Brotherly Love

Chapter Four: Brotherly Plan

-Autumn



Late Wednesday night, I sat in my room with my headphones, not actually listening to the music. I was thinking about Avery. No, not in the romantic way, at least not completely. I felt embarrassed that I told him I liked him. It wasn't a full blown crush, but I sure did like kissing him.
My headphones made a ding sound during the music, telling me I had a message. I felt guilty when I read that it was from Dean. How was I supposed to talk to him when I was cheating? I opened the message and began to read it.
'Hey, what's up?'
I sighed as I started typing.'Nothing. Just tired.'
'Want to hang out?' Dean asked.
I thought for a second. Hanging out with Dean would either take my mind off of things, or just remind me more of my problems.'No thanks. I just need some time to think.'
Dean took a long time to respond.'Are you breaking up with me?'
I frowned.'What? No! I'm just concerned about family matters. You wouldn't understand. I'll talk to you later.'
'Okay. Love you.'
I forced myself to type 'I love you too' back. I tossed my phone on my bed and groaned, my mind going back to Avery.
As I thought, I realized something. I told Avery that I liked him, and I left. He never told me how he felt about me. I darted to my door, swinging it open. I had to find out. I ran to the door and raised my hand to knock, but abruptly stopped. What was I thinking? I couldn't just knock on his door and ask him if he liked me. He would never let me live it down. There was a better way, and that's how I was going to do it.


The next morning, I looked through my closet for my best, most attractive clothes. During my search, I found a giant bag in the back, mostly hidden. In the bag was a ton of clothes that I didn't remember ever buying. Not one thing looked familiar, but the clothes were cute. I chose to wear a knotted front sleeveless pink top with dark skinny jeans and black sandals.
I curled my hair a little and checked myself in the mirror. Oh, yeah, this is going to work, I thought. I heard Avery come from his room and walk past mine. I quickly grabbed my bag and hurried out of my room, grabbing my phone as I left.
By then my parents were out and about. My Mother left for her job early in the morning, and my Father left an hour after Mother did for whatever he did. Basically, Avery and I were on our own until an hour after school.
I walked behind Avery, and I was pretty sure he didn't know. That day I decided to wear makeup, a thing I barely wore. I took this time to look at Avery. He was wearing a blue sleeveless shirt and regular jeans, and his hair was in a different style. I unconsciously smiled at him, looking down at my feet.
When we were downstairs, I made myself noticeable by going in the kitchen and making various noises. After a while, Avery called me.
"Autumn, is that you?"
"Yeah, in the kitchen," I said, leaning against the wall with a smirk.
"Hurry up! We're gonna be late."
With a flip of my hair, I slowly walked out of the kitchen and met Avery outside the door. I watched his eyes to see what he would do, but he made no effort to give my appearance a glance. He turned on his heel and made his way to the front door. With a groan, I followed him out of the house.
We walked side by side as usual, and I was slightly annoyed with Avery, again, as usual. My heart skipped when I saw Avery look at me out of the corner of his eye. I used that as my opportunity.
"Why you staring at me?" I asked smugly.
"I'm just wondering what you're wearing," he said, looking down at me."It's a bit much for school." Then, a look of realization came across his face."Oh, I get it."
"What do you get?" I questioned, giving him a look.
"You're dressing up for Dean."
"No I'm not!" I defended, glaring at him.
"Whatever."
At school, Avery and I went our separate ways. I headed right for my class, taking my normal seat. The room was empty, so I used the few minutes I had to think things over. How in the world did he not get it? Avery wasn't dumb. He should have got. And besides, why would I dress up for Dean?
That sounded bad, didn't it?
After a few classes, I was on my way to lunch. As I walked, I caught sight of Reese talking to his brother, Travis. Travis was as strange as Reese, maybe stranger. What was creepier was that they were pretty much twins.
In the cafeteria, I sat by myself eating my lunch. Ellie hadn't shown up yet, and I constantly searched for her. In the process, I spotted Avery looking in my direction. He gave me a smirk before looking away, and I blushed. Stupid Avery.
Avery started making his way over to my lonely table, his hands in his pockets. It annoyed me how he acted cool, which he wasn't. Avery sat next to me, sighing as he relaxed.
"Hey. Where's Ellie?"
I shrugged."I don't know." I stood up straighter, fixing my hair a bit. I rested my elbow on the table."What's up with you?"
"Nothing. Reese is talking to his creepy twin, and I do not want to talk to them when they're together." Avery shivered a little. Avery smirked again, poking my arm."Are you ready to talk to me now?"
"Avery, you know there's nothing going on between us, so drop it," I exclaimed, glaring and growling at him.
Before Avery could retort, Dean ran up to me, hugging me from behind."Hey, Autumn-Leaf."
I giggled a little."Hey, Dean." My smile quickly went away as I remembered Avery.
Dean sat on the other side of me, his arm around my waist. Sometimes, Dean tried a little too hard to be romantic. Either way, he was a good guy, and I stayed with him for that. Dean, gave Avery a look, but Avery didn't flinch.
"Do you want to do something later?" Dean asked me.
I looked down guiltily at my half eaten sandwich how was I supposed to keep up this act? As if I never cheated on him with my own brother? I quickly shook my head."No, I - I can't. I have some errands to run. Maybe another day. Sorry."
Dean's smile faded away."It's okay. I understand." There was a second of highly awkward silence, the kind where the whole room goes quiet."I gotta go meet up with a friend." Dean stood up, me standing with him."Love you," he said before kissing me.
I stuttered."L-love you too." Dean then ran off to a group of guys in the corner of the cafeteria.
I sat back down, disgusted with myself. How could I do this to Dean? I was constantly lying to him. Our relationship had been going so smooth, not one bump! Now, I could barely talk to him.
Avery interrupted my thoughts."If there's nothing going on, then why did you just turn Dean down? I saw the way you were acting around him, Autumn. You feel guilty."
"Then why don't you?" I asked angrily, getting in his face.
"I never said I didn't feel guilty," Avery said grimly, looking away for a second."Autumn, can we just straighten this out so everything can go back to normal?"
"Fine, whatever." I crossed my arms, infuriated.
Avery stood up to leave."Thanks, Autumn-Leaf." He walked away, chuckling to himself.


Back at home after school, I was working on plan B, what I called the "What He Likes" plan. I dressed up in a blue shirt that had the names of a bunch of bands on it with my skinny jeans. I put my hair in a loose bun, as I headed to the living room where Avery was at, watching a show called,"Battle of the Bands", whatever that was.
"Hey," I said flopping on the couch next to Avery.
"Hey," he said slowly, giving me a look."What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to watch TV," I said, turning my attention to the television. A goth girl was violently playing her electric guitar.
"Well, I'm watching something right now." Avery pointed to the screen, where the girl continued to sing.
"I know. I want to watch." Avery gave me an are-you-serious look. I smiled."I like music too, Avery."
Avery and I sat in silence as we watched the show, me trying my best to act like I completely understood, which was easy. I never realized my love of music before. The bands and their songs were nothing like I had ever seen before.
"I never knew you liked music so much, Autumn," Avery said, smirking at me.
I shrugged."Music brings out the rocker inside of me."
Avery put his arm around my shoulders."I guess we have more in common than I thought."
I felt my cheeks get hot as I smiled at him. My idea was working so far, and I was close to figuring out if Avery liked me or not. Avery's arm slowly pulled back to his side as he turned his attention back to the television. I looked at him face and saw pure joy on it. Me hanging out with Avery really made him happy.
After a couple of hours, the show was over, and Avery and I stood up. Avery sighed as he turned to me, putting his hands in his pockets, smiling."I had fun, Autumn." He raised his eyebrow."I don't know how I did, but I had fun."
"Me too. Don't get used to it though. This will only happen once a week when that show comes on." I let out a laugh as I turned towards the stairs, making my way over to them.
"Autumn?" I turned my head to look at Avery, one foot on the first step. I have him a questioning look.
Avery nodded his head, then looked up at me with a grin."Thanks."
In a trance, I smiled awkwardly as I continued upstairs to my room, closing the door to it. I sat on my bed, thinking. I had a weird feeling in my stomach, like I was on a roller coaster going downhill. I had Avery's happy face glued in my brain, and I kept smiling at it.
The thing is, I still wasn't sure if Avery actually liked me. I scrunched my face at the thought. He never admitted it the whole time, and I was losing time. I heard Avery enter his room, and I quickly stood up. Avery was a smart, deceiving, and knew how to get what he wanted. Trying to trick him into saying something wasn't going to work. As much as I wanted not to, I stormed out of my room and stood in front of Avery's bedroom door. I loudly knocked on the door, not stopping until Avery opened the door.
"What? what?" Avery repeated, slightly annoyed."What do you want? I was getting changed." My eyes trailed down to Avery's bare chest. Avery was pretty buff, but not like those ugly big armed guys. I only stared for so long because I had never really paid Avery any attention when he didn't have a shirt on.
I shook my head, focusing on the matter at hand. I put a hard, angry look on my face."Avery, you've teased me for the past few days about us kissing, and you got me to admit that I might like you. What I want to know is - do you like me?" I hit him hard in the chest."And don't give me a stupid answer."
Avery gave me a look before looking away. He was obviously in deep thought, and I didn't blame him. We were tampering with a delicate subject. Avery looked back down at me, a sad look on his face.
"Honestly autumn, I don't know how I feel."
My lip twitched as I broke from my anger, a flash of sullenness on my face. I quickly regained myself."Well, you better figure it out, Avery, 'cause I'm not waiting patiently for much longer."
Avery nodded, a smile forming on his lips."At least I know how you feel, sweet pea." Avery put his finger under my chin, tilting my head up.
I slapped his hand away."Don't call me that."
"Whatever." Avery blew me a kiss before turning around, going back into his room.
Back in my room, I took my phone off of my dresser, unlocking it as I prepared to text Ellie. I stopped, seeing that I had a message from Dean.
It said,'Hey, do you want to come hang out with me and some friends tomorrow night?'
I needed to get my mind off of Avery, so I typed,'Sure'.
'Great. I'll tell you more about it at school. Good night.'
'Good night.'
After some kind of thinking, I decided to just lie in bed and wait until I fell asleep. Sammy sat on my stomach, panting as I scratched his belly. Of course, I was thinking about Avery. That stupid boy was on my mind. What I was concerned about was my feelings. Did I really want Avery to tell me he liked me? Or was I just trying to prove a point?
Outside my door I heard footsteps, and I turned to see that there were a pair of feet behind the door, creating a shadow. Then, a paper slid under the door, and the feet disappeared.
"What is this?" I said aloud, the paper in my hands. I flipped it over and realized it was t a piece of paper. It was a picture.
The picture was of Avery and I when he was six years old and I was five. I knew Avery put it under my door. But why would he?
I turned and faced the door, my face scrunched up again."I hate it when you give me hints I don't understand, Avery!" I yelled banging on the door a few times. I could hear Avery's low chuckle and slow steps down the hall.



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Hey guys! How did you like this chapter?
I had fun writing this. It's getting a little heated, isn't it? I mean like sneaky.
What was your favorite part? Who do you like better, Autumn or Avery? Who's your favorite side character? Comment and tell me. I want to know!
Yes, I'm back from Pittsburgh! That where I was for the past four days. I've been back since Saturday night. Are you happy to see me?
I'm hoping this is pretty long. I'm not sure. Maybe four or five pages?
Anyway, I think I need some more characters. You know, for Autumn's softball team, friends at school, etcetera. So, if you have character ideas, leave a comment describing your characters. You can make as many as you want.
This might sound stupid, but I have a question. How do you post a banner? I've tried a ton of times, but I don't know how. If you know how, please tell me.
If you have a question, idea, or suggestion, please leave me a comment. Please answer the questions I've asked a few paragraphs up. Thanks!
Follow me on Twitter! @kierabrown369
Thanks so much for reading, and keep an eye out for chapter five! I think I'll have it in Avery's point of view.
Alrighty, bye guys!


~Inspirella ^w^