We stayed in New Zealand for the next two days, celebrating with my brother the fact that he was now a high school graduate. We met few of his friends, some of whom Andrew didn't approve of but it is not a problem anyway because their high school life was already done and I doubt they are all close enough to stay in contact. Even if they did, it was Aaron's choice whether to be friends with them or not. If he liked them as his friends, who was going to stop him?
I, Luke and my other brothers stayed in the hotel for those two days, going over to our Aunt's place for lunch every afternoon – the Aunt who took in Aaron. We did go sightseeing a little through the city, but not much, mostly because we did not have time to do that.
Aaron had thrown a fit when he had learned that we were planning a vacation to Andrew's place and that we were going to stay there for the next couple of weeks. Even though I had promised that I will be the one to tell Aaron about the trip, Ethan was the brave one who sacrificed himself to our brother's wrath. On my defense, I did talk to him into the trip later and calm him down. It was a relatively easy task when compared to Ethan's because Aaron didn't even bat an eyelash before saying that he will go on the trip – he was even grinning when he did.
When it was time for our vacation that we had planned to start, we had took a flight from New Zealand to Melbourne first and then from Melbourne to Tasmania continuously. I was sitting in the window seat with Luke sitting next to me, while Andrew and David sat together; that left Aaron and Ethan to sit together behind us. Judging by the constant sound of talking and laughing from behind me I don't think Aaron minded sitting next to Ethan.
Halfway through the flight, my back was aching with the amount of time I had been sitting in the seat and my muscles felt cramped. I was going to need a good amount of sleep. It was already mid-night and everyone was already sleeping, except for me. I was trying to get some sleep but to no avail.
"What's wrong?" Luke whispered, frowning at me in concern, "You have been squirming a lot."
I didn't know he was awake too. I thought that he would have been long asleep. I winced as I turned to face him, "My spine hurts."
He smiled a little, "Come with me."
He raised a hand for me to take and I didn't even hesitate before slipping my hand into his. He pulled me up and out of my seat before proceeding to silently drag me down the plane in the direction of the restrooms. I frowned, not knowing what he was doing but I didn't question a word of his action as I let him pull me inside a restroom and lock the door.
I frowned at him as he locked the door and turned to look at me, "What are you doing?"
"I expected that question to come out of your mouth," he said, taking a step towards me making my eyes widen. I immediately as if on instinct took a step back and away from him.
"What are you doing?" I repeated, this time looking at him with a panicked expression on my face.
Luke laughed, shaking his head at me, "Relax, I am not going to kiss you, if that's what you were freaking out about."
"Funny, you would say that after initiating a kiss between us twice," I blurted out and then immediately bit my tongue as I looked at him with wide eyes.
Luke looked amused as he cocked his head to the side, "Are my skillful lips and tongue haunting your dreams?"
I scrunched my nose as I frantically shook my head, "No! I was just saying."
Luke laughed, his eyes crinkling with happiness, "Don't worry, princess. I am not going to initiate another kiss with you. You have to work hard to feel my lips against yours again," he joked. Or at least I hope he did.
I rolled my eyes at him, pretending to not be affected by his words, "Care to tell me why you dragged me here then?"
He smiled, "Turn around."
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, "What?"
He didn't reply, instead he took a step closer to me and clamped both his hands to my shoulders. In one swift move, he whirled me around so that my back was facing his chest. A gasp of surprise escaped out of my mouth due to his quick action and both my hands rested over the cabinet in front of me. I looked up and my eyes widened when they locked with Luke's reflection on the mirror in front of me.
"What-"
"Shut up," he cut me off with a smirk and slowly pressed his fingers to my lower back, massaging his up my spine.
I shut my mouth immediately after knowing what he was doing and a small smile made its way over to my lips. He was massaging my spine like he always used to do back in home when I get my spinal pain. As a child and as a grownup, I had always had a weak spine and that was the reason why I get the pain whenever I travel a lot or even when I try to play a sport for a long time.
Without my own concern a moan escaped my mouth just when Luke was massaging my mid back and both of us froze. I slapped a hand over my mouth and looked at him through the mirror with wide eyes, "I'm so sorry."
Luke got hold of my hips and pulled me to him in such a way that my back was pressed to his chest and leaned down to whisper, "If you don't want me to kiss you again, keep your moans to yourself."
With that he pushed me forward and then started to massage my back again while I just stood holding the cabinet with wide eyes, his words echoing through my brain again and again with a hot blush rising to my cheeks.
By the time we reached Melbourne, I was still wide awake from what had happened between me and Luke in the restroom a few hours ago. No, we did not kiss. But something about the way he had told me to stop moaning if I didn't want him to kiss me again, was enough to have me restless the entire night. We boarded another twenty minute flight from Melbourne to Tasmania and I sat next to Aaron there.
This was my chance to ask the question that was swarming in my mind without having any of our other brothers hearing it. They would be giving Aaron a hard time if they heard the full story of my travel to New Zealand a few months ago. And both I and my brother wouldn't like that.
"So, when were you going to tell me that you became friends with Harper again?" I turned to my brother and raised an eyebrow at him.
My brother shrugged, "After I finished getting scolded by Andrew for getting arrested, I guess."
I grimaced. Andrew had not been kind on either of our cases. He had grilled into me and Aaron about the dangers of a girl – his little sister – traveling alone to New Zealand. I could have told him that Luke and Augusta were with me and saved me the trouble, but then I had my suspicions that he will call Augusta and start lecturing her on how she should not encourage me to travel across country like this. That would be a disaster. So, Instead of throwing Augusta under the bus too, I sat silently, looking down at my lap as I listened to him.
He had been very hard on Aaron than he had on me. He and my other two brothers were not really happy with him when they learned that Aaron had gotten himself arrested for vandalism of property. They scolded him to the point where I think Aaron is forever scarred with their words. I would hate to be in his place.
"That was bad," I commented, grimacing more when I thought about Andrew's furious face back in hotel the next day after Aaron's graduation when he started to talk to me and Aaron.
"Just bad?" Aaron asked rhetorically, snorting in the end, "It was worse. I didn't expect him to be so hard on me."
"He is Andrew," I pointed out as if it was the most obvious thing, "He is our older brother. He has the responsibility to be hard on us when we make a mistake. Of course, he would be hard on us."
Aaron sighed, "I guess."
"So, tell me," I turned my body a little to the side and grinned at Aaron, "How did you and Harper become friends again?"
He shrugged, struggling to keep a straight face, "We talked. It was all just a misunderstanding. We are fine now."
I raised an eyebrow at him, "Back to being boyfriend – girlfriend?"
Aaron looked at me with wide eyes, panicked, "How did you know that we were a couple?"
I looked at him oddly, but answered him anyway, "Harper told me that day in front of the police station that she was your girlfriend. You interrupted and corrected her statement by saying that she was your ex-girlfriend. So I thought you guys were broken up or something."
"Yeah," he reached for the back of his head and scratched it, before letting out a sigh, "We were broken up at that time and I was mad at her. So... yeah."
I gave him an amused look, seeing Aaron uncomfortable for the first time, "So you are back together now?"
"You are asking too many questions."
"Oh, come on," I whined, leaning closer to him, "Tell me, tell me, tell me."
"Alright, alright," Aaron looked at like he was annoyed with me, but I saw the twitch of his lips, "Yeah we mended things and cleared the misunderstanding. We are a couple again now. But I don't know if we are going to stay together, you know with college and all."
"You don't want to do long distance," I observed, looking at him carefully, not wanting to miss even the slightest of his expression change, "You are scared that you both will drift apart anyway."
Aaron didn't protest, like I thought he would, instead he silently nodded his head before letting out a quiet, defeated sigh, "I like her. A lot. Hell, I love her but I don't know if we are going to last and that scares me."
"Did you tell her that you loved her?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah," he nodded, "She loves me too but is scared of being in a committed relationship with me."
I laughed softly, "Oh, how the tables have changed."
"Shut up," Aaron grumbled, knowing very well that he had been the one who had been scared of commitment and now he was waiting for a girl to get over her fear of commitment, "She is not scared of to be in a committed relationship as it is. She is scared of a committed relationship with me. I screwed up a lot in the past two years."
"That does sound like you," I teased, grinning at his misfortune.
He pouted, "I thought you were on my team."
"I am always on your team, Aaron."
When we reached Devonport, we immediately took two cabs to Andrew's place. My eyes were still wide open and my face was flushed with excitement about being to our brother's place for the first time. My legs were tapping and I was cocooned in the warmth of David as I sat between David and Luke. Ethan was snoring in the passenger's seat. Andrew and Aaron were in the other cab and no one wanted to travel with them knowing very well that Andrew was going to be lecturing Aaron.
Luke placed his hand on my knee and gave me a look, "Stop tapping, you are going to put a hole through the cab's bottom."
I pouted and then let out a sigh, "I cannot help it. I am very excited."
"You are still such a child, Caroline," David laughed and I gutted him slightly, before going back to looking at the passing buildings.
Ten minutes later the cab stopped outside a big house, the cab in which my other brothers came had already stopped before us. I got out of the cab after David and looked up at the house in front of me. Luke got out after me, slapping Ethan on the back of the head, waking him up.
The house before looked big and I guess there was also a swimming pool in the back. The neighborhood looked posh and very silent, giving it a noise free environment. All in all, the place was perfect. I wouldn't expect anything less from Andrew. He was the best psychologist in Tasmania.
A girl about David's age rushed out of the house, a grin as big as Australia plastered to her face as she ran out. Her black hair was up in a messy bun and she was wearing no makeup at all. Her clothes looked simple too. She was wearing a grey tank top with a pair of black knee shorts.
Cadence.
Andrew opened his arms for her to jump in and she collided into his chest, burying her face in his shoulder as he lifted her off her feet. Their actions seemed very coordinated as if they have done it a lot of times before. I turned to my other brothers and raised an eyebrow at them. They all seemed to be confused too.
Why we are confused you may ask... Okay, here is the deal. This girl – my eldest brother's girlfriend was not his type. You want to know what his type was? Of course you do. His type of girls are blonde, empty headed, Barbie with more curves in their body than normally possible. This girl however, looked so down to earth and not his type at all. How had my brother got all smart and fell for a girl like Cadence was not within my brain's reach.
"I missed you," Andrew whispered not so silently to Cadence, or at least I hope that it is Cadence – I have never seen her before.
"I missed you too," the brunette girl who I – hopefully – assume is Cadence told, "So much," she added, pulling away from him and opening her arms as wide as they would go, telling Andrew that she missed him that much.
A small smile lit up my face when I saw Andrew throw his head back and laugh before he turned to us, "Guys, come meet my girlfriend."
We all moved forward and huddled around Andrew, our baggage already placed on the ground beside us, "Guys this is Cadence Tate," he pointed at Cadence and then turned to us, "Cady, this is Ethan, Aaron, Luke, Caroline and David," he pointed at each of us when he said our name and we smiled at Cadence, "Luke is Care' boyfriend, the others are my siblings."
My eyes widened and I looked at Andrew with an open mouth, "Drew!" I complained, "Luke is not my boyfriend and you know it."
"Alright, alright," he chuckled, raising both his hands up in a surrendering motion, "Was just checking to make sure," he said and then looked at Luke with a stern expression, "If I did find out that you both are secretly dating, then we are going to have a serious talk, young man."
Luke just laughed it out, but I was feeling embarrassed as I narrowed my eyes at Andrew, "That's it, Drew! All your embarrassing stories are going to be served to Cady for dinner tonight."
My brother looked at me with wide eyes, frantically shaking his head at me while Cadence laughed, "Do tell, do tell. I would love that."
I can already tell that we were going to be getting along just fine.
A few hours later, I sat on the couch, my body covered with a blanket and my legs resting over David's lap. Cadence and Andrew were in the kitchen, cooking dinner. Or at least I think they are cooking. I don't want to go check; if in case they were doing something other than coking, I would lose my appetite and I don't want that. Ethan, Aaron and Luke were out doing God knows what, but if you ask them they would say that they were doing some grocery shopping for Drew and Cady. And that's a lie. So do not ask them what they did.
It was a few hours after we had all eaten lunch and Cady and Drew were preparing a huge dinner for us already. They called it our welcome dinner. Ethan, Luke and Aaron had called Andrew and told him that they were going to have lunch out. Andrew had told them to be here for dinner and I doubt they were going to miss anything.
The TV was on and Ellen DeGeneres' show was on air. I was a great fan of that woman and I would probably start crying if I got to meet her sometime. David has met with her and he says that she is a very nice woman. When he had drunk dialed me a few months ago, he had also told me that he would totally go for her, despite her age, if she was not a lesbian. I used to tease him about that, but then he brought up one of my embarrassing moments and had threatened to tell it to Kade or Kyra about it, knowing very well that they cannot keep a secret to save their lives. That had shut me up.
What is that embarrassing moment?
It is a very embarrassing moment. Let us leave it at that.
"Hey, Dave," I looked at my brother with a curious expression plastered to my face, "How is Los Angeles?"
David sighed, looking at me with a small smile, "Los Angeles is good. Really good actually. My talk show is the number one in rating today and I love the place where I live."
I frowned at him, sensing that it was not all, "But?"
He sighed again, "But, it is just not home. It doesn't feel so."
"You have a life there," I pointed out, "If you really like it there, then it would feel like home."
He chuckled, "Yeah, I tried giving myself that same pep talk – didn't help. I'm still not feeling home. That's why I'm planning to move to London in a few months. Andrew thinks it's good, that it would be like a new start or something."
I raised an eyebrow at him, unhappy that I was clearly not in the loop, "And why didn't I know about this?"
"Because I didn't tell you."
I glared at him, clearly unimpressed by his sense of humor, "Andrew knew and I didn't. This is unfair."
"What is unfair is that you are overreacting," he informed me with an amused smile on his face, "I just told Andrew about it on the flight from Melbourne to Tasmania. And you are the second to know. Ethan and Aaron still don't know. If there is someone here who has to react, it's Ethan because I was never planning to tell him. But now that we have made up, I think I should."
"Oh, you should," I grinned, suddenly excited about his move, "Then you can both be all buddy-buddy and hang out together over the weekends, since you will be in the same place and all. You will be the best brothers in London." I added the last part like I was gushing about that fact.
David chuckled, slapping my leg that was rested on his lap and I let out a yelp, glaring at him, "That was a bit over the top. We wouldn't be best brothers but we would come so darn close to it."
"Oh, yeah," I raised an eyebrow at him, "A few days ago you both were ready to practically rip each other's' throats and now you will be darn close to being best brothers, aye?"
He rolled his eyes at me, "All thanks to you, we are not anymore at each other's throats."
I grinned, "Welcome."
That was when we heard Ethan, Aaron and Luke about to enter the house from outside. Dang it! They could be heard before they could be seen.
"And there they are," I muttered under my breath, giving Dave a look, "They are going to describe their little rendezvous scene by scene, dialogue by dialogue and I'm going to get jealous because they didn't take me out with them."
David chuckled and we both waited with batted breath – well, not really, but whatever – as the three idiotic boys entered the living room, shoving one another and laughing so hard that their face was so red. I looked at David only to see him already looking at me with a confused yet curious face.
"What are you guys laughing about?"
"A bird pooped on Aaron's head," Luke said, laughing as he clutched his stomach with both his hands, tears running down his cheeks.
"Ethan hit on a man thinking that he was a woman," Aaron said, laughing similar to Luke.
"Luke got told off by a hobo," Ethan said, laughing like a maniac too.
"Ethan sang Gabriella's part in High School musical at the karaoke today and a small girl corrected him!"
"Aaron called mom and confessed that he was gay who has now magically turned straight!"
"Luke fell off the table and into a grandma's lap in the karaoke bar!"
"Aaron got slapped with that grandma's purse for pushing me down on her!"
"Ethan stole an ice cream from a kid and got slapped by her grandpa!"
By now David and I were falling off the ground and laughing like maniacs as my brothers and best friend listed everything that happened to them in their little outing this evening.
"Ethan tried a dress on him!"
"Aaron tried a thong!"
"Luke asked the sales lady for a DD cup bra!"
"Ethan got rejected by a girl because he used old pickup lines on her!"
"Ethan screamed bloody murder after seeing a fake snake!"
"Ethan got a tattoo!"
"You what?!" Andrew boomed, his voice resonating through the house but the boys didn't seem to get the point. They were still going at it and we were all too busy laughing to realize that Andrew was now standing in the living room listening to our other brothers and my best friend go at it at each other.
"Ethan pole danced with strippers!"
By now Ethan had gone silent, looking at Andrew with wide eyes, knowing very well what he was going to be reprimanded soon. I wouldn't even be surprised if our older brother grounded Ethan for the whole vacation. Andrew loved to play parents to us when our real parents don't even bother and getting inked was a big no-no to him.
"Ethan got inside a gay club and danced, claiming to be gay!"
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Ethan yelled making the two boys instantly shut their mouth, "Aaron has a secret girlfriend that only Caroline knows about!"
My eyes widened and I immediately looked at Andrew only to see him already looking at me, his eyes shining with disappointment. We have this one rule between us siblings and that was no secrets between us whatsoever. Not that I have never broken that rule, I have had a good bunch of secrets to myself, but the difference between all those times and now was that my brothers have never found about it before now.
I glared at Ethan, willing for him to shut his mouth already before he could proceed and shove me into a deeper pit than this, "Ethan-"
Ethan was not finished though, "And Luke kissed a hot girl and bit her tongue by accident!"
I froze.
Luke and Aaron looked at Ethan with wide eyes and I looked at him as if he had just killed their favorite puppy. Ethan narrowed his eyes at the boys and glared, "There, now we are all even."
I couldn't do anything else other than look at Luke with disbelief written on my face. I don't know why, but something didn't feel right with me. I was for some reason, feeling betrayed and I didn't like this feeling. It was the same feeling that I had gotten when I had found out that Axel had cheated on me with Amelia. It was horrible and bitter. My chest was tightening and I wanted out of this feeling.
Andrew exhaled a breath, looking at the three boys in front of me, "You guys have not even been here for half a day and you are all already creating so much trouble," he shook his head at them sternly, "All of you go to your room and do not step out of there till dinner."
I didn't pull my eyes off Luke as he walked past me and up the stairs to his room. I wanted him to tell me that whatever Ethan told was not true and that he never kissed any girl. But I know that was too much to ask for. Luke didn't even look up at me and kept his eyes down, looking at the floor as he walked away.
Why am I so bothered that my best friend kissed a girl?