The Rules My Brothers Made

Chapter 8

“Meggy, are you even listening to me?”  Max’s voice invaded my thoughts as I looked down and realized he was standing next to me at the stove.  His little green eyes were staring up at me, and I felt guilty as soon as I saw the upset look on his cute little face.  I was cooking breakfast on Saturday morning, and had been totally lost in thought before Max interrupted me.

The week had sailed by without a hitch, much to my relief.  Nothing new and exciting happened with Evan, we just texted back and forth a few times.  He gave me a few winks in the halls or in chemistry, but he never went so far as trying to get me alone again since the free block on Monday.  I was a little surprised that he had been so adamant about trying to get me alone on that first day, but had since slowed down in his advances and kept his distance.  Maybe he was doing It for a reason.  I mean, as far as everyone else was concerned, Evan stayed far away from my family.  If he all of a sudden started acting more friendly, people would realize something was up and would start talking about it, which would alert Mark to our involvement with each other.  I may be new to all this, but it still didn’t seem fair to me.  I actually felt kind of cheap, like I was being used in some way.  Evan was still his flirty self with all the pretty girls in our class, he still had weird moments with Alison in the hallways, and he still made the same sexist jokes with his lacrosse buddies that he always had.  If he didn’t send me cute text messages periodically, I would have thought I imagined the whole thing.

Matt never bothered bringing it up to me again after Monday night.  I was glad he was on my side, but it also worried me that we were creating a massive divide between the siblings.  If I got caught, the only one that would forgive me is Max, but just because he doesn’t know any better.  Although, honestly, there’s nothing to forgive at this point.  One steamy make out session in a custodial closet isn’t exactly a federal crime. 

“Sorry, Max.  What were you saying?”  I asked, going back to flipping the pancakes.

“Can you take me to see a movie this afternoon?  Everyone else has already seen the movie about the dinosaurs except for me!’  He whined.

“No way!”  Mark yelled form the kitchen table, where he was playing a game on his phone.  “Meghan has to take me to the mall.”

I sighed, torn in the middle again.  “Mark, what do you need at the mall?”

“I need some new clothes.”

“What’s wrong with what you have?”

Mark shrugged.  “They’re last season.”

“Mark, you’re a 15 year old guy.  How in the world do your clothes go out of season?  No one cares what you wear.”  I argued.

“I care!  God, you only pay attention to Max.  It’s like the rest of us don’t even exist!”  He screamed at me.  “I need things too, Meghan!  If you’re going to act like Mom, maybe you should at least try and do a good job at it!”

“Mark, come on.  I’m sorry.  I’ll bring you to the mall, and then we can all go see the movie together, how’s that?”  I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible, despite the rising panic that was building in my chest.  I hate fighting with any of my siblings, and usually tried to solve the problem as quickly as possible.

“I don’t want to see a stupid movie about stupid fucking dinosaurs!”  He yelled back at me.

“Meghan, he swore!”  Max whined, tugging on my arm.

“I know, Max, it was a bad thing for him to say.  He didn’t mean it.”  I told him.  His bottom lip was quivering, a sure fire sign he was upset with what was going on in the kitchen right now.  He didn’t do well with anyone fighting either.