The Stepbrother // Luke Hemmings

"i'll be your dr. fluke"

13| "i'll be your dr. fluke"

Luke doesn't say anything to me for almost the entire ride home until we're pulling up into the driveway. I don't really mind that much because I'm too busy nursing my knee, trying to ignore how much it actually hurts. I'm thinking about my punishment when he cuts the engine declaring that we're home and I look up at him, confused. "Hey, what are you doing? Aren't we supposed to be going to the dress fitting?"

Blue eyes stare at me, his eyebrows narrowed together in annoyance and Luke shakes his head. "Wow."

"Wow, what?"

"That dress fitting that everyone wasted an hour of their time just to wait to see if you would ever care enough to show up to was over a while ago." When he says this, I have to admit that I feel bad. Not for him though, my mom.

My teeth find my bottom lip, guilt ridden, and I watch as he leans over to grab something out of the backseat. It's a folder and he quickly folds it over and tucks it underneath his arm, "Better start thinking of a really good lie."

He leans forward to pull the key from the ignition, climbing out of the car with that long limb grace of his and I stumble out and into the house after him. For a minute, I start to think that maybe he's gonna come into the kitchen with me to face my mom. I could definitely use the back up. But instead, he kicks off his sneakers and heads upstairs without another look at me.

I sigh. Nice to know where his loyalties were.

"Glad to see that you finally decided to come home. You're  grounded." My mom says casually, the minute I step into the kitchen. In her hand is what looks like could be a glass of white wine and her lips are  pursed as she closely inspects the hot pink dress that's laying across the counter top.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I completely forgot about the fitting." I rush out. Andrew glances up at me from  where he's scrutinizing three pairs of cuff links, his mouth set in a hard straight  line and I blush. Crap, Andrew's mad at me, too?

"Where were  you?" She asks me, holding up the dress. It's a huge, puffy, frilly mess of fabric and floral print and I hope to God that's not what she thinks I'm gonna be  wearing to her wedding. Let alone, anywhere in public. I look away before she can notice the horrified look on my face.

"I was with a friend. I lost track of time." I take a seat at the island.

With a shake of her head, I watch as my mom thumbs her glasses up her nose before taking another sip of her drink. She passes me the glass and then her brown eyes meet mine. Oh boy. I brace myself for the lecture.

"Annie, you need to  get it together. I understand that you want to be able to do things, trust me I get it. It's summer, you're young, you've got these new friends and all that you want to hang out with. I understand and for the most part, I'm okay with that. But what I'm not okay with is you setting your priorities aside to do it. How could you not show up to something as important as the dress fitting? I had to bring your dress home, just so they wouldn't charge us another hour."

Looking down at the glass in my hands, I gently run my fingertips up and down the flute. I notice how the blue on my nails is starting to chip and I make a mental note to change the polish before muttering, "I know, and I said I was sorry."

"Sorry isn't gonna always save you, Anastasia." She goes back to the dress, sighing. "With all that said, from now on, you can't go out unless one of us is with you. Understand?"