The Stepbrother // Luke Hemmings

"what's so bad about penguins?"

7| "what's so bad about penguins?"

Ashton is sitting on a exercise bike, flipping halfheartedly through a magazine, and eating a bag of Skittles when I finally make it to the brightly lit department store. I stand off to the side for a bit and watch him, trying not to smile as he pours some of the colored candy into his palm; picking them up one by one and tossing them back into his mouth.

He misses, one hitting him in the eye and he smiles to himself before his eyes look up and right at me. Ashton squints, closes his magazine and jumps down before skipping towards me.

"What took so long? I've been waiting for you all day!" He surprises me by pulling me into a hug, and I laugh as he dramatically smashes my head against his chest.

His uniform shirt is cottony and warm against my cheek and I look up at him, "Sorry, I kind of got into a argument with," I pause.

What exactly is Luke to me? I mean, he's not my stepbrother yet and he's definitely not my friend. I frown, "Um, some guy."

Ashton takes a step back, and runs a hand through his hair. Bracelets slide down his arm and he coolly says, "Some guy, huh?"

"Yeah," I mumble.

"Boyfriend?"

Glancing up at Ashton, I notice the wary look on his face and the way he's picking through his Skittles again. He peeks up at me, hazel eyes large and curious, and sight makes me want to smile but I force myself to remain indifferent.

"Nah, just some idiot."

I'm not lying when I say Ashton's aura turns a thousand times brighter, "Cool." Then he motions for me to open my mouth, and with a small laugh I lean my head back and close my eyes, waiting for him to toss Skittles into my mouth.

Out of the handful that he throws, I only actually get like three, "What a waste of good candy."

Ashton playfully rolls his eyes, "Ssh, come on. Follow me."

"I thought I was gonna find out how cool the treadmills were?" I quirk my eyebrow, and point my thumb in the direction of the machines.

He shrugs, "Well, they're not as fun as I thought they'd be."

We end up in the video games section and I don't know whether to laugh or not when Ashton passes me a Wii controller. He grins, and points to the TV, "Know how to play Mario Karts?"

"Who doesn't?"

He flashes me that wide, dimpled grin and then we're playing.
--

Sometime later, when I've beaten Ashton three times and he's cheated more times than I can count, his friend from yesterday, Mike, walks up to us and tugs on Ashton's red shirt.

"Michael, wanna play?" Ashton grins, and holds the Wii remote out to him, "Annie here is a great player, so I can't guarantee you'll win, but it's worth a shot."

So his name is Michael? He doesn't look like a Michael at all. Something meaner.

"You're supposed to be working," He rolls his dark, emerald green eyes, and reaches up to smooth his hair over his forehead.

He has some kind of colored feathers weaved into it today, and I start to tell him I like them, but then when I notice the glare he's sending me, I shut my mouth.

Completely ignoring Ashton's invitation, he says, "We need you on register six, that idiot girl, Jen, she got sick or something."

Ashton nods, and then turns to me, "One more game?"