The Rules My Brothers Made

Chapter 3

The rest of the week sailed by without any complication.  I somehow managed to get Max to school on top on both Thursday and Friday, escaped the critical glares of Mrs. Wilson., and survived school without any drama.  There were no further run ins with Alison, Evan, or Jackson, and I could not be any happier that it was relatively smooth for a change.

Max’s play on Friday night was probably the most adorable thing I have ever seen.  His class and one other 1st grade class paired up with two 5th grade classes and put together this show about a snowman who wanted to be a lawyer, but he fell in love with a Hollywood actress so he was trying to survive in LA.  Max was the snowman, and you could tell he was just born to be the center of attention.  He danced and sang his heart out on that stage in the snowman costume, bringing the crowd to a standing ovation after they pulled the curtains closed.  We were all so impressed with how creative the show was, and how all the kids seemed to have so much fun.  Everyone was involved, whether in a big or small part, and I was practically crying at how adorable the whole thing was.

As promised, Olivia, Kate, and Brianna were all there, along with Jake, all my brothers, my father, and even Justin and Bruce.  Max was so excited to see the guys, he ran up to them, hobbling around in the giant snowman costume, and began to jump up n down in front of them, asking if they had seen him do his dance.

“Of course, big guy!”  Justin told him.  “You were awesome out there!”

“Thanks, Justin!”  Max beamed.  “Did you see me shuffle like this?”  He did a reenactment of his cha cha move from the play, making us all laugh.

“You bet I did!  You have to teach me those slick moves you have, I bet the ladies could never resist me then!”

“Hey guys, why don’t we take this show on the road.  Pink’s for everyone?”  My dad offered. Everyone agreed, and we all piled into various cars to head to the hot dog stand.  It was Max’s favorite, so it was the perfect end to the night for him.  We all joked and told stories as we devoured our chili dogs, unfazed by the various stars that walked down the street.  One thing that stinks about living in LA, after a while, famous people just don’t matter anymore.  There’s nothing glamorous about Brad Pitt buying groceries, if you ask me.  I guess I’m kind of jaded, but it was only because the LA scene was exacerbated by the fact my dad worked in television.  Big wigs were walking in and out of our lives constantly.  Mike had even gone to his prom with this girl who was the dorky friend in a high school drama that ran for a couple years.  As far as I was concerned, they were just normal people who made way too much money for doing way too little work.

Kate, Olivia, Brianna, and I were happily munching on our hot dogs when Justin came up to the table and pulled up a seat between me and Olivia.  “So ladies, are you coming to the party tonight?  We could use some fine La Brea pieces there to make up for all the boring Fairfax girls.”

Kate glared at him.  “Go away, Justin.”

“Aww, come on Kate, you know I didn’t mean you.  I meant Alison and her cronies.”  Justin corrected himself.  “I’m so sick of those girls.  Why don’t you all come.  Even you, Meghan.  I’ll watch over you since Matt is going out with Emily tonight for their anniversary.”

Brianna scoffed.  “Yeah, right!  Like Matt would ever trust you with her.”

Matt came up behind him and slapped him on the back.  “Naw, Justin will take care of her.  I have better things to worry about tonight than that.”

“What are you doing with Emily tonight?”  Olivia questioned, thankfully changing the subject.  After Wednesday night, I had no patience for this conversation again, and the girls all knew it.