Stepbrother

Chapter 8

We ran for a good fifteen minutes before I heard my mom cussing behind us. I looked over my shoulder to see her falling behind.

Jeremy slowed down. "Don't slow down, you idiot!" I yelled, grabbing his shirt and pulling him along.

"But she slowed down!"

"She's trying to trick you!" I said, panting. Jeremy sighed and picked up his pace slightly. I heard my mom's footsteps getting closer behind us.

We turned a corner. Jeremy jumped into me, we went flying into an alley. "What the fuck?" I asked, after we landed on the ground. He put a hand over my mouth and shushed me.

I watched Mom run past the opening to the alley. I laughed softly and put my head down on the ground.

Jeremy shifted, and I realized he was on top of me. He looked down at me and our eyes met. "Um.." he mumbled. "Hi," he smiled sheepishly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to my daughter?!" Mom yelled. We looked up to see her standing at the beginning of the alley.

Jeremy shifted uncomfortably. "I umm.." he said, eyes wide. "We weren't doing anything."

"Yeah, right!" she snorted. "Get off my daughter!" She can't tell him what to do! Jeremy began to lift himself off of me, but I grabbed his shirt and pulled him back down. He landed heavily on me, and nearly knocked the breath out of me, considering he's about twice my weight.

"She doesn't control you," I whispered. Jeremy's face twisted up into a smirk.

"You don't tell me what to do!" Jeremy said coldly.

"Yes, I do! Now, get off of her!" she yelled. "You can't be with your stepsister!"

"I don't plan on it," Jeremy said sarcastically. "You're not my mom or my dad. You can't make me do anything!"

Mom stomped like an angry horse and walked home, screaming Jeff's name. Jeremy looked down at me and smiled. I laughed softly. "Is this awkward?" he asked. I smiled and nodded. He sat up and climbed off of me.

"No! I take it back!" I said. "It's cold." I whined.

"We live in Florida," he rolled his eyes. I sighed and shrugged. "Fine, come here," he said, opening his arms. I smiled and moved over to him.

"I honestly thought I would hate you," Jeremy said. "But you're like, at the top of my friends list."

"Why?" I asked.

"Why I thought I would hate you, or why your my best friend?"

"Both."

"Well, I just thought you'd be like every other chick I know. Prissy and too good for everyone else. And your at the top of my friends list because... well I can't cuddle with Neil!" he smiled.

I laughed. "Gabe and I cuddled once. We were in Canada so it was okay."

"I disapprove," Jeremy said.

"Get over it!" I rolled my eyes. Jeremy shook his head and pulled me closer. I tensed at the contact of our thighs.

"JEREMY WADE MCKINNON!"

"Oh crap, he's pissed," Jeremy said, looking up. His dad and my mom were stomping up to us.

"Let her go right now!" his father said, pointing at us. Jeremy took his hands back slowly. "Now son, why the hell would you try to rape your sister?" My eyes widened.

"What?!" Jeremy yelled. "I wasn't gonna rape her!" I looked over at my mom. She always likes to accuse people of things they didn't do, or make up lies about something someone did.

"Jordan said you were trying to kiss her and that you were gonna rape her," Jeff said, looking over at my mom.

"I would never even think about... That's disgusting!" Jeremy yelled. "I was just hugging her."

Jeff turned to my mom. "Hey, the kids are getting along!"

"Well, yeah.." she said. I could tell she was trying to think of something else to accuse Jeremy of.

"Just be home before dinner," Jeff nodded, dragging my mom by the arm. I fell over laughing.

"Hey, that's not even funny," Jeremy said. "Your mom just accused me of rape!"

"That's not funny. She's so funny," I said, leaning on his shoulder. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "It's so weird.. We just met and I'm leaning on your shoulder."

"I know..." Jeremy said. "I was on top of you a few minutes ago." I looked at him. He laughed.

"I never open up this easy," I said. "Like, never. It took Gabe months to get me to have a full conversation with him."

"I just don't like people. They always call me 'the stupid kid with a beard and those things in his ears.' ..Yeah, people suck," he said.

I smiled. "I totally agree. I'm always 'that goth kid with the emo band shirts and that only wears vans'"

"That's not even true! You've worn converse before."

"Aw, you noticed!" I smiled. He looked away. "I only wear those when I skate though. I tend to scuff them up."

"Come on," he said, offering a hand. "I'm tired of sitting on the ground."

"But I don't wanna stand up," I said. He sighed and dropped his arm. He bent down and picked me up bridal style.

"No! Jeremy, stop! Put me down!" I cried out. He laughed as I clung to his chest. "Why'd you do this to meee?" I whined. His chest vibrated with laughter.

"You're getting heavy," he sighed.

"That's mean," I said, looking up at him. He looked at me.

"No... I-I didn't mean.." he stuttered.

"I was kidding." I said, jumping out of his grasp. We walked, bumping shoulders occasionally.

When we got to the door, I took a deep breath. He gave me a weird look as he opened the door. "Jeremy, what did you do to her? I swear I will hurt you!" Mom greeted. Jeremy's eyes widened.

"I didn't do anything to her," Jeremy said. "I promise, I would never do anything to hurt her."

"I know you didn't abuse her, but did you rape her?!" Mom asked.

"No! Why would I do that?!" he asked. "I wouldn't do anything to her."

"Fine then. I'll catch you one day!" she stomped off.

"I'm glad that if you did rape me she would totally be doing something about it," I said sarcastically, walking up the stairs. Jeremy followed.

"One messed up parent plus one messed up parent doesn't equal two good parents," he sighed.

"Yeah. I think my mom is getting worse. She has someone else to blame stuff on," I sighed. Jeremy shook his head as we entered my room.... uh, our room.

I flopped down on my bed and Jeremy sat down on his. "I wanna meet this Gabe kid," Jeremy said, looking at me. I raised an eyebrow.