Chapter 7: Maizey
1899 Words
“What were you doing?” I asked Matt as he came back in from the backyard.
“Oh, just checking out the backyard, again. I want to put in that patio soon so we can enjoy the weather.” Matt shrugged.
“Well, be careful out there, I saw a wolf last night.” I said.
“We aren’t in Cali anymore, sis.” Matt chuckled, ruffling my hair.
“Hey!” I whined, adjusting my bun before it fell out.
“You didn’t get me a coffee?” Matt complained, eyeing the cup in my hand.
“No, but I did get you aspirin.” I smirked, handing him the pill bottle.
“Nicky still asleep?” Matt asked, shaking out two pills.
“Yeah, he was up late with me. He didn’t get to bed until after 5.” I said, “Notice that there are less boxes.” Matt looked around,
“Oh, yeah. You guys did this last night?” He seemed impressed.
“We couldn’t sleep.” I shrugged.
“It looks nice. You got a lot done.” He admired our work.
“Yeah, I just have to finish the bathrooms, laundry room, and then we have to decide what we’re doing in the basement.” I said.
The basement was a huge, finished, walk-out basement with a full bathroom, spare room, and an open space for entertaining. The boys got the upstairs for their game room, so we had agreed to turn the basement into a communal recreation room with a big TV, movie theater seating, maybe a pool table, and who knows what else. Nicky is demanding a bar, of course.
The extra room would be turned into my space since we already had three spare bedrooms upstairs. I was planning on turning it into a mini lab or work space for my personal projects that I couldn’t do at work. It would be like a little hobby room for me.
“We can look at it this weekend and decide what we need for it.” Matt said as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.
“I was invited to a party this weekend.” I said in a quiet voice, secretly hoping that he didn’t hear me.
“What?” Matt laughed.
“I met someone at the coffee shop this morning, she seemed really nice. She gave me her number and invited me to a party. She lives on the reservation like Mr. Greyback.” I looked at the text that Mel had sent me again.
“A lot of people live on the reservation, more than a thousand, I think,” Matt replied thoughtfully, “It’s not like you to befriend a stranger.” He added.
“I know, there was just something about her.” I shrugged, “By the way, Mr. Greyback paid us a visit this morning.”
“Why do you call him that?” Matt asked, seemingly unconcerned that he was here.
“Because he’s my boss.” I said it was obvious. Matt sighed at me,
“What did he want?”
“To make sure that you and Nicky weren’t dead from alcohol poisoning.” I joked.
“That was nice.” Matt was looking at me weird.
“What?” I said snarkily.
“I just don't get why you’re being so weird about Hunter. He’s just a guy, Maze, not much older than you. He’s not one of your gross, old college professors or the punk frat boys. He’s a good guy from a good family. You should give him more credit.” I stared at Matt in shock. Why was he defending his friend to me?
“Since when did you care what I thought of your friends?” I asked.
In fact, the exact opposite was true for my entire life. He threatened all of his friends not to even look at me. Whenever he brought guys over, he made sure I was out or in my room, he never wanted me to be alone with any of them. When I started middle school and up until I left high school to be homeschooled, he made sure everyone of the male s*x steered clear of me. He and Nicky were both on the football and wrestling teams, they were popular and well liked so no one dared to mess with them. By extension, everyone avoided me like the plague.
“He’s your boss, I just think it’s better for you two to be friends then indifferent.” Matt tried to sound casual but he was failing.
“I think being indifferent with your boss is normal, actually.” I argued.
“This town is different, Maze, people are nicer and friendlier. It’s not like the city. Everybody knows everybody, so you’re bound to run into him eventually.” Matt flopped down on the sofa and picked up the TV remote.
“Are you partying with your boss?” I stood in front of the TV and put my hands on my hips.
“Actually, yes, he was at the party last night.” Matt smirked at me and my facade faltered.
“Seriously?”
Matt and Nicky were both able to easily find jobs in Atlanta. Matt was a well established architect in California, so he had a mile long line of companies who wanted him here. He picked a smaller one who offered him a manager position of his own team: Velveteen Inc.
Nicky was an executive chef. While Matt and I were in school, he went to Europe and studied under chefs in different countries. It didn’t take long for word to spread that a classically trained chef was looking for a job in Atlanta. He was impressed by a particular Italian restaurant in the heart of the city that was able to accommodate fine dining and casual affairs: Vieni Come Sei which means come as you are.
“Yeah, he’s from the reservation and a good friend of Hunter’s father.” Matt laughed hysterically at my crestfallen expression. I rolled my eyes and stomped away.
“Well, Nicky sure isn’t.” I huffed, knowing damn well that the ancient Italian man who owned the restaurant wasn’t attending any reservation parties.
“True, but half the kitchen staff were there.” Matt answered smugly, causing me to groan loudly.
As the week went on, I still wasn’t sure if I was going to attend Mel’s party but I was having fun texting with her. She invited me for lunch on Wednesday so we could get to know each other better. I pulled up in front of a small mom and pop restaurant a few blocks from the house. Mel was waiting for me outside with an enthusiastic grin.
“Hey, Maizey!” Mel shouted, waving at me.
“Hi, Mel.” I smirked at her as she hooked her arm around mine and pulled me inside the restaurant.
“How are you?” She asked me as we got situated in a corner booth.
“I’m good, I’ve been working on unpacking the house.” I said, looking over the menu.
“Oh, I bet that’s a lot of work. At least you have two brothers to help you.” She said and I snorted,
“Yeah, right. They are more of a hindrance than a help.” Mel laughed at me,
“I know the feeling, I have two brothers and a sister myself.” She said,
“Are they younger or older?” I asked curiously.
“My one brother is older, then it’s me, my sister, and my youngest brother.” She said, distracted by the menu. The waiter came and took our drink orders.
“So, are you coming to the party?” She asked me eagerly.
“I’m not sure yet, I’m not really a party person.” I shrugged, putting the menu down when I decided on my order.
“Oh, come on! It’s a bonfire so it’s more of a camp out anyway, not a big party.” She whined.
“Not a big party? My brothers went to a party on the reservation last weekend that was huge.” I eyed her skeptically.
“That must’ve been Hunter’s party. He throws the biggest bashes. Mine are much smaller. Besides, I’m not 21 yet, so they are dry parties.” She said, but I was still caught up on Hunter’s name.
“You know Mr. Greyback?” I said and she smirked at me,
“Mr. Greyback? I'm pretty sure that’s his dad.”
“He’s my boss, I work for Greyback Industries.” I explained.
“Ooh, well, that’s still his dad. Hunter prefers being called Hunter.” She acted very familiar with Hunter.
“You know him?” I asked, trying to sound uninterested. I was pretty sure that she saw right through me.
“Everybody knows everybody from the reservation.” She shrugged casually, “But, yes, I know Hunter pretty well.”
“Are you like his girlfriend or something?” I mumbled but jumped when Mel shrieked,
“Ewwww, No!” She looked like she wanted to vomit, “Why, are you interested in him?” Her expression suddenly changed.
“No, no way.” I shook my head quickly. She giggled at me just as the waiter returned to take our orders.
“Anyway, he’s my brother.” She added.
“Your brother?” Now I was skeptical.
“My older brother, yeah. Not that I really want to admit that.” She said,
“He’s your brother and we just happened to run into each other at a coffee shop right after I told him I didn’t want to get coffee with him?” I raised an eyebrow at her and she looked away, fighting a guilty expression.
“I didn’t know that you knew him.” She mumbled and I was pretty sure that she was lying.
“Really?” I asked and she nodded quickly. I decided to let it go since I really did like Mel.
“Will he be at this party?” I asked.
“No, he never comes to my parties, he thinks they’re lame.” Her face returned to normal.
“Then, maybe I’ll come.” I had to admit, I was interested to learn more about Mel and this mysterious reservation. Mel looked like she wanted to say something else but she pressed her lips together instead. Our food came then and we ate in silence.
“Thanks for meeting me!” Mel grinned as we walked back out to our cars, “And I really hope you come to the party.”
“I’ll let you know.” I waved and went to my car.
I went back home to continue unpacking the laundry room. I had finished with the bathrooms earlier, unpacking moved much quicker when Nicky and Matt were at work during the day. The laundry room didn’t take long, it just involved organizing the cleaning supplies and detergents in the cabinets above the washer and dryer. I was a clean, organized neat freak so everything was in labeled bins that were much prettier than the plastic bottles it came in. You best believe our entire house was labeled and organized to the tee.
- Writer
