BRITNEY ASTON
Within the span of barely 24 hours, I’d gone through a series of emotions. It had been a roller coaster, ranging from happiness, sadness, lust, despair, anger, frustration, hope, intrigue- the list could go on. But not even a single one of them could match up to the emotions that suddenly overwhelmed me as I stared at the good looking stranger from the club introduce himself as my step brother. “Why are you two silent?” My mum asked, effortlessly clueless. “Britney, say something. Aw, are you shy? Travis, say hi to your new sister.” She kept on talking to us like we were kids who were incapable of making up words ourselves. We probably were because at that moment, I couldn’t come up with a single word even if I tried. I was horrified, to say the least, memories I’d uselessly tried to get rid of resurfacing in the worst possible manner. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Especially not when the main character of all my dirty thoughts was only a few inches away from me. Travis on the other hand, had a blank expression on his face. For a second, he seemed taken aback by the wicked coincidence but the moment it set in, his blank expression returned to his face. If anything, he looked genuinely uninterested in everything going on when I just wanted to be smacked and told it was all nothing but a bad, wild, dream.“Are we going to have dinner or not?” I almost hiccuped as he spoke up, his voice having the same effect on me as it did the last time he was close to me. Goosebumps immediately flooded my skin and in an attempt to cover it up, I wrapped my arms around my body. My actions birthed a quick smirk on his face, followed by him walking over to one of the empty seats on the dining to get comfortable. I couldn’t immediately do the same though, taking my time to process my new wicked reality. “Please excuse Travis,” Jack appeared behind me to say, causing me to almost jump. “It’s not about you. He’s just naturally a cold person.” “Oh,” I swallowed. “Oh. Okay.” If only he knew. If only. “Alright, get seated,” my mum spoke up again, ushering me to an empty seat. “I hope you’re all hungry. I made pasta.” Under normal circumstances, I’d cringe at the fact that my mum normally wasn’t that much of a cook but at the moment, I had more pressing issues to deal with- like the fact that I’d slept with my stepbrother. “You know I can never say no to your cooking,” Jack replied affectionately as he grabbed his cutlery. “Please fill up my plate and you trust I’ll be devouring every bit.” “Oh, Jack,” my mum giggled. “You’re so flattering.” “I’m not,” he replied. “I’m just being honest. You cooking for me- it’s amazing. I’ve always loved the feeling of being cooked for by someone I love. You know it just makes me-“ “Oh, please, drop the romantic man act.” Silence immediately filled the air, heads turning in Travis’ direction as he interrupted his dad with a scoff. “Travis, what do you-“ “I don’t care if you want to act like who you’re not and make her completely fall for it,” he continued, cutting his dad off again. “But please, don’t do it when I’m around. I’m here at this table to eat, not to puke and your hypocrisy right now is making me really nauseous.” Again, silence filled the air but this time it was accompanied by a tension so thick it threatened to suffocate even me. Fingers gripped cutleries anxiously, no one other than Travis daring to take another bite of their meals. “Travis,” Jack finally spoke up, his voice suddenly stern. “I asked you to move in and join us on this table so we could have a normal dinner as a normal family-“ “That we aren’t,” he cut him off again, this time slamming his cutlery on the table. “We aren’t a normal family. You and I are barely a normal family and your great idea of getting things better was by bringing in new random people? What is this? Do you think “the more the merrier” is a concept that applies to people like us too?” “Travis!” Jack yelled, his patience visibly tested. “I would not tolerate this type of behavior from you. Not in the presence of your step mother and sister. You should apologize to them this instant!” “I have a better idea,” he rose to his feet, making noise with his chair as he pushed it away. “I should have just stayed in the U.S.” “Travis!” With a final hiss targeted at his dad, he tossed the napkins in his way and stormed out of the living room, heading straight upstairs. “Jack, dear.” The aura around the table immediately changed and more than anything, I suddenly wished I remained in my room and went to bed hungry. My appetite had suddenly travelled far away and I didn’t need to be told it wasn’t just me that felt that way. “Britney, I’m sorry,” after a couple deep breaths, Jack finally said to me. “Travis- he- it’s all my fault. He’s spoilt and it’s all my fault and I’m so sorry he ruined the night. Please forgive me and please excuse me.” He didn’t wait for a response from me before getting up to leave the dining. With me obviously being a minor character in the dramatic showdown between the father and son, my mum also rose to her feet and quickly rushed towards Jack, making consoling sounds as she did. Left with nothing else to do, I followed the pattern and only rose to my feet to head back to my room. From the movements, I could tell my mum and Jack were somewhere on the ground floor while Travis was somewhere upstairs, in his room. I swallowed, the mere thought crossing my mind. It was all strange and happening rather quickly. I needed some sort of guidance. Something, anything, to not make me lose my mind. With slow steps, I walked up the stairs leading to my room. But I wasn’t heading to my room. I couldn’t head to my room. At least, not yet. Not with the raging anxiety in me. There was no way I would get a second of rest knowing Travis was in the same house after what happened between us. I needed to at least speak to him. Get to know things from his point of view without our parents in sight. All it took was a wild guess for me to figure out the room that belonged to Travis. Much to my horror, it just had to be the room directly next to mine. Standing right in front of the door, I felt my heartbeat pounding all over again, almost like it was about to rip out of my chest. I was nervous and I had every reason to be. I wasn’t ready to face him but I knew I had to be regardless. “Breathe, Britney,” I muttered to myself. “You didn’t sleep with your step brother. You only slept with a guy that ended up being your step brother.” It took about a dozen nods and more words of reassurance and finally, I placed a knock on the door. No response. Pushing my luck, I knocked one more time. Still no response. With a deep exhale, I knocked again, deciding to call out to him this time. “Travis? Are you in?” It was almost like he was waiting to hear my voice before opening as almost immediately, the door was swung open to reveal no one but my step brother. “What are you doing here?” “Um, hi,” I hiccuped. He checked me out from head to toe and I did the same, my eyes lingering around his body for longer. He was shirtless and without our parents around, I could finally look at him as much as I wanted. Dressed in nothing but shorts, he was almost naked, water dripping from every inch of his body. He was clearly coming from the shower as even his dirty blonde hair was wet, wet strands hanging loosely around face. I swallowed, my eyes trailing from his face to his neck and then his arms. With one arm rested on the frame of the door, the other tugging at the band of his shorts, his veins were on full display. Skillfully, I managed to stare at his and too, in general awe of how gorgeous he looked standing in front of me. I could swear time froze as I continued to stare at every inch of his body, taking in his features almost like I was scared it was going to be the last time. I swallowed, bit my lip, visibly salivated and just as I was about to subconsciously move close towards him, was pulled right back to my senses. “You didn’t come here to stare at my body, did you?” “What?” I almost choked on my saliva, immediately adjusting my posture. “What? No- I-“ “Then what are you doing here?” “I-“ I scratched the back of my neck then looked around me. “Um, I wanted to talk to you. Actually, we need to talk. Can I come in?” He shrugged in response, leading the way in. With a deep exhale, i followed him and walked in, gently closing the door behind me. “So what’s this about?” He asked me, walking around his room to disconnect his phone from the charger and then project his entire attention to it. “Um, I wanted to talk to you.” “You said that already,” he barely spared me a glance. “What do you want to talk about?” Taken aback by his calm behavior in great contrast to mine, I took another deep exhale before speaking up again. “Us. You and I- you know- you know what I’m talking about.” He finally looked up from his phone and immediately arched an eyebrow at me. “What?” “You know what I’m talking about!” I almost raised my voice. “Don’t you remember? Why are you acting so clueless? We’ve met once. The other night, you know- we- I mean, we-“ “Oh, you mean the night we fucked?” My cheeks immediately turned bright red, taking aback by his bluntness. As much as I wanted to deny it, it was quite plainly true. “Well, yeah,” I finally looked away from him. “Yesterday night.” “So what about it?” It was my turn to arch an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean what about it?” Serving me a confused stare, he dropped his phone on the bed and walked up towards me. “Wait, why are you here?” “Because,” I started but the moment he took a step towards me, watched all the words disappear from my brain. “Because we- it happened between us- what happened between us that night- aren’t you bothered by it?” “And why should I?” “Probably because we’re now step siblings?” “Oh please,” he rolled his eyes and let out a scoff. “It was just a one night stand. I was bored, you were horny. I was down for it and so were you.” “What?” “We didn’t care about our backgrounds when it happened so why are you suddenly bothered?” He continued. “It was just a one night stand and that’s all. You were just another girl and we fucked and ended it that night. So what’s the big deal?” I blinked and took a double take. He couldn’t be serious. There was no way he was that cool over the fact that we once slept together and now had to be siblings. “Travis-“ “Or,” he suddenly cut me off, immediately resuming his steps towards me. “Are you here for another reason?” “What?” I could feel my brain turn into jelly as he moved closer towards me. I tried to walk away but for some reason I was frozen in my tracks, my feet refusing to move a single inch. He was coming closer, his intoxicating scent immediately approaching me. Feeling my toes curl as fresh shivers ran down my spine, I shut my eyes, only to open them and immediately meet him right next to me, barely any distance between us. “Are you here-“ He spoke up, leaning close to me so I could literally feel his breath against my skin as he spoke. “Are you here because you don’t want it to end as a one night stand?” His breath hit my neck, my eyes immediately going shut as my body exploded with emotions. Fighting it, I tried to open my eyes and then push him away or finally keep my distance from him. But instead, he leaned even closer to me and whispered into my ears. “Do you want me to fuck you again?”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 g
BRITNEY ASTON Though I hated to admit it, my mum was right. Remaining locked up in my room simply because I didn’t want to run into Travis was becoming very suffocating. Especially when I knew well enough I was going to eventually run into him whether I wanted to or not. So after spending a couple more hours in my room without doing anything, I eventually pulled myself out of bed, got freshened up and decided to head out. My mum was nice enough to spam my messages with nearby places I could visit. Malls, restaurants, the bus route to take- it was all she flooded my phone with and honestly, I was glad. Dressed in a casual jeans and crop top, I stepped out of the house and in no time, found myself not as lost as I was on my first day. My mum’s direction proved to be really helpful in navigating the city and helping me get familiar with the popular landmarks and destinations she had in mind. Truly, London was a beautiful place to be. There were tons of places to explore and tons
TRAVIS LEWIS My phone vibrated, immediately followed by a hiss escaping my lips. The vibration was signaling a text. A text from my father. VC: Come to my office. I need to talk to you. There were various perks of having my father has the vice chancellor and honestly, I hated it all. Though I loved being popular, I hated the extra popularity being associated with him brought. Simply put, I hated being associated with him. He was my father and was nothing more than that. He was simply the man that slept with my mum, got her pregnant and for some reason unknown to me, the man she decided to get married to. Ever since I was little, we never shared a normal relationship. We never had a reason to be close to each other, not even when my mum died, and quite frankly, I’d gotten used to it. More than used to it in fact, making his new attempts at trying to suddenly be more than just the man partially responsible for my existence nothing but irritating to me. “What is it?” My closest f
BRITNEY ASTON The weekend went by slowly. Rather slowly. It was finally Monday and I was expected to finally resume college as planned but I didn’t feel even the tad bit excited. Instead I felt a whirlwind of emotions, confusion and anxiety topping the list. I’d spent the past two days in the house, alone. Though my mum and Jack were home, occasionally calling me out of my room for breakfast and dinner, it didn’t count- the house still felt empty. And it was all thanks to Travis’ absence. Considering the fact that I desperately wanted to stay away from him, it was supposed to be a good thing. But strangely, his absence didn’t feel good. Not in the way I expected. Instead of relishing over the fact that I finally had moments to gather my thoughts, I spent my time wondering where he could be and why he just wasn’t showing up at home. Given his reputation, I wondered if he was spending his weekend with different girls, sleeping around and being as shameless as possible. For some
BRITNEY ASTON I watched Travis drive away, a wave of confusion washing over me. It could swear I was confident the feeling of confusion wasn’t going to last. After all, I was finally at school and was naturally supposed to find something else to catch my interest. But that didn’t happen. At least, not immediately. With the brochure in my hand, I managed to navigate my way around my faculty in hopes of finding the classroom lectures were supposed to hold. However, it was quickly proving to be harder than I expected, as an unsettling feeling began to linger around me. It felt strange and completely bizarre but I was confident it was happening. For some reason unknown to me, i could feel eyes on me as I took my every step. It was almost like I was the new topic of fascination for everyone I walked past. Slowly, it grew past the eyes and turned into whispers, fingers slowly pointing in my direction as I moved. “What is going on?” I muttered to myself, wondering why everyone had su
TRAVIS LEWIS. If there was one thing I was slowly bringing myself to accept, it was the fact that I couldn’t completely wrap my head around the type of person Britney was. One minute she’s acting like she didn’t care about me and I could swear I felt the same and the other, she’s acting all bothered about me and in return, leaving me equally bothered about her. Maybe it wasn’t necessarily ‘bother’. Maybe it was more of intrigue. More of me wondering what type of person she was. How she could wrap her head around the whole scenario of her mum getting married again and be so cool with it. How she could manage to stay in the same room with my father and not notice he was basically sheep in wolf clothing. Or maybe, it was something more about her I considered fascinating. But whatever it was, it was intoxicating and extremely disturbing. Staring at the empty wine bottle in front of me, I clicked my tongue and contemplated fetching another one. After all, it was all I could think of
BRITNEY ASTON “What?” I stared at the phone in my hands, unsure of where my confusion was majorly stemming from. The fact that he gave me his number voluntarily or the fact that he was offering to drive me around whenever I needed him to. Lucas’ words rang in my head, fueling my confusion even more. What exactly was goin on his head? And just why was he willing to drive me when apparently driving girls around wasn’t his thing? “Why are you giving me your number?” I couldn’t help but ask. “I thought you-“ “You can delete if you want to,” he tried to reach for the phone having me immediately flinch. “Your choice.” “Whatever,” I rolled my eyes, shoving the phone into my pocket to prevent him from trying to snatch it from me again. Though I was still confused on why he gave me his number, I was going to get the answers to my question without necessarily losing the number. “I thought so too,” he smirked then turned away to leave. “You’re welcome.” “What? I’m not-“ Before I cou
BRITNEY ASTON “No!” Heads immediately turned in my direction, confusion spread all over their faces. I couldn’t blame them though, it was only natural my mum and step dad reacted that way at my response to a simple question- if I’d like Travis to drive me to school, again. “No, I mean, no it’s okay,” I rephrased, trying to make the situation less awkward than it already was. “He doesn’t have to. I can manage myself. Thank you.” From the corner of my eye, I could catch him smirking in amusement. Of course it was easy for him to just stand back and be amused at my misery. “Are you sure honey?” My mum asked like I wasn’t clear enough. “You’re both headed to the same place anyways and I don’t think Travis has a problem with dropping you off.” She was right. We were both headed to the same place and though he indeed probably had no problem with dropping me off, I wasn’t willing to sit in his car again.I was more than willing to walk all the way to school if I needed to as long as i