the way you'd love her

E L E V E N

BELLE

I woke up with a killer headache. I only had like, four seltzer's yesterday, but my head was still pounding. But, that was probably because my mother thought it was a good idea to wake me up at eight o'clock to babysit while she ran to get groceries for tonight. She was having her boyfriend over for the first time, and she was going to cook for him. Technically, Auntie Laurie would be doing most of the cooking. Mom was just going to boil the pasta. She had been dating this Jeremiah guy for a while. Apparently, he was an artist. Very hipster like.

I was a bit upset when she told me she had a boyfriend. I always had this fantasy that one day my mother would end up forgiving my father for cheating, and that they would end up getting remarried. But that fantasy was pretty crushed when he married the girl he was cheating on mom with. The twenty four year old, might I mention. He even had the audacity to invite us to his wedding. Of course I didn't go, considering the last time I had seen my dad, he was packing his things in a bright green suitcase, while yelling at my pregnant mother. He has never even met Blair. Oh well, his loss. According to my mom, Jeremiah is different. They've been dating for almost eight months now. She waited until the fifth to tell me.

All of the urgent matters at work that took hours started to make sense. Whatever, I'm happy for her, seriously. She deserves love. I just hope that this Jeremiah guy is what she's looking for. Blair met him over the summer. According to her, he was nice. He bought her a new bike, after she left hers in the middle of the road, causing some middle aged guy to crush it. Blair cried for a week. Until Jeremiah bought her a bike. Maybe I should ask for a new bike.

I sat with Blair at the kitchen island, as she slurped her milk from her cereal bowl, watching frozen. I toyed with my oatmeal, not really hungry. I couldn't stop thinking about last night. So much had happened, and I didn't know how to feel. I was only sure of one thing. I needed to chill. Like, seriously chill. I was not desperate enough for sex that I would turn to my best friend ever for it. I was sure of another thing. I was definitely attracted to Gage. Physically speaking, of course. I cut myself some slack, because even Blair has noticed how cute he is.

But I need to stop thinking about him in a sexual manner. It's gross. He's practically my brother. My super hot brother. Yup. I took a big bite of oatmeal when my front door opened. Jumping out of my seat, I  almost sprinted to my moms bedroom, where she kept a gun. She said it was a necessity in a house with three girls. My face relaxed and I calmed down when I realized it was just said hot brother. Shirtless.

"Oh. Hey, I didn't know you guys were up." He said, wiping a bead of sweat off his forehead, he was carrying his fathers toolbox. I swallowed the oatmeal that was still in mouth so that I could respond, but I felt it get stuck in my throat. I ran to the kitchen for my glass of water, and quickly gulped some down. But I guess I swallowed too much, because once I tried to swallow, water came out of my nose, and I opened my mouth and spilled some water, and oatmeal chunks.

Oh great. This was so sexy, Belle. Way to go. I coughed extremely loud until I felt I got that oatmeal out of the way. I wiped my mouth with a paper towel then grabbed another piece for the floor. Then, I faced my guest, my face bright red from my near death choking experience. And embarrassment.

I turned to see Gage with his head bent over. I furrowed my eyebrows and walked towards him, as I saw him shake lightly. He had his hands on his knees. I ran to him now, afraid he was having a seizure or something, but when I saw his face, I calmed down. He was laughing!

"Unbelievable! You walk into my house, make me choke, then laugh at me! Preposterous!" I put my hands on my hips. He let out a roar of laughter and stood up right, clutching his stomach, still laughing. I started to giggle when I caught tears down his eyes.
"Stop being a jerk!" I punched him playfully.
"Oh my fucking God." He said, but when he saw Blair staring at him, he smiled guiltily. "Freaking gosh. That was hilarious. Made my day, seriously." He wiped his tears away.

I huffed and sat back in my chair. "What are you doing here anyways?" I asked, taking a much smaller bite of my oatmeal now.
"Ouch. You hurt me, Belley, right here." He said, pointing to his heart. I made a show of dramatically rolling my eyes when he took the empty seat next to Blair.
"I'm setting up this new bed for your mom." He said, reaching over to grab a blueberry off my bowl. I just let him, not having enough energy to fight for my food.
"Cool. You wanna play babysitter too? I need to catch some sleep, for real. Or else I'll look like a walking zombie when Jeremiah gets here."

Gage shrugged. "Sure. You should probably let me finish the bed though. I don't want anything to happen to Blair while I'm focused on something else." He said. I smiled sweetly.
"You're the best, Gager. I seriously owe you." I said, blowing him a kiss. His demeanor changed as she shrugged, and gave Blair a kiss on the cheek. Then he grabbed his toolbox and went upstairs.

I tried not to stare too hard at his back muscles. Lord. He's going to make me act crazy at eight in the freaking morning. I finished off my oatmeal and scrolled through my phone for a little, when I heard heavy footsteps. It was Gage, in his Docs. And jeans. And wife beater in his back pocket. Yeah, I need some sleep.

"You're good to go sleep." He told me, putting his shirt back on. I didn't even bother averting my gaze. I stared at his sweaty, chiseled chest. Then I met his eyes, and looked away and nodded. I put my bowl away.
"Thanks again. You can wake me up if you wanna go home."
"Sure. I wanted to spend time with my favorite girl anyways." He looked at Blair. "How does the park sound? I'll bring Bailey!" He said in an enthusiastic tone.

I smiled at him and trudged up the stairs. He was going to make a great father one day.