under my skin || n.h. au

three: clumsy with words

"Bee's got a boyfriend," Brooklyn's younger sister, Nadine, mentions out of nowhere whilst they're lounging around in the living room. Brooklyn almost drops the slice of pizza that she's just taken from the box and Beck chuckles to himself. She gives the both of them her infamous murderous glare, but that only makes them laugh. Nothing can scare them anymore.

"I don't have a boyfriend," Brooklyn says before Oliver gets to say a word – she knows he will open his mouth if she doesn't cut him off first. She can feel her older brother's eyes on her, so she tries to avoid them for as long as she can.

Nadine rolls her eyes. "Yeah, you do."

Oliver turns to look at the youngest sibling, knowing that he could get some information from her, and asks, "Who is it?"

At that, a huge grin adorns Nadine's lips. She picks up her mobile phone from the floor and immediately opens up Instagram. Brooklyn watches as her sister types Louis' name on the search bar, feeling colours draining from her face.

"Nadine..." Brooklyn tries, but she's ignored. She turns to Beck with pleading eyes. "Beck. Help me."

Beck continues chewing on his pizza, shrugging. "Can't do anything," he says with his mouth full. That's a lie because he can do something. Since he's sitting next to Nadine, he can snatch her phone from her hand, but he chooses not to do that. Brooklyn feels like she's been betrayed – as dramatic as that sounds.

"Here!" Nadine exclaims as she hands her phone to Oliver, who squints his eyes a little to look at the bright screen. "His name's Louis and he's bloody fit." Nadine adds, winking at Brooklyn as though to say 'good job, sister'.

"He's not my boyfriend," Brooklyn says. "I swear."

"He's not?" Beck quizzes, his brows furrowing in confusion. "Could've fooled me."

She glares at her twin brother. He's really not being helpful right now. "He's just a friend."

"A friend with benefits?" Nadine wriggles her eyebrows at Brooklyn. "How's he-"

"God, no!" Brooklyn shouts, horrified. She definitely hasn't prepared herself for this talk. All three of her siblings look at her with curiosity painted all over their faces. "We're just two adults having fun together."

"Fun," Nadine repeats, winking. She needs to stop doing that. "I wonder what kind of funyou two are having."

Beck laughs as he joins in on teasing Brooklyn. "No wonder she's so happy these past two weeks."

"Oh my God, stop it." Face flushed with embarrassment, Brooklyn heaves herself off the floor. She's not going to sit there, in her own living room and allow her siblings to tease her. So, she heads for her bedroom, hoping to get some peace in there. But before she can shut the door, Beck calls out her name.

"Bee, you left your phone- Oh, look at that, it's Louis!"

Brooklyn's pretty sure she's never run so fast in her life. But as soon as the word 'phone'and 'Louis' left Beck's mouth, she sprints back to the living room. Unfortunately, she isn't quick enough because when she gets there, Beck already has her phone pressed against his ear.

He shoots her a grin when she continues to stare angrily at him. "Hi Louis," he greets, "Yeah, yeah, Bee's here. She's been waiting for your call. I think she misses you."

Brooklyn immediately makes her way to Beck and snatches her phone from his hand. She kicks him, making him wince in pain and a satisfied smile touches her lips as she manages to inflict pain on him. She takes a few steps away from her siblings and after inhaling and exhaling few times, she finally presses the device between her ear. "Hello?"