Brother, noun.
The one who gets the right balance between good friend, and good advice. Between being protective, and giving you your freedom. The fact that they are a blood relation of yours is merely an added bonus.
Chapter thirteen: Deep Conversations
"Well, that was fun," grinned Simon.
"Yeah, thanks you two. You weren't even that bad," I said, laughing.
"Hey!" Protested Simon.
"Whatever Jord," grinned Josh. "We were so better than you."
"Purely out of height advantage," I stated.
Simon's arm somehow found itself around my waist again, and I was glad of it. I leaned into him, feeling the warmth of his body. The cold was starting to creep through my jumper, since we'd stopped running around.
"You cold?" Asked Simon, looking down at me.
"Yeah," I nodded, "but this is better."
He smiled and we continued walking. I sighed.
"What's the sigh for?" Asked Josh.
"Nothing," I said. "I just remembered I left my window open, is all. It was stuffy in my room today, but it'll be freezing now."
"Stay in my room," said Simon. "Our house is closer anyway. I don't want you to walk home by yourself in the dark."
"Yeah, heating is terrible at your house anyways," said Josh. "Maybe coz of all the glass doors leading to the back yard. The heat goes straight out there. I was there the other night, and your heater does basically nothing."
"I guess we need it fixed or something," I said, nodding. "When were you there? I don't remember it, was I out?"
"Maybe, I don't know," he shrugged. "I just crashed in Freya's room."
I raised my eyebrows.
"Did you now?"
I felt Simon nudge me in the side, and I looked up at him to see he was smirking. It brought a smile to my face. I would be having words with Josh later. I had no idea that he and Freya were that close, and if he was gonna give me a hard time about Simon, I was sure as hell gonna give it right back to him.
The guys house was warm when we entered, walking quietly, trying to be as silent as possible. There was, of course, a strong possibility that both Vik and Jide would be awake and recording or editing anyway, but for some reason the night made us quiet. Josh said goodnight, and disappeared into his room. I followed Simon upstairs to his room.
"I actually pretty tired right now," I smiled.
"You ought to be, it's ten past three now," said Simon.
He went to his cupboard and pulled out hoodie, and a pair of shorts.
"There's some clothes for you. You can use the bathroom first if you want."
"Thanks," I nodded, taking the clothes.
I went into Simon's bathroom, and changed. When I returned to his room, he had changed already, and was at his desk, plugging in his phone. He turned to look at me.
"Aw, you look so small in them," he smiled.
"My arms are way too short," I complained, sticking them out.
The sleeves of the hoodie came way past my fingertips. He laughed, and grabbed my arms, and pulled me to him. I felt him kiss my forehead gently.
"Come on. Sleep."
"An admirable suggestion," I stated. I felt his chest move as he laughed.
"You're so wierd sometimes."
He picked me up, and placed me gently down on his bed. Then he flicked the light switch off, and laid down beside me, pulling me to him.
"You know," he said, "you're actually sick at basketball. When you start playing again for real, even if it's in America when you go to Texas, I'm gonna be there to watch you."
"As long as I can watch you play soccer," I smiled in the dark.
"I'm not that good," he stated. "I can freestyle pretty well, but that's it."
"But it's so much harder to keep a ball in control with your feet than your hands," I replied, fiddling with the long sleeves on Simon's hoodie.
"Yeah, I guess football is a harder game to pick up at first," he said quietly. His chin was resting on my shoulder, and I could feel his breath fanning my neck as he spoke. "But they both require a lot of skill to play well."
I sighed.
"Thankfully Texas is a long way away at this stage," I said. "With everything that's going through my head lately I'm in no mood to see my brother and his friends."
"That's what I don't get," he said. "Like, the Pack and the other minecraft guys are your friends as well, why do you call them your brother's friends?"
I was silent for a minute, thinking about this.
"I don't really know the answer to that," I said honestly. "I guess they're his best friends, and I'm always just 'Lachlan's little sister' to them. I like being here with the squad so much because you guys treat me like a real person, not the shadow of someone else. You guys are my best friends, not his."
"Josh told me he thought Lachlan had convinced you to never come back here, after what happened," he said. "And I was thinking much the same thing. Your brother is so protective of you, we were almost scared of him."
"I don't know, I reckon you could take him," I stated. He chuckled.
"If I did you'd kill me though. He is your brother, even if he's being a pain in the neck."
"Yeah, we just have such a love hate relationship right now," I sighed. "It's funny, he was totally cool with me hanging out with whoever I wanted, until... That happened, and now it's like he's got a vendetta against the whole of Britain or something."
"Maybe we can prove him wrong," he said.
I nodded. We were quiet for a while after that, and eventually, we both fell asleep.
A/N: idk what the hell to call this chapter ha. And sorry Lachlan I love the guy to death but he really takes a beating in this story lol.