Love & War | Brad Simpson ✔️

10. "Is that short for Cinderella?"

I wake up the next morning to the smell of bacon and I'm instantly in a good mood. Just as I sit myself up in my bed, there's a knock on my door and then my brother pokes his head around it.

"Can I come in?" He asks softly. I nod. He pushes the door open fully and walks in with a tray in his hands. I realise that that's the source of the bacon smell.

"What's this?" I ask, as he makes his way over with the plate of food.

"A peace offering" he says sheepishly. He places the tray in my lap; on it was a plate filled with a very delicious looking fry-up of bacon, sausages, eggs, beans and toast. Tristan then sits himself down in the space beside me on the bed.

It's quiet for a moment as I wait for him to start.

"I'm sorry El"

I sigh and feel all my anger at him melt away because I can tell that he is genuinely sorry.

"S'okay" I say softly with a small shrug.

"No, it's not" he argued, "I've been such a dick to you"

"Yeah, you have" I smile.

"It's just... I wasn't angry at you, I was just angry at whoever it was you... You know..." God, he's so awkward that I almost want to laugh, "I just don't like the idea of someone taking advantage of you, you know"

I feel like I probably shouldn't mention that I was taken advantage of, but it's still warming to know that he cares.

"But I took my anger out on you and I shouldn't have done"

"Okay" I nod, "I accept your apology... And the fry-up"

"Good" he smiles, putting his arm around my shoulders and pulling me into a side-hug, "I know that I'm protective of you and that's probably never gonna change, but I'm going to try and not get so worked up about stuff like this, I know you're growing up and you're going to start being more interested in..." he throws me an exaggerated look of terror, "boys"

I can't help but laugh.

"But I need to learn to take a backseat, I'd like to know about what's going on in your life, including your relationships, but you obviously don't need to tell me everything" he tells me, "but it would be nice if I was aware of your relationships"

"Okay" I agree, "that's fair"

"But if any boys hurt you and they need dealing with, then you know where I am" he tells me with a very serious look on his face.

"To be fair Tris, I think I am perfectly capable of handling boys myself" I smirk, "do you need a reminder of the time I nearly stabbed Brad?"

He chuckled at that, "no, I don't think I need a reminder, he mentions it at least once a day"

I laugh, because that is so true. It's like he can't let it go.

"Speaking of Brad, you should go thank him"

"Er, why?" I scoff sternly. The thought of Brad still provokes anger in me because it reminds me of last night, when we had our little, erm... I guess you could call it a 'moment'. I don't really wanna think about it.

"Because it was Brad who convinced me to talk to you" he explains, "well, obviously James and Con were nagging me, and Anastasia too, but I guess when Brad said it, it really resonated with me. I mean, if even Brad thought I was being a dick to you, then I obviously was"