Babysitting the Bad Boy's Brother

I will murder your family

"What do you want, Alec, it's cold." I squint out into the darkness, barely able to see his silhouette.

"I just need a distraction. Can I come up?"

"No! Absolutely not! I am-" I stop and lower my voice, as to not wake the neighbors. "I am not your fucking booty call. Go to Alexis for that."

"I'm not asking you to be my booty call. I just need something to distract me so I can't do something I'll regret, and you're so close."

"Distraction is not reinforcing your statement that you don't want a booty call! And that's not me. We aren't even friends!"

"Come on, Claire. Do you think that lowly of me?"

"Yes!"

"You know what? Fuck you. Fuck. You. Claire. And not literally, hypothetically. You're such a bitch. And I don't care what you say, I'm fucking coming up."

"How? You're not like...? I don't... there's no way you'll be able to-" he starts unfolding something and I hear clicking. "You brought a fucking ladder?" I hiss quietly.

I can hear his stupid grin in his words. "Yep. Now catch it so it doesn't make noise."

My eyes widen as I see the ladder coming towards my face. I blindly reach out and grab one of the rungs, setting it gently against my window.

"My dad is going to kill me."

"You say that a lot."

"He may or may not have homicidal tendencies!" I close my eyes and take a deep breath before reopening them. "Where did you get the ladder anyways?"

"There's a possibility that I stole it out of Mr. Meyer's garage." He starts to climb the ladder- not very quietly, of course. I glance towards the door, expecting my dad to break it down and barge in with his gun drawn.

That is definitely something he would do.

"Either hurry the fuck up or try to be quiet!" I hiss as I put my head in my hands. "Oh my god, I'm so dead."

I glance over to the door once again, trying to come up with possible scenarios that don't involve my dad shooting Alec and throwing me out the window for allowing a boy into my room.

Alec finally makes it and silently slides in through the window, which surprised me more than it should have, because with how loudly he was climbing up that ladder I assumed he would probably fall through the open window onto the ground. He didn't do that, though, just to clarify.

"My dad owns a gun and if you try anything, and I mean anything, I will make sure yo- Oh, shit, Alec. You don't look too good..." I move towards him and turn him around so the moon from outside can provide enough light for me to see him clearly.

His lip is split and his eye is starting to swell. I bite my lip to hide my look of shock. Even in the dim light I can see the discoloration starting to form on his jaw and bruised eye.

A soft breeze blows through the window, the only noise being the crickets and a frog outside of my window. 

"Who did this?" I start to reach my hand towards his face, but he grabs my wrist before I get the chance.

"I'm not asking you to take care of me, dammit." He swats my hand away with a scowl. "I just need a place to crash."

"What?" I narrow my eyes and cross my arms over my chest. "That's not what you said." I hiss, "You said that you just needed... come on! No! Get out!"

"Look, I can't really explain but I really can't go home right now." 

I narrow my eyes at him. "Excuse me? Oh my fucking god! You're running from the cops, aren't you!" I place my hands on his chest and start shoving him towards the window. "You're so stupid. Leave." 

He grabs onto my wrists and moves them to my side despite my attempts at resistance. His actions weren't necessarily forceful, but it wasn't gentle. "Look, I just don't want someone to come looking for me when my mom and brother are there, okay? I did something dumb." 

"No fucking shit!" I pull my wrists out of his hold and cross my arms over my chest. "You're just gonna let them come to kill me instead?" I look away from his eyes into the darkness- even with the low light I can feel the close proximity; it makes me uncomfortable. 

"Isn't your dad a cop? Nobody is going to try and kill you."

"Maybe I'd be safe if my dad was actually around!" I internally groan at myself for saying the thoughtless confession out loud, but Alec just shrugs, unfazed. 

He steps around me and walks over to my dresser,  picking up a ceramic statue of a bird  and setting it back down.

"I've never been in your room before." Yeah, because I hate you. 

How he's actually able to see right now is beyond me. "Uh, well.. welcome, I guess. Now get out of my house."

"Aren't you gonna ask me what I did?"

"No! That would make me an accomplice!" I hiss quietly.

"Please, Claire, I wouldn't ask to crash if it weren't important.." And I knew that was true, to some extent. If there was one thing I've learned about Alec: he doesn't ask for help.

I groan. "Follow me."

I lead him through the hallway, silently thanking my dad for taking Malone into his room with him tonight.

I grab some sheets and a blanket from the linen closet in the hallway and then we tiptoe downstairs. Correction: I tiptoe downstairs. Alec is just naturally quiet. At the bottom, we turn down the hallway that hasn't been entered by my dad and I for who-knows-how-long. We walk past my mom's office, all the way to the guest bedroom at the end of the hall- a room that also hasn't been entered in ages.

"It's a little dusty, but it will do." I tell him, shoving the blankets into his hands. I point to the door behind me with my thumb. "That's the bathroom. You won't be bothered here, nobody comes down this hallway."
I walk towards the door.

"Hey, Claire?"

I turn to face him. "Hmm?"

"Thank you." He says sincerely. I nod.

"Hey, Alec?"

"Yeah?"

"You better be out of my fucking house by morning."