Sexy Stepbrothers (10 page)

“I was fairly well acclimated and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity not to go there if not only to see what it would be like.” He stopped again, looking down at the table. “In hindsight it might have been the best or worst decision of my life. I guess only time will tell.”

He didn’t continue and Hannah, clearly wanting every bit of attention from him, couldn’t keep quiet. “Go on! What happened?”

Andrew sighed. “Being the way I am, and my dear sister can attest to this, I made my way to the first base camp totally alone as my friends were not sure if they could make the climb. You might have seen the one picture from me at the base camp on Instagram where I was smiling in front of the colorful tents, sunshine reflecting from my sunscreen covered nose?”

“That was a cool picture. Your teeth were almost as white as the sunscreen by the way,” Hannah flirted.

Andrew smiled. “That was taken right after I arrived around noon. It was one of the best feelings I have ever had. But you know there were no pictures taken after that.” He stopped again and began fidgeting with his fingers, but this time Hannah didn’t do what she had done previously.

The silence continued until I barely whispered: “Why didn’t you take any more pictures?”

Andrew looked almost sorry for having to speak about it. I could feel my stepbrother’s anxiety, the way I had always instinctively known his mood when we were growing up. I wanted to console him and make him feel better, even though I didn’t know what hurt him so much.

“Few minutes after I had arrived, I saw a team of climbers walking down the path from Camp II pulling several sleds behind them. I didn’t think it meant anything unusual until I saw people running to them with medical equipment. I stayed away from the doctors as they did their thing. Soon after I heard that a US team had been trapped on the mountain because of a snowstorm.”

He swallowed a lump and curled in his lips. “Later that day, I was standing next to a person making a phone call on a satellite phone when I heard the names of the deceased. I’ll never forget the moment your whole world crumbles.”

The tears in my eyes blurred my vision once I realized what had happened.

Andrew covered his face in his hands before he began sobbing. “I’m sorry,” he said from behind his hands, “this really isn’t a good story to tell.” He stood up and walked away.

The rest of us were left around the table gobsmacked. None of us knew what to say. I don’t think any of us could have predicted such a tragedy for him coming home after being gone for so long.

My heart sunk deep in my chest and pressure on my neck and chest made it difficult to breathe. I took deep breaths to prevent the oncoming panic attack from settling in and after a few seconds, I sensed the tightness ease. But it didn’t prevent the tears in my eyes from pouring down my cheeks.

“I better go console him,” Hannah said before she rushed after him.

I wiped the tears from my face, with the sunken feeling of realizing Andrew’s suffering tore at my soul.

If I had only known about this, perhaps I could have helped him? Why couldn’t I have been there for him?

I hated myself for not noticing his sad demeanor.

The flood barriers in my eyes broke again when even though I thought I had managed to pick myself up enough. I quietly sobbed into my hands thinking about what he must have had gone through all alone on that mountain.

I had to give him a hug. My stepbrother needed to know his sister was there for him. I had to help him, because I loved him.

I loved him more than I should have, and more than what was allowed.

I jumped up from my seat, almost toppling the chair. I wiped my face clean of tears the best I could as I walked towards the bedroom where he had gone.

I would give him a bear hug, and it would make all the pain go away. It had worked when we were young, and it had to work now. It had to.

I opened the bedroom door and whatever I thought had been the lowest point in my life so far was a distant second from that moment on. I saw Andrew’s back from behind before Hannah’s hands snaked around his neck and she leaned in to kiss him.

My whole world crumbled and there was no escape.

Her hands moved around his body, touching my stepbrother like she owned him. I needed to get away from here. I couldn’t take this. Not now.

I must have made a sound because they turned around to face me. My brother tried to say something to me, but my mind went blank. I saw him move closer to me, but the words he was saying didn’t make sense to me.

It felt like I no longer belonged in the same world with them, everything took place in slow motion. I knew what had to be happening, but my mind couldn’t process it.

I began walking towards the front door when something grabbed me by the arm. I pulled my arm away and continued on determinedly.

This wasn’t happening. Not now. Not after all I had just gone through. I had had so much love for him and he decides now is the time to get it on with Slutty McSlut.

I couldn’t take this.

FUCK!

I rushed to get my shoes and jacket on and slammed the door behind me.

What had been the picture perfect winter evening to finally reunite with my stepbrother had turned into the saddest day of my life.

Light snow fell on my face. The cold winter air I took made my nostrils constrict from the freezing air. I tried putting on the jacket but something was stuck on the sleeve: my scarf, mittens and the woolly hat. I wrapped the scarf around my neck and closed the zipper all the way up to my scarf.

I looked at the woolly hat in my hands. It had had significance to me when I had arrived to his homecoming party, but that reason had lost its meaning. In a fit of anger I threw the hat away as far as I could. I didn’t need any reminders of him ever again.

I placed the woolly mittens on my small hands before I tucked them into my pockets. The cold snow scrunched beneath my feet, reminding me of the stupidity of walking back to the dorm in this cold.

The anger still boiled inside me. Some stupid weather couldn’t stop me from getting away from this place.

I opened the front gate to the house and made my way back home. It normally took me twenty minutes during the summer to walk here, but in the deep snow? Who knew? But I didn’t care. The fresh snow certainly didn’t make the travel any easier. Almost a foot of new snow had fallen and no one appeared to have cleared the walkways.

If I just made it back home, I could cry myself to sleep and try to forget about Andrew.

Chapter 2

My hands and face were freezing. I tried to warm up by covering my face with my mittens and breathing into them, but it didn’t help. Any warmth from my breath froze soon after and made me even colder than before.

I had to keep pushing on. I would get home eventually and then I could start figuring out a new place to live. Hannah would never get off my shit list.

My body sweated from walking in the deep snow and the coldness began take a hold of me. My body had started shivering half way to the store. I decided to take a shortcut to the dorm through a small forest and some private properties to save me some time, but it hadn’t worked out in my favor: the fresh snow only made the trip take longer.

I walked for what seemed like an eternity but I was still too far away. The anger I had felt when I saw him with Hannah no longer boiled inside me. I grew tired from walking in the deep snow and no longer having the rage to keep me going slowed my pace down.

I became even more tired. My short legs couldn’t keep walking in snow so deep forever. I would need to take a small rest. I just had to.

I saw a small store in front of me.

BINGO!

I’d have cup of sweet coffee and be ready to go!

The only thing between me and the coffee shop was a fence that went around the property. I decided to hop over the fence to save some time from being in the coldness than any longer than necessary.

The fence was only about five feet high, and I thought I could easily get over it. I lifted my leg up to it, grabbed the fence with my hands and hopped over it, only to find my grip slipping away from the cold steel.

It didn’t take long for me realize what has happening, but before I could do anything about it, I was face down in the snow on the other side of the fence.

Of course it would happen to me. Why wouldn’t it? It was stupid of me of not to expect it. This was the perfect day for Jessica!

I was face deep in the snow and my emotions rushed back to surface. I sobbed in the snow, thinking what had just happened.

I rolled around to my back and the tears were quickly freezing on my cheeks. My chest moved up and down as the dam that had kept my sorrow at the back of my mind finally gave in.

I cried my soul out lying in the snow.

It was stupid of me to think anything was going to happen between me and him. Why did I even entertained the notion?

The adrenaline from falling on my face made me forget about the bitter cold, but it the shivering was soon back.

I walked up to the door of the coffee house and pulled on it.

It wouldn’t open.

I tried pushing the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

I used both of my hands; pulling and pushing the door, but it wouldn’t move. The door only rattled against the frame.

That is when it hit me.

The friggin’ coffee shop was closed.

I kept tugging at the cold handle of the door, hoping it would somehow open. But it didn’t.

The coffee shop was closed and I was getting so cold my hands were shivering almost uncontrollably. I hadn’t prepared for walking home. Who would have known the turn of events that happened? I was supposed to go back with my roommate, Hannah.

I buried my face in my mittens while I thought what I could do to get out of this mess. Could I send Hannah a text message to come pick me up? Would I want to see her face? But what alternatives there were? Calling Andrew?

No way. No way!

I wouldn’t speak to him ever again.

And that made things clear for me: I would text Hannah, hoping she was done with my brother already.

I took off my mittens, exposing my hands to the freezing winter air. I pulled my phone from my pocket and keyed the cold buttons in the moonlight.

I sent a text to Hannah:

“Could you come pick me up at the coffee shop? I’m freezing and can’t walk back to dorm.”

I sat down in front of the coffee shop and hugged my legs warm myself up. I even buried my face in my chest, hoping to bring back at least some heat back into my frozen ears and cheeks.

It wouldn’t take long for Hannah to get here. She would be soon here.

There was, sitting in front of a closed coffee shop and the damn door kept creaking every time I adjusted my position.

Shut up coffee shop! I don’t need your shit now! I’ve got enough problems of my own!

Only my thoughts kept me company. The constant bickering inside my mind about what I should have done and why I had placed myself in this position again. If I only could tell my mind to shut up the same way I could tell the door to stop creaking.

And the door creaked again.

Ok, I couldn’t even tell the door what to do. Damnit!

Why did he have to have a house here? There was nothing here except this stupid coffee shop. “Which is closed!” I yelled out.

After my temper tantrum was finally over, I tried to get as comfortable as I could. My mind wandered around the history me and Andrew had had. Our special tree climbing competitions in our back yard and the way we had sneaked outside during summer nights just to see who would get on top of the tall oak tree faster.

We would have an alarm go off in the middle of the night just so we could have more time playing in the trees. Our parents had forbidden the nightly climbs, so we had to be quiet. No words were needed as we opened our bedroom window and climbed down from the second floor.

We would run with our bare feet in the fresh grass and the moonlight would light our playtime just enough. We had gone even so far as having separate clothing as to not get caught by our mother in the morning.

However, we never could explain why the bottoms of our feet were green, and I think she must have known. She must have.

The memories of growing up were enough to make the sadness fade away enough that the deep hole engulfing me wasn’t as deep any more.

Hannah would come soon and I could move on with my life. After all, he was the one that had suddenly disappeared on me after the camping trip we had taken with our friends.

“Of course you are here, stupid girl,” a man’s voice said, “stand and let’s get you to the car”. I knew I recognized the voice, but I couldn’t figure out whose it was.

I tried to open my eyes, but something was keeping them closed. It was as if my eyelashes had been clued together.

I tried to say something, but only the faintest whisper came out. I was too cold to think and couldn’t resist what was happening.

I struggled to get up, but legs wouldn’t move.