Chapter 13: The Sharp's house

"I'm shy at first, but when i get comfortable with you i do the stupidest things sometimes."

It was three o'clock.

On a sunday.

Jaimie-mae was freaking out.

She had tried to convince herself that she had nothing to worry about because she had already met Fabian's parents and they were nice people.

But that wasn't true. Well the nice people part was true but she did have a lot to worry about. She could worry about her outfit. She could worry about the questions they'd ask her. She could worry about doing something absolutely embaressing. She could worry about having a panic attack.

But all her worrying was going to give her a panic attack. So she stopped her worrying. She took deep breaths and hyped herself up in the mirror. She made herself stop overthinking things; with struggle of course.

Her mother had given her multiple hugs and comforting words to take with her to dinner.

She was fine, or as fine as she could be.

So now she was sitting on the couch, with her phone in her hand and her heart beating fast. She was waiting for Fabian's mom to come pick her up.

Fabian hadn't texted her at all since Friday but she tried to push that out of her mind. If she worried about simple things like that all the time, she'd have gray hair at the age of thirty.

A distant beep from a car broke her out of her thoughts, so she sprung off the couch, slipped on her shoes and bolted out the door after saying goodbye to her mom.

"Hi sweetie," Madison waved from the drivers seat "you can hop in the front with me."

Jaimie-mae climbed into the passenger seat. "Hi, thanks for picking me up."

"No problem," she said cheerfully. "My boys are really excited for you to come over. They were telling each other what to wear before i left. Don't tell them i told you though."

Jaimie-mae giggled and blushed slightly. "It's nice to know i wasn't the only one worrying about what to wear."

"Oh no you didn't need to worry. You'd look pretty in anything."

Jaimie-mae blushed... again. It was strange but it meant so much to be getting approval from Fabian's mom.

"Thank you. You look pretty," she said shyly.

Fabian's mom was really pretty. Fabian had gotten his brown eyes from her but his dark hair from his dad. Madison was lean and an average height. But she had really good posture and walked confidently. She was still pulling off business suits and pencil skirts. But now she was wearing mom jeans and a simple blouse.

"Thank you."

Jaimie-mae watched as the houses and trees blurred past. The rest of the car ride was silent until Madison pulled into a quiet street with simple two story houses and cute blinds. It was tucked away from the roads and seemed peaceful.

"My house is just down here," Madison said as she slowed the car down. She pulled up to the house and parked in front of the garage door before getting out and closing the door behind her.

Jaimie-mae got out slowly and took a deep breath as she followed Madison up to the front door. Madison opened the door and waved Jaimie-mae inside. She took her shoes off at the door so Jaimie-mae did the same as she looked around.

The colors of the house were warm and homey. There were a lot of wooden things around and it gave it a kind of cabin feel. There were picture frames with really good pencil drawings and pictures of Fabian and his family. Jaimie-mae smiled to herself at how happy they looked.

"Boys! We're back," Madison called out as she walked through to the living room.

Immediately footsteps were heard from above them. Jaimie-mae watched as Mason flew down the stairs followed by a slower Fabian. He obviously wanted to go faster but his crutches limited him to a slower pace. He was still going pretty fast for a boy with a broken leg and sore ribs.

Just as Fabian got to the bottom of the stairs, Mason collided with Jaimie-mae's legs and threw his arms around her waist; much to her and everyone elses surprise.

"Hi," he said breathlessly. "My brother said you weren't feeling good last time."

Jaimie-mae wrapped him in a hug and smiled down at him. "Thank you for the hug. I feel better now."

It was kind of the truth. Her nerves had diminished now.

Mason grinned up at her and backed away to go get his dad.

Fabian and his mom had watched the whole time with smiles on their faces. When Jaimie-mae looked up, she was immediately met with a sparkling brown eyed gaze. He smiled down at her smaller figure.

"If i didn't know any better, i'd think my brother had a crush on you," he said with an attractive laugh.

Jaimie-mae blushed lightly but laughed anyway.

"Fabian, why don't you take Jaimie-mae into the living room while your dad and me finish dinner," Madison said as she began walking towards the kitchen.

"Sure." He looked to Jaimie-mae. "Follow me."

She followed him to the right and into the spacious living room which had a large leather couch in an 'L' shape in front of a tv. There was a wood rimmed coffee table with game controllers on it and a few coasters.

"You can have a seat anywhere."

Jaimie-mae looked around for the second time then sat on the corner of the couch.

"You can sit closer you know. Make yourself comfortable."

Jaimie-mae slid up on the couch and now Fabian and her were about an arms length apart.

She looked down at her hands as she listened to the distant sounds of shuffling and metal clanging together.

She kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, so in an attempt to seem not so bad at socializing, she asked a question.

"When are you getting your cast off?"

He seemed surprised that she was the first to speak. "In two weeks."

She nodded. "Cool."

The silence was definitely awkward. And Jaimie-mae was definitely nervous. Fabian could tell.

"Do you wanna play Mario Kart or something?" Fabian asked softly.

"Um, sure. I've never played before, so i probably won't be any good."

"That's fine. We'll just play for fun."

***

"I thought you said you've never played before," Fabian whined.

"I haven't," Jaimie-mae said with an angelic laugh that rung through the house. "We should try playing upside down now."

"I can't. My ribs aren't fully healed and my cast would make it awkward. When i get this off, you're on though."

"Oh right. Sorry. Atleast you beat me the first three times."

"I think you've played before. How did you beat me the last... six times?"

"I don't know. I'm just that good," Jaimie-mae said with a smirk.

Fabian cracked up laughing and he slid down closer to Jaimie-mae. "Is that so?" he said between laughs. "Is someone getting cocky?"

"No. Just confident. Play me again," she said excitedly.

He looked at her with an unbelieving smile but quickly gave in to her pleading smile. "Alright. One more."

As they began playing, Fabian threw his good leg over her lap and blocked her controller. She quickly pulled away and smacked his leg then refocused on the tv screen.

"That's not fair. You're cheating," she said, unable to hold back her smile.

"Does it look like they play fair in M-" He was cut off by Jaimie-mae passing him. "What! How did you- Ughhhhh!"

"I win!" Jaimie-mae fist pumped and put her controller down gently onto the coffee table, unlike Fabian who threw his down in frustration.

He growled at her playfully and she smiled nervously at him. All of sudden, Fabian sprung forward despite his injuries and he tackled Jaimie-mae into the couch. She squealed out as he pushed her back and she sank into the leather couch. She couldn't help the loud laughs that escaped her as he poked her sides and playfully hit her with the small pillows that were meant as decoration. The couch made weird farts and groans under them which made the two of them laugh louder.

Fabian was now deciding that her innocent and radiant laughs were his new favorite sound. It easily replaced the spot rain held in his list of sounds that he liked.

"Can i play?" a small boyish voice asked from the background, immediately making the two of them sit up awkwardly.

Jaimie-mae immediately graced the boy with a smile and she waved him over playfully. Fabian watched as she passed his little brother a pillow and then grabbed one for herself. She quickly whispered into his ear and Fabian began to fear for himself by the evil smirk that flashed over his brothers face.

"What did you tell him?" Fabian asked skeptically.

Jaimie-mae looked at him innocently. "I told him to avoid your right leg and your torso."

He raised his eyebrows. "What w-"

He was cut off by his brothers shout. "Attack!!!"

Jaimie-mae and Mason immediately tackled him with the pillows. Fabian landed backwards with an Oof and he realized he was being smothered by pillows and a petite body. He laughed as he felt Jaimie-mae playfully poked his sides and his cheeks and he squirmed when it began to tickle. He took notice to how Jaimie-mae avoided his now bruised ribs and broken leg. He held a certain wonder to how much care she took to not hurting him. He wasn't delicate but he appreciated it anyway.

Jaimie-mae and Mason's giggles were cut off by a much deeper laugh. All three of them froze.

"I didn't realize you three were this comfortable with each other yet."

Jaimie-mae and Mason turned around slowly and Fabian peaked out from between the pillows that were previously smothering him. All three of them smiled sheepishly at Justin.

"Dinner's ready."