Falling For My Stepbrother

Chapter Six: One Talented Boy

Chapter Six

Sunlight shone onto my face the following morning through the window where the blinds were drawn back. I sat upright slowly in bed and groaned, rubbing my sleepy eyes. The night rest I'd had from sleeping on the guest bed had been divine, silk sheets and all. I actually felt as if I'd been sleeping on clouds. I didn't want to get up, but it would be bad manners to stay in bed late.

I stretched for a few seconds, then slid out of the bed and neatened it up. Then I stuck my feet into my bedroom slippers and headed towards the vanity, where I stared at my reflection. Oh, no. I had serious bedhead. A quick yank of my hairbrush through my hair fixed that, and I wrapped my hair up into a sloppy bun. Then I grabbed my towel and headed for the bathroom.

I took a long, refreshing shower that left me feeling even more rejuvenated almost immediately. Then I dressed in some of the fancy clothes that Meredith had bought me: a black off the shoulder top, a rockstar jeans with rips that those band people usually wore as well as a pair of fashionable Ed Hardy boots. Then I did my hair in a cute side pony tail, applied a small amount of makeup and put on a pair of black skull shaped stud earrings.

I gave my reflection a thumbs up, then I went to find my mom. I headed quietly over to the master bedroom, where Ronald apparently slept. I placed my ear near the door. Loud snores could be heard from inside. I stifled a giggle. How Mom managed to sleep through that all night was beyond me. One thing was for sure: I was not going to marry a man who snored unbearably loudly! I would be needing my beauty sleep, mind you.

It did not seem as if Mom was in there so I decided to head downstairs. I was about to descend the stairs when Ronald's three year old daughter Susie wandered out into the passageway. She looked at me and gave me a toothy grin. I smiled back at her. How could I not? Susie was so adorable. She was like a doll.

"Morning, Susie," I said.

"Morning," Susie whispered back, sticking her thumb in her mouth. In the other hand she clutched a rather worn out piece of cloth that had probably been a blanket once upon a time.

"Are you hungry?" I asked her.

Susie nodded shyly. "Yeah," she whispered.

"Okay, then let's go downstairs and get you some breakfast," I said, about to lift her up when the smell of pee hit my nostrils. Uh oh. Someone had a little accident last night.

"Did little Susie have an accident?" I cooed.

Susie nodded. She looked as if she were about to cry. Poor thing. I took her back into her room and led her into her bathroom. I whipped up a bubble bath for Susie while I picked out some clothes for the little angel. Even her clothes were designer. Ronald sure was raising up a future fashionista here. I wondered if Susie might become a model when she got older.

After I got her dressed in her cute suit, Susie and I headed downstairs. She sat down calmly in a couch and watched one of those toddler shows on television. As promised, I headed into the kitchen to scourge for baby snacks when I almost bumped into my mother. She had been at the stove, cooking something in a frying pan.

"Mom?" I asked in disbelief,

"Yes, dear. What is it? " she asked.

"You're up rather early," I commented.

Mom replied, "Well, since Ronald's maid is off on a two weeks leave I figured I'd come on down and help make some breakfast, since he had no one else to do it,"

"But- But-" I sputtered. "I thought you guys would be-"

"Hungover?" Mom finished. "Not me for sure. I decided to take it light last night. Ronald's the one who took things to the extreme,"

"Oh. Well, hopefully you two had a good time last night...." I trailed off.

My eyes widened.

Did I just say that?

Mom's eyes widened too. She turned a fierce shade of red, and started glancing around wildly. "Well, I must simply continue this cooking," she said briskly. Obviously trying to change the subject.

"I'm so sorry mom! I had no idea-" I was cut off.

"It's fine." Mom said quickly.

She then returned to her cooking. I opened the cupboards and got out a pop-tart for Susie. While waiting for it to be heated up in the toaster, my eyes wandered over to the refrigerator, skimming over the magnets. one was a picture of Susie as a baby. Apparently her full name was Susannah Taylor Grace Hudson. Quite a long name for the tiny mite that Susie was, if you ask me.

I placed the pop-tarts in a bowl and handed them to Susie once they had cooled off reasonably enough for her not to be burnt by them. Susie paid no attention to the food. Her blue eyes remained glued to the television screen.

"C'mon Susie, eat up. Pop-tarts are yummy," I told her.

"Feed Susie. Ty always feeds Susie," Susie begged.

That's exactly what I ended up doing. Ronald came downstairs a few minutes later, dressed in yet another business suit. He still seemed a bit tipsy from all that vodka and cranberry juice he'd had last night.

" Try not to make a habit of doing that, Annabella. Susie needs to learn to be independent,especially with her mother out of the picture," Ronald said.

"I won't." I assured him.

Ronald nodded and scratching the back of his head, headed off to where my mom was cooking. The sound of smacking lips told me that they were both doing more than their fair share of kissing. I ignored them and instead focused on the show on TV.

When the toddler show finished, Susie grabbed her dolls and started combing their hair. My eyes remained glued to the television program, upon which was now showing the news segment for the morning. Most of it was boring, anyways.

Then the sports segment came on. The breaking news for this event was that some soccer team from a camp in Michigan had won against another from California. The news reporter then showed some clips from the "epic" game, as he referred to it. I couldn't help being impressed with the moves of an extremely skilled player with longish black hair.

"Daddy!" cried Susie. "Tyler's on TV!"

Ronald came in front, along with my mother, and they both settled down on a couch.

"Well. I'll be, it's Ty alright!" exclaimed Ronald. "His team won the semi finals!"

"That's great, honey," Mom said, smiling, "Your son must be so talented,"

"He is!" Ronald said boastfully.

All through this my eyes had remained focused on the image of Tyler onscreen. Oh my gosh. He seemed so talented. I hated to admit this but he was seriously one of the best soccer players I had ever seen in my whole life.

Suddenly I couldn't wait to meet him.