Step Siblings

The Text

Eleanor
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I'm a sixteen year old junior in high school. Stereotypically, I should be worried about school work and stressed about future tests, but instead I'm sitting in my room staring at the ceiling wondering why I get disgusted when I look at men. I remind myself. You're straight. You don't like women. I don't get nervous around men, but I feel like I should. I feel obligated to go get a boyfriend and lose my virginity at some high school party where all there is is alcohol and people making out every time I turn my head.

I hear a sudden knock on my door. I shoot up and grab a pillow for self defense, only to see Liam standing in the doorway of my bedroom. Two years ago I was laying in this exact same spot, crying over him. But now I couldn't get rid of him.

"Jeez what do you want?"

He leaps onto my bed from the doorway, almost hitting his head on the wall, "Do you wanna do something?"

"Like?"

He shrugs and lays down on his back, "I don't know i'm just bored."

I sit crisscross and look down at him, "You're only bored because Cyrus is at his new job."

He smiles and becomes remarkably flustered, "OR I just want to hang with my little sister."

"Mhm." I say, unamused, "I'm always a plan B y'know."

He gasps as if I just called him a slur, "El that's not true."

I laugh, "I know. Im just playing. What do you have in mind?"

He sighs and looks at the same spot on the ceiling I previously had my vision fixed on, "We could see a movie or go out to lunch."

"Sure."

He jumps up and fixes his fluffy blonde hair, "Let's go!"

"Oh- you mean right now?"

He nods, "If you want."

I shrug and stand up, "I guess."

As we make our way through the house, I look at the corner of the living room where it happened. Day by day I learned how to sit comfortably in the living room without breaking down. One day, this past June, Liam sat in there with me to remind me there was nothing to be scared of. And he was right.

His car was the same as it's always been. When he first came home me and Cyrus had a hard time explaining what happened to the radio and dashboard, but he finally got over it and we got a car refresher to make up for it. The music is still a bit crackly but I suppose we can't complain if it's still in one whole piece.

The sun was extra sparkly today. It's extremely cool for a casual February day, and I'm in an perpetually good mood because school is cancelled for a few days. Something about a shooting threat or some shit.

"Where are we going?"

He turns out of our neighborhood and flashes a big toothy smile, "This coffee shop I heard about. I think you'll like it."

"I don't drink coffee. I thought we established this."

He hits me playfully on the side of my arm, "There's things other than coffee there, dumbass."

"How would you know if you've never been there?"

He groans, "You just love getting a rise out of me, don't you?"

I cackle, "Yeah I do actually."

The rest of the way there, me and Liam proceed to tease each other, but I always won. His only comebacks had to do with my bangs that I tried to cut by myself and my clumpy mascara, neither of which looked bad on me.