The Jacket Snatcher

Chapter 34- Brett vs. Luke

         "He's really just all talk," I say, patting Luke on the shoulder as we take a seat on his bed. We've shut ourselves into his and Calum's room for privacy while we talk to Brett.

"I'm actually terrified right now."

I chuckle at the mortified expression on his face as I pull up Skype on my laptop. As soon as it opens and I am online, my brother starts calling.

"It'll be fine," I say one more time before accepting the call. "Hey, Brett," I address the screen. "This is Luke."

Luke gives a timid little wave that would be adorable if it wasn't so hilariously opposite to his normal behavior.

"So it is," Brett says, obviously choosing to play the douche-bag brother card right up front. "How are you, mate?" He says the last word as if using Aussie slang is some sort of insult.

"Yeah, good. Nice to finally meet you," Luke says, deflecting Brett's first barb.

"Would've been nicer to meet you before you decided to hit on my sister," Brett continues.

Luke chuckles. "I get it, man. If I had a sister, I'd feel the same way you do."

"Really? You mean you wouldn't trust the pseudo famous guitar player with the lip ring and girl pants?"

I roll my eyes at the "pseudo famous" dig, but Luke seems to shrug it off.

"Yeah, like I said, I get it." He glances over at me, then back to the screen. "The thing is, you need to know that I really do care about Steph."

Brett raises an eyebrow. I'm not sure if it's at Luke's use of my nickname or at what he says.

"Do you? Why do you care about her? You apparently have hundreds of other girls at your fingertips, so why my little sister?" Brett's mouth tips up in a smirk, he thinks he's finally found a way to make Luke squirm—by having him get sappy about me in front of me. He's right. Luke gets noticeably uncomfortable.

"I'm three minutes younger, Brett. Let it go!" I say, trying to lighten the mood and possibly give Luke a way to change the subject. However, he doesn't take it.

"I like Steph because she's real. She doesn't put up with my crap." Luke smiles as if at a memory. "She's beautiful, but she doesn't use it for attention—she almost gets embarrassed by it." He looks over at me and taps my flushed cheek. "Like now."

I smack his hand away. "Okay, okay!"

But he's not finished. "And she's funny...some of the time...but sometimes her jokes fall flat."

Now I really shove him so that he's out of frame and practically falling off of his own bed. "Please, my jokes are on point all the time."

Brett starts laughing, causing me to look away from Luke and turn to the screen in shock. Brett is laughing?

"Oh, man, Steph," he starts between chuckles. "I think you've met your match. Anyone who will insult your jokes in front of you is a friend of mine."

I roll my eyes.

"So Steph tells me that you like to fish?" Luke says, taking Brett's change of mood and running with it.

I did? I don't even remember telling him that...

Brett's eyes light up.

"Yeah, my dad used to take us out as soon as we could hold a pole. You fish?" Brett says, leaning forward as he talks.

This is where I zone out. Yes, I have gone fishing almost as much as Brett has, but the difference is, I was always forced. It wasn't so bad at first, but then it started turning into a competition, and I hated that. Especially when I couldn't win...