Hayes (A Carolina Cyclones Story)

19.

Maggie

I've been in the Carolina Cyclones team locker room for four and a half hours. At this point I've accepted that my nostrils will never be able to unsmell the things they have witnessed today. There's only so much air freshener can do to fight the smell of sweat and grime a professional sports team exudes and I'm distracting myself from the smell with thoughts of Hayes and blissful strokes of my paint brush. In just one day of work I've managed to complete over a third of the main mural. The swirling graphic and new team logo isn't overly complicated. The big block letters made outlining easy and there isn't nearly as much detail as the other projects I'm working on will entail. Those feature portraits of current and former players and will probably take me weeks which makes me thankful that I've been allotted the whole off season. This project however, I anticipate will be finished early so I take my time, enjoying the peace and tranquility I get from my work. I'm just finishing up the R in Carolina when my phone begins to ring in my pocket.

Now usually I would simply let a call go straight to voicemail. Rarely do I get ones I actually want to answer, typically it's all just spam though recently Hayes has made his way into my recent calls and that's a change I will never be sorry for. It's Monday though, and that means this particular call will be my brother Landon doing his weekly check in.

Landon and I are Irish twins, siblings born less than a year apart. I was only eleven months old when he was born and he's been annoying the shit out of me ever since. We're decently close and even though our whole family lives in Charleston we don't always get to see each other all that often so once a week on Monday when he's handling the office work of his handyman business he calls to catch up. It's been this way for over eight years now. Ever since my decision to get an art degree made him the golden child to our parents to the point they ignored the fact that he too went against their wishes by forgoing a four year school all together and getting a few trade certificates from tech school instead of the business degree they had pushed him towards.

"Hey baby brother."

"You know I hate that shit, Magpie. I'm twenty-five years old. I'm a man, not a damn baby."

I scoff and roll my eyes, this isn't the first time this argument has been rehashed. "Yeah, well I think Magpie is a dumbass nickname but that's never stopped you from using it either."

He chuckles, his voice deep, and then clears his throat. "So how was your week?"

I set my paintbrush down and move to sit at one of the cubbies that line the walls, smiling to myself when I see the one I've chosen has Hayes Hansen emblazoned across the nameplate.

"Not too bad. Finally got to start in the locker room today. It smells like straight ass down here but it'll only be a few days before this one is finished so I'll deal."

"Have you got your check yet?"

"Yep." I smile. "First one went through this morning. I keep waiting for the bank to call me to tell me there must be an error and that my account shouldn't have that much money in it."

"You should do something big to celebrate. Like go to a ridiculously priced dinner, or buy a car, or..." He stops mid sentence when he hears me snort.

"Yeah, okay, Mr. Big spender. I'll blow money like that when you do."

He laughs again, this time loud and boisterous because my brother is notoriously tight with his wallet.

"So how are things with Talia?" I ask, reaching over to the spot on the floor where my water bottle sits. I lean back and take a big swig.

"We broke up."

I do a spit-take and water shoots into the air around me.

"Shut the fuck up."

Landon doesn't respond and my heart drops. He's been dating Talia since we were in high school. It's been kind of just assumed that they were nearing the point of an engagement or a surprise "we eloped" announcement. Never in a million years did I expect them to break up.

"Landon, what the fuck happened? Are you okay?"

"No Maggs, I'm okay." His voice sounds way less chipper than it had previously and I feel a knot forming in my throat. I hate when other people are hurting. "We just grew apart. We'd gotten so comfortable in our roles in our relationship that we weren't actively committed anymore. Maybe I should have noticed that before things got as bad as they did but that's neither here nor there. I think she's gonna move to New York."

"She has been talking about wanting to take a chance in publishing, for like, forever." I admit.

"Yeah, but she stayed around here for me...and I took that for granted."

The happy buzz I'm used to from my brother is gone and it makes me sad. "I wish there was something I could do."

"I know you do, Maggie. You always want to fix people but this isn't the kind of thing that you can just stick a band-aid on. It'll take some time but I'll be alright. Just gotta work my way back into the dating pool. Not sure that that will happen anytime soon though. Speaking of the dating pool though.. How are things with that guy?"

It's at this exact moment I hear the sound of scuffling feet and my line of vision rises until I'm blessed with the spectacular view that is Hayes Hansen. He's clearly just out of the gym, his teal colored Cyclones t-shirt sticking to his chest and his forehead dotted with sweat beads. I hold a finger up as he goes to speak.

"Hey Landon, I gotta go. We'll talk about that later okay?" I don't miss the way Hayes' shoulders stiffen when he hears me say that.

"Uh..yeah, I guess? Talk soon Magpie."

"Bye baby brother." I retort, ending the call before returning my eyes to Hayes who looks noticeably relaxed after hearing the whole "baby brother" part.

"My little brother," I say out loud, twisting my phone in my hand. I'm not sure why I feel the need to clarify that I wasn't talking to another unrelated-to-me man but I do.

"Nice. I didn't know you had any siblings." He says, stepping forward a bit in my direction.

"Just the one. We're eleven months apart and try to talk once a week, he's in Charleston, you'll have to meet him."

The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. Way to fucking push the boundaries there moron. Hayes and I are getting to know each other. That's what we've established and me inviting him to meet my brother is awfully presumptuous and relationship-y.

To his credit, Hayes doesn't bat an eye at the thought of meeting Landon. "Yeah, sure. That sounds great."

I feel my eyebrows furrow in surprise but then I quickly do my best to relax my face because I'm really, really happy that he seems open to the idea.

"I, uh, I just got done lifting and was just coming down here to see if you've had a chance to eat lunch."

A quick glance down to my phone reveals that it's after two p.m. and as if on cue my stomach grumbles. I lift my chin and give a sheepish smile. "I haven't"

"Care to join me? There's a deli a block over that's good. No pressure of course." He says the last part as he waves his hand.

"No, that sounds great actually."

"Perfect. You wanna walk out to the players lot with me so I can toss this bag in the car and then we can head out?"

He extends his hand out to me and I take it, linking our fingers and following behind him, hoping these signs pointing in the right direction aren't simply a mirage.