FOUR: Opportunities, take it or leave it.

BRITNEY ASTON

“What?!”

I could have sworn I yelled, my already flushed cheeks getting even more colour. Red as a tomato, I immediately pushed him away from me, bewildered and flustered to the core.

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

I almost couldn’t believe him, my entire body reaction serving as more than enough proof. What was he thinking? How could he even manage to birth such thoughts?

In contrast to me, he simply let out a chuckle, taking a step backwards to regain composure after I abruptly shoved him away. I could tell he was amused, the corner of his lips curling into a smirk as he made his way back to his bed.

How did I not notice how annoying he was the night we first met?!

“Nothing like that would happen between us again!” I had to say, watching him begin to focus on his phone once again. “Do you get it? I didn’t come here to ask you to- No. I only came here to tell you what happened between us was nothing but a mistake. A one night mistake. One that’s never going to happen again. Never ever. So do not even think of getting any weird ideas in your head.”

“Weird ideas?” He finally shifted his gaze from his phone, assuring me he was indeed listening to my rants. “You seem to be mistaken. You are the one having weird ideas here. Not the other way round.”

“Excuse me?”

“Do you really want me to spell it out for you?” He dropped his phone and immediately took a step towards me, having me take two away from him. “I don’t care about what happened between us. It was a one night stand and in case you do not know what a one night stand entails, for me it means never having anything to do with the person in question again. Fine, you’re now my step sister but so what? I don’t care. And I do not intend on sleeping with you again. Except of course, you want me to-“

“I do not want you to!”

“Of course, darling,” he chuckled, his British accent immediately tingling my ears.

“I’m serious!” I had to emphasize. “Nothing can happen between us again! I don’t want it!”

“Well, ditto,” he nodded. “I mean, it’s just sex. There are dozens of other girls begging for my dick so you don’t have to be dramatic about it.”

There was something about his words that suddenly irked me more than ever. Maybe it was the realization of how much of a jerk he was or the fact that I slept with such a jerk but something about him suddenly enraged me more than ever, turning every little bit of fascination I had for him into anger.

“You’re a disgusting person,” I breathed out to him. “And I don’t even want to see you again. You’re so annoying and- I don’t care. Fine, let’s move past this. I just don’t want to ever see you again and-“

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” he said with the same smirk on his face making me wonder if it was his default expression. “We now live together so you’ll be seeing lots of me. Whether you want it or not.”

It was the truth and as true as I knew it was, I wasn’t ready to admit it.

So instead of uttering another word he was definitely going to have a comeback to, I simply let out a huff and stormed out of his room, heading straight to my room to sleep.

And needless to say, sleep eventually didn’t come easy, thoughts of him lurking around my mind for hours and hours.

—-

I woke up the following morning with a headache, serving as a dreadful reminder of the turns things were taking in my life.

With a groan, I remain buried under my sheets, simply tossing and turning in useless attempts to fall back asleep.

It was a weekday and I literally had no idea on what was expected of me. I was in a new country, a new city and a new house, confused on what exactly I was supposed to do next. I didn’t know my way around and definitely didn’t know what to do.

But I was confident whatever I needed to do for the day had to exclude running into Travis. Even at the slightest.

I knew it was going to be hard considering the fact that we literally lived in the same house but I was willing to give it a try. Even if it meant staying in my room the entire day until I was sure he had left the house.

Resigning to my fate, I wrapped the sheets around me and turned one my time, shutting my eyes tightly as I did. It only lasted a couple of seconds though as I was quickly interrupted by a knock on the door, immediately startling me.

I sat up, my mind racing at the thought of whoever could be behind the door. It definitely couldn’t be Travis, right? He couldn’t be behind the door, ready to take his revenge on me for knocking on his door at such odd hour the previous night, right?

“Britney? Are you still asleep?”

A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I recognized the voice behind the door. It belonged to my mum and not Travis.

“No,” I replied, pulling the sheets out of my way so I could get out of the bed. “Coming.”

I opened the door to meet my mum behind it, smiling at me. Her smile was huge and strange, making me wonder if she was truly happy at her new home.

“Good morning sweetheart,” her voice was just as strange followed by her stroking my bird nest of a hair before walking in. “How was your night? Did you sleep well?”

Knowing it was better to keep the details away from her, I simply nodded in response.

“Oh I’m glad,” she smiled sweetly then took a seat on my bed. “I didn’t want to wake you early. Just in case you were sleeping in. Yesterday was such an eventful day, wasn’t it?”

It definitely was. “Yeah.”

“So, how are you? Are you um, liking it here? Jack was also a bit worried.”

“Um, is he still here?” I clicked my tongue as I asked stylishly. “I mean, is he home? His son too?”

“Travis,” she laughed lightly. “You don’t have to be so formal. You can just call him Travis. And no, he isn’t home. He left for work already and Travis headed to college.”

“Oh,” another sigh of relief escaped my lips. “Great then.”

“By the way, honey,” she drew closer to me and placed a hand on my thigh. “You remember I told you everything was already sorted out before asking you to move, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, Jack helped out and you’ve been given admission!” She clapped her hands. “And you’ll be resuming in two days.”

For some reason, I wasn’t as excited as I thought I was supposed to be. “Oh.”

“Yes,” she nodded excitedly. “The semester just resumed this week so you don’t have to worry about anything. By Monday, you’ll resume and everything would go smoothly. You’ll love it there, I promise. I mean, it’s the same college Travis goes to so-“

I knew there was a reason I wasn’t excited about it.

“Travis goes there?” I interrupted her to confirm. “That’s his college?”

“Yes,” she nodded like it was no big deal. “His dad is the VC remember?”

“No,” I immediately lowered my head, watching my every plan to completely avoid him go up into flames. “Can I not? I mean, can I avoid another college? A different one? One really far from here maybe?”

“Come on, Brit, don’t be emotional,” she scrunched up her nose. “You should be glad at this opportunity. Your step father is the vice chancellor and your step brother is a popular student who knows his way around perfectly well. You’ll be just fine!”

If only she knew. If only she had even the slightest idea.

“So come on, don’t sulk,” she continued, grabbing me by the shoulders to gave me a good shake. “Take this an opportunity and grab it to the fullest. A lot of people would dream to study abroad and here you are living that dream. You have the opportunity to explore to take that chance. Don’t just stay in your room the entire day. Head out and get some air. Get yourself familiar with your new home. Explore! Have fun! You’re now in London, sweetheart!”

What she didn’t know was that it was never my dream to study abroad. Neither was it my dream to move abroad and start a new life. And definitely not my dream to have to live in the same house and now attend the same college with my step brother I somewhat had slept with, once.