A lot to learn

Chapter 1

Hello again! I Bring to you my new old project. I wrote this story quite a while ago, literally in a weekend so it wasn't my best work by any means. But I was somewhat proud of it because it was the first short story I'd written and it was the first story I'd written that wasn't fantasy. Anyway, after a while, I read it again and there were a lot of things that I wanted to change, so I took it down and I've revamped it. I hope you enjoy!

Present

"Fucker is looking right at me," I say to my brother on the other end of the phone.

He grunts a reply, half awake. "Is he the one who wrote - "

I interrupt him, knowing exactly what he's going to say. "Yeah, and he's looking at me now. Seriously, as if there aren't a million girls his own age that wouldn't kill for some attention from him."

"Mebbe he's into grandmas." My brother's reply is muffled, as if he's face first in his pillow.

It's ten in the morning here so in Spain, where my brother is now, it's four in the morning and he should be getting his beauty rest before a long day in the office.

I feel bad that I woke him up. It is a bad habit; whenever I'm alone in a public area and get nervous, I call him. Before, he didn't mind but now that I'm in the States, it's wearing a bit thin on his nerves, not that he'd ever say so.

"Fuck you," I reply.

"Actually, I think someone needs to do that to you."

I laugh bitterly. "Yeah, like that is going to happen. Between the frat boys and the holier-than-thou PhDs there is just so much to choose from."

"What about the one that's looking at you now?"

My gaze is fixed firmly to the table, to the crack in the plastic covering that I'm running my finger over. "He isn't looking anymore." It's not really a lie. He might not be looking at me, I wouldn't know. "Anyway, he was a student, it wouldn't be appropriate."

My brother snorts. "Yeah, but he's not anymore."

Why does he keep saying that? Why does everyone keep saying that? It's like they had a meeting or something. Only yesterday Catherine, Nieke and Tom were all telling me to jump his bones. Tom was particularly encouraging.

"Christ, if I could had had a hot teacher, I wouldn't have waited. I would have had her on her knees before mid-terms," he said.

Cat just rolled her eyes. "Sweetheart, if anyone was going to be on their knees, it would have been you."

"It still wouldn't be appropriate," I tell my brother primly.

"I think that ship sailed when he wrote that story."

"No. He just raised the sails. The ship is still at the docks. Where it will stay."

He groans as he shifts position in bed and smacks his lips. It sounds like he could do with a drink of water. "It's your loss. If he can do... well, all that... Fuck, even I'd sleep with him."

I giggle. "Be my guest. I heard he likes blondes."

I glance up to look around the crowded diner. It's full of students grabbing something to eat before their next class. The food is cheap and fairly decent. Their coffee though... I don't know what they put in it, but just one sip has all my muscles relaxing. Just then, my gaze slides over Him. His gaze is so intense it's as if he wants to rip the phone out my hand and devour me on the table in front of everyone.

Suddenly, I hear my brother snoring. It's a strangely comforting sound, kind of like a white noise machine. Is it weird that I sit in a packed dinner on the other side of the world, listening to my brother snore with a sappy smile on my face? Maybe. But I give him a couple of minutes before waking him up again.

"Oi! Fluffy, wake up!"

He snorts as he wakes up and grumbles. "You need to get laid. Mebbe that way you'll stop being a bitch."

I just laugh. "I'll always be a bitch. What are little sisters for?"

"Fair point. I just hoped that when you travelled a million miles away, I'd have to deal with less of it."

I laugh again. "No, you didn't. You live for us."

He grumbles something about me being right. "You know I'll always be there for you." His voice is gravelly from sleep and I can't help but smile down at my keyboard. "And I'll always help you with anything you need." There's a lump forming in my throat. I miss him a lot. "And as your older brother who cares about you very much, I'm telling you to get laid." And suddenly, the lump is gone.

"Dick," I call him.

"Yes, you need dick. Lots of it. Repeatedly. His dick, specifically."

For once, when I glance up to the man of the hour, he's not looking at me so I take the opportunity to check out what he's packing down below. I can't really discern very much but when I back look up, he's watching me again and smirking. Heat immediately floods my face, confirming what he probably already knows, and his smirk widens.

"I'll just have to make do with Saffy," I say, looking away quickly.

He snorts. "I can't believe you named your toy."

"Hey! She gives me damned good - " I trail off. There is a limit to what I'll talk about with my brother. "She earned that name."

"I'll tell Fee you're in need of a new toy and you can give that one a name as well. There is one that comes to mind."

I roll my eyes. "I'm not going to call anything by his name. That's not only inappropriate but downright weird and creepy."

"Then you need to get it on with the real deal."

I glance round the room again, my eyes flickering past in case he's looking at me again. Of course he is. It's like he has nothing better to do. It's then that I realize that I've never checked him out so many times in such a short amount of time.

I seriously have to stop talking to my brother or he's going to convince me to do something I shouldn't be doing.