My New Stepbrother

3

"Shit...Angel, I'm sorry." He said.

Then he grabbed my wrists again, this time more gentle. He rubbed them, after seeing what I was doing, then when he got done; he kissed them both repeatedly and softly. He looked up at me with pleading eyes, silently asking me for forgiveness.

"It's okay." I said, taking back my wrists. I tried to ignore the tingly feeling that I could feel forming in the pit of my stomach again, thanks to the somewhat "innocent," kisses he left on each wrist. "I know you didn't mean to."

"I really am sorry. My dad says I have anger issues." He blurted out, looking noticeably more fidgety. "I started to...uh...see a shrink not too long ago. It's been helping a little, I've been learning how to breathe through situations and walk away from stuff. But I'm really sorry about your wrists I truly didn't mean it."

I smiled at him, for the first time it felt like we were actually bonding. He shared such a deep, and personal revelation, and I felt like it was the start of something good. Perhaps we could get past all the weirdness and just be good step siblings.

"It's fine really."

He smiled back, revealing a perfect stellar smile, and his shining white teeth. He had one of those smiles that Hollywood agents killed for. He looked so handsome with his crinkled eyes and dimples, and he was just staring at me...so happy.

"Well good." He finally said.

"Where's my mom and Peter?" I asked.

"Oh, they went out to this nearby town. They needed to get some groceries. Said they wanted to have a big breakfast or something." He shrugged his shoulders.

"That sounds lovely." I replied. I started to walk away; then thought better of it. I didn't want to upset him again. "Do you want to join me in the pool?"

"Sure." He replied, following closely behind me.

That was what I was beginning to like about him.

He was always close by, and he clearly wanted to get to know me...he cared about me. That much I could tell, just from how angry he was getting at me walking away from him.

What I also liked was how similar we actually were. We both clearly had some sort of abandonment issues, and while I dealt with mine by closing everyone off; he demanded everyone (especially me) to be around him, and to spend time with him.

I figured maybe I could open my heart up to just one more person. This guy, Blake, would clearly never ever leave me. We could be good step siblings, and perhaps friends. It would make my mom happy too, so from that point on, I made sure to start treating him like we were best buddies. Close pals.

We splashed around in the pool for a bit, held swimming races to see who would be able to get to the other end of the pool and back, and even played Marco Polo. It was fun, the most fun I'd had in a while. Pretty soon mom and Peter were back, ducking their heads out the patio door to see what we were doing.

"Angel!" Mom yelled. "You having fun?" She asked staring at me, with a smile on her face.

"Yes mom." I replied, I was smiling too.

"Good sweetie! What about you Blake?" She continued.

"I'm having loads of fun." He replied, then splashed me with pool water.