Stepbrothers

Chapter 5

"Danny?" I asked in shock.

"Noah!" He called back excitedly. I had tears in my eyes as he took a step closer to me. My hand was covering my mouth for a split second before I moved my arms away from my face and held them out for a hug, putting my bowl down on the little table near the door. Daniel hugged me back, lifting me off of the ground in the process. "There's no need to cry." He shushed me as he hugged me tightly.

"There is, actually." I responded, raising my head from his shoulder.

He smiled gently.

"And what's that?"

"You're way uglier than I remember." I responded, looking him straight in the eyes as I smiled. He could hold me with one arm, so he used his other arm to hit me on the back of my head.

"Ow." I whined a little even though I was still smiling a lot. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming home today?"

"How would you react if you knew I was coming home today?" He asked, still holding me in his arms.

"Fair point." I gave in. Normally I would argue a lot more, but he deserves the day off. But only one, then I go back to arguing.

He lowered me back down to the ground.

"Come on." He grinned. "Let me see your new room."

I led him up the stairs and into my little room.

"Hey, it's you-sized." He smiled, referring to my shortness. I smiled, I don't care if he insults me while he's here, as long as I get to have him stay here.

I looked away from him for one second, and the next thing I knew, I was suspended above the ground, being held up only by my ankle.

"Danny! Put me down!" I was terrified, but I have to admit, this is pretty fun.

"If you say so." He smirked and shrugged at the same time. Oh, I was in for it now.

"Wait! Danny sto-!" I was cut off when he threw me onto the bed. I burst into a fit of laughter as soon as I landed, and he chuckled a bit before sitting down on my bed. I sat up so that I could sit next to him.

"I've missed you so much." He looked down at me, smiling gently.

"I've missed you too." I responded, smiling a little. "It's worse for me. You don't have to worry about me getting shot everyday."

"Meh. I guess you're right, little bro." He nodded a little.

"Woah!" I exclaimed. He rolled his eyes jokingly, knowing what was about to happen. "Did the great, amazing, athletic, genius, veteran just admit that I  was right? Can I get that in writing - no, wait! Can I get that on camera? Like, mind..." I turned to him, putting my hands on the top of my head. "...blown!" I threw my hands away from my head as I said this, and dramatically fell down on my bed, laying on my back.

"Quite the performance, Mr. Storme, I'm very impressed." He smiled widely, clapping his hands together slowly.  I fake bowed in response. We both laughed pretty hard at that.

"I heard you went on a little run this morning." He looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, why?" I was confused as to why he cared, it was just a run.

"You hate running. And most other athletic activities." He looked a little smug that he remembered that.

"A lots changed." I said, grinning a little.

"Maybe, but you don't get over that much hate that easily." He argued.

"Fine, you win. But I did run." I wasn't giving up entirely.

"Well, why don't you take me on a run?" He wasn't giving up either.

"I can't." I really don't like running that much.

"Why not?" He was curious.

"It's probably illegal to have that much ugly running around without a leash." I said this, then jumped up from the bed and ran out of my room and sprinted down the stairs. Again, I don't know why I thought that was a good idea, he's way faster than I am.

He caught me almost immediately, and threw me over his shoulder.

"I was joking! Put me down!" I yelled, the smile on my face evident in my voice.

"Nope. Like you said, it's probably illegal to have that much ugly running around without a leash." He quoted me. I definitely shouldn't have said anything.

"Fine." I gave up. "Where are we going?"

"On a run. Obviously." He responded like I should have known. "Shoes." He added, looking down at the pairs of shoes on the floor by the front door. He let me down so that I could pull on my shoes.

I pulled my sneakers over my socks and looked up at Daniel. He had already put on his shoes, so he opened the door and pushed me out.

"Let's go wherever you went this morning." He suggested. I began to jog in that direction and he followed behind me.

Time Skip

It took us awhile, but we eventually made it to the little forested area.

"Nice route, dude." Daniel commented. I shrugged, too out of breath to speak. "Ready to go back?"
I nodded and we started running again.

As soon as we got home he asked me where my snowboard was. I led him to the garage to show him.

"In here." I gestured around the cold, concrete-floored garage.

"Nice. When's the next tournament?" He asked.

"Few weeks." I smiled.

"Finally! I can make it to one of your tournaments!" He cheered.

"Yeah, no pressure for me then." I responded sarcastically. He laughed.

"How's Caity?" He inquired.

"Good, I think." I answered, hoping he'd changed the subject to something I didn't have to lie about.

"Nice." He nodded. "Are you two dating yet?"

"No! Why on earth would you think that was ever a possibility?!" I was so shocked.

"Your face is red. I knew it- you like her don't you?" He doesn't drop a subject.

Caity was one of my old friends, perhaps the one I miss the most. We were best friends, we spent every second of every day together. But I guess that's how life works- one second everything is going great, and the next you have no friends. Yeah, life kind of sucks.