My Brother's Best Friend 

Chapter 6: : Why Does He Have to be so Damn Hot?

Edited 

Walking home from school is the worst thing on Earth that could possibly happen to anyone... and that happened to me today.

Ryan had football practice after school, so lucky me had to take the subway and walk about ten blocks back to our apartment.

Yeah, I usually try to avoid the subway at all costs because there are some pretty creepy people on them and I don't want to get snatched by some sadistic rapist and die a horrible death. Sorry, that was a bit gruesome.

And now I'm sitting here at the kitchen table, tapping my pencil against my chin as I stare at the paper that is called: my geometry homework. I hate math. Loathe it with a burning passion. If they could replace geometry class with a doughnut eating class my life would be absolutely perfect.

Absolutely.

"Hey kid, what's up?" Uncle-Steven asked.

Uncle-Steven was the brother of my father. After mom and dad died in a car wreck when I was fourteen Ryan and I had been brought into the care of my father's brother—Uncle-Steven. He reminded me a lot of my father. They had the similar pointed nose and huge smile. As soon as you would see their smiles you knew they were brothers. Their smiles always made you want to smile too.

I looked up. "Just doing my geometry homework. How was work?"

He smiled. "I sold a house today."

"That's great!" I beamed as Aunt-Hailey walked into the kitchen.

I watched the way Aunt-Hailey's face lit up when she saw Uncle-Steven standing there in the kitchen and I felt a small sadness swirling in my stomach. It was when Uncle-Steven turned around and smiled back at her that I felt another pang in my heart. The way he looked at her was just... perfect. He looked at her as if she was his whole world.

Why couldn't Nathan look at me like that?

I suddenly longed for someone to look at me like that and make that smile spread across my face when I saw him. I wanted someone to look at me like that. Like just my mere presence was enough to make their day better. Why couldn't someone look at me like that?

That was when I realized that I'd been staring at them far too long, so I looked back at my stupid geometry homework, trying to continue the problem I was previously on, but I couldn't seem to get my concentration back.

"Hey, Mallie, would you mind putting the dishes away?" Uncle-Steven asked as I looked at him.

I sighed, getting up. "Sure,"

I made my way over towards the dish washer, which was behind the kitchen island. So, I began to put the dishes away, starting with the silverware first and then making my way to the actual dishes and glass cups.

I got to the last couple of things and that was when I heard the door open and I knew that Ryan was home.

"Hey, Aunt-Hailey, Uncle-Steven!" he called.

The way our apartment was set up was there was a big huge wall separating the kitchen from the living room and the front door was in the living room, so all I could hear was Ryan's conversation.

"Oh, hi, Jared!" I heard Aunt-Hailey say. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too." he said in his wonderful voice.

As soon as I'd heard him speak, the bowl that I was having trouble getting on the top shelf slipped out of my hand and shattered all over the floor.

"Oh my gosh!" I cried, jumping as soon as it had shattered, leaving dozens of ceramic pieces covering the floor.

"Mallie!" Aunt-Hailey called, running into the kitchen as I looked up, seeing Jared standing behind Ryan.

My cheeks began to turn a shade of red as my chest heaved up and down while I looked at him, his lips curling into a lop-sided smile as he looked back at me.

Damn, why does he have to be so hot?

Shut up Mallie!

"I'm sorry," I said, smiling nervously as I looked at Aunt-Hailey.

Ryan laughed. "Nice going,"

"Shut up!" I said, my head snapping to him.

Aunt-Hailey sighed. "Ryan, go get the broom. I'll go get a garbage bag."

"Alright," he replied, leaving me and Jared alone.

I didn't look at him. I couldn't look at him, not after what I'd just done. I was totally humiliated beyond belief as I stepped back away from the shards on the floor, only to step on a piece of ceramic as I did so. The immediate cry of acute pain came out of my mouth and I could feel his hands catching my waist as I almost fell over, trying to keep the shard from piercing my skin.

My breath caught in my throat as I felt a shower of tingles and sparks running through my body at the simple contact that came with this boy. I was brought to the question again as to why I'd never felt these feelings with Nathan.

My body was beginning to beg me for this feeling. All I wanted was for him to make me feel like this all the time. For him to make me feel like I mattered to someone.

What in the world am I thinking?!

I have a boyfriend!

I inhaled sharply, this time making sure to plant my feet in a free-of-ceramic zone on the floor as I turned around to look at him.

"Thanks," I whispered.

He looked at me for a moment before saying, "Anytime."

I was smiling on the inside.

"Alright, here you go," Ryan said as he came back with the broom and dustpan, handing it to me, while Aunt-Hailey came back with the garbage bag.

I took it from Ryan, taking a glance at Jared who was smirking/smiling at me. That little terd.

"Hey, man, you wanna go play COD?" Ryan asked.

Jared laughed. "You sure you're ready die?"

"Oh yeah, we'll see about that,"

And with that they were gone and I was going into the most flexible positions I'd ever been in trying to not step on a shard of ceramic. The plate had literally shattered all behind the island, so if I wasn't watching where I was going I would have some serious cuts on my feet. (I was wearing socks, but it'd still cut my feet.)

I can't believe I had actually dropped the bowl just because I heard Jared's voice. What kind of pathetic person even does that?! Just because he was a hot guy I'd freaking dropped the bowl and it shattered all over the place.

Why did I have to be such a sucker?

I sighed, filling the bag with the last remnants of the pieces of ceramic, before placing the broom and dustpan back in their right place and tying the bag off. I grabbed the bag and dragged it towards the living room, but on my way I turned to look at the bag and ran into a wall—well what I thought was a wall.

Hands grabbed my waist again to keep my balance and I immediately knew it was him. I looked up and he was there along with Ryan behind him, staring in between the both of us.

Ryan cleared his throat and I snapped out of my trance at how good—how right—his hands felt on my waist.

"Sorry," I whispered, glancing into his eyes, before looking away and dragging the garbage bag towards the door to go to the garbage shoot at the end of the hall.

Once I'd opened the door and I was dragging the bag towards the shoot at the end of the hall I heard my name being called, so I turned to look and see who it was.

It was Nathan. 

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Thanks for reading guys and I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! If you all please don't mind please go and check out my other book!

~Katy