Lonely Hearts Club

Knight in Shining Armor

"Munson," Will called out. I turned to the large, bald man, wiping my hands on my coveralls. He nodded towards our shared office. "Phone for you. It's Maggie."

I groaned and stomped over to the office, picking the phone up from the receiver and slamming the door behind me. I sighed into the phone.

"Eddie, you can't be mad at me," Maggie warned. I sank into the desk chair and started rubbing my eyes.

"Oh, this bodes well for our conversation," I hissed. "Not even a 'hello, Eddie,' or 'how's your afternoon, big brother'?"

"Well, I figured being direct would be best in this scenario," Maggie mused. I tried not to smile and shook my head.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I served justice to perpetrators—"

"Tell your brother what actually happened," a voice snapped from her side of the phone. A teacher, I assume. Maggie groaned – I could practically see her roll her eyes.

"I punched Matty Harrington in the nose," she said quickly. I sat up.

"Mags, what the fuck?"

"You owe the swear jar a dollar," Maggie insisted.

"Actually, I'll owe it two dollars, because what the fuck, Maggie?" I repeated.

"He was bullying one of the band kids! He hasn't let up on him for weeks. I was sick of certain individuals not defending the underdog!" she explained. I could tell her last comment was directed at the teacher next to her. "So, I told him to stop, or I would put a stop to it. And he didn't believe me. And you always taught me to follow through on my promises."

I smiled. My baby sister was always able to get around my anger and out of any potential punishment. She was way smarter than me, and often talked her way out of things. I sighed.

"Okay, well, next time, promise to verbally humiliate him or something," I ordered. "Now, pretend like you are getting in trouble."

"Eddie, that's so not fair!" Maggie exclaimed, playing along.

"Say something about three months," I continued.

"Three months? You can't be serious!" she replied. I grinned.

"Love you, little sister. Stay out of trouble for another week or so, I can't keep taking breaks from work to talk to you," I said.

"Understood, sergeant," she quipped. I rolled my eyes and hung the phone up, leaning back into the chair.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath in. Mags was going to be the death of me. I knew her going to be high school would be challenging, but she seemed to have gotten all of my rebellious tendencies paired with a frightening intelligence. I knew the next few years would be much different than the ones since she had come to live with me when she was in the fifth grade.

There was a knock at the office door, and I opened my eyes as Will swung the door open. I smiled wearily at him.

"Mags terrorizing the general public, again?" he asked, leaning against the door jamb. I laughed and shrugged.

"I don't think there's a time when she isn't doing that," I admitted. He smiled and wiped his hands on a rag.

"I'd offer advice, but I raised boys – not anything like Mags, unfortunately," he replied. I smiled, nodding at him.

"Appreciate you trying," I joked. Will nodded to the front of our shop.

"Customer out front," he explained. I raised an eyebrow.