“Ah, if only Dad’s allergies hadn’t been a pain in the butt. Maybe we could’ve gotten a puppy,” Maddie mused, her expression relaxing with the reminiscence but souring once again when DJ made a quip about g-strings. “Do me a favor and never say that to me again, thanks. Now I’ll have to spend the rest of the day erasing that from my memory.”
Cupping her hands over her mouth, Maddie giggled at the remembered nicknames Zach used to go by. “Aww, it’s not too late to become a rapper, Z-Dog. Maybe it’d get you out of the infirmary more often.” She wrinkled her nose and shoved DJ playfully. “Hey, I was eight and M&Ms were delicious. It was the perfect nickname.”
“People are dumb enough to go near me all the time!” Maddie realized too late that her defense had a completely different meaning than what she intended. At that point, she slammed her mouth shut and hoped neither of her brothers noticed. When Zach called himself old, Maddie latched onto that comment. “Oh, you’re definitely old. Ancient, even. Almost the big three-oh.” She shuddered at the thought.
Maddie had known going into this that there would be awkward moments. As long as Zach handled the distractions and all the psychological brother crap, it couldn’t get too awkward, right? She was never quite sure how to talk to her younger brother whenever he was in his reclusive states. At the very least, she was glad that she didn’t have to deal with him on her own.
“Exactly! We’re the awesomest and you’ve just gotta deal with it!”
Maddie snorted and averted her eyes, feigning innocence. “That was obviously an accident. Have I ever been that cruel on purpose?” She held up a hand and shook her head before either of them could answer. “On second thought, don’t answer that.”
She nodded at Zach’s suggestion. “I’m all for pissing off the people in the library.”