See Her (Turn it Up #1)

Chapter 26

26

MAYZIE

W e have no idea what time it is when we wake up the next day.It’s been a seemingly endless cycle of loving each other, falling asleep, and waking up to start again.My eyes drift open to see his opening at the same time, and we smile at each other.

“Morning, pretty girl,” he says, and I scoff.

“I don’t even want to know what I look like right now,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“You look good and loved on,” he says, moving closer and rolling me on to my back, hovering his face over mine.“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you on a proper honeymoon?” he asks.

“Nope,” I answer.“I just want this.Alone in our bubble, curtains closed, no concept of time.”

He begins to kiss me, with long and lazy strokes of his mouth, slowly luring me back into the bliss, and just as I’m about to let it overtake me, we are interrupted by a very pissed off growl coming from my stomach.We both bust out laughing, and agree that going into the kitchen for some sustenance would be an acceptable reason to take a break from bedroom activities.Rechar ge and all that. After slipping out of bed, I throw one of his t-shirts over my head.

“Are you going to make a habit of wearing my shirts around? Because I am totally on board with that,” Jack says, giving me a flirty smile as he pulls on some joggers.

“Yes, I am,” I flirt back, “and I love that I have access to a variety now.”

“What’s mine is yours, sweetheart.” He puts on a zip hoodie, leaving it open over his bare chest. What were we about to do again?

Come to find out, it’s already pretty late in the morning, but it doesn’t matter. We throw together a brunch of pancakes, bacon, and fruit, and huddle together in the breakfast nook.

“Wonder how the song’s doing,” Jack says, leaning his chin on his hand at the table.

“Want me to get the laptop out?”

“Nah,” he says, shaking his head. “Tomorrow is soon enough to get back to reality. I gotta go back to work at the bar in the evening. Let’s just enjoy today and tonight before we go back to thinking about the other stuff.”

“Good plan,” I say, tossing him a sweet smile before a sudden memory pings in my brain, piercing through my blissful bubble and my shoulders drop with the slight deflation. “We should probably talk about telling everybody though.”

He resignedly closes his eyes with a nod, like he doesn’t want to leave the bubble either. “You’re right.” He straightens in his seat and draws in a breath. “What do you think? Should we throw a barbeque, or have a get together at The Cedar?”

Before I can answer, a knock sounds at the door. Oh hell, no. It’s not even noon. I’d pretend we’re not home, but both our vehicles are in the driveway.

Jack and I share a befuddled look as another knock sounds.

“Mayzie?” shouts Ian through the door.“I know you’re home! Let me in, I gotta talk to you.”

How the hell could he know? I panic for a second before I rememb er how much my darling brother likes to drop in on me randomly.

“Ugghh,” I grimace, closing my eyes and letting my head fall back.My brother’s frequent visits were one thing when I was single, but we’re going to have to seriously establish some boundaries now.

“Should we let him in? And should we tell him?” Jack wonders, holding his coffee part way to his mouth.

“Ugghh,” I grunt again. “This is supposed to just be us right now.I don’t wanna let him in.” I’m feeling like I want to have a tantrum.

“Mayzie! I’m serious. I need to talk to you! Open up!”

God Almighty.

“We can let him keep knocking, or we can let him in, find out what he wants, and get rid of him,” Jack says with a shrug, laying out our options.

I let out a sound of defeat that’s half sigh, half grumble. “Fine. You let him in, I’ll go put pants on. That way he won’t get smacked the second the door opens,” I say, shuffling towards the bedroom in search of a pair of yoga pants.I find a pair in a bottom drawer and quickly pull them on before coming back out to find Jack leaning with one hand on the kitchen island, facing Ian who’s by the door, with a sizable duffle bag at his feet.

“What’s going on? Why aren’t you at work?” I address my brother, my eyes going between him and his bag.

“It’s my day off. I need to crash for a while.”

Wow. No easing in, let’s just jump right in, shall we?

“What are you talking about, you need to crash? Did you and Tina break up?”

“Well, no, but I have to get out of there for a while. The woman is in my face and up my ass 24/7 and it’s driving me out of my mind! I need to get away for a bit and figure out what to do about this.”

“So you can be in our faces 24/7? No thanks. Go to Mom and Dad’s,” I say, crossing my arms .

“Come on, you know they’d never let me hear the end of it. I still love her, I just need a break. We don’t need to bring them into it.”

“Does she know about this?” I wave a hand at his bag. Ian crinkles his forehead and shows me his teeth in an uncomfortable grimace. “Oh my God, you’re such an asshole! No.”

“Seriously? That is some cold shit, Mayzie. I’m in a predicament here!”

“Sorry, but this is not a good time. You can’t be here, living on the couch.”

“Oh my God, Mayzie, it’s not a big deal. Get the stick out of your ass and just let your bro lay low here for a while,” he says as he saunters over to the couch and flops down. It’s like he thinks it’s a given that I’m going to just cave to him. This brings my irritation to a new level, and I see Jack stiffen in my peripheral at the way Ian’s talking to me.It’s not as big a deal as he thinks. This is how my brother and I always interact, and the way my dad and I speak to each other is even worse.Still, Jack is looking like he’s gearing up to jump in if this escalates.

“No, Ian. You need to grow a set and go talk to your girlfriend instead of hiding out here because you’re too much of a pussy to have a conversation.Or, if you’re really this chicken-shit, go stay with Mom and Dad and let them wipe your ass.”

Jack ducks his head, trying to hide his smirk. Ian drops his head back on the couch and rolls his eyes, completely unfazed.

“You’re being a real pain in my ass right now.”

“Uh, no. Flip that statement around.And anyway, it’s not happening. You need to go,” I say, putting my foot down.

Ian gives up on me and looks at Jack. “What the fuck’s her problem, man?” he asks with his hands up, giving him a look of solidarity. It’s like he’s hoping Jack will go all ‘bro code’ with him and bail him out.

“Like she said, it’s not a good time, Ian.” Jack steps forward, speaking for the first time since my wrecking ball brother barrel ed in. “And I know she’s your sister, but I’m going to ask you to tone down the way you’re talking to her.”

Ian harrumphs, scrunching his eyebrows together. “I’ll talk to my sister the way I have since we were kids, thanks.” He rolls his eyes before swinging his gaze back to me. “And what’s with all this ‘not a good time’ shit? What the hell is going on that’s so important?” he asks, squinting his eyes and looking between the two of us.

“She’s not just your sister anymore,” Jack presses on calmly. “Rip on each other all you want. Hell, I enjoy watching her give it back to you. But you reach a point of disrespect, and I’m not going to stay quiet.”

Ian stands from the couch, trying to make himself more even with Jack, which is not happening with my husband’s long and lean build, but he still tries for a small intimidation factor, raising an eyebrow at him. “And I should care about that, why?”

“Jesus, Ian, there are tadpoles more mature than you,” I huff out, before Jack promptly answers.

“Because I’m her husband now,” he informs Ian, while holding up his left hand.

Several moments tick by in silence before Brother of the Year forms a response. “Whaaaat?” he bursts out, with an incredulous laugh, dropping his head back again. After another chuckle, he looks back up.“You’re not serious,” he says, with a smug smile and making no move to get up.

“We got married last night,” Jack says, reaffirming the news. Now Ian leans forward, like he’s watching an intense part of a football game.

“You guys are fucking with me,” he says matter-of-factly with his hands out, like he’s explaining what ‘fucking with him’ means.

“No,” I say, holding my left hand up, following suit with Jack, who’s still so calm and confident as always, giving me a thrilling sense of security. The look in Jack’s eyes is kind but serious, with no trace of hesitancy or uncertainty .

“Wait, wait, wait…” Ian says, shaking his head and waving his hands around. “You got married. Yesterday. You’re married now.” Each sentence is a statement rather than a question. I simply nod in response, and shift my focus to getting him the hell out of here.

“So now you understand why we can’t have someone here right now. You can’t be here, sleeping on the couch, eating our food, with your clothes strewn everywhere.Like I said, it’s not a good time. So if you wouldn’t mind…” but he’s not biting.

“I cannot believe you did this. What did Mom and Dad say? I can’t believe they’re not here right now, tearing you a new one– OH!!” he cuts himself off with a gasp.“They don’t know yet, do they ?”

Oh, fuck me sideways.

“Ian…” I say, cautiously.

“Oh, this is too good,” he says, standing from the couch and taking a couple of steps towards us. I can see the rusty wheels squeaking and turning in his head, and it’s bad . “You know, I think you’re right, sis. I will go stay with Mom and Dad. After they hear about this shit, they’re going to be a little too preoccupied to worry about me hanging around.They won’t even notice me…”

“Ian, don’t be a dick!”

“Whoa, Ian, come on,” Jack says, stepping up beside me and putting a hand on my back. Ian ignores us, slinging his duffle onto his shoulder.

“Thanks for doing me this solid, Maze.They’re not going to give a shit what I’m up to for a while now. Oh, and Jack, welcome to the family, brother-in-law. You’re in for a real treat.”

“Ian, don’t you dare say anything to them! This is not your news to tell!”

“Catch ya lat-ah!” he sings on his way out the door.

Fuuuuuck!

“UGGGGGHHH!!!” I growl out, balling my hands into fists while Jack stands beside me, silently rubbing my back and lettin g me have myself a moment.I’ve never wanted to punch my brother in the face as badly as I do right now. After I growl out some phrases colorful enough to make a sailor blush, Jack finally speaks up.

“What do you want to do? We could hop in the truck and I could try to beat him there,” he offers.

“No, we’re only half dressed, and besides, he’ll see us and he’ll just speed up and race us there. He’ll either beat us or get there right after us and do whatever he can to be heard first. It’ll be chaos,” I shake my head.“I think… I have to call them,” I say, walking over to the counter where my phone sits, waiting like a harbinger of doom.“What do you think? Are you ready?” I ask, scrunching my face into a worried expression.

“They need to know at some point, and I doubt they’d appreciate it being kept from them for too long,” he says with a wave of his hand towards my phone. “Besides, they should hear it from us. And we might as well call my dad after this; get it all out of the way.”

My parents have heard a moderate amount about Jack in the weeks we’ve been together. When we get together for the occasional breakfast, he’s always come up at some point. My mom has always asked the obvious questions while my dad grunts into his coffee. By this point, they know Jack and I have gotten “serious”, but I haven’t actually told them anything further than we’re in love. They haven’t met him yet, and I’m doing my best to put myself in their shoes as I gear up for their impending freak-outs, and probably a few aftershocks thereafter.

“Okay,” I say, nodding at him, agreeing. I take a deep breath, dial my parents’ number, and put it on speakerphone before I lay it down on the counter. I lean on my elbows and rake both hands into my hair as it rings.

“Hi, sweetie,” I hear my mother’s voice say as she picks up.

“Hi, Mom,” I pause, trying to figure out what to say next.

“Everything okay?” she prods, after a few seconds of my nervous silence .

“Yeah, yeah. Listen, I’m with Jack and we have something to tell you. Is Dad there?”

“Yeah, hang on. Jeff?” I hear her call for him. “Come in here, Mayzie’s on the phone…. I don’t know, she has something to tell us.” I hear the phone click over to speakerphone.

“Hey, kid,” my dad greets as he comes on the line. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Okay, well… I have some news. Jack and I have news actually, and we wanted to tell you in person, but Ian’s found out and he’s being a total douche-canoe and headed your way so he can tell you before I can, so I wanted to call so you at least heard it from us…”

“Uh, Mayzie, is this news good? Because you’re making me a little nervous,” my mother chuckles. Jack and I look at each other, smiling nervously but reassuringly at each other.

“It’s good,” I say, nodding, even though they can’t see me.They might not end up agreeing with me, but I insist on being positive. Besides, it is good news for Jack and me.

“So… this is very sudden. It’s going to come as a shock, but just try to bear in mind that I’m happy.”

“Spit it out for fuck’s sake.” Patience was never one of my dad’s virtues.

“Okay!” I say taking a breath.“I got married yesterday.”

“What?!” both parents say.

“Jack and I are married… surprise!” I say, trying to get them to jump on the enthusiasm train.

“Are you shitting me?” my father asks.

“No… I’m not shitting you… I’m… serious.” My nerves are in hyper-drive and I’m having to seriously focus on stringing words together now.

“Are you joking?” asks my mother. “Mayzie, you’re joking right? Is this like that time you lost that bet with Ian? Is that what’s happening again here?” She’s back to laughing nervously.She’s referring to the time back in high school when I’d just started trying thongs and was complaining a lot when my brothe r told me to suck it up. I bet him he couldn’t go a day wearing women’s underwear.He decided he needed to prove me wrong and stole one of his girlfriend’s thongs and wore it to school. It was quite elaborate. I had a few of his buddies from the football team check in on him and report back to me that he was still wearing it throughout the day.Lo and behold, the bastard actually went the distance and I lost.The stakes were that I had to crank call our mother, pretending to be an online sex toy retailer, confirming her daughter’s (aka, my) order for the Shaft-tastic Vibe 2.0 with free deluxe set of anal beads. Anyway, back to the moment.

“Right?” my mother prods, trying to get me to confirm this is a joke.

“This is so not like that,” I answer. I’ll tell you later , I mouth to Jack when his face gets inquisitive over the word ‘bet.’

“No, come on. Ian’s the one who moves in with somebody after knowing them for three months,” my mother says, trying to lead the conversation down a logical path.

“And look how well that worked out for him!” my dad adds.

“Very funny, Mayzie. Good one.”

“I’m not joking, Mom. It really happened. Yesterday.” There’s an unsettling stretch of silence on the other end, and I’m staring at my phone now like it’s the Oracle.

“You’re serious?” she asks, her voice sounding like she swallowed a brick.

“Yes,” I say, getting assertive.The next few seconds tick by in more silence before it’s finally broken by the siren sound of my mother losing her shit.

“MAYZIE LEEANN WALKER!”

“Ooh,” I say, recoiling from the phone just a little.

“Have you lost your mind?!” she continues.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?!” my dad echoes.

I feel Jack’s arms come around me from behind, his chin resting on my shoulder, giving me silent support; letting me know he’s in this with me .

“Mom, I’m kind of past the point in life where middle naming me has any real effect. Also, you got my last name wrong. It’s not Walker anymore.”

“I can’t believe this shit,” my dad fumes, and I can picture him rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “We don’t even know her last name!”

“Mayzie, why would you rush into this?” my mother asks, her voice still high pitched and exasperated.She’s passed outrage and has reached her ‘at a loss’ point.

“ Did he knock you up?! ” My dad’s outburst makes me wince. Holy Toledo.

“ No, Dad! Look, would you both calm down? If you chill out, we can explain this, and then I’m sure you guys will feel a lot better about everything.”

“Hey, Mom! Dad!” The sound of my brother entering the scene, followed by the slamming of my parents’ front door, interrupts us. Great . “Guess what your daughter did?” I hear him shouting in the background.

“Oooh, look at you,” my dad addresses him sarcastically. “Tattling on your sister like a big man. You’re too late, idiot. We’re already talking to her.”

“What? Are you kidding me?” my brother protests, thrown off his game. He tries to recover. “Aw, Mayzie, telling our parents over the phone? What’s wrong with you?”

Oh, for crying out loud . Listen to him, tattling and sucking up…but I can beat him at this whole immaturity game. When it comes to my stupid-head, jerk-face brother, I’m the effing queen of immaturity.

“Hey, Mom and Dad?” I start in. “Ian’s at your house because he’s tired of living with Tina and wants to stay with you guys.”

“Oh, gee. Really? Huge shocker there!” my father yells sarcastically, and I can practically see him turning on Ian, who’s now tongue tied.

“Uh… well…” Ha. Look who doesn’t have anything to say now .

“Ian, really!” my mother scolds.

“Okay, well, you guys have fun with that,” I say, preparing my exit from the conversation. “I’ll give you guys a call tomorrow, okay bye-eee!” I click END, and blow out a breath, dropping down to rest my forehead on the cool countertop.

“I think that went well,” Jack says, resuming his casual pose, leaning against the counter.

“See what you married into?” I ask, my face buried in my folded arms.