Chapter 16 Brody
"Mum," Stephanie yells as she steps into the house. "I'm home."
She saw her mum's car in the driveway so she's pretty sure she's home but she doesn't know about her dad.
"I'm in here hun," her mum voices from the living room.
She enters the living room to see her Mum reading a novel on the couch.
"Hey, Sweetie. How was school?" Her mum asks.
"Normal," she shrugs.
"You wanna babysit?"
"Really?"
Her mum nods.
"Sure. When? Who would I be babysitting?" Steph inquires.
"Thursday and Friday after school. It's the daughter of my friend's neighbor," Her mum shrugs.
"Okay, sure. I'm in. Would I go over or she'd be brought here?" Stephanie questions.
"You'll be going there this time around. I'll get you the address."
"Thanks. Where's Dad?"
"He went out with some friends," she replies with her gaze still on the book.
Stephanie nods and turns around to head to her room but hesitates.
"Mum?"
"Hmm."
"What's going on?"
Her mum sighs, clearly unhappy about Steph interrupting her reading.
"Did you guys get fired? Are we moving out? Are you and Dad getting a divorce?" Stephanie's eyes widen and her voice comes out louder at the last question.
Her mum raises an eyebrow at her questions.
She shakes her head slightly, drops the book, and pats the space beside her on the couch.
"Come here. Sit." She beckons on her daughter.
"What makes you think something is wrong?"
"Well, you're home right now?" Stephanie wonders.
"Nothing is wrong dear. We didn't get fired, we aren't moving out and we're definitely not getting divorced," Her mum says rolling her eyes. She doesn't blame Stephanie for thinking something is wrong. She and her husband work for the same company, they're barely home.
"Really?" Stephanie sighs in relief.
"Yeah. We're on a little break," she explains.
"Are you sure you and Dad aren't getting divorced? You can tell me."
"Geez Stephanie! We're not!" Her mum exclaims. "You Dad and I are even going on the date tonight."
"Wow. I was getting scared." Stephanie places a hand on her chest and sighs in relief.
"I'm glad that's all cleared up. Let me get back to reading."
Her mum picks up the novel to continue reading.
"When is the break ending?" Stephanie stands.
"Till the end of this week," Her mum replies, not removing her gaze from the novel.
"Okay...I'm going to my room," Stephanie announces.
"Maybe I should call Brody," she says to herself as she heads up the stairs, not expecting her mum to hear but she does.
"Tell him I said hi."
She nods and continues her journey to her room. She drops her backpack on her reading desk and sits on the chair.
She brings out her phone and dials Brody, her older brother.
It begins to ring and after what feels like forever, he picks up.
"Hey, little sis." She smiles at hearing his familiar voice. She's missed hearing it.
"I'm not little anymore Brody," she rolls her eyes.
He chuckles. "You'll always be little to me, Steph."
There's a pause.
"How are you? Sorry, we haven't been able to talk for a while," he apologizes.
"It's Okay, I get it. You're busy. College's busy. I'm even surprised you answered your phone," Steph confesses.
"It isn't okay, Steph. I'll try to make time for you from now on." Brody sighs, feeling guilty.
"I said it's okay but that doesn't mean I don't miss you. I really do."
"I miss you too."
"So," Steph smiles. "How's college? What is going on in your life? Dating anyone?" She probes.
Brody chuckles again.
"Well, College is stressful as per usual," he pauses, "and well everything is going great."
"Okay...." Steph trails off, giving him the hint to continue. That she isn't quite satisfied with his answer.
He doesn't say anything.
"Brody!"
"Yeah?"
"Continue. Tell me more," she urges him.
"There's nothing more to say. Expect you wanna hear about my lectures."
She sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Are you dating anyone?"
"Well...."
"Brody!" She smiles.
"I'm not dating anyone, Steph." He mutters. He's reluctant to tell her what's on his mind. He doesn't want to burden his little sister with his stupid problems.
"I don't believe you-"
"But," he interrupts, "there's this girl I like."
"Okay. Go on."
"We're friends and she's doing the same major as me. We're close and I think she sees me as her best friend. And that's where the problem is." He says with a perpetually tired voice.
"That isn't a problem. Does she have a boyfriend?" Steph asks the most important question to her.
"She doesn't. Her last one broke up with her about a month ago."
"That's great. It favours you. You like her, right?"
"Yeah, I really like her. A lot. It broke my heart when she cried after the breakup. She was miserable for two weeks and I saw every second of it," he sighs.
"I'm so sorry." Steph waits a few seconds before speaking again. She can't imagine seeing someone she loves in pain.
"When did you realize you have feeling for her?"
"I believe it was when she started dating the last twerp that dumped her. She'd go on and on about how great he is and I began feeling jealous. Turns out he isn't so great after all." He adds the last sentence with a scoff.
"That must have been painful, huh?"
"It was. Trust me, it was terrible."
"You have to tell her Brody. I know you're probably thinking she might not feel the same way and it'll ruin your friendship," she begins.
"Yeah..."
"But you have to be optimistic. She might actually like you. You're her best friend after all."
"Exactly. She has probably friend-zoned me, Steph." Brody mumbles, voicing out what he has been thinking.
"No, she hasn't." Steph doesn't know that but she's hoping that isn't the case.
"Be optimistic. You're a great guy, who wouldn't wanna date you?" She asks rhetorically.
Brody stays quiet.
"Just tell her, please. What's her name?"
"It's Keeley," he replies in a dreamy tone.
Steph giggles at her brother's voice. He sounds like a lovesick idiot.
"Tell me about her," she tells him because she needs to know about this Keeley that has her brother like this.
So Brody begins to ramble about Keeley. Even mentioning tiny habits that people wouldn't usually notice.
By the time he ends, Steph laughs.
"Are you sure you only like her? You're not in love with her?"
Brody lets out a huff. "I'm not."
"Whatever floats your boat," she chuckles. "Just tell her how you feel okay?"
"I'll try."
"And you must tell me when you do that."
He exhales and his voice becomes cheery.
"Tell me what's been going on in your life? How's senior year going?"
"Uhm...I went to a party about two weeks ago."
It takes a few seconds for Brody to comprehend what she said.
"Holy shit! You did NOT!" Brody exclaims, his voice laced with disbelief and surprise.
She laughs at his reaction.
She would be surprised too if she's him.
"I'm serious. Brooke made me go," she explains as she heads to her bed.
"Damn!"
She hears him before he hangs up.
She giggles. She should be confused but she isn't. He would call back.
A few seconds later, he calls her on FaceTime and she answers.
His face comes on the screen as his eyes widen.
"Holy Boloney! Steph, is that you?" He gapes.
"Of course, it's me silly! What's wrong?"
"Your hair. You got a haircut? Why?"
Stephanie shrugs. "I wanted to."
"Wow! You look better. Hot even" He grimaces. "Geez! It felt weird saying that."
"I agree," Steph cringes. Her brother saying she's hot doesn't sound right, it's weird. "So Keeley, you must tell her Brody." She adds with burgeoning excitement.
"I'll try Steph."
"No, you'll do it, okay?" She chides giving him a glare which he shrugs to.
He smirks and raises his eyebrows.
"Look at you giving me advice when you've never had a boyfriend before."
Steph sighs.
"Or have you?" He frowns. He thinks of a lot of questions he'd love to ask her boyfriend if she has one.
She shakes her head.
"I'm forgetting something...." Brody trails off taping his forehead. "Aha! You said something about going to a party?"
Stephanie chuckles. "Yeah, I did."
"This is the part where I squeal in excitement but I'm not a girl so I won't." He says and she laughs at his facial expression.
"How did it happen? How was it? Did you drink? Get drunk? Hook up with someone?" Brody finds himself frowning at the last question.
Stephanie rolls her eyes.
"Now you sound like a girl."
"Tell me what happened. Everything," he demands.
"Since you ask so nicely," she begins sarcastically, "I'll tell you."
"So Brooke made me go-"
"I'm liking Brooke even more. She's taking you out of your comfort zone," Brody interrupts.
Steph narrows her eyes at him on the screen.
"It was crazy. Hormonal teenagers getting drunk and whatnot."
"That's how parties are," he deadpans and gets another glare from her.
"Interrupt me again and I'll stop," she threatens, shooting him a warning look.
"Anyways, Brooke left me to dance with her crush, and later on I ended up in a room where we played Spin the Bottle?"
He nods.
"Brooke made me stay and I ended up kissing Christopher Hayes," she smiles at the memory.
"Christopher Hayes?" Brody frowns.
"Didn't he use to date that bitch in your grade that cheated on him with a guy from my grade when I was a Junior?"
"Yeah, he dated Poison Ivy," Brody chuckles, he finds it amusing that she calls Ivy that.
"Did you just say she cheated with a guy in your grade then?" She asks bemusedly.
"Yeah. You didn't know."
"Nope. That must have been bad. Chris would have felt bad," she blubbers.
"He did. The guy she cheated with, Reid - didn't care. He was a player after all," Brody elaborates.
"She's dating a nice guy now and she doesn't deserve him."
And she'd be hanging with the said guy during the weekend with Brooke and Cole.
Stephanie wonders if she should tell her brother that Chris has been trying to talk to her and Brooke says it because of the kiss but she doesn't believe it.
She decides against it.
"Mum says hi."
"They're home?" He asks in surprise.
"Yeah. They're always busy but they're free this week," she shrugs.
"I'm sorry, Steph." He says with sadness evident on his face.
"It's not your fault," she looks away from the screen to hide the hurt on her face.
"Brody," Steph hears someone yell in a feminine voice from the background.
Brody turns his head in the direction of the voice and then faces the screen back.
"Gotta go," he tells Steph.
"Who's that?"
"It's her," he whispers and then ends the video call with Stephanie laughing.