Off Limits [c.h.]

Awkward encounters

A friend of mine once said that she'd do anything to have an older brother, someone who could be protective of her, someone to steal shirts from and all that other stuff you see older brothers do in movies.

Her statement made me laugh. Having an older brother is not getting free hugs whenever you want or hearing threats of beating up the boys you date. Having an older brother is fighting for the bathroom every morning and more often that not, losing. It's being annoyed to your very limit and having to yell on the top of your lungs to get him to turn his god damn music down.

"Michael!" I march out of my bedroom and straight into his. "I'm trying to study!"

Michael, who's lying on his bed, looks up from his phone. "You're welcome for the music sister! I mean, didn't you say you study better with music?"

I glare at him. "Yes, but not when the bass is making my head explode. Please turn the volume down?"

He sighs. "Fine." He rolls off his bed and walks over to his stereo where he turns the volume down. "Happy now?"

"A little." I flash him a grin before returning to my bedroom and sitting down on the floor next to my text- and notebooks. History is a boring subject, so trying to get the things Napoleon did into my head is really hard, no matter how colourful my notes are.

Michael's music is still heard from his room, so I plug in my headphones and put on music of my own. That's one of the clear differences between Michael and me. He only uses headphones when he's in public, otherwise he thinks they're a waste of time. I, however, always use headphones. I don't know why, it just feels better that way.

People say that Michael and I look alike, but our similarities stop there. While I go out to parties, Michael stays indoors with his video games. Michael managed to graduate high school, I'm a top mark student. One thing we do have in common though is our love for rock music. That's something I'm grateful for, I think I would've died if i didn't enjoy listening to All Time Low for 14 hours of the day.

I roll over so I'm on my back, holding my notebook over my head as my eyes scan the pages filled with notes in black, pink and light blue. A small doodle of the French flag in the top left corner of a page is the result of my boredom during class.

I stay on the floor for about an hour, and when I decide to take a break and get something to eat, the small alarm clock on my night stand shows 6:30. I get off the floor and take a turn past Michael's room. "Hey, I'm going down to the kitchen, do you want anything?"

"Yeah, could you check if we have any muffins left?" Michael grins, and I roll my eyes.

"Anything else?"

"Four cokes please."

"Four?"

"Yeah, Calum's coming over in a few and we're having two each."

"Oh, ok. So muffins and cokes? Got it." I leave his room, a weird feeling filling my stomach at the thought of Michael's best friend.

Calum and Michael have been best friends for as long as I can remember, they're practically inseparable. My mother calls them "the troublemakers" since they're almost always up to something. Sometimes it's like they're one mind, it's rather scary.

Add the fact that Calum is probably one of the most attractive boys I've met in my life, he has about everything. He's athletic (captain of the school football team between year 10 and 12), tall, dark brown, mysterious eyes and a smile that can light up a room. He's also a really nice person, always saying hi when he passes my bedroom and so on. Do I have a crush on him? Well, yeah.

I know having feelings for my brother's best friend probably isn't the best thing, but what harm will it do? I mean, it's just a harmless crush, right?