The Stepbrother

Brotherly Love

Andie sat in her window seat, sniffling quietly to herself, while holding a butterfly-shaped pillow to her chest. She was angry. She didn't care about being sent to her room. She knew the only reason Eric did that was because he couldn't stand her. At least...that's what she was mostly sure of. And that's why she was angry.

Since Eric's arrival, he had expressed very little interest in her. It hurt her, because she felt so terribly alone, but she accepted it. At least until tonight, when the step-brother who seemed to loath her so much waited up for her because he was worried.

Eric was actually concerned for her. It was almost too good to be true. His anger at her late arrival sparked something warm inside her heart; something that had been missing since her parents died.

Somebody-anybody-actually cared about her.

...And then he sent her to her room.

If his intentions came from a place of discipline, then she would probably feel that same spark igniting in her heart, because that would mean he cared enough about her to correct her.

But Andie knew that wasn't the case.

Eric sent her to her room with a face void of care and love. He just couldn't stand her. She had intruded on his calm evening and made him worry for absolutely no reason and he was angry with her for it.

It was pathetic how desperately Andie wanted his attention and his care. She would go to her room a thousand times of he demanded it if it meant he cared about her. She just wanted to feel some semblance of normalcy in her sixteen-year-old life, and that normalcy came in the form of being told to go to her room, and arguing with him about her whereabouts, because that's what teenagers did with their guardians. And for a moment, she had it. Eric had ordered her to her room and for the tiniest of seconds, she felt the normalcy she had been craving, the care and attention and devotion that came with having a guardian who wanted you to do better, who expected better.

And then it was gone when his eyes betrayed how much he disliked her.

That was the truth that mercilessly stared her down; Eric just didn't like her.

The next morning saw very little interaction between she and Eric; as always. They past each other in the hall, they stood next to each other in the kitchen, they collected their clothes from the dryer simultaneously, and never did the events from the night before come up.

As she slipped from the house in her school uniform, tugging her hair into a ponytail as she closed the door behind her, it was just like any other day. It was as if last night never happened.

Four blocks and ten minutes later and Andie was arriving at school where her longest friend, Morgan, waited at the steps. When she spotted Andie she jumped up and closed the short distance between them in hurried strides.

"Oh my God, you're alive?"

"Were you expecting Eric to actually do something about my tardiness last night?" Andie replied sourly, shaking her head in response to her friend's question as she climbed the steps up to the school's front doors. "He could have cared less, Morgan."

"That's so weird," replied Morgan, clearly disheartened for her friend.

It wasn't their intention to stay out late last night, and by the time they realized how terribly late it was, Morgan was sure that Eric was going to be aboslutely livid with his little step-sister.

"I was so sure he'd be a little upset with you..." Morgan sympathized with Andie, knowing how desperately she yearned for some semblance of care from her step-brother.