You Have 86,400 Seconds To Find Me

Two Years Ago (Before the countdown)

   As soon as we walked through the front door, my family practically tackled Macy to the ground. All I could hear upon entering the living room was "Oh, so this must be the infamous Macy," and "Wow, Max, she's prettier than you said she was," and of course the, "Macy, my nephew never stops talking about you!" 

   Thank you so much Uncle Craig. This is exactly why I never invited Macy over the house. 

   I knew that my family had heard all good things about Macy over the last three years of us being friends, and that they all had been dying to meet her. So, per my Mother's request, I had invited her over the house for my birthday dinner. Knowing, full well, exactly what I was getting myself into. 

   Macy did well, of course. She made sure she said hello to everyone in the room and introduced herself politely, as if everyone didn't already know who she was. She smiled, she small-talked, she laughed at all my Uncle Craig's jokes, even the ones that really weren't funny. 

   She was perfect. 

   Not that I had any doubts, I mean, I knew Macy would get along well with my family. The reason why I had never invited her to anything like this before, was more because I was afraid of what my family would say to her... The Brennan clan didn't exactly have what you would call a filter. 

   We managed to make it through cocktail hour without a hitch. Actually, I was rather impressed with my family, they all seemed to be on their best behavior. That was, of course, until it was time for dinner, and somehow, don't ask me how I'd let this happen, Macy ended up sitting right smack dab next to Uncle Craig.  

   "So, Macy," Uncle Craig began, peering up at me over his large mustache. "How long have you known our little Maxy here?"

   Macy glanced up at me across the table and smiled as she said, "I met him on his first day of school, we sat next to each other at lunch." 

   "Oh, so he was hitting on you, was he?" Uncle Craig joked, laughing. "He gets that from me."

   I dropped my head down onto the table, shaking it from side to side. I knew this was going to happen. I lifted it back up to find Macy still smiling at me, trying not to laugh. "Um, actually, I went up to him first," she said, turning her attention back to Uncle Craig. "I wanted to know what he was drawing."

   "Maxy draws?" Uncle Craig asked, looking over at me with wide eyes. "Maxy, you draw?"

   "Yes, I do," I said, wondering how he could have not known this. I mean, my Mom had only been hanging all my artwork on the fridge since I was in kidnergarten. 

   "Well, are you any good?" Uncle Craig asked. 

   "He's incredible," Macy said, matter of factly, "Seriously. You should have him draw you a dragon for your office."

   "My office?" Uncle Craig asked, turning to face Macy once more. 

   "Well, yes," Macy said, looking around the room at everyone, "I mean you seem like a very intelligent guy, you must have some big ellaborate office somewhere right?" 

   Everyone around the table began to laugh, probably picturing Uncle Craig's office in their minds. Uncle Craig owned a small paint shop in town. A paint shop so small that his office was basically a four foot by four foot closet. 

   Uncle Craig laughed until his face turned red, then he looked at me and said, "You found yourself a spunky one, Maxwell. Don't let her out of your sight." 

   I looked over at Macy to find her shoving a rather large bite of pasta in her mouth, smiling like she was already a part of the family. 

   "Oh, don't worry, Uncle Craig," I said, winking at Macy. "I won't."

   Then Macy's cheeks turned red as she looked down at her plate, spinning her fork around in her pasta. And I think that was the first time I had ever made Macy Sales blush.