Chapter 11

Maddox tells me that I'd have to walk to his house at around 4:30 so we can drive to Cassidy's. He seems nervous about this arrangement but it's apparently the only way we can make things work. So at 4:10, I start walking to his familiar house. When I arrive, I notice something odd. A shiny, silver car is parked in the driveway, beside Abel's familiar jeep and Maddox's black car.

I walk up the steps and before I can even knock, the door is swung open. I come face to face with a woman who's around my height, maybe a little taller. Her dark brown hair is tied up into a pony tail and her large green eyes watch me closely. Her features remind me strongly of Maddox and Abel. She's dressed in business attire and I immediately realize why Maddox was nervous about the arrangements. This is his mother.

"You must be Olivia," the woman greets me, successfully yanking me from my stupor. I nod my head quickly.

"You must be Mrs. Finnegan," I smile at her. I pat my jeans awkwardly, trying to indiscreetly wipe the sweat from my palms in case she tries for a handshake. She offers me a nod and flashes me a smile that I recognized too well, mostly from Abel.

"That's me," she grins as she opens the door wider for me. "You're here for Maddox?"

"Yeah," I assure her as I take a slow step inside.

She shuts the door behind me and motions to the steps. I hear a faint vacuum as I peer up the wooden steps. "He's upstairs finishing up his chores. He's been slacking lately. Abel's in the living room, though," she comments and I feel a bit odd. Apparently, she knows I'm friends with both of her sons. I've heard little to nothing about her, though.

"Okay, I'll just wait with him," I confirm quietly. Maddox couldn't pick me up because he's too busy doing his chores. Hilarious. If it weren't for the fact that I'm standing in front of his mother, I'd probably laugh at the image popping into my head: a little boy dusting shelves or cleaning a bathroom.

"Well, I've got to get going. It was very nice meeting you. I hope to talk to you again; you seem like a very nice girl," she insists with that killer smile. I grin back as she exits the house, leaving me to stand in the hallway. I trail into the living room, where Abel is sitting on the recliner with a handful of grapes. Again, he's shirtless and only wearing pajama pants; this time, however, they're purple. He tilts his head back and throws the small fruits into the air. Whenever he catches one in his mouth, he cheers quietly like a hushed crowd at a game. 

I slowly and quietly approach him. I watch as a grape falls into his mouth but I guess he positioned himself wrong while trying to catch it. His back immediately straightens and choking noises emerge from the back of his throat. He turns in the recliner and I notice how his face is turning red. He spots me and begins motioning to his neck as if asking me for help. If it was Maddox, I'd turn a blind eye but this is Abel we're talking about; I have to do something.

I heave him up and begin doing the Heimlich maneuver, which I learned one year at a camp. I hear a loud gasp and when I pull away, I notice a mushy grape rolling around on the floor beside us. Abel leans over with his hands on his knees as he takes long, deep breaths. I'm breathing heavily from the stress of holding his life in my hands. His face slowly returns to its normal tan.

I immediately retract my hand when I noticed that it's resting on his warm, bare shoulder. My face turns red but I blame it on embarrassment. "Are you okay?" I ask as I stretch my arms out a little.

I'm a little startled when he hugs me. I mean, Abel is an affectionate person (I would know) but he surprised me because just a second ago, he was brushing arms with death. "I almost died!" he announces shakily.

I return the hug awkwardly, feeling his warm skin beneath my fingers as I lightly touch his back. He really should put on a shirt. I hear footsteps thumping down the steps but Abel doesn't let me go. My cheeks are red as I feel him nuzzle his face into my neck. His breath is shaky yet I can only focus on the footsteps behind us. I hear Maddox clear his throat. "Sorry to interrupt whatever this is, but we're going to Cassidy's house, unless you'd like to stay here, Olive," he comments.

Abel finally releases me and turns to his brother with wide eyes. "I almost died," he informs him, as if on the verge of tears.

"What?" Maddox asks with a lost expression on his face. He looks between me and his brother in a state of pure confusion.

"She saved my life," Abel explains . Maddox still looks lost, so he continues. "I was eating grapes and I choked on one. She gave me the Heimlich and here I am- living, breathing, giving up on grapes forever."

"You gave him the Heimlich?" Maddox questions with a repressed snicker. I glare at him and roll my eyes.

Luckily he didn't walk in on that because he'd never let me live it down.

+ + +

We arrive at Cassidy's house to find that everyone else is already here. Maddox was too busy making fun of me and ended up getting us lost somewhere in a heavily wooded area. We had to call them so they could lead us back to her house, seeing as we were in the middle of nowhere. I slam the door shut and Maddox glares at me. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't care?" I reiterate the words he says more than five times a day to me. He seems to catch on to my wordplay because he lets out a quiet breath. Winona told us to just come in when we arrived so I walk up the steps and open the door enough to slide in. I make it a point to close it behind me and listen to Maddox grumble something about me being childish from the porch.

Winona hugs me before making a comment that causes my face to burn red yet again. Just when I thought I was in the clear. "You smell like Abel," she notes as she takes another sniff of my shirt.

"That's because she gave him the Heimlich," Maddox announces his presence as he shuts the door behind him.

"Is that some sort of code?" Nicholas wonders from the couch.

"No, he was choking on a grape," I attempt to explain.

"Is that also a code?" Nicholas leans in with furrowed eyebrows.

I sigh and give up on clearing things up. "So what are we doing here?" I ask curiously.

"What do you guys want to do?" Winona poses the question to everyone. I snuggle up against the couch arm and start thinking to myself. They all start talking indecisively while I stare into space, lost in thought.

"Olive!" Maddox calls, snapping his fingers in front of my face. I look up and slowly blink myself out of my trance.

"What's up with you?" Cassidy asks curiously.

"She's probably still daydreaming about how my brother hugged her," Maddox teases as he drops onto the couch across from me. I glare at him and shake my head.

"I'm not," I inform everyone.

Winona and Cassidy snickering quietly and eventually Nicholas and Jackson join in. Maddox simply smirks smugly, which earns a raised middle finger from me. Once the teasing dies down, we decide on a movie to watch, seeing as we couldn't agree to do anything else. The movie isn't all that great, probably because Nicholas strongly suggested it and he likes movies that are from the early, early days. Most of us agreed because he promised it was good and we didn't feel like searching anymore.

"Can we please watch something else?" Winona whines as she looks around the room pleadingly.

I haven't paid a single moment of attention to the movie. As soon as I noticed it's in black and white, I turned my attention to my phone. I've been bouncing back and forth between texting Abel and playing a stupid word game. The door to the house opens and Winona perks up and looks in the direction of the entrance. "Who is that?"

The person doesn't bother responding and just comes straight into our view. Cassidy's shoulders instantly drop and she lets out a quiet groan. He has the same reddish hair as her, but his is darker. It's wavy and falls a little above his eyes, which are big and brown. He looks a bit older than her and I'm guessing he's in college based on the jacket he's wearing, which reads the state college on it. I watch as his eyes search the living room curiously; they jump from the guys on one couch to the girls on the other. Eventually, his gaze meets mine and he blinks a few times as if struggling to see if I'm staring back at him or if the darkness of the room is playing tricks on him. I put a smile on my face and he tilts his head.

"Who are you?" he wonders aloud and I assume he recognizes everyone else.

"Olivia," I introduce myself. He nods and steps further into the living room. Cassidy wordlessly watches him take the seat beside Nicholas. Once everyone's all settled after brief greetings, Cassidy goes to play the movie again. Winona cuts her off with a loud groan. I'm sure she'd be stomping her feet if they weren't tucked warmly beneath her.

"This movie is so bad!" Win complains with a large frown on her face.

"It is," Cassidy's look-alike agrees despite only having seen the paused clip.

"Shut up, Isaac," Cassidy snaps without skipping a beat. It takes a few seconds for everyone to start agreeing about how sucky the movie is, which gets a frustrated grunt from Winona, who shuts it off. "Now what do you guys want to do? We're not searching through movies again."

"Truth or dare!" Winona suggests yet again. Since we arrived, and for the majority of the movie, she's been suggesting that we play that stupid game. Everyone ignored her or flat out told her no.

The doorbell rings and successfully cuts off Winona's suggestion. Cassidy looks towards Isaac, who is already rising from his spot on the couch. The doorbell sounds as if someone is trying to make a beat with it and Isaac yells incomprehensibly. When he opens the door, a familiar voice speaks. "Finally."

"Who invited him?" Maddox groans loudly as I perk up a bit. I watch as Abel walks into the room with a grin on his face. Winona kicks me beneath the blankets and I shoot her a dirty look. She and Cassidy snicker loudly s he ventures further into the room. They still think I like him despite the fact that I've told them otherwise on multiple different occasions. Without hesitation, Abel plops down on the couch beside me and moves my legs to the side to make more room for him.

"Isaac invited me, if you must know," Abel answers Maddox's rude question. The younger brother goes to snap back but Cassidy shoots him a threatening glance.

"Shut up, both of you," she insists before opening the floor once again. "What are we going to do?"

"Truth or dare!" Winona pipes again. This time, instead of everyone saying no, Abel's hand shoots up in the air.

"I second truth or dare!" he calls. When he sees that Isaac is too busy on his phone, he hisses his friend's name. "Isaac!"

Isaac shrugs and lifts his hand in the air for a brief second before putting it back onto the screen of his phone. "That's three," Cassidy counts on her fingers.

"Nicky!" Winona calls and Nicholas glares at her. "Nicholas," she corrects herself. He slowly raises his hand in the air and she grins widely. "That makes four!"

"It's a tie," Maddox informs her. Four people want to play; four people don't.

Winona looks at me and puckers out her lower lip. "Please," she begs me.

I sigh and give in, even though I know it's going to come back and bite me. "Okay."

"That's five! Ha! Truth or dare it is, suckers!" Winona cheers loudly as she high-fives Abel over my head. I simply sigh as I feel the three other player's glares on my face.

+ + +

I see why everybody was so nervous about playing this game. Everyone is so evil when it comes to daring people to do things, and they laugh at you if you choose truth, like I did four times in a row. Maddox, however, is the complete opposite of me. He's the dare king, according to Winona and Cassidy. He hasn't said no to a dare during their time knowing him. For some reason, that makes me uncomfortable.

"I dare you to eat three tablespoons of mayonnaise," Cassidy cackles loudly and I repress the urge to gag. Isaac glares at his sister as he holds the jar of mayo and a spoon in his hand. Undoing the cap, he plunges the spoon into it. I can't hold my gags back as I watch from the corner of the room. Abel stands beside me with an excited look on his face. When he sees me staring at him, he simply smiles at me.

"You're not going to dare me to do something like that, right?" I question with a pleading look on my face. It's his turn next and I'm after him.

"Psh, no, of course not," he assures me with a strong shake of his head. I give him a suspicious look and he dismisses my worried thoughts by providing me with his typical bright smile.

Isaac dares Abel to put all of the ice from an ice cube tray down his pants until they all melt. Abel nervously agrees; however, he didn't last more than a few seconds before he ran to the bathroom. We sit outside of the door and hear a quiet shriek followed by a bunch of ice cubes hitting the floor and then a relieved sigh. Everyone laughs, including me. When Abel exits the bathroom, he shoots me a short glare.

"What did I do?" I ask with a slightly opened mouth. I didn't know he was capable of looking mean or threatening. I thought all of the bad genes were put into Maddox.

"You laughed at me!" he answers as he tugs awkwardly at his underwear.

"Because it was funny," I mumble as he dips his hips in an attempt to ward off the discomfort.

"I though we were allies in this. You'll regret it," he promises and I furrow my eyebrows in surprise. As we approach the living room, where we sit and dish out dares and truths, Abel's attitude flips back to normal as he plops back down onto the couch. I go to sit down beside him but he pulls his feet onto the couch. I'd have sat on his legs if it wouldn't have been awkward, and if everyone wasn't watching, and if I wouldn't have crushed them. Instead, I sit on the floor beside Nicholas, who was just as much of a punk as me. He'd said truth each time, earning laughs from everyone. I'm nervous just thinking about the potential questions Abel can ask me.

"Truth or dare?" Abel prompts with his eyes locked on Maddox, who furrows his eyebrows. It's supposed to be my turn, but I'm not complaining.

"Dare," Maddox responds cautiously.

"I dare you to hug Olivia," Abel dishes out and I turn to him with a shocked and slightly annoyed glare. He smiles back at me in response and I can tell this is what he meant by 'you'll regret it'. "And it can't be one of those quick hugs. It has to last at least a minute.

"Really, Abel?" Maddox snaps with crossed arms. I stare at the floor as Abel hurriedly pulls up a stopwatch on his phone.

I'm still seated on the floor when Maddox stands up. It isn't until he approaches me that I get up, almost tripping on my own feet as I do. The back of my legs are still touching the couch when Maddox puts his arms around me. The hug is awkward and stiff and I hear his heart beating as my head rests against his chest. Beat, beat. Beat, beat. Beat, beat. 

"It's not a real hug unless she hugs back," Winona announces and Abel coos in agreement.

"Are you kidding me?" Maddox hisses with his arms still around me. I can feel the vibrations of his voice through his chest and it's oddly satisfying. "You say that twenty seconds into the hug."

I slowly wrap my arms around him, feeling his body go rigid when I embrace him. My face is burning up and in thirty seconds, my face will probably burn a hole through his shirt. I blush too much. I need to learn how to control it. Remind me to look it up when I get home.

I felt rapid footsteps shake the ground around us and suddenly, Maddox and I are being shoved down onto the couch. Before I can do something, anything, Maddox is falling on top of me and I'm left lying beneath him in a frightful state. His arms are still around me and he has to sort of lift me, so for a second I'm pressed flush against his chest, in order to untangle them.

There's a second when he realizes that he's hovering above me; we even make eye contact as our faces stay a few centimeters apart and he immediately jumps back, falling off the couch and onto his back. Everyone is laughing while I'm cringing. He swears when he hits the ground and I glared at Abel, who's whistling casually on the couch across from the one I'm now sitting up on. I bury my head in my hands out of pure embarrassment.

"You should've seen your face!" Winona cheers and even goes as far as to imitate it. Nicholas laughs even harder while Cassidy lays on the floor with her hands clutching her stomach and tears streaming down her face. Maddox is the only one who isn't laughing. We sit on opposite ends of the couch avoiding eye contact. I'm red in the face and his cheeks have a pink tinge to them as he texts away on his phone.

"It wasn't that funny," he notes after a moment. I noticed that his face has gone back to it's normal color. I wish I could say the same for myself.

"I should've pushed his head down!" Cassidy remarks as if hit with the amazing idea.

Just as my face starts to cool down, it heats up again at the idea of having our faces touch. Remind me to never hang out with them ever again.

+ + +

When the clock strikes 10:30, Maddox stands up and begins telling everyone he'd see them on Monday. Winona and Cassidy both hug me. I glare at Abel and refuse to even smile at him. He winks and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively as I follow his brother out of the house. Jackson and Nicholas hoot and whoop as we leave and Isaac even bares a grin.

Using 'awkward'  to express the aura of the walk back to the car would be an understatement. The moment we get in the car and silence surrounds us, I want to sink into the seat. We haven't spoken since he was shoved on top of me. At least both of us were embarrassed; maybe he'll lay off of me now that he sees what it's like to be put on the spot. I wait for him to start the car and play the music but he sits on his phone for a few seconds. I stare out the window at Cassidy's house, wishing I hadn't come tonight. The sound of the car starting greets my ears and we slowly make our way down the street.

We drive for a few moments before we stop at the gas station. He leaves me in the car so I just go on my phone. Our friends are texting me winks and hearts so I put my phone on silent. Ignoring the continuous spam of messages, I text my aunt that I'm heading home and not to worry. She said that I need to be home by eleven but it's almost 10:45 and we still have a half hour ride ahead of us.

When he got back into the car, he drove off down the street. It isn't until we're on the main street that he breaks the thick layer of silence encapsulating us. "Are you hungry?" he asks, which catches me off guard. I shrug in response. I am but I don't have money. I'm not going to say yes and when we pull up to the restaurant, I don't have money to pay for my own food. "I'm paying," he adds as an afterthought. He pulls into a McDonald's drive-thru and orders for himself before looking at me. I hesitate before ordering a simple burger and fries.

He hands me my food and I thank him. He shocks me once again when he pulls into a parking spot. I quickly report to my Aunt that we stopped for McDonald's and even go as far as to send her a picture for