Oh Brother

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 4

Continues..

“Mom, do you have to go?” I whined, following her to the door.

“Yes Autumn.” My mom narrowed her eyes at me. “Be nice to Christian while I’m gone.”

I snorted, unable to believe she was leaving me alone with Christian. A near stranger I hated. Stephen had really made her screws loose.

“I’m serious Autumn,” she scolded. “If I come home to see a hair touched on that boy you will be in huge trouble. Got that?”

My eyes widened as my heart clenched. I couldn’t believe she was supporting Christian. Saying I would hurt him. I was her daughter. The person she knew for sixteen years.

Despite my now aching heart, I said, “Okay. Bye.”

“Goodbye.”

Without another word, my mom quickly pulled on some black flats and left the house. I closed the door and sighed. School started tomorrow and she had abandoned me. Left me without any supplies because she had been so caught up with Stephen. Anger began to well up within me.

Turning around, I inhaled deeply. My heart hurt, yet it was pounding. Pounding with anger that needed to be released. I knew who exactly it needed to be released on too.

Loudly pounding my feet against the ground, I stormed upstairs. Taking a right turn, I stood in front of a closed bedroom door. A door that I would’ve broken down if I hadn’t taken another deep breath in.

I knocked on the door, heart racing as I waited. There was so much anger within me. So much anger for Christian. He had stole my mom away from me, ruined my chances with a cute guy, and so much more. So much more I couldn’t explain.

Before I knew it, the door flew open. Still holding the door with his right hand, Christian stood in front of me. Dressed in a black tank top and black basketball shorts, his tired eyes met mine. My heart froze for a second, but then it burst with adrenaline.

“How dare you?” I asked, clenching my jaw so that I wouldn’t yell.

“What?” he asked tiredly.

“How dare you ruin my life!” I exclaimed, completely frustrated. “You ruined everything ! School starts tomorrow and I have no supplies because of you!”

Christian crossed his arms over his chest, looking like he wasn’t in the mood for this. Too bad for him, I didn’t care.

“How did I do that?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You… Your dad married my mom!”

Christian suddenly shook his head tiredly. “Autumn, can’t you see your mom is happy?”

“She was happy before!”

“No, she wasn’t.” Christian suddenly took a step forward, so that we were barely a foot apart. “But my dad isn’t the issue. Your issue is me.”

My heart froze from how near he was. This was the closest we’d been face-to-face this past month, and I wasn’t happy with it. But, I couldn’t move. Not when his blue eyes were locked with mine, challenging me to be honest.

“Yes, my issue is with you,” I admitted. “Congrats, you’re smart enough to realize that.”

Christian rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you like me?”

“Because-”

“Don’t say it’s because I ruined your life,” he cut in. “I’ve been nothing but nice to you since we’ve met. I’ve tried to be your brother. It’s not easy and honestly, I’m tired. I’m tired of dealing with you.”

My eyes widened, shocked by Christian’s words. This was the first time he talked back to me, and surprisingly I was happy about that. One sided hate kind of s—-d, so I was glad I was angering Christian. Glad that he wouldn’t be the nice guy anymore. But, I still didn’t know what to say.

“Because,” I began angrily. “Because… Because.”

My anger diminished slightly, realizing Christian was right. He had been nothing but nice to me. Nothing but friendly. And he tried to get along with me too. So why? Why did I hate him?

“You don’t hate me,” Christian said gently, seeing I wouldn’t reply. “You’re just angry.”

With those words, my anger returned. I hated it when Christian acted like I was such a fragile thing. That I had these issues that he could possibly resolve by befriending me. It was annoying.

“You know what Christian!” I shouted. “I hate you because you’re perfect!”

He blinked. “Perfect?”

My cheeks heated up as I realized what I said. I had just called him perfect, but in my eyes that was not a compliment. It was one of the worst things you could be.

“Yes, perfect,” I snapped. “Everything is given to you on a silver platter and it pisses me off. You don’t deserve it. There’s absolutely nothing special about you, yet everything comes easy to you.”

“Everything doesn’t come easy to me,” he said, eyes darkening. “What are you talking about?”

I laughed bitterly. “You don’t even see it. Wow.”

Christian took another small step closer to me, so that we were an inch apart from each other. I nearly jumped as all I could see were his bright, blue eyes. His vibrant eyes that expressed anger for the first time ever.

“Never call me perfect,” he growled. “And I don’t know why you’re talking. You’re far from perfect. You expect everything to be given to you on a silver platter, yet you don’t deserve it. With your attitude, you don’t deserve anything you have in your life.”

My eyes widened as his words sunk in deep. For some reason, they actually hurt. Even though I couldn’t care less about what he thought, his words hurt. I found myself looking down at the wooden floor as my heart ached from the honesty in his tone.

Christian seemed to realize something because he suddenly stepped away from me. I looked up to see him now a meter away from me, his eyes glistening with sympathy. My gut twisted as I realized he pitied me, but I wasn’t in the mood to fight with him anymore. I just wanted to be alone.

“Autumn, I’m sorry,” he said, eyes softening. “Just ignore what I said. I-”

“Don’t say you didn’t mean it,” I cut in, my throat constricting as he winced. “I know you did.”

“Let me take you shopping,” he suddenly pleaded. “Let me make it up to you.”

I shook my head and walked away. Thankfully, he didn’t call after me. He seemed to hate me, just like how I hated him. But it seemed like he had reasons. Reasons, I lacked when it came to him. I felt like screaming as I slammed my bedroom door shut, knowing I officially detested Christian.