My Brother's Beta (UNEDITED SAMPLE)

20 My Brother's Beta

“You’re changing your accent a lot today,” I commented.

“What if I spoke British?” he said, in a pretty believable Gloucester accent. After that, he sprouted off a bunch of words in a bunch of different languages. At my confused face, he said, “I just said ‘or this’ in German, French, Russian and Turkish.”

“How the hell do you remember how to speak so many languages?” I gasped theatrically. I mean, he’s so smart and gorgeous, does he really have to have a good memory as well?

“Because I’m a ninja.”

Oh, and he’s a ninja as well.

“Now, hurry up and put the lab coat on,” he said, causing me to poke my tongue out at him. Of course, his reaction was to smirk and kiss my nose. I pouted, but he just chuckled and did the buttons of my coat for me. “Ready?”

“Can I just have a few moments of joy beforehand?” I asked. He shook his head. “Fine, I’m ready.”

“Okay, so your favourite colour is green, right?” he asked.

“Yep,” I said, smiling at the fact that he remembered from whenever I’d told him.

“Well, watch this,” he said. He pressed a button on the machine, and a silver tray begun to vibrate a little. He poured some sort of liquid on it, grinned at me, then dipped a metal stick into a clear liquid. Once the metal stick was wet, he quickly began to poke at the liquid on the tray. Bursts of greens and blues popped around where the stick touched the tray, and soon a picture began to form.

A picture of a wolf.

“That’s amazing!” I said. “How does it work?”

“Do you really want to know?” he asked. “There’s a bunch of equations and chemicals and-“

“Okay, forget I asked,” I smiled, making him laugh. “Can you show me how to do it?”

“It’s simple, really,” he said, turning the machine off and using a glove to move the tray onto a heatproof bench. He placed another tray onto the machine, and turned it back on. Passing me the metal stick from earlier, he said, “How about me do a pinky-orangey one this time?”

I nodded. “Sounds pretty.”

He switched the liquid with another one, and began the same process as before. “Okay, so dip the stick into the liquid. Yeah, like that. And now just poke the tray, and do whatever comes to mind.”

Thinking about it, I decided to do a sunset, considering the pinks and oranges coming out of the liquid. But, as soon as I attempted it, I realized that I really suck at it. I managed to create a blob at least, and a cheesy-looking smiley face.

“Nice one,” Aaron chuckled behind me.

I slapped his chest. “Don’t judge me – you’re just jealous!”

“Yes, Beth. I’m jealous that you can poke a tray of liquid with a stick,” he said.

“The first step to recovery is acceptance!” I joked. “You’re on your way!”

“I suppose you don’t particularly want to help me pack up?” he asked. I shook my head, smiling innocently. He just chuckled. “The things I do for you, dear Mate.”

“Speaking of the whole mate thing,” I said, sitting back down on a stool and resting my head in my palm, gazing up at him as he cleaned. “How many people know about us, exactly? Approximately 400? More?”

“Seems like it,” he laughed, shaking his head. “Well, there’s your mum, Josh and Madison…”

“Plus Casey and Paula,” I remembered. “And I’m assuming the rest of that group knows.”

“And my mum,” Aaron said.

“You told her without me?”

“Not exactly,” he said. “She kinda guessed – I must have been grinning like an idiot. But she doesn’t know who it is, only that I have a mate.”

“Smart woman,” I commented, being genuine. “What about your step-dad?”

“He’s too busy drinking Jim Bean and ruining my mother’s life to realize,” Aaron said dryly. “Besides, he’s human so he wouldn’t know what a mate is, anyway.”

“Oh,” I said, a little lost for words. I know Aaron doesn’t really like to talk about his mum’s husband, so I won’t push it, but I didn’t like to see him so happy. “If it makes you feel any better, my whole family thinks he’s a douche.”

He burst out laughing, making me smile that he wasn’t angry anymore. “Thankyou, Smiths. You lot always put me in a good mood.”

“We’re awesome like that,” I replied off-handedly. We fell into comfortable silence, as I just watched him continue to clean. He was squeezing detergent into boiling water, before sticking his hand in and swirling it around. Steam surrounded him, making his skin darken a little from the heat, despite being immune to it. Bubbles floated everywhere, and I grinned absentmindedly as he puckered his lips and blew the froth into my face.

Images of our secrets nights together came flooding back. His lips on mine, on my neck, down my arms. My body pressed up against his, passionately kissing whilst his hands expertly roamed my body…

I can’t help but be excited that we’ll be mating in just a bit more than ten days. I mean, I’m worried that I’ll be terrible considering I’ve never done it before, but I know that Aaron won’t mind. I hope. But he loves me, right? Or at least has strong feelings for me. 

Suddenly I felt guilty for not showing any proper affection towards him. I mean, he's clearly further into this relationship, whilst I'm still learning what it all means.

"Aaron, I'm so, so sorry," I said, not meeting his eye. "I know that I can't tell you that I love you, but I really do like you. And I'm on track to saying it, and feeling it, but I know it must be killing you-"

"It's fine, Beth," he said, cutting me off and lifting my chin so I was looking him in the eyes. "I'm happy if you're happy, love or no love."

And I knew he truely meant it.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Sorry it's so short, guys :( And that it took so long :( 

I'll try and upload the next one soon!