Without Words

5- Non- Confrontation turned Confrontation

"Where were you?" Matt greeted me as I entered the living room. I could see his friends by the pool, loud and boisterous as ever, not to mention messy. I've seen a couple of his friends hanging out and I've safely avoided them. I'm not being rude, they just were too chaotic for my taste. I didn't even know Matt like this kind of company. The girls were worse, Tabi would be disappointed. The clones, Stacey and Ashley, apologized to me after the first day fiasco and for some reason wanted to take me shopping and then started acting as if we're best friends. Some girls from school started introducing themselves to me. I was polite but it was clear their intentions weren't sincere. To them, I was just the popular guy's little sister.

"Aww, were you worried about me? That is so sweet bro." I forced a smile as I made my way upstairs in my room.

"Whatever." He mumbled back as he returned to the loud crowd in the pool. I hope they freeze in there.

I made my way to my safe haven, the part of the day I was mostly looking forward to. My room is the only part of the house I stay in the longest; it was my own private personal space. I was about to open my door when someone came out of my brother's room just across from mine.

"Oh." Another blonde girl stared at me in shock, then, she recovered and gave me a megawatt smile that almost blinded me. "You must be Eliza, nice to finally meet you. I'm Sophie." She offered her hand and I shook it warily.

I remember her. My own mother apparently thinks of her as her own daughter. And from the looks of it, my own brother seems to see her as a sister too.

"They're downstairs by the pool. It's not hard to miss them. Just follow their incredibly loud cheers and laugh." I said politely as I headed back to my room.

"I'm not here for them." She quickly replied. "I'm just here to check in Mattie's homework. I was tutoring him for Math."

Mattie. Wow, how sweet. Maybe she would be a better sister than me. They certainly look more like siblings and have a way better relationship compared to dear ole' me.

"That's nice." I muttered, not sure how to reply to that.

"I didn't mean anything by it." She said defensively and moved closer to me. "I'm just better at Math and his friends are of no help. I don't like his chosen crowd too much."

"At least we agree on one thing."

"Mattie said you still have a lot of things unpacked. Would you like some help?" She offered graciously and waited on her toes for my reply. Her eyes were practically gleaming.

I sighed, mentally deciding how I should break it up to her. Mom informed me of Sophie, she is the daughter of her long-time boyfriend, Andy, whose wife had left him. Mom and Andy have been dating for almost two years and he has my brother's seal of approval. The couple would go to dinners together and Sophie naturally became closer to my mom and brother as well. From the looks of it, it's not hard to like her. She's a bit shorter than me, with straight platinum blonde hair that reaches her shoulders. She's curvaceous and leaning bit on the chubby side. But she's beautiful nonetheless, her hazel doe eyes stared at me with hope and I just feel a bit bad for what I'm about to say.

"Listen, Sophie." I said gently, trying my best not to offend her. It's not her fault we're in this kind of situation. "I know you're close with mom and Matt but you don't have to force yourself on me, or force our friendship for that matter."

She looked shocked and was quick to disagree but I stopped her.

"You're a sweet girl and all I'm saying is if we're going to be friends, then at least let it happen naturally. I'm not very good at pretending."