Maxby: With You 💜

Gifts and Threats

Shelby's POV:

Me and the girls made breakfast while the boys kept complaining about taking too much time. Even with 5 of us at work, there were still too many people. "How much longer," Adam whined. "For heaven's sake, SHUT UP!!!" Jess said, finally annoyed. "Well maybe if you did it faster......." Jin started but trailed off, shutting up at the death glare we were giving all of them. "If we're so slow, why don't you guys do it?!" I hissed, frustrated at their impatience. Adam, Max, Joel, Jason and Ross made 'we're sorry' puppy eyes while the others pouted like kids.

We sighed and served eggs, pancakes, a few bowls of milk and cereal, bread, jam and 2 whole jugs of orange juice. Alesa took the remaining cake from last night and added some whipped cream to it before serving it, while Em set out a huge bowl of fruits. The boys dove in, wolfing down the food hungrily.

I giggled while Jess and Lizzie simply laughed. Alesa playfully scolded them about table manners, earning a lot of pouting and fake crying. Em laughed and Lizzie shook her head while smiling. After a while we joined them and started our breakfast. When we finished, Jess said it was only fair if the boys cleaned up since we made the food. It took time, but we managed to make them work while we slumped down on the couch and chatted.

After a while, the boys joined us in the living room and sat down on either the couch or carpet. I was sitting between Max and Ross. "So, what now?" Adam asked, looking around at all of us. "Dude, Shelby didn't open her gifts!" Red yelled, earning a bunch 'oh yeah' and 'almost forgot' s.

Everyone got off the couch and set me in the middle with Alesa and Em at my left and Lizzie and Jess to my right. Max, Adam, Red and Ross brought in a lot of wrapped gifts. "Wow," was all I could manage. I didn't show it, but I was tearing up inside. They did all this for me and I didn't even trust them with my past. Ross was the only one who knew, but even he didn't know everything. I wanted to cry and tell them the truth but I couldn't, not right now. Ross saw right trough me, and thank goodness he didn't open his mouth.

Instead, he sat besides me and put an arm around my shoulder, smiling a small, comforting smile. I gave a weak smile in response. Jess and Lizzie moved to the side a little, making space for Ross to sit. I gave them both a grateful look, which they returned with.....a giggle?

I looked at where they were staring and saw Max looking at me. He was closer to me than them, so I clearly saw the concern and worry in his eyes. He quickly turned away when I looked at him. We both blushed and I turned my attention to the pile of presents in front of me, or at least tried to. He was worried..... Was me secretly tearing up that obvious. It couldn't, nobody else noticed, so....

By the time I was down to the last 3, I had a guitar, a new perom dress, 2 sets of casual clothing, a gold brooch, a box of glittering nail polish and a cute cat headphone. Ross handed me a box wrapped in golden paper, with   

To Shelbs ❤

from Ross, your best cousin of all time 😝

I laughed at what he wrote and opened the box, letting out a small squeal of joy. "What is it?" Alesa asked curiously. I giggled and took out the gift. It was an adorable grey dog plushie. I gave Ross a side hug and set it down carefully with my other gifts. Max picked up a box wrapped in silver paper and handed it to me, a small smile on his face. I took it gently and looked at the note.

To Shub 💖

From Max, the best red head ever 😶