Last One Standing (wattys2017) (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Girl Next Door

I woke to the sound of a garage door being slammed shut.

The noise was enough to wake the entire neighborhood and then some; one of the main reasons our side of the street had more or less glued it shut and the other side of the street had been expanding since I was in kindergarten and had stop installing them altogether.

Sitting up, I knew there was only one reason a garage door would be slammed shut; someone had finally moved into the old Lincoln's place next door.

I kicked my feet under my comforter before sliding out of bed and walking out of my room. Considering my brothers all went into hibernation during the night and most of the day, I didn't think any of them would be down there. To say I was surprised when I found them all crowded on the porch, fully dressed, when I came out would be an understatement. My brothers would only get up this early for one thing; a girl.

Johnny was the first to look over his shoulder and flash me a smile, "We've got new neighbors!"

I pushed into my herd of brothers and came out in front, craning my neck to see what they all were watching.

My eyes immediately fell on a girl around our age with dark hair, carrying a box that she looked seconds away from dropping. I was sure her father and her could feel our eyes on them, and after a moment, they both turned in our direction with a friendly wave.

The man looked to be a little older than our father, eyes bright and glistening as he slapped a hand on his petite daughter's back and made a gesture toward us. The girl, a good two or three inches shorter than I was rolled her dark eyes and pushed a loose strand of her wavy chocolate locks off her sweaty forehead.

"She's cute." Mason nudged Aaron with a suggestive look. I shook my head, beginning to back away.

There was no chance I could find a friend in this girl, one of my brothers would chew her up and spit her out faster than she could even unpack the boxes and bags in her new room.

Griffin caught my elbow on my way back in, pulling me into the foyer and out of hearing range of my brothers.

"You doing okay?" he bit at his lip nervously, earning a small smile out of me.

"I'm fine, Griffin." I assured him with a pat on the back. He stared at me skeptically, but never got the chance to question my answer. Jace and my brothers walked back in, crowding around the poor girl from outside. She was trying to free herself from Aaron's grip as she made a gesture with her thumb over her shoulder.

"Do these guys belong to you?" she asked, eyebrows shooting up.

I smirked a little, "Unfortunately, yes."

"I'm going to venture a guess and say players? Or douchebags? Possibly jerks?" she looked as if she were trying to hold back a smile.

"All of the above, but they're loveable once they warm up to you." Griffin threw his arm over my shoulder with a laugh at the same time the girl turned her eyes to him.

The disgusted look she had thrown my brothers way vanished when her dark eyes fell on Griffin. She suddenly seemed to curl into a shell and cross her arms, becoming self conscious.

"I'm Alex and this is Griffin." I nodded toward the imbecile beside me, "As for my brothers, I'll give you the pleasure of being introduced to them individually."

I shrugged Griffin's arm off and headed for the staircase, feeling eyes following me.

"Where are you going?" Jace asked, head cocked a fraction of an inch.