“So, Peyton?” Marc asked, taking a bite out of his chicken. “Does your friend Brooke speak?”

I looked up from my pasta looking at Peyton, who was looking at me as well. She laughed. “Yes, she does. She’s just very shy.”

I cleared my throat slightly taking a drink from my water and earning smiles from the guys. I managed to smile slowly before returning to stare at my pasta.

“Brooke, where you from?” I raised me head to look at Evgeni who was sitting across from me. I couldn't help but smile at his accent.

“I’m from New Jersey originally, but I moved here when I was about 19.” I shrugged. I drank my water before setting it down on the table and looking at Evgeni again.

“You were at practice today, yes? You like practice?”

I held back the laughter of how adorable he sounded and my smile grew even wider. I nodded. “Yes, I was. And I loved your goal in the shoot out practice today. It was amazing. If only I could do that.”

“Oh, that's good. I'm glad you liked it. Excuse me. I have to use bathroom.” He got up and reached across the table to grab my hand. I looked down at what seemed to be my small hand covered by both of his and back at him. He smiled. “I teach you to play hockey one day.” He nodded at me and I nodded in return.

As he walked away I noticed that my face felt quite warm. I let out a breath of air from my mouth and looked at my plate. “I have such a thing for Russians. It’s sad really.” I heard the rest of the table laughing, my face full of surprise. I let out a small laugh as well.

“Wait Brooke, what’s your last name?” Max had a curious and slightly serious look on his face, which was surprising. “I mean, we know Peyton’s is McGuire since we see her often and she’s a reporter, but what’s yours?”

I smiled. “It’s Parker.”

He tilted his head and mumbled to himself. “Brooke Parker. I like it.” He smiled and went back to his plate of food.

“Brooke, is it okay if we keep asking questions? We’d like to get to know you.”

I laughed and nodded. “Sure, that’s perfectly fine.”

They only asked about 4 more questions, which were irrelevant to getting to know me. Marc and Max only asked the questions. Once Evgeni came back, he only smiled every so often. Kris seemed interested in what I had to say and would smile at me rarely, from what I could see. Peyton laughed at almost everything. And every minute or so I would catch Sidney out of the corner of my eye smiling a bit.

Once we were done eating, Max thought he still needed to hang out with us, so we all headed back to his place. Evgeni decided to leave since he was too tired. So Max invited Jordan Staal to come over.

I was sitting on the couch with Marc sitting next to me talking on the phone. Peyton was standing across the room looking into some room until Sidney came. He started talking to her and she began to laugh.

Well, I can see he talks to her just fine.

That’s when I really took the time to look at him.

He was tall, very built since his muscles could be seen through the sweater he was wearing. He had brown eyes and hair that was slightly brushed. His lips were pink and full but they suited him. I’d be lying if I didn’t say he was cute. I kept staring at him until a knock on the door interrupted my thoughts.

“I’ll get it!” Max came running to the door. Soon he and Jordan came in. “Jordan, I want you to meet my new best friend Brooke.”

“Hey Brooke. It’s nice to meet you.” He stuck out his hand.

I shook it giving him a smile. “Hello Jordan. It’s nice to meet you as well.”

“Hey Jordan! What’s up?” Marc suddenly stood beside me giving Jordan a ‘man hug’. I looked up at all three of the guys feeling very short in comparison. “You want to play some Mario Kart?”

He grinned. “Dude, you’re on!” They both went running over the television to set the game up.

Max pouted looking at them. “Hey guys I get to play the winner!” He soon ran following them as well. I shook my head smiling. I looked up to see Peyton and Sidney talking and decided I would go see the guys play.
---------------------------------------------------------
An hour later, I was sitting on the floor, legs crossed with a toy steering wheel in hand yelling at a television. “No! No! No! Turn, what are you doing! Marc! Let’s go! Move! He’s right behind you!” Marc had sucked me into playing Mario Kart because when I told him I had never played, his jaw dropped. We were on the same team playing against Jordan and Max. And we were winning.

“Let’s go Brooke! I’m right behind you. We’re almost done. Come on, last lap!”

Right as he said that, I passed the finish line in first. I looked the bottom screen seeing Marc had been passed by Jordan. “Go Marc!” he then threw a red shell at him, causing Jordan to spin and letting Marc speed past him and coming in second.

“Yes!” I looked at Marc, grins on our faces and high-fiving each other. I looked over at Jordan who had his face in his hands and Max who crossed his arms and pretended to be mad.

“It’s just a game guys. Whatever.”

Marc and I laughed as I laid down on the floor. “You’re just mad because you lost.”

He glared at me. “You know what, you’re not my best friend anymore.” I sat up staring at him with a blank face. He burst out laughing rolling over. We all started to laugh eventually falling over as well. Once I sat up , I noticed that Peyton and Sidney were there. Peyton was giving us strange looks and Sidney on his phone texting.

I cleared my throat and got up to stretch. I looked around at the 2 boxes of pizza open and the two bottles of soda. There were empty cups and dirty plates scattered around us. “Did we really eat this much pizza?”

“No, we each had like 3 slices, but Max had the rest.” Jordan laughed.

My eyes widened at Max. He smiled at me innocently as I shook my head. “Well, I’m going to throw this stuff out. Uhm, where’s your kitchen Max? So I can wash these dishes.”

“You don’t have to do anything Brooke, you’re a guest.”

“Brooke has to be nice and well-mannered. It’s just her. So she’ll wash the dishes whether you want her to or not. That and no one can resist her adorable face.”

I looked at Peyton who shrugged and smirked at me. Max chuckled and sat up. “Take a left and the kitchen will be right there.

I smiled and grabbed all the dishes, the boxes of pizza and soda. “Thank you.”

Once I found the kitchen, I threw away the garbage and started to wash the dishes. By the time I was done, I heard a noise behind me. I turned around and let out a squeal as I saw Kris sitting there, drinking a soda. I tilted my head at him, which only made him smile.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He grinned taking a drink.

I shook my head slightly. “It’s okay. Uh, how long have you been sitting there?”

“Not long. I came out a while ago. I was just in a room, taking a nap. I saw you and I thought you might need some company. Is that okay?”

I stared at him for a second before smiling. “Yea, that’s fine.” I nodded and placed my elbows on the counter looking down at it, having nothing to say.

“Would you like something to drink?”

I looked up at him and stayed silent before realizing what he said and nodded. “Sure.”

He went over to the fridge and opened it. “Is water okay?”

“That’s fine.” I pulled out a chair from under the counter and sat on it. Once he handed me the water, he did the same.

“Do you mind me asking what you work as?”

I shook my head and smiled. “No I don’t. I work as the layout editor for the magazine that Peyton works at.”

“That’s nice. Do you like it?”

“Yes I do. I enjoy sitting at a desk for hours a day, deciding which picture makes the magazine look best.” I smirked.

He laughed. “That seems really interesting.” I nodded and took a drink of my water. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

I choked on my water at the sound of his question. I cleared my throat before smiling shyly at him. I looked down at the counter before finally answering. “Uh, no. I don’t.”

A grin was slowly making its way onto his face. “Why not?”

This question made my mind go blank. I didn’t know how to answer this, but I had to. I opened my mouth a few times before sighing. “Because-”

“There you guys are!” we both turned to look at Max. “Come on, we’re playing one on one and Marc has beaten me and Jordan. One of you guys has to beat him. Let’s go.” He grabbed me by the arm pulling me. I looked over my shoulder to see Kris smirking a bit and shaking his head before following us.

Max sat me down on the couch. “Okay, Brooke, you’re up next.” I glanced next to me to see Sidney looking at the television. He caught me looking and gave me a small smile. “Hey Brooke.”

I slightly raised my eyebrows, surprised he spoke and smiled. “Hey, Sidney.”

“I, uh, hope you can beat Flower. He’s pretty good at this game. “

A small laugh escaped my lips. “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do my best.”

“Well, good luck.” He leaned back against the couch. He kept his eyes on me for a while before giving me a smile.

I moved my attention to the television again trying to ignore the fact that I was blushing. I glanced at Kris looking at me as he was sitting on the floor. He tilted his head slightly and raised his eyebrows before going back to his phone.

I suddenly felt a large hand push my back. Before I knew it, I went flying to the floor landing on my knees. Everyone started to laugh and I let out a breath of air. I looked up glaring at Max who smiled widely. “Your turn Brooke." I sighed, shaking my head at him. I snatched the wheel from his hand, catching Sidney smiling.

Notes

I know everything seems awkwardly written but that's how it's meant to be since Brooke is kind of shy and doesn't really say much, or says it really fast. It'll get better. I promise.

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