The Step Brother

5. This Is Not A Date.

Willow

He saw her naked.

It's horrifying to think about. She laid in bed all night reliving it over and over, burying her face in her squishmallow, thinking it possible for her hot cheeks to burn straight through its plush belly. Jace Quinn has now seen her naked. And when she stepped into his room, he couldn't even look her in the eye. Ugh! No boy has ever seen her naked. Come to think of it, no one's seen her naked- apart from Mom when she was a toddler but that's it.

It just had to be him, didn't it?

Her and Jace agreed to go to the mall around noon. She stays in her room all that Saturday morning until she hears him leave for a workout around 9am. She takes this chance to shower and brush her teeth, combing through her long brown hair before she tries to find an outfit in her closet. Normally she wouldn't give so much thought to her clothes. But now she's driven by something boiling underneath the surface- slowly but surely. She wants him to like her. As... as... as what? She's not entirely sure.

After half an hour, she finally settles on a yellow sundress with floral patterns on it and some black converse. She messes around with her hair until she decides on doing a half up do when she can't make up her mind. She thinks about not wearing makeup but then she decides against it; applying some blush, mascara, and pink lip gloss.

She stops by the parents room to let her mom know she's heading out. "Heading to the mall now."

Elena, typing away at her laptop, looks up at her daughter's entrance. She quickly retrieves her wallet from her purse and hands Will a few 20s. "How long do you think you two will be out?"

"Not sure. I'll text you if you shouldn't wait up for dinner."

"Thank you!" Her mom says, waving goodbye without looking away from her screen.

Will heads down the carpeted stairs, tucking the bills into her small purse, along with her phone. She finds Jace and his dad sitting at opposite ends of the dining table, eating cereal, not saying anything to the other. Both of them look up when they hear her enter. It seems like Jace got most of his mom's looks because he looks nothing like his dad, although who knows? She doesn't know what his Mom looked like.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were eating breakfast. I thought..." Will starts. What did she think...?

Jace looks down at his bowl of half eaten cereal then back up at her then to his dad. He shakes his head and quickly rises to his feet, pouring the soggy contents into the sink and going to take her hand. "No, let's grab a bite to eat first. See ya' later, Dad."

He closes the front door before Dad can even respond, following Willow into the driveway. He unlocks the doors and goes to the driver's side. But then he rethinks it's quickly and jogs around the car before she can open her door. "I got it." He smiles.

She looks up, surprised. "Oh, thank you." She climbs into the passenger seat and smiles nervously at him as he closes the door, watching as he makes his way back to the driver side.

"Anything sound particularly good?" He asks once he's started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

When he does this, his arm stretches out behind her head rest as he turns to watch for cars. Her eyes focus on the muscles of his arm, the preoccupied look on his face, the way his lips part. She even catches a whiff of his cologne. It's sweet and spicy at once, like Burberry.