Maggie meets the family
From Torg Adventure
Maggie follows you up the driveway and around back to the kitchen. The front door gets very little use at your house. A large part of it is that the kitchen door to your house isn’t that far away from your Aunt’s house next doors. The cars generally get parked closest to the kitchen door, as well. The front door generally gets used only when food is being delivered. While that is what Maggie and you are effectively doing, and the front door would be closer, old habits die hard.
You open the kitchen door with your free hand and then hold it open for Maggie as she carries the rest of the food and her suitcase up the back steps. Amy, the most conscientious of your sisters, hurries into the kitchen to grab the bag of food out of your hands so she can start unpacking it.
“Max is back!” Amy yells over her shoulder, lifting the bag up and smelling the mixed aromas. Then she looks up. “And… he’s brought a girl with him.”
You don’t know if it’s the first statement or the second that caused the sound of feet down the stairs. Your sisters do like their food, although on the other hand, it really has been a long time since you brought a girl home to the family.
For her part, Amy can’t seem to stop staring at Maggie. As Maggie sets her suitcase down gently by the door, Amy extends her hand tentatively towards her.
“Here, let me take the food from you,” Amy says, for some reason blushing a little. Maggie smiles at Amy and hands her the food. As Amy takes the bag, her hand brushes against Maggie’s, and you see Amy’s face turn a little redder before she hurriedly turns and carries the bags to the kitchen counter.
Sam and Lisa make it to the kitchen at the same time, literally almost fighting to get through the doorway. They both pull up short as they see Maggie.
“Why, Max, you did bring a girl home,” Lisa purrs. “Mom said you were bringing a boy.”
“Don’t be so disappointed, Lisa,” Sam says, a little sullenly. You see her giving Maggie a good look over herself, though.
“Oh, I’m hardly disappointed, although this house could use to see more men in it,” Lisa responds. “Can’t I just be happy for our little brother?”
Your mom makes it into the room then, her very pregnant body slowing her down. Her mouth actually opens in surprise as she sees Maggie, as if she either didn’t hear Amy’s words, or didn’t believe them. She quickly shuts it then and walks over to Maggie.
“Sorry, where are my manners?” She extends her hand to Maggie. “Hi, I’m Max’s mom. Please call me Sandy, though.” Your mom told everyone to call her Sandy. It got around the awkwardness of most of you in the family having different last names, and the whole Miss or Missus thing.
Maggie shakes your mother’s hand warmly. “Hi, I’m Maggie. I’m so very pleased to meet all of you. Max has told me so very much about all of you.” You almost do a double-take at Maggie. Her voice is a little higher-pitched than normal, and the characteristic growl underlying it seems to be missing. She’s smiling in a way that isn’t scary, and actually seems… charming. She did promise to make a good impression.
Your mother starts the introductions, going as she always did in order of age. “This is Sam, my eldest.”
Sam came over and shook hands with Maggie, with a little discomfort. Sam never seemed to be one to seek out female company. Her love of martial arts and sports often seemed to put her in the company of men more often than woman, even if those relationships apparently always turned out platonically. You’re not even sure if she had any female friends, other than maybe the barista at the local coffee shop. Sam was kind of a private person, though.
“And this is Lisa, my middle-girl.” Lisa steps forward. She’s wearing shorts that are a little too tight, and a t-shirt that her nipples poke through just a little on. Something tells you the outfit was for the benefit of the guy she thought you were bringing over. This brings you to the realization that she had been coming on to your male friends since at least high school, when you brought them over. Come to think of it, there was a while in high school when it seemed like an awful lot of your male friends wanted to come over to your house.
Lisa shakes Maggie’s hand. “Max didn’t mention that he had a… female friend,” Lisa says, amazingly diplomatically for her.
“Oh, Max and I go way back,” Maggie says, smiling warmly over at you. “And although I’ve had my eye on him for quite a while, it’s only fairly recently that we became an item.”
“Ah, so you two are dating?” Lisa glances slyly at you. “How wonderful for our little brother.” She turns away from Maggie then, and gives you a little wink before she sits down at the table. You don’t suspect that she’s coming on to you. At least any more than she usually is. Maybe she’s just enjoying herself thinking about sex, even if it’s between you and Maggie.
If your mother saw the wink, she chooses to ignore it. “Finally, this is Amy, my youngest daughter.” Amy turns away from the bags of food that she had been spending an inordinate amount of attention to, and turns back to Maggie. She wipes her hands on her jeans as she steps forward tentatively. You don’t know why she’s acting so anxious. Her arm seems to be shaking a little as she raises it to offer her hand to Maggie.
“Oh, you’re so sweet,” Maggie coos. “How about a hug instead?” She leans forward and wraps her arms around Amy. Now you’re even more confused, because Maggie definitely doesn’t seem to be the hugging type, unless it was to do a bear hug as a submission move. It must be part of the entire act she is putting on. Amy looks surprised at first, then returns the hug, looking surprisingly content. Maggie has to gently pull free from Amy’s arms after a few seconds. Amy blushes again and goes back to the food, where Sam is now sticking serving large spoons into each carton of food for serving purposes.
Your mother moves over to the table before sitting down at the head of it. “So please, have a seat Maggie. Of course you and Max should sit together.” She indicates two chairs to the left of her. Maggie again surprises you by grabbing your hand and walking over with you to the table. You’re starting to wonder if this is the same girl who stalked you with her car yesterday, and threatened to beat you up if you answered her question about your father wrong.
She stands by the chair, waiting, and it takes you a minute to realize what she is expecting. You quickly move behind her chair and pull it out for her, then push it back in as she seats herself.
“Thank you, darling,” Maggie says sweetly, putting a napkin into her lap. You realize that this is the first time she’s called you by any name other than ‘kid’. It feels strange. Although everything about Maggie feels very strange right now. Because she’s acting so… normal.
You sit down next to Maggie as Sam puts some bowls on the table for the soup, along with some spoons. As Amy starts carrying the containers of food over to the table, Sam comes back with forks, spoons, and also the chopsticks from one of the bags. Your mom and Lisa opt for forks, while Sam, Amy, Maggie, and you all get chopsticks. The soup, appetizers, and various entrees get passed along. True to form, the women of your family fill their plates to overflowing. Maggie, a woman from your other family, matches them, despite the huge breakfast the two of you shared this morning. You shouldn't be surprised though, as you've gotten pretty hungry yourself.
Maggie doesn't eat as fast as she did this morning, although it doesn't seem that the chopsticks are proving any problem to her. Instead, you get the impression that this is part of the show she's putting on for your family, like the pleasant smalltalk she makes with your family between bites of food. Nothing too deep is discussed, nor anything too personal. Your mom is too polite to dig too far, despite the fact that you can tell she wants to know a lot more about Maggie. Lisa seems content to just eat and occasionally shoot glances in your direction, even waggling her eyebrows at one point and smirking for some reason. Sam is as polite as your mother, although she talks far less. And Amy just mostly stares at Maggie for some reason, and laughing nervously when she does talk. She also is uncharacteristically clumsy with her chopsticks, dropping the occasional bit of food.
Your mother finally pushes her plate away from her. Like everyone else, it's her second plate full of food, although there's still plenty of food left in the cartons for later. If the past is any predictor of the future, the family will be down later, singly or en masse, to finish it off once they're hungry again, even if it's not until later that night.
"I see that you came prepared to stay for a while, Maggie," your mother says, nodding towards the suitcase Maggie left by the door. "We have a spare bedroom of sorts downstairs you can use. I'll have it made ready for you."
"Oh, that's quite all right, Sandy," Maggie says, dipping a cream cheese puff into some sweet and sour sauce before taking a bite. Her tone is still the same as it has been the entire night. "But I'd really much rather just share Max's room with him."
Even though Maggie says it as if she's asking for a glass of water, your mother's reaction is slightly more visible, despite her politeness. You see her frown a little. Your mother had established a rule about separate rooms for visiting boyfriends for your sisters, although in practice it had only ever applied to Lisa, who had simply stopped asking after a few years. Amy had never brought any boyfriends home, and while Sam had brought boys home in the past, they had never stayed the night, and now that you thought about it, they had a curious tendency to become Lisa's boyfriends after their visit.
Lisa also frowns at Maggie's suggestion, possibly because of memories of all the times her requests had been rejected, and the fact that your mom actually seemed to be considering Maggie's. Instead of the automatic 'No' you were expecting as soon as Maggie brought it up, your mother leans back in her chair slowly, looking at you and Maggie.
Does your mom allow Maggie to share your bed?
