Stepbrother: Luke Hemmings |a.u.|

I Don't Believe You

It's so on.

I sit there in disbelief. Did Luke just reject me? No . . . I must be mistaken. For a second, I thought he was coming back, but no . . . he was adamant about this. I slide off of the edge of my bed and go down stairs to get the light bulb. I see Luke sitting at the table eating some tilapia. I brush my backside on his back.
"Whoops." I whisper.
"Wasn't an accident, but alright," Luke turns around and says with food in his mouth. I go in the cabinet to get the lightbulb. It's on the top shelf, damn my height. I lean on the counter and reach. I feel two big hands on my hips.
"I can do it by myself." I say and push his hands away.
"No, Taylor. I insist." He grabs my hips again and lifts me up. I grab the bulb and try to pull away.
"I said I could do it alone." I look around him.
"I heard you." He says, gripping my hips tighter.
"Get off." I say, trying get away. He grabs the small of my back and pulls me in for a hug.
"Luke," I say and wrap my arms around his neck.
"Are we gonna keep this little game up or what?" He says into my neck.
"Shut up, Luke." I say. We stand there swaying back and forth.

Ding Dong

"Oh shit. I forgot . . . I made plans with Cara. That's probably her now. I need to get ready. Get the door." I tell Luke. I head upstairs.

*Luke's POV*

I go to get the door.
"Hey, Cara. Taylor has to get ready." I say and walk back into the kitchen to sit down. Cara follows me and sits opposite of me.
"Is Ms. Dawson here?" She asks.
"No, just us." I don't even look up.
"Oooooh. Now, I know why she wasn't ready." She starts laughing.
"Haha, what's funny?" I sarcastically ask.
"I dunno. It's just weird. You two out of all people. Taylor is so nice and sweet. But you're so-"
"I'm so what? Tell me something I don't know about myself" I cut her off.
"Calm your tits, dude. I'm just saying Taylor can honestly do better." Has this girl lost her mind?
"You have a lot of fucking nerve coming into my house acting like a bitch." I snap.
"Coming into your house? You weren't complaining when I was coming into your house last year." Cara snaps back. She did not just . . .
"That was a fucking year ago. I don't even know what the hell I was thinking. Look, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings or something, but Taylor doesn't have to take the loss. And keep your voice down." I do not want Taylor to know about this.
"Oh, Taylor doesn't know? Either you're gonna tell her, or I will." What the actual fuck is her problem? Every time Taylor and I bounce back from something, something else happens.
Taylor comes from upstairs.
I walk up to her.
"Are you alright?" She asks and holds my cheek.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Where are you going?" I ask.
"We're going to the mall and probably getting our nails done." She says, still scanning my face.
"Cara, I'll see you in the car. Can we get a minute?" She says to Cara. Cara stands up and almost slams the door.
"Luke, I know you're mad." She presses her lips into a line.
"H-How?"
"I heard you two arguing. What were you arguing about?" She asks.
"Can we talk about this later?" I ask in return. I'm just gonna be honest with her, but later.
"Luke," She says and leans on my chest.
"Please, go have fun." I say, kissing her forehead. She steps back and walks towards the door. She looks back one more time before closing the door.

*Taylor's POV*

I walk towards the car and sit down.
"Cara, what were you and Luke arguing about?" I ask before she can even put the car in reverse.
"Taylor, I don't want to mess anything up." She insists.
"Please just tell me." I insist. She sighs.
"Well, Luke and I sorta dated last year and-"
"You did?" I ask in disbelief. Woah.
"Please don't be upset with me." She pleads. I touch her shoulder.
"Oh my gosh, Cara. I'm not upset. That was laaaast year." I tell her. I tell myself not to be upset. That was last year.
"But why were y'all arguing?" I ask. Cara waits a couple of seconds.
"He was f-flirting with me and I told him to stop." She looks up at me and frowns.
"What?" I know damn well Luke wouldn't have done that. He couldn't have.
"What did he say?" I ask. I love Cara like a sister, but something just tells me she's lying.
"Um, he just kept talking about the g-good times and . . . stuff."
"Stuff like what?" I ask.
"I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, Taylor." She tries to tell me.
"I'm sorry, Cara, but I just don't think Luke would do that." I finally say.
"Taylor, I know you like him, but he's like notorious for stuff like this." She tries to convince me.
"Please explain the stuff he's oh so notorious for." I start getting a little mad.
"If he does it to other girls, he can do it to you." She continues to insist.
"Cara, I just don't think he would do this. Maybe you just interpreted what he was saying wrong." I say in a soft tone. I don't what in the world she's trying to do.
"Maybe you're just interpreting what he's doing wrong." She snaps.
"Huh?!"
"Luke's never been too keen on being in a relationship." She says with an attitude.
"I advise you to stop, Cara." I start getting mad.
"I advise you to listen, Taylor. Luke is constantly messing with girls heads and kicking them to the curb."
"I don't need you to tell me anything about him. I don't know if you're jealous or what." I snap too.
"Jealous? Of you and Luke? Please . . ." She says. I get out of the car and slam the door. I walk inside.
"Taylor?" Luke says walking towards me. I'm fuming.
"Cara told me." I say and look at the floor.
"Taylor,"
"But I'm not mad about that. She told me that you were trying to flirt with her and . . . stuff" I tell him.
"Taylor, I wouldn't dare do that to you. You have to believe me." He pleads.
"I do."
"You do?"
"Yeah. I can't believe Cara did that." I say and hold on to him. My phone vibrates. It's from my friend, Hailee.

What's going on w you and Luke?

I tell Luke what the text says.
"What the fuck?" He says, reading over the text.

Why? I text back.

Cara told me to ask you.