Chapter 3
Merry Christmas!
Authors Note: So, I'm not very good with keeping updates frequent or keeping chapter's long due to lack of ambition.
"I had a good time, thank you," Max said to his sister as they approached their doorstep. Alex looked back at him seeing as she was in front and gave him a genuine smile.
"So did I, little brother. We'll get you a chick sooner or later, don't worry about it," she tells him with a giggle before using her keys to open the door. "You just have to grow some self-esteem and stop being so awkward." Max bit his lower lip in slight frustration, but deep down he knew she was right.
'I thought she was about to tell me to grow a pair of balls,' he thought as he entered into the Loft behind his sister, who nonchalantly kicked her shoes off by the door. "Well, I'm going up to my room. Thanks again for uh, hanging out with me I guess," she tells him, chuckling at her own awkward behavior before moving up the stairs to her room. Max was smiling warmly and content as he kicked his sneakers off next to his sister's shoes, plopping down on the couch for a long nap. When he finally woke up from his peaceful rest, he eyed over towards the clock on the piece of furniture beside the television stand.
'Shit… 8:30, I'm going to be up for awhile tonight,' he thought before noticing his horrible urge to urinate. "Fuck," he said with a groan, forcing himself lazily to get off of the couch and slowly make his way to the upstairs bathroom that the siblings shared. Right as he was about to open the door, it opened for him, busting him right in the face. He could hear something crack.
"Fuck!" he said as a loud thump was heard as he stumbled backwards against the wall, holding his nose. He heard his sister gasp while blood trickled out of his nostrils down his hand.
"Oh my God, Max! Are you okay?" Alex said as she kneeled down to her younger brother, moving his hand away from his busted nose to get a better look at the damage she unintentionally dealt. "Oh God, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Max grunted for a moment before wiping the blood away from his upper lip that fell from his nose, not bothering to touch it. He figured it was broken.
"Shit… ah, it's fine, Al…Alex…" he said, stuttering his sister's name as he noticed that she was covered up in only a towel wrapped around her body and another holding up her hair. Now not only was his nose red from the blood, but his cheeks were even redder from an awkward blush he couldn't hold back. Alex stared at him confusingly, not even having a clue that he was taken aback by her lack of clothing.
"What is it?" she asked, still checking out his nose, her big sister instincts kicking in as her hand roamed through his hair in attempt to comfort her brother. She rarely showed compassion to anyone, but pitiful cases like this just seemed to change her tune.
"Not bad…" Max said without thinking. Alex blinked for a minute, before realizing she was only covered in a towel and quickly made her way back up to her feet. She was too taken aback by what he had just said to even think of anything to say back. Max mentally scolded himself and felt his blood run cold in embarrassment before turning his head and covering the side with his hand. "Uh, I'm not looking… but I really I have to use the bathroom," he mentions as he slides past her and shuts the bathroom door close that had just whacked him in the face a mere few seconds earlier. Not knowing what to even think, Alex made her way back to her room to get dressed, having a blush of her own stain her cheeks.
"I'm a fucking moron," Max said to himself as he zipped up his jeans and flushed the toilet. He looked into the mirror to survey the damage. His nose looked a little bent and bloody, so he used what knowledge he had of first aid and poured water over some toilet paper before holding it up against his nose, red staining the white fabric. Before he could even leave the bathroom, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. With a sigh he reached in with his free hand that wasn't holding up the wet toilet paper against his nose and pulled out his phone. He had received a text message from Alex.
"Are you okay?" was all it read. Not being able to text with only one hand, Max pushed his phone back into his pocket and made his way to his sister's room, all the while wondering how nobody else in the house heard the door bash against him earlier, but just shook the thought away as he stopped caring nearly the moment it came up into his mind. Soon, Alex could hear a knock from her door.
"Who is it?" she asked only loud enough for the person outside to hear her.
"Max," he responded, still holding the damp bloody toilet paper against his nose. Alex bit her bottom lip, still thinking about that awkward flirtatious comment her younger brother had said to her earlier.
"Come in," she replied. Max used his free hand to turn the knob and walk through, with Alex eyeballing his hand over his nose while Max tried to keep his eyes away from his sister's nightwear, desperately trying to not find the simple black t-shirt and red shorts she wore to be cute. "Uh, I'm sorry about your nose… are you alright?" Was all she could think of to say, raising an eyebrow at the wet toilet paper he held against him.
"I've had worse when that baseball nailed me a few months back. I'll live," he reassured. "I couldn't really reply your text so I decided to just come see you. Hope you don't mind." Alex gave him a half smile as she put her bare feet down on her carpeted floor and took Max by the hand, leading him to sit down on her chair near her desk so she could look at his nose.
"Nah, it's cool. I still feel kind of bad about it, though. Hold still," she told her brother, moving the wet tissue paper out of his hand and into the trash can, wiping away from fresh blood from his smooth upper lip with her thumb. "You should go tell mom or dad and get a doctor to check this out," she advised. Max sighed and placed his chin in his palm and his elbow on her desk.
"It'll be fine and heal up on its own, no need to see a doctor or anything… I'll just have to be careful when I sleep… which won't be for awhile, sadl- ow!" He yelped in pain as Alex moved her finger against his nose.
"Yep, it's broken. I'm the worst sibling ever." Max grunted and shot her a glare.
"You will be if you keep touching it," he told her as he looked around her room. "You move your stuff around again?" he asked. Alex was known to move furniture, such as her bed and television around in her room out of boredom.
"Yeah, like how it looks?" she asked him, turning her back to carelessly fall back comfortably on her bed, feeling tired as she let a yawn flow out.
"Pretty sure it looks the same way you had it about two weeks ago, but yeah, it's cool," Max tells her as he steps up from her desk chair, just standing there for a minute and looking down at the carpet. Alex scoffed but then rose her head up at him after a few moments of silence, which Max noticed. "Listen, about earlier, uh," he started, but just kept stuttering anything else he was trying to say, not being able to find a way to make this situation any less awkward from his flirt to his sister that had just blurted out. Alex saw him struggle with his words, seeing him blush the way he was and felt sincerely sorry for him.
"Hey, at least you're getting more confident. Just try it out with someone else next time and not your sister," she said playfully with a giggle, being able to accomplish what Max was trying to. He chuckled as he felt a bit of awkward weight being lift from his shoulders.
"Well, yeah, I guess so. Still feel pretty stupid over it." Alex rose her body back up into a sitting position at the edge of the bed.
"Don't be, I guess I should be flattered than even you think I'm pretty," she said with a chuckle of her own. Max bit down against his teeth and eyed at the carpet some more, keeping a slight smile over his face.
"Of course you're pretty," he muttered. Alex blushed for a moment. "Anyway, I just came to… let you know I'm okay. I'm going to go hang out in my room or something," he told her as he turned to head out the bedroom door.
"If you say so," she says, suddenly thinking of something characteristically fun to say to tease her younger sibling. "Try not to blister yourself tonight!" she shouts with a smile, causing Max to crack a grin and shoot her the bird.
End Chapter
