Have you had one of those moments where you want to just disappear or better yet make the other person disappear? I was living in one of those moments now. I, so badly wanted the ground to open up and swallow me completely or better yet, I wanted to spend this vacation with my brothers, so let the ground swallow up Luke instead.
We were kissing.
This was humiliating because the moment his lips touched mine, all rational thoughts fell out of my head and I was immediately kissing him back. My lips moved in sync with his as we kissed. There can be no other thing in this world that I would find as thrilling as it was as kissing Luke.
Luke had some kind of magic in his lips; when they touched mine, my thoughts become a jumble and I was left blank. I should push him away and shout at him for he did, for what he was doing, but I couldn't. I was already arrested by his lips and I can only get my free will back after he decides to pull away. For right now, all I could think about were his lips. Every single time.
Luke arms tightened around my waist as he hoisted me up from the ground, my arms around his neck tightening in return, as my legs wound up around his hips. I felt Luke walking backwards and before I knew it, he was sitting somewhere with me straddling his lap.
I pulled away from the kiss first when I ran out of breath and found us sitting in one of the booths in the shop. I rested my forehead against his, thinking about what just happened. I wanted to get out of his lap and run as far away from my best friend as possible, but I couldn't do it – not when he was having his hand inside my t-shirt drawing gentle circular patterns on the small of my back.
Both our ragged breathing slowly decreased and just as our breathing returned to almost normal, he lunged at my lips again, kissing me with a roughness that had me moaning and tugging him even closer to me than before. Our tongues battled for dominance and I had an inkling of doubt that he was letting me win. I tugged at the back of his hair, making him groan inside my mouth.
"Don't hold back," I whispered against his lips rocking my hips slightly against his.
I don't know where I was getting all my confidence from, but something inside me has seemed to have snapped the moment his lips touched mine with passion. I liked it.
Luke let out another groan inside my mouth and it sent an electric current straight to my core. His hands traveled from my waist down to my butt as he cupped one in his hands and squeezed, leaning forward as he kissed me like the world was going to end today.
A fire was building up inside my core and I know for a fact that I was extremely turned on. At this moment I didn't care that I was turned on by my best friend. I didn't care that my best friend and I were kissing and I also didn't care that this kiss could change a lot of things between him and me.
All I cared at this moment was how this kiss made me feel like the only girl living.
We kissed for another few minutes which felt like hours to us. Our lips moving in sync as our tongues battled each other, our teeth clashing as we kissed. The passion was strong. Too strong. I cannot believe that my best friend could unleash this kind of a desire inside of me. It was shocking because I have not felt this with Axel and I had thought I was in love with him.
"Luke Warrens," someone called and Luke groaned pulling away from me.
My breathing was as heavy as his was and we were looking at each other. My arms around his neck tightened. I didn't want him to go. Whoever it was, who was calling him can wait.
"Our slushy order is here," he whispered, his lips slightly brushing against mine.
A delicious shiver traveled down my spine and my breathing hitched when I looked into his eyes and found the lust that was driving both of us crazy. I wanted to feel his lips against mine, one last time, before we went to get our slushy.
As if he had read my mind, he moved forward and pressed his lips to mine, this time his kiss was gentle and slow, his lips moving against mine skillfully, but with an underlying passion. I felt Luke's lips tug up at the corners as he kissed me and that made my lips pull up into a smile too as I kissed him back. I don't know what we are doing anymore but I didn't care.
When we both pulled away from the kiss, I got out of his lap and stood beside the table, being careful as to not look at him and give my blush away. I don't want him to see my blush nor did I want him to see the way that kiss had affected me.
I turned my back on him as I looked at the other end of the shop, taking in silent deep breaths to calm myself down. I could feel Luke pushing himself off the booth too as he stood. One moment later my thoughts were confirmed when both his slid around my waist as he pulled me to his chest, my back pressing firmly against his chest.
My cheeks reddened even more and I bit my bottom lip tightly in order to not let go of myself in the moment again. I bit back a moan when Luke slightly bent down and nibbled my right ear, biting at it gently and pulling it between his teeth before releasing it.
I leaned my head against his chest as I let my eyes close. He brushed his lips slightly against my ear, "Do you still think that I am a bad kisser?" he whispered bringing me back to my reality.
It was like a slap to my face, a push from my fantasy to my actuality. For some odd reasons, I felt my heart deflate like a balloon. I didn't really know what that feeling was. Why was I suddenly unhappy that our kiss didn't mean anything to him and that he had just kissed me to prove a point to me? To prove that he was indeed a good kisser.
I watched as Luke walked to the counter without another word and picked up our order, before walking out of the shop like nothing had happened between us. He hadn't even spared a glance back my way. I sat back down on the booth where Luke and I kissed just a few minutes ago and placed my hand over my forehead. A throbbing headache was on its way and I was sure I was going to suffer one in less than a few hours.
My body was burning with embarrassment. I felt, for some reason, very used. He had kissed me only because he wanted to prove to me that he was no bad kisser like I said he was. I had just been trying to taunt him and I had not expected for it to backfire on me this way.
I sighed, rubbing my face, thinking about why this was suddenly a big issue for me. It is not like it was the first time we kissed and the third time may usually be a charm but my third time kissing my best friend was nothing close to a charm.
Maybe I should kiss him again.
What was I even thinking?
"Is this booth taken?" I looked up to see a lanky but fit looking handsome boy with a pair of gorgeous blue eyes and blonde hair standing in front of me. What drew me the most to him though was his dimpled smile and the innocence in his eyes; he was carrying something calm with him, the kind of calm that would give us a pleasant feeling. The kind of calm that could soothe my raging heart.
"No," I shook my head, when I saw him raising an eyebrow at me in question. He had been waiting patiently for the past one minute for me to open my mouth and answer him.
The boy nodded and slid into the booth, sitting opposite to me, his eyes holding mine with interest, "They told me you would be here drinking a slushy or something, but I don't see any slushy with you."
I frowned, my eyebrows scrunching together in confusion, "Excuse me?"
"Oh, sorry," he chuckled, giving me a small smile, "You don't know me. I'm Weston Tate. Cadence's brother and you are Andrew's sister, Caroline, right?."
"Oh," was my intelligent reply as I nodded my head at him, but then suddenly frowned, "How do you know that it was me?"
Weston gave me a flat look as he motioned to the shop's inside, "There is no one else here except for you and you match all the things that Cady told me about you."
I gave him an amused smile, crossing my arms over the table and leaning over it, "And what did she say?"
"Brown hair, brown eyes, about 5'4", slim and last but not the least, beautiful," he winked, leaning over the table too.
I found my face heating up at his words. What a smooth talker!
I desperately cleared my throat and looked away from him, thinking about what I should tell him because it felt like a compliment, but I didn't know if it was. I mean, he did say that Cady told him those stuffs and he could have just been stating them to me.
"It is a compliment," he confirmed as he smiled at me, his amusement clear on his face.
My head snapped up to him and I gulped, "Oh, um, thanks."
He chuckled, "Don't mention it."
We both remained silent after that. My thoughts were now going back to Luke where they had been before Weston arrived here. I liked kissed him. I liked kissing my best friend. Does that make me a bad person?
"Okay," Weston sighed, looking at me intently, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I said quickly, shaking my head at him, not wanting to burden this handsome almost stranger with my problems.
"Come on, you can tell me," he coaxed, smiling at me that dimpled smile that made me want to fall at his feet, "My friends say that I give out great advices."
I bit my bottom lip, my mind swaying in two directions. I do want someone to talk to, but I'm not sure if I can talk to him, "I don't know."
"Think of me as your brother, Caroline. But as a brother who you can tell everything to, I know you cannot talk about everything to your blood brothers," Weston sighed again, "I may be a stranger to you, but soon," he paused, shaking his head before continuing, "-Very soon, we are going to be family. You can trust me with whatever it is that's bothering you, I would never let you down."
I smiled at him, "Drew told you, huh?"
"Yup," he nodded with a grin, "He wanted me to be here when he proposed. That's why I'm here, well, my friends are all here somewhere too, but that doesn't matter."
I chuckled, nodding my head, taking in what he said, but then I let out a huff, my shoulders slumping in defeat, "I don't know what's happening with me anymore."
Weston reached across the table and clamped his hand over mine, gently taking it in his hands and giving it a gentle squeeze, "Tell me what happened."
I took in a deep breath, "I have a best friend and a few months back, he turned up at my doorstep one night, drunk off his ass. It was already way past midnight and I helped him to the living room and asked him to sleep on the couch. In his drunken state, he kissed me. For some reason, I kissed him back too, but then everything between us started to change. We fight a lot these days and normal comments changed to flirty remarks, not to mention I feel immensely jealous when Luke talks to anyone else."
"Luke?" Weston asked, his eyebrows scrunching together in confusion, "The Luke who was there at the beach, sitting with my sister and your brothers, talking to some bimbo?"
I let out a chuckle, but then nodded my head with a huff, "That bimbo was the main reason for our argument today. The day we all came here, Luke and two of my brothers had gone out to, you know, just enjoy their evening. When they had come back, I learned that Luke had kissed this girl and I was very angry. We were just going back to being a little normal today and he had to go ahead and invite that very girl and her friends along with us. I got mad."
He nodded, "What did you do?"
I bit my lip, not knowing how Weston knew that I did something. It was like he doesn't know me, but knows me a lot at the same time. I shrugged, "We came here to get slushy and then we got into an argument. I called him a bad kisser, the argument escalated. I kept taunting him and he kissed me. I really liked the kiss, but then after we pulled away he asked me if he was still a bad kisser," I huffed, "I feel bad, like I don't know, I feel very used."
Weston nodded, his eyebrows pulled together as he thought about what I had just said, "Who initiated both the kisses?" he asked after a few moments of pure silence, "Was it always him?"
I didn't bother correcting him and informing him that it was actually three kisses, I didn't want to explain our second kiss to him. I nodded, "Yes."
Weston sighed, looking at with a raised brow, "Caroline, I am going to ask you something; take your time, but you have to answer me honestly, alright?"
I bit my lips as I nodded, "Alright."
He leaned forward, looking me straight in the eyes as if he didn't trust me to tell him the truth and that looking at the emotions running through my eyes would tell him something if I didn't, "Do you like Luke?"
The question must have caught me off guard, but it didn't. I was kind of expecting this question. Yet, for some reason as soon as the words were out of Weston's mouth, I chocked on my own spit, thinking about why he would even ask me a question like this.
Oh, I don't know maybe because of the fact that you guys kissed, thrice?
Weston smiled at me encouragingly, "I told you, you can take your time to think about it."
What is there to think about it? The answer is no.
Think about it, Caroline.
I bit my lips as I thought about it. Luke's face flashed into my mind and I felt a foreign feeling flutter inside of me. It was not similar to what I had felt with Axel; this was stronger. I imagined his smile; the genuine one where his lips tilting up fully and his eyes crinkled in the corners as he laughed. I thought about the way his eyes would light up every time he talked about something that he loved. I thought about his lips touching mine and I immediately felt my heart rate increasing.
I liked him.
I internally gasped as I looked up at Weston, swallowing, "I guess," I nodded but then frowned, "I think I like him, but, I don't know, it's so wrong."
Weston chuckled, "Why is it wrong?"
"It's wrong because he is my best friend and I shouldn't like him," I cried, throwing them up in the air in frustration, "I cannot like him. It will only make things complicated."
He cocked his head to the side, a teasing glint in his eyes, "More complicated than those kisses you shared can make it?"
"Yes," I told him, ignoring the fact that he was just teasing me, "My feelings for him could make things much more complicated than they already are."
This time Weston frowned, confusion lighting up his eyes, "How so?"
"I don't know," I shrugged, my panic raising, "How can I have feelings for my best friend? It may spoil our friendship."
"It's not a bad thing, Caroline, trust me," he assured, "You could be one of those couples who, you know, are best friends and are still in love with each other."
"And what if things don't work out in the long run and we broke up?" I snapped at him, not liking the fact that he was encouraging me on my feelings, "What then? I could lose my best friend."
Weston sighed, "You know what, you have just realized your feelings for someone and I know that it could be overwhelming to think about it now," he got out of the booth and looked at me with a smile, "How about we get out of here and meet my friends and then talk about this feelings thingy when you have calmed down a little?"
That sounded like a nice idea, probably because he was saying I didn't have to think about this anymore and hurt my head more than I already have. So, I nodded, "Okay."
I got out of the booth too and followed Weston out of the slushy shop. We walked towards where our family and friends sat, talking about his friends. He told me that they could come off as a bit too forward and that they were all naturally flirty. He asked me to be cautious about them. He also told me that they were all too, like Luke and me, going to be Year 12s in high school this year.
I laughed when he told me about how those boys took the attention of the girls off of my brothers who had immediately looked relieved and it seemed like David even thanked one of his friends. Aaron on the other hand though was a bit bitter that his friends had stolen the girl who had been flirting with him. I frowned at that. I think it's about time I had a serious sister talk with Harper Mathews.
"My friends are not here," Weston observed as he looked over the place I had previously sat, a few of the girls were missing too, "They will be here in a few minutes," he said and added under his breath, "Or hours, depending upon what they're doing with those girls."
I scrunched my nose in disgust and pushed him away from me. He laughed that carefree laugh that had me jealous. Weston was still chuckling, telling me about how cute I looked when I pushed him away in disgust, when we reached our family and stood before them, waiting for them to move around so they can make space for us to sit down, Cady raised an eyebrow looking between me and Weston, "You guys bonded, I see."
I shrugged, "We talked."
"We talked?" Weston raised an eyebrow at me and snorted, shaking his head as he draped an arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer to him, "We became best friends. I even know all of Caroline's deepest and darkest secrets."
He wiggled his eyebrows at me and I elbowed him in the stomach, making him groan. Smiling at him sarcastically, I replied, "No, you don't."
I pulled myself away from him and plopped down between Cady and David. In just a few moments I had noted that my slushy – the Hawaiian Punch one that I had wanted – was gone too. I don't know who drank it, but at this moment, I didn't care.
Weston glared at me as he sat on the blanket between my legs, his back to me. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the waves. Cady chuckled as she looked between me and her little brother, but I just rolled my eyes at her as I looked at my brothers.
David was scrolling through his twitter, seeing through his feed and re-tweeting some fan tweets. I peeked over his shoulder and saw that he had posted a picture of all of us together. The picture was taken at Aaron's graduation.
I leaned in to place a chaste kiss on his cheek and he immediately looked up giving me a smile before going back to scrolling through the page. I looked past him to look at Ethan. He was talking with Aaron about something. A little past them, there was Luke. I didn't look at Luke for more than a moment, mainly because he was already looking at me; he looked all comfortable and cozy as he sat with Tamara, her arms hugging his bare torso as they sat together next to Ethan. I turned to my left to see Andrew was still trying hard to get Cady's attention.
I chuckled at that before turning to look at Weston's back again, he was still looking at the ocean before us, his arms crossed over his chest. I can literally see the pout on his face even though his back was facing me.
I rolled my eyes at him and poked his shoulder. He looked at me over his shoulder before sneering at me and turning to face the front again. I sighed, "Alright, I'm sorry. You know a lot of secrets about me."
"See?" Weston grinned as he stood off the blanket and turned around, looking down at me as he extended his hands for me to take, "Now, you are back to being my best friend."
I rolled my eyes at him but a smile was tugging up my lips as I placed my hand in his and let him pull me up, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."
"Come on," he nudged me, "My friends just messaged me telling me they are there near the ice cream shop," he pointed at the ice cream shop, "We should go meet them there."
"Do we have to?" I pouted up at him, but Weston was not having any of it as he nodded, grinning down at me, his enthusiasm was despicable to me, but also irresistible as I let him lead me to where his friends were standing after telling Cady that we were going to go get ice cream.
He led me to a group of boys, who were teasing each other and laughing near the ice cream shop with a few girls around them, openly drooling over them. I saw Agatha reaching over and stroking the arm of one of the boys and I let out a sigh, understanding that it was not only Ethan's muscles that she had taken a liking to. That realization made me feel a little bit better.
"Hey, guys," Weston greeted his friends who greeted him back with a shoulder pat or a bro hug. When they all finished greeting, they turned to me, looking at Weston questioningly, waiting for him to introduce me to them.
"And who might this be?" a boy with black hair who Agatha had her arms around asked, looking me up and down.
I shuffled, closer to Weston, not comfortable with the way that boy was looking at me. Like a piece of meat.
Weston grinned, swinging his arm over my shoulder, "Guys, this is Caroline. She is Andrew, my sister's boyfriend's little sister."
"Caroline," he turned to me and pointed to all the boys one by one, "This is Jacob, Grayson, Nash and Jonah."
I nodded at them all and flashed them a small smile as I shook their already extended hands. Weston pulled me back to his side immediately and slung his arm over his shoulder, "And guys, no hitting on her. She is family to me is out of limits."
The Jacob guy who was the one with the black hair groaned and the other boys just chuckled, looking between me and Weston suspiciously.
"So, Katharina," Agatha asked, her chirpy voice as annoying as ever as she wound her arms around Jacob's waist, as if she was claiming him as hers, "How do you like Tasmania so far?"
"It's Caroline," I cringed at her voice internally, but let out a shrug, "Tasmania is so far so good."
She opened her mouth to tell something but thank God, Aaron called me. I immediately turned around to see my brother waving me over to the place where I was previously sitting. I started to walk back to him, telling Weston and his friends that I would be back soon, before walking over to Aaron.
"Yes?" I asked him once I reached him.
Instead of him answering him, it was Cady who answered me, "Your phone has been ringing nonstop."
I frowned, walking over to where I had dropped my clothes and pulled out my phone from my jean pocket, the same pocket that had Luke's phone in it and just that moment my phone started to blare again. I checked to see who was calling, but since it had showed unknown number, I shrugged and answered the call sliding my thumb over the screen.
"Hello?" I spoke through my phone as I started to walk away from my family, a few feet away so that I could talk to whoever it was on the phone without any disturbances.
"Caroline Andrea Harper," a stern voice said from the phone's other side and I immediately recognized the voice even though it has been years since I last heard that voice, "Where are you?"
I sighed, running a hand through my hand, "Hello, mother."
Our mom huffed, and I could literally hear her grinding her teeth together, "Don't play with me, Caroline. Why is Peter telling me that Augusta said you are not home, but out on a vacation with that Luke kid?"
I rolled my eyes at her, "Yes, mother. I am on a vacation. But not alone with Luke; Andrew, David, Ethan and Aaron are also with us. We are in Tasmania," I said, calmly, "We attended Aaron's graduation – you know the one that family should be there for? Yeah, that one. We wanted him to have that experience of having his family around for graduation even if his parents are not there. And then we came to Tasmania to spend a few days here with Drew and his girlfriend."
"Andrew has a girlfriend?" pure shock covered her voice and I snorted.
"Of course, you wouldn't know about that," I mocked, clicking my tongue at her, "You have to be a part of our life to know about what is happening in it."
It was silent for a few minutes, before she sighed, giving up, "Why didn't you inform me or your dad that you were flying out of the country, Caroline? Even if it was to visit your brother, you should have informed us. We deserve to know what you are doing."
I scoffed, "And when do you think I should have done that? When you call us every night to talk and wish 'Good night'?"
Andrew and Aaron walked over to where I stood; they should have seen the anger that was rising in me. I was starting to shake. It has been almost three years since I heard her voice and here she was calling me like nothing was wrong with us in the first place and questioning my actions as if she cared about me – as if she cared about any of us. Andrew raised an eyebrow at me, but I shook my head at him.
"Don't use that tone with me, young lady," she snapped, "I am your mother."
I let out a humorous laugh, "I am surprised you even remember that, mother."
Before I could hear her reply, Andrew pulled the phone from my hand and pressed it to his ear, "Hello?"
A pause, "Yes, mom, it is Andrew," pause, "I know that, mom. I know Caroline traveled across country, I was with her the whole time. We went to Aaron's graduation," pause, "Mom, she is with me, her own brother. I care about her as much as you do. Actually, scratch that out. I care about her more than you do. She is not the fourteen year old girl you left back at home, mom. She is seventeen now, not a child," a pause, "Oh don't go there. That's my sister, I can take care of her-" another pause, "No, mom, you don't get to call my little sister, irresponsible. If there was anyone who was irresponsible in our family, it was you and dad; you weren't there when she needed you and now you can't just call her after three years and demand why she didn't tell you about leaving country to meet her own brothers and spend time with them."
Aaron slung his arm around his shoulder and pulled me closer to him. I immediately leaned against him, my head resting on his chest as we listened to Andrew talk to our mother. It didn't make sense that she had called me and only me. Sure, all my brothers were legally adults, but why call only me to yell? Why couldn't she call the others too?
Andrew paused as he intently listened to mom talk.
"I don't think you can blame this on her, mom. You did not give her an option when you just up and left. And whenever we tried calling you, your secretary always told us that you were busy with a meeting or something else. After a point we stopped waiting for you to come around. Caroline didn't call you to tell you about out vacation because we all know that either way you wouldn't care."
Andrew scoffed after a few moments of listening to our mom rant about something and shook his head, "It's not about you calling every day, mom. It was always about you being there for us. You left us all and placed your business before us; you weren't here when our family needed you. You just can't come barreling back into our lives, demanding to be treated as a parent when you and dad both made it clear that your business is more important to you than us, your children."
A pause.
Andrew sighed after a few more minutes of listening to her rant, "I don't think you understand. I don't think you would ever understand. And, guess what, our lives are going to be the same way it is now, not caring if you ever understand us or not. I don't care what you have to say, because this has gone too far now. I'm her brother and she has come to visit me. I don't think anything is wrong with that."
A pause.
"Oh, now you remember that she is still a minor and you are her parent, do you?" my brother's voice rose from calm to threatening in matter of minutes as he glared at the sand near his feet, "She's my sister and I know what I am doing," a pause, "You know what, go ahead. I'll even take this issue to court and file for custody, if that's how you want to play this. If I point out to a judge that you have not been in Caroline's life for the past three years, no one would even bat an eyelash before making me her legal guardian – not to mention, I'm one hundred percent sure that's what Caroline would want to and she will say so in court."
A pause.
"Yes, mom, I am just twenty four years old and I'm still learning life, true; but guess what? I grew up faster than the other guys my age, because you leaving the family behind demanded that I grow up. My siblings were looking up at me as their older brother, as someone who would guide them through their life because they had no parents to do that for them," my brother sighed, pinching his nose, "I have been there for all my siblings, than you have ever been. I may not always have been there physically, but I have been there for them one way or the other. I have called them to check up on them regularly, in person – I didn't make my secretary call them. I have taught them, rights and wrongs. I have always been there for them, just like they wanted me to."
A pause.
Andrew let out a dry laugh, no humor in it whatsoever as he shook his head, "You think that? You can call all your children, right at this moment and ask them what kind of parents they have. Even your favorite child, David would tell you how much of a lousy parents you and dad were, are," he scoffed, "And guess what, because of the lessons that I learned from you, my fiancée and I will do a better job at raising our kids than you guys."
A very small pause.
Andrew smirked, "Yes, mom, I said fiancée. I am going to propose to my girlfriend today. You didn't expect that, did you?" he taunted before sighing, "You know what, mom, I think I'm going to be the bigger person here and hang up on you now. I know you have a lot of business meetings to attend to. I will let you get back to that now. Goodbye, mother."
And I knew I've never loved Andrew more than I did right at that moment. Because at that moment, he was my hero.