My Brothers Best Friend

Chapter 2 // Utter Embarrassment

[picture above is Rhydian]

Annabelle's POV:

Whilst he was laughing I was standing in the doorway still completely mortified. "I-im s-sorry" I stutter as I felt my face explode a flustered red colour. Once he had finished bellowing with laughter he looked at me with wide eyes and said with humour, "don't be, I barely felt a thing" and he gave one of his small but significant smiles. I smiled as he left and closed the door, then I began wondering at how it hadn't hurt, I wasn't that weak. I returned to the mirror before finishing my hair and placing it in a ponytail and throwing on a hoodie and loose jogging bottoms.

As I proceeded to leave me room i heard a ping on my phone, i went over the bed to read a message from Tara:

Hey Bella! I've been told some great news about my birthday party that your going to love!!! x

Tara had been going on about her 18th birthday party since she had turned 17 and she was not going to let me forget it. She had invited half the neighbour hood and was relying on me to get my brother and his friends to come. My brother was my twin but was also the complete opposite of me. I was a reader of books, he enjoyed sitting on his games; I had a selective group of friends, he on the other hand believed if you knew his name you were great friends - and most people did. The only aspect of life we shared a passion for was sports. Although myself was not very athletic looking I did rather enjoy sports. I placed my phone in my jogger pockets and followed the smell of food downstairs.

Dad had obviously ordered a kebab for my arrival but I honestly wasn't feeling up to it. Lately life had dawned on me, I was realising that school would be over soon and life and responsibilities came after that. I had spent so much time worrying about exams that I hadn't had time to focus on me - shown through my lack of muscle and gym appearances. As I sat at the table my phone pinged once again, my Dad was strict about having phones at the dinner table but he was still plating off dinner so I quickly averted my eyes to my phone. Which had another message from Tara:

I'm too excited to not tell you!.. Rhydian's coming to my party..

I took a deep breath in and did a imaginary fist bump in the air. I had developed a crush on Rhydian when i was around 15 and we had been talking lately and now I could potentially act on these feelings. He was a mad football fan and being on the football team was his passion but that didn't bother me one bit. I got excited and realised I hadn't read the whole message:

..but obviously you can't come if your brother's and his friends don't come ;) xx

I rolled my eyes and laughed, this girl was really going to stop at nothing to get my popular idiot brother at her party. While i was looking at the text, thinking of a way to casually slide in the conversation about the party my phone was yanked out of my hands by none other than the devil we had been speaking about. "Dan!", I yelled my voice going a little too high pitched for my liking, "give it back". I threw my arms at Dan trying to get my phone back but then I could feel my dad staring at me. "You know what I say about my phones" my dad said harshly making me feel like a scolded little child. "It was just-i was just reading-its", I was unsure of what was coming out of my mouth and decided to shut up. Carter was sitting silently watching Danny go through my phone. "A party Annie?" questioned my nosy annoying brother, I threw my eyes up at him and squinted menacingly. "Ohh and Rhydian's going to be there?" he asked loud enough for everyone to here. "You better not have a girly little crush on Rhydian O'Connors", his tone becoming more serious. At this everyone looked towards me and I felt my skin burn red raw.

I wanted the floor to swallow me whole but it didn't look like it was going to be doing that anytime soon and so I looked up proudly and was quickly cut down by my father. "Bells, you didn't tell me you liked anyone?" my dad asked with a unusual grin on his face. I had never much really been interested in boys and had most definitely never spoken about it with my Dad. I shook my head unable to formulate any words. I heard Daniel cough knowing it was now his turn to grill me on all things Rhydian. "I'll say again, that better not be the Rhydian me and Carter know" he spoke throwing my phone on the table. I could feel the anger growing inside me, what right did they have to judge me? I looked at Carter expecting him to have something to say but he just sat there staring at me. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my phone. I stood up and said with tons of arrogance, "You can't judge or spy on my life, its my life! so leave me alone". With that i stormed off up the stairs and into my room, making sure to slam the door on the way in.

I huffed and fell on the bed. I reflected on what I had said and could not find a falter. I had been correct and I would stand by what I said. As I sat there quietly calming myself down I heard the front door close and assumed Carter had just left. I got out the calendar and looked at the dates, it was Thursday and exactly four days until school and 2 until Tara's birthday party. I smiled thinking of the party before the realisation grew on my face that I had nothing to wear. I wasn't the dressy type and owned more trainers and jeans than there were bricks in a house. I pulled out my phone and texted Tara:

serious shopping emergency, free tomorrow? x

I locked my phone and quickly went to have a shower. When I returned Tara had answered:

ooo i'm always game for a bit of girly shopping!! see you at 2pm at the mall xx

I giggled to myself knowing this girl would never let me down before slipping under my bed sheets and dozing quickly off to sleep.

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A/N

Brothers can be really annoying! I know from personal experience (eughh).

I'll be putting up a cast soon when i decided who's going to play who.

TaTa for now

xx