancing at me. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Max’s voice.

“Hey guys! We’re back!” He set his plate of food down and sat next to Sidney and Marc sat on the other side of Sidney and Jordan sat next to Max. I looked at him glancing at both of us. “Wow. I can see you two were having an interesting conversation.” The rest of the group laughed as I began to eat the food Peyton brought me before she sat next to me.

“Hey.”

I looked to my left startled to see Kris sitting next to me. “Hey.”

“How’s it going?” He took a forkful of whatever he brought into his mouth.

“Uh, well I’m about to eat this,” I stabbed the chicken like thing with my fork, “whatever this is.” I looked at him smiling.

He looked at it making a face before smirking. “That looks very good.”

“Your support helps a lot,” I joked earning a laugh from him. I laughed as well.

“I do try,” Kris chuckled taking a drink from his soda.

I pushed my plate away and put my right elbow on the table, holding my chin in my hand. “I don’t think I want to eat that.”

He smiled at me. “Well, your welcome to have some of mine if you’d like.”

I smirked at him grabbing my fork. “That, I will take you up on.” I slowly grabbed a piece of chicken of his plate. I scrunched up my nose and looked at him disapprovingly. He stared to laugh until I joined in. Our laugh, was interrupted when we heard someone clear their throat loudly.

I turned to see it was Max and that everyone was looking at him strangely. He smiled slightly. “Oh, sorry. I had something in my throat and wanted to make sure you guys knew,” he sent me a look and started to smirk.

I shook my head and sighed as I turned back to face Kris. He was raising his eyebrows, grinning. “What was that about?”

I smiled sheepishly. “Oh, nothing. Max just thinks it’s perfectly fine to annoy me.”

He laughed, “Yea, he never really stops.”

I let out a small laugh as turned my head to look at Max once more. He sent me a big smile and wiggled his eyebrows. I merely rolled my eyes and caught Sidney eyeing me weirdly. All I could do was force a smile.

What's Your Last Name?

“So, Peyton?” Marc asked, taking a bite out of his chicken. “Does your friend Brooke speak?”

I looked up from my pasta looking at Peyton, who was looking at me as well. She laughed. “Yes, she does. She’s just very shy.”

I cleared my throat slightly taking a drink from my water and earning smiles from the guys. I managed to smile slowly before returning to stare at my pasta.

“Brooke, where you from?” I raised me head to look at him who was sitting across form me. I couldn’t help but smile at his accent.

“I’m from New Jersey originally, but I moved here when I was about 19.” I shrugged. I drank my water before setting it down on the table and looking at Evgeni again.

“You were at practice today, yes? You like practice?”

I was hold back the laughter of how adorable he sounded and my smile grew even wider. I nodded. “Yes, I was. And I loved your goal in the shoot out practice today. It was amazing. If only I could do that.”

“Oh, I see. Well, excuse me. I have to use bathroom.” He got up and reached across the table to grab my hand. I looked down at what seemed to be my small hand covered by both of his and back at him. He smiled. “I teach you to play hockey one day.” He nodded at me and I nodded in return.

As he walked away I noticed that my face felt quite warm. I let out a breath of air from my mouth and looked at my plate. “I have such a thing for Russians. It’s sad really.” I heard the rest of the table laughing, my face full of surprise. I let out a small laugh as well.

“Wait Brooke, what’s your last name?” Max had a curious and slightly serious look on his face, which was surprising. “I mean, we know Peyton’s is McGuire since we see her often and she’s a reporter, but what’s yours?”

I smiled. “It’s Parker.”

He tilted his head and mumbled to himself. “Brooke Parker. I like it.” He smiled and went back to his plate of food.

“Brooke, is it okay if we keep asking questions? We’d like to get to know you.”

I laughed and nodded. “Sure, that’s perfectly fine.”

They only asked about 4 more questions, which were irrelevant to getting to know me. Marc and Max only asked the questions. Once Evgeni came back, he only smiled every so often. Kris seemed interested in what I had to say and would smile at me every so often, from what I could see. Peyton laughed at almost everything. And every minute or so I would catch Sidney out of the corner of my eye smiling a bit.

Once we were done eating, Max thought he still needed to hang out with us, so we all headed back to his place. Evgeni decided to leave since he was too tired. So Max invited Jordan Staal to come over.

I was sitting on the couch with Marc sitting next to me talking on the phone. Peyton was standing across the room looking into some room until Sidney came. He started talking to her and she began to laugh. Well, I can see he talks to her just fine. That’s when I really took the time to look at him.

He was tall, very built since his muscles could be seen through the sweater he was wearing. He had brown eyes and hair that was slightly brushed. His lips were pink and a bit big, but they suited him. I’d be lying if I didn’t say he was cute. I kept staring at him until a knock on the door interrupted my thoughts.

“I’ll get it!” Max came running to the door. Soon he and Jordan came in. “Jordan, I want you to meet my new best friend Brooke.”

“Hey Brooke. It’s nice to meet you.” He stuck out his hand.

I shook it giving him a smile. “Hello Jordan. It’s nice to meet you as well.”

“Hey Jordan! What’s up?” Marc suddenly stood beside me giving Jordan a ‘man hug’. I looked up at all three of the guys feeling very short in comparison. “You want to play some Mario Kart?”

He grinned. “Dude, you’re on!” They both went running over the television to set the game up.

Max pouted looking at them. “Hey guys I get to play the winner!” He soon ran following them as well. I shook my head smiling. I looked up to see Peyton and Sidney talking and decided I would go see the guys play.

---------------------------------------------------------

An hour later, I was sitting on the floor, legs crossed with a toy steering wheel in hand yelling at a television. “No! No! No! Turn, what are you doing! Marc! Let’s go! Move! He’s right behind you!” Marc had sucked me into playing Mario Kart because when I told him I had never played, his jaw dropped. We were on the same team playing against Jordan and Max. And we were winning.

“Let’s go Brooke! I’m right behind you. We’re almost done. Come on, last lap!”

Right as he said that, I passed the finish line in first. I looked the bottom screen seeing Marc had been passed by Jordan. “Go Marc!” he then threw a red shell at him, causing Jordan to spin and letting Marc speed past him and coming in second.

“Yes!” I looked at Marc, grins on our faces and high-fiving each other. I looked over at Jordan who had his face in his hands and Max who crossed his arms and pretended to be mad.

“It’s just a game guys. Whatever.”

Marc and I laughed as I laid down on the floor. “You’re just mad because you lost.”

He glared at me. “You know what, you’re not my best friend anymore.” I sat up staring at him with a blank face. He burst out laughing rolling over. We all started to laugh eventually falling over as well. Once I sat up , I noticed that Peyton and Sidney were there. Peyton was giving us strange looks and Sidney on his phone texting.

I cleared my throat and got up to stretch. I looked around at the 2 boxes of pizza open and the two bottles of soda. There were empty cups and dirty plates scattered around us. “Did we really eat this much pizza?”

“No, we each had like 3 slices, but Max had the rest.” Jordan laughed.

My eyes widened at Max. He smiled at me innocently as I shook my head. “Well, I’m going to throw this stuff out. Uhm, where’s your kitchen Max? So I can wash these dishes.”

“You don’t have to do anything Brooke, you’re a guest.”

“Brooke has to be nice and well-mannered. It’s just her. So she’ll wash the dishes whether you want her to or not. That and no one can resist her adorable face.”

I looked at Peyton who shrugged and smirked at me. Max chuckled and sat up. “Take a left and the kitchen will be right there."

I smiled and grabbed all the dishes, the boxes of pizza and soda. “Thank you.”

Once I found the kitchen, I threw away the garbage and started to wash the dishes. By the time I was done, I heard a noise behind me. I turned around and let out a squeal as I saw Kris sitting there, drinking a soda. I tilted my head at him, which only made him smile.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He grinned taking a drink.

I shook my head slightly. “It’s ok. Uh, how long have you been sitting there?”

“Not long. I came out a while ago. I was just in a room, taking a nap. I saw you and I thought you might need some company. Is that ok?”

I stared at him for a second before smiling. “Yea, that’s fine.” I nodded and placed my elbows on the counter looking down at it, having nothing to say.

“Would you like something to drink?”

I looked up at him and stayed silent before realizing what he said and nodded. “Sure.”

He went over to the fridge and opened it. “Is water ok?”

“That’s fine.” I pulled out a chair from under the counter and sat on it. Once he handed me the water, he did the same.

“Do you mind me asking what you work as?”

I shook my head and smiled. “No I don’t. I work as the layout editor for the magazine that Peyton works at.”

“That’s nice. Do you like it?”

“Yes I do. I enjoy sitting at a desk for hours a day, deciding which picture makes the magazine look best.” I smirked.

He laughed. “That seems really interesting.” I nodded and took a drink of my water. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

I choked on my water at the sound of his question. I cleared my throat before smiling shyly at him. I looked down at the counter before finally answering. “Uh, no. I don’t.”

A grin was slowly making its way onto his face. “Why not?”

This question made my mind go blank. I didn’t know how to answer this, but I had to. I opened my mouth a few times before sighing. “Because-”

“There you guys are!” we both turned to look at Max. “Come on, we’re playing one on one and Marc has beaten me and Jordan. One of you guys has to beat him. Let’s go.” He grabbed me by the arm pulling me. I looked over my shoulder to see Kris smirking a bit and shaking his head before following us.

Max sat me down on the couch. “Ok, Brooke, you’re up next.” I glanced next to me to see Sidney looking at the television. He caught me looking and gave me a small smile. “Hey Brooke.”

I slightly raised my eyebrows, surprised he spoke and smiled. “Hey, Sidney.”

“I, uh, hope you can beat Flower. He’s pretty good at this game. “

A small laugh escaped my lips. “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do my best.”

“Well, good luck.” He leaned back against the couch. He kept his eyes on me for a while before giving me a smile.

I moved my attention to the television again trying to ignore the fact that I was blushing. I glanced at Kris looking at me as he was sitting on the floor. He tilted his head slightly and raised his eyebrows before going back to his phone.

I suddenly felt a large hand push my back. Before I knew it, I went flying to the floor landing on my knees. Everyone started to laugh and I let out a breath of air. I looked up glaring at Max who smiled widely. “Your turn Brooke.”

I sighed, shaking my head at him. I snatched the wheel from his hand, catching Sidney smiling.