Jenga

Chapter Twenty-Seven- Complex ~Max and Cyan~

I STILL HAVEN'T GIVEN CHARLIE THIS STUPID CHRISTMAS PRESENT!!

I'm not even trying to exaggerate. I'm such a sloth. I have to find a way to give him this gift. I won't be able to move on if I don't.

"What's that? A . . . watch? Oh my God, this watch just came out in stores. I've wanted it ever since I saw it on the Internet," Max says to me all of a sudden, going through my belongings as if it's no big deal.

I laugh softly at his remark. I mean, it sounds gay. "It's not yours, obviously. It's Charlie's Christmas present." I wonder what this boy does on his free time.

"Hey . . . does that kid's brother still hate me?" he asks. Again with the sudden statements. Sigh. Older brothers are just unexplainable . . . most of the time. If yours isn't . . . well mine is. And if you don't have an older brother, consider yourself lucky--and unlucky.

"I don't know, why don't you ask him that? Wait, why would he hate you? Didn't Phoebe cheat on you with him? Shouldn't you still be angry with him?" Now I'm confused, but I don't feel like butting in between a problem against boys.

"Yeah, well, after Phoebe cheated on me, I kind of went to beat Cyan up. But he kept saying how he didn't know Phoebe was mine to begin with."

"Oh, OK. Now that makes more sense. Seriously Max, you need to talk to him yourself. You can do it, just try to do it without punching him. I'll follow you there to his house." I thought I just said I wasn't going to but in. I want to say, "No, never mind," but seeing the puppy smile on Max's face kills me.

Getting up, I leave my room and rush downstairs without second thoughts. "Come on, Mackenzie!" And then Max is beside me in about a millisecond. I knew that'd make him more dog-like than he already is.

<> <> <>

"Hell--oh, it's you."

The way Cyan says "you" to Max kind of ticks me off. Apparently, without further adieu, Max punches him straight in the nose.

"Max! I said not to punch him," I say, wanting to leave before getting punched myself. I've been in a situation like this before. One with Charlie and Neil. Man, these brothers aren't on good terms with my family members at all.

Charlie and Civa come downstairs. "Oh, I was waiting for you guys to settle this," Charlie says. How is he so relaxed? Didn't his older brother just get punched? Oh, that's right, they don't act like brothers at all. I haven't even heard them speak to each other in a very long time. They've probably, of what I've heard, spoken twice.

"It's about time. Hey Noa," Charlie and Civa say to me. I hate how they can speak in union without even trying. "Wanna play a game? I'll cream you in Jenga." Seriously? How did they even say that in union?

"Look, I'm trying not to be baffled by your superior weirdness, so I'll just play Jesse." I grab the game from the dining table and head over to the couch to where I just noticed Jesse is.

"Hey. Where's Macey?" I say to him, setting up the game and ignoring the pounding and grunting behind me.

"Hello, my kitten! Macey's taking her hamster out for some air."

"Never gets old, huh? What's her hamster's name?"

"Noah. With an h. It's a boy. She got him yesterday."

"You mean when the police arrested your mother?"

"Yeah. She named him after you, how sweet!"

"Are you gay?"

"Don't you think every eccentric boy is gay?"

"Touche'."

<> <> <>

"Now that you guys have beaten the crap out of each other, I think it's time to talk." Couldn't Civa have said this about an hour ago when they were half-dead? Jeez, boys sure are half-hearted. I mean, would you really almost get beaten to the death because of a girl.

"It's not only because of a girl. There was deceit and fighting when there shouldn't have been," Cyan says to me. Huh?

"I didn't say that," I reply. I'm so sure that I didn't say that out loud.

Cyan grins. "You were thinking it, weren't you?"

OK, did Cyan pick up Neil's psychic ability or something? Not that any of that actually exists.

"You shouldn't have stolen my girl," Max says darkly to Cyan.

"You shouldn't have let her loose. How was I supposed to know she was yours? All she said was that she had a boyfriend but she didn't mind hooking up with me."

"Exactly! If she had a boyfriend, you should've said no."

They're about to fight again, but instead of Max punching Cyan in his gut, someone else takes that fall.

"Wisty!" I shout. When and how did she get in here?

"No! I can't let you guys throw one more punch in this house! Don't you notice how ridiculous you're being? That girl never liked you! Both of you! She was desperate!" Wisty exclaims.

Where in the world is this coming from? "What are you talking about?" Charlie asks.

 "Does that matter right now? Just, for both of your sakes, stop being children! Do you understand?" Wisty speaks with such dilligence, boldness and overpowerment that puts Max and Cyan to their knees.

"Y-yes!" they say. Wow, she really scared them. She kind of scared me, too.

"Wisty's right, though. I mean, Cyan is with Julia now, isn't he? So this fight was kind of meaningless," Charlie says.

"Yeah, these two have a serious girlfriend-complex," Civa says. I can tell she just made that up.

I looked around me and saw Jesse laughing at the two dingbats, Wisty scolding the two dingbats, Civa emotionless as usual and Charlie smiling at me, as usual.

But although right now everything's pretty much usual, for some reason I feel that we're being a little oblivious to the tempest coming toward us. It's coming, for sure. And it's faster than I at first thought.