Stepbrother

3: Becoming a Reality

I sat in my mom's car, having no reaction when my mom pulls into Darren's driveway. This was the day when my own mother is leaving me with the Devil, who was probably in the house right now, figuring out ways to punish me in hell.

Just kidding. Jordan's not that bad. Okay, maybe he is.

After meeting him at that little café a couple of weeks ago, I was mortified when I realized that my thoughts of me living under that same roof as Jordan was actually becoming a reality. Today.

"You'll get along with him, I swear," I hear my mom say beside me. She places her hand on top of mine to calm me down. I don't look at her though. I was too focused on the fact that she was still making me live with that emotionless devil. How harsh could she be to do this to me? It's just not fair.

"Do I have to live with him?" I complain, still not looking at my mom. I glanced out of the car window and watched as Darren walked out of the front door of his large fancy-looking house. A smile was plastered on his face when he finally reaches my mom's car.

Before my mom could answer my question, my car door was being opened by Darren, and I stood up to get out of the car. He embraced me and went over to the other side of the car to embrace my mom too.

I stop myself from tearing up at this moment. My mom was leaving.

When they stop hugging each other, my mom looks at me and says, "I'll miss you."

I look away from her, not wanting her to see how upset I was. I look up at the cloudy sky, trying to avoid the tears wanting to escape from my eyelids. There was a lump in my throat and I felt like I could barely breathe. I try my best to take deep breaths to calm myself down.

"Maya?" My mom says my name. Her voice wavered, telling me that she was about to cry too. She sniffs. "Look at me."

I look at her, and I couldn't stop myself any longer. Tears dripped down my face like a stream and I reached up to wipe my tears as quickly as I can. "I'm... going to... miss you... too," I tell her in between my gasps for air.

At this moment, I felt guilty for ignoring my mom. How could I be so stupid? I should've spent time with her before she was going to leave. Now I have no chances at all. I'm going to miss her everyday for a whole year. I can't even think for a second about how much the might affect my mom too. Ugh, I'm the worst.

My mom, whose eyes sparkled with tears, began to cry too. She ran towards me, pulling me into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry, Maya. I didn't mean to do this to you." She kisses my forehead and rubs my back comfortingly. "You're independent now, and I'm almost a hundred percent sure you're becoming a grown woman. Don't forget that."

"Mom, I'm sorry for being so angry. This is none of your fault. I'll see you in a year, okay?"

My mom pulls away from our hug and looks at my face, which was probably drenched with my tears. "A year?" She gives me a small smile. "Maya, you're still going to my wedding, you know that, right?"

My breath calmed down. "I am?"

She nods her head, placing both hands on my face to hold it. "Of course. Why wouldn't I invite my own daughter to my wedding? You'll be the maid of honor."

My eyes opened wide. "I'm the maid of honor?"

"Yes."

"When's the wedding?" I laugh a little.

"December," Darren answers for my mom. I jump a little. I forgot he was standing behind my mom.

"I'll be there," I tell them both.

Behind me, I hear footsteps coming towards me. I look behind me and see Jordan walking towards us. I shiver at the sight of him, completely forgetting about the wedding and concentrating on his cold eyes.

He didn't look like he was tired, like he did when I met him two weeks ago. Those dark circles were already gone and were replaced with a slightly nicer look on his face. Not that it really made a difference. He still looked upset, but at least the frown was gone. That's an improvement.

"Hey," I say to him. I come closer to him to give him a small hug, which quickly turned into a very awkward moment between us.

When I wrapped my arms around him for a hug, Jordan was so surprised that he didn't react at all. I was so uncomfortable and felt like I was being rude to him and thought that he didn't like the hug, so I tried to pull away, but at the same time, he tried to hug me back. We both ended up being confused as I went in for another hug but he didn't hug me back. Bewildered, I just decided to back away from him.

I heard Darren and my mom laugh when they saw the totally disturbing interaction I just had with Jordan. I stare at them with a deadly look and they stop laughing. Jordan didn't have a reaction. He just kept quiet.

Now, it was completely awkward between us all. The only thing that ended the awkwardness was when a taxi parked in front of Darren's house.

"Oh, our taxi's here. We better get going," Darren tells us with a sigh. He goes over to give Jordan a half-hug then gives me a hug too. My mom hugs me and Jordan at the same time.

Darren helps my mom take out her luggage from her car and brings it into the back of the cab. Then after that, Darren goes back into the house to get his own suitcases and also brings them into the cab.

Jordan and I watch as the taxi drives away, and my mom sticks her head out the window and waves at me. Her expression drips with sadness before the taxi disappears around the corner.

Jordan walks back into the house, having no emotions plastered on his face. I follow him into the house with my own suitcases, struggling to get them into the house. And of course, Jordan doesn't offer to help. How kind of him.

I let out a breath when I'm done getting my things through the door. "So, we're living together. It's cool, right?"

He rolls his cold blue eyes at me. "Just... wipe those tears off your face and start unpacking. We're having dinner at eight."

I quickly bring my hand up to my face and desperately wipe away the wet tears I had. I forgot they were even there! Jordan probably thinks I'm an idiot now...

***

Sorry for the shorter chapter! This chapter is kind of boring but I'll post another one later on.

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