REAL | Jeff Wittek

-three-

I smiled back and stood up to take his hand. "Shay, nice to meet you too." His hands were soft and noticeably larger then mine but they seemed to fit well together.

"Madi's out back if you wanna go meet her. I'm sure she'd love to meet you." I reminded him.

"Who?"

"Oh my god. The girl you were supposed to help surprise." Brandon interrupted causing Jeff and I both to snap our heads in his direction. "Go meet her and stop drooling over my sister."

His last comment had wondering if Jeff actually did find me attractive. This dude happened to have an insane effect on me and I'm not sure how to feel about it or if I should even entertain the feeling. Jeff put his hands up in surrender and walked to the back of the house, but not before giving me another smile and leaving me alone with the others again.

"I think someone's getting upset with all the penises surrounding his sister." Heath joked but I knew he was right by the way Brandon cocked his head.

"And I think someone should let his sister grow up." I said blatantly, staring at my brother. Brandon has always been the stereotypical big brother that you see in movies and read about in books, and while that ideal can be cute and wholesome, most of the time it's just frustrating and annoying.

"Shay, I've been around these guys for a while now and, no offense to them," he said towards the other guys in the room, "but some of them can be whores."

Even though the guys were laughing at his analogy, I wasn't too amused and before I sauntered out to the backyard I made sure to have the final say.

"I appreciate it big bro but, I can handle myself thank you very much." I insisted. Sometimes I think I'm too stubborn for my own good, but then I remember that I wouldn't be who I am now without it so honestly it's fine.

When I arrived out back, chaos was everywhere. I almost forgot last night David had mentioned wanting Madi to take the paintball gun, blindfolded, and giving her $1,000 for every person she hits.

"Shay! Ruuuun!" I heard Zane yell from across the yard but so did Madi and so she shot blindly, hitting him right in the thigh.

"There's her second thousand! She has 32 seconds left." David says into the camera. It looked like Todd was her first hit since he was laying on the ground in a fetal position.

I quickly moved away from the door as soon as she pointed the gun in my general direction. This bitch is trying to hit me. Trying not to make any noise, I head towards a lawn chair to hide behind it but she started rapid firing when David began the countdown from ten. I ended up squealing out of pure instinct and unintentionally revealing my position, getting me shot in the shoulder.

I dropped to the ground while half laughing and half screaming making everyone quiet counting down. That shit HURT. "You bitch!!" is all I could say.

Madi pulled off her mask and ran over to me, laughing. "I'm so sorry best friend!"

I sat up as everyone huddled around me to see if I was okay. "Was the extra grand worth shooting your best friend?" Jason joked in a comedic way but Madi had no hesitation with answering 'yes', getting everyone to laugh.

"It's okay. I would have done the same thing." I admitted with a chuckle.

I saw a hand in front of me, offering to help me off the ground so I took it. I was pulled up rather quickly and met with the same handsome face from earlier.

"You okay?" Jeff questioned with sincerity.

"Uh, yeah. Thank you." I smiled. Being this close to him was nerve wracking for some reason. I couldn't think straight and I couldn't figure out if it was from the sweet-smelling cologne or mesmerizing stare.

"Let me put some peroxide on that, yeah? Just to make sure it won't get infected." He offered when he noticed a small bit of blood trickling down my arm and to be safe, I agreed.

"Follow me." He instructed.