Zoey flopped on the couch groaning. Her voice muffled by the arm rest. Max paused his game and looked over at his sister, "Bad day?" he guessed.
She flipped over dramatically, placing her feet on his lap, "No."
He shrugged, "If you say so Zoe." Before he could unpause the game, she sat up, curled her legs and leaned against him. He tossed his controller onto the coffee table and pulled her into a side hug. She buried her face into his chest as he slowly rubbed her back in small circles. After about five minutes of sitting there, listening to the game music playing, Max patted her back. His arm was getting tired, "Wanna raid the fridge?" He asked, trying to find her face.
She leaned back, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand and sniffed. She nodded before muttering a soft, "Yeah."
Max pulled her up as she clung onto his neck. He sighed, "Piggyback ride too?" He felt her nod against his shoulder, "Alright c'mon." She hugged his neck as she placed her legs on either side of him. He leaned forward, allowing her to slide and easily grip his torso with her legs.
PJ watched curious at Max's sudden mood change. Before the little sister came in, he was fully concentrated on his game, giving Lefty the occasional high five after beating a boss and ruffling PJ's head when he chirped a helpful tip. Neither ghosts had played video games before, but with the crowd of encouragement and extra set of eyes to watch Max's back as he roamed through the stages, they've collectively gone farther than he had before.
Any smack talk Max had against the game was gone and forgotten. PJ looked to Lefty as Max carried his sister to the kitchen, nearly tripping over the coffee table on the way there. "Should we follow?"
Lefty wagged his index finger, indicating that it was not a good plan. He shooed PJ and the residential spirits back the Max's room. The siblings needed to be left alone.
Max helped Zoey onto one of the chairs. She sat down and watched Max dig through the fridge's freezer, "All that's left is chocolate ice cream or the Popsicle sticks. Dad already took the grape." He pulled out the tub of ice cream and placed it on the table, "Is this okay?"
Zoey gave a couple small nods. Max began digging through the cabinets looking for a couple of bowls. When he finally fished them and a couple spoons out, he opened the ice cream. Frost greeted them. "There's snow in the ice cream again, " Zoey whispered.
Max grabbed one of the spoons and started scooping for his bowl. He grunted, trying to not bend another spoon. They had lost too many spoons to the ice cream war of last winter. After successfully scooping 5 and a half spoon-sized chunks of ice cream, he slid the bowl over to Zoey, "Is this good? Do you want more?"
"It's fine," she dragged the other spoon across the table and began stirring the chunks of ice cream.
He smiled, "If you say so Zoe," he stuck his spoon into the tub of chocolate ice cream and frowned as he attempted to move it. He released it and shook his hand. It was red. The spoon, meanwhile, stood straight up in the container.
Zoey scooted her chair over to him and slid her partially soupy ice cream mix, "You can have some."
Max ruffled her hair, "It's all good."