Brothers Forever

14. You Know You Love Me

Chapter 14: You Know You Love Me

Sterling’s Point of View

 

I went straight to my first class once I arrived at school. I slammed my book bag down a bit harder on the desk than I had intentioned, earning me a glare from Mrs. Stevenson. I sat down in my seat and looked around the room. I noticed that Gordon was the only other one there, once again. I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to anyone, so I sat there in silence with my head resting on my calculus textbook.  

I had barely slept a wink last night. Scenes of the day’s events had kept playing through my mind like clips of a movie, each leaving a different feeling behind. Running through the forest with Bren laughing on my back, her arms wrapped tight around my neck, her body pressed against mine. That moment by the truck where I acted like I was going to kiss her and she responded as if she wanted me to. Then she seemed like she was really angry with me, but forgave me almost immediately. What the hell was I supposed to think about that? She switched moods faster than I could blink my eyelids. And girls think guys are complicated?

A loud, obnoxious, yet oddly captivating laugh floated through the door and to my ears. I lifted my head from the desk and felt the corners of my lips start to curve. A second voice reached my ears and my smile immediately faded. As their voices grew louder, the tension throughout my body grew as well.

Bren walked in, well more like hobbled in, on crutches with a large boot encasing her left foot and half her leg. Her golden hair was pulled up sloppily on top of her head, and she was wearing a pink t-shirt and jeans. Greyson followed closely behind, her books piled up in his arms.

Brennan headed straight for her usual seat next to mine and sat down. I couldn’t help but smirk as I watched Grey narrow his eyes at this arrangement; however, he didn’t say a word. He simply set her books down on the desk in front of her.

“I’ll pick you up after class and help you carry everything to your next one, ‘kay?” Greyson said to her, completely ignoring my presence.

“Your class is on the complete opposite side of the school, Grey. There is no way you’d get us both to class on time. I’ll just get someone from here to help me,” Bren told him with a sigh.

“I don’t care if I’m—” Grey started, but was swiftly cut off by Brennan.

“I do. You aren’t going to be late because of me.”

“I can walk you to class, Bren. I don’t mind,” I offered with a smile, but directed my gaze at my brother. He glared in response.

“Thank you, Sterling,” Bren told me, before turning to Greyson. “See? It all worked out! Thank you for all the help, Grey. I just don’t want to make this more complicated than it needs to be. I’ll see you at lunch?”

My brother looked at her and smiled, but I could tell he wasn’t happy. “Yeah, I’ll see you then.”

With that he walked out of the classroom, not bothering to glance back. I turned to Bren to see her chewing her bottom lip as if she was deep in thought.

“You okay?” I asked quietly, as more of my classmates decided to enter the classroom.

She seemed surprised to hear my voice and looked at her hands for a moment before answering. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

I sensed that wasn’t the complete truth, but she obviously didn’t want to talk about it. So, I remained quiet until the lesson started. Neither of us spoke the whole lesson. We silently scribbled down the notes Mrs. Stevenson wrote on the board.