Firefly

33: December 5th

Chapter 33: December 5th.

Justin

My water is halfway filled when I sense Eden lurking outside the kitchen. I stand unaffected, waiting for the complete bottle to fill up to the brim. She's either tapping her feet or drumming her fingers onto a surface. 

I sigh as I straighten up and cork back the lid to my bottle. "What?" 

I turn around when she doesn't answer. She bites her nails as she enters the doorway. Chit-chat is something all Castors suck at doing. She finalizes on something in her head before she drops her hands down and treads toward me. Her hands wrap around my arms. I take a tick to understand why my sister is hugging me. She lets go after thirty seconds with relief, tears, and a smile. 

She just wished me a happy birthday without uttering a single word and I understood. "Sleep," I tell her as she rolls her eyes.

"Did you get hurt?" She asks me as she walks out and I follow behind her. I frown because I'm fine. I've hardly left home this week. "Your Maserati has a huge dent. Did you crash into something or was it the other way around?" 

"What dent?" I'm still trying to digest part one of that sentence. 

She points a thumb to the main door. "Your car, Justin. For someone who keeps mocking me about my driving skills, I think you need some brushing up to do." 

I ignore her sarcastic poke as I rest my water bottle on the table before wearing my shoes and going out. The chill of 10:30 pm snow in December makes my hair brush across my forehead. I push it away as I eye the car. Matt black in between white snow, it looks perfectly alright. 

It's not my car that's dented, it's probably my sister's vision. 

A whistle makes me jerk as I whip my head behind me. Matt black Royal Enfield, all black—jacket, pants, and boots, with a helmet hanging by her arm and long chestnut waves falling across her side. She waves at me with a sly smile. 

"Good night, brother." I barely catch the helmet that Eden tosses to me right before she throws my winter coat on my hair. I brush my hair as I glare at her closing the door. 

I advance towards the girl who has had the courage to ride to my house, lure me out on the day I never leave home and expect me to ride away with her. I smell her scent and it draws me a step closer than I intended to stop. I don't dare look below her eyes. It's where my weakness starts. 

"Go home," I say shaking my head. 

She looks disappointed. "Have I ever rejected you the same way when you pop into my house, unannounced?" Seriously, she's using the blackmailing cards now? 

"Have I ever stopped you from saying no?" It's pretty fucking cold so I sling on my coat and shove my hands inside the pockets of the coat. Forget the bike, I won't agree to ride in my car when the weather is so horrible. 

She rolls her eyes. "Not my point. We're already late so put on the helmet and buckle up." 

She twists her hair into a messy bun before she swings her leg around the bike and sits. In spite of how excruciatingly hot that looked, I tear my gaze away. I need to be awarded for how much I control myself around her. 

I laugh mockingly. "Summer, no." 

"What is it? Scared or did your man-ego intervene?" She smirks. 

Both. Bikes aren't safe in winter because there are chances of tires skidding. And more than my man ego intervening, we'll be in a compromising position that will awaken my hormones which are better left untouched.