"Hey" I heard a familiar voice rattle my eardrums. I spun around on the pavement to face a teenage boy around my age.
"Hey" I called back. He approached me, his green eyes landing on my blue ones.
"You're Beth, right? You were a Krelboyne" He almost stated instead of asked, a hint of condescension in his voice.
I look him up and down, studying him. He was tall (atleast 5'8), was wearing two t-shirts and had dark, spiky hair.
"Yeah, that's me... Wait, you look familiar... Are you Malcolm's brother?" I questioned the teen. He smirked in my direction.
"Yeah, I'm Reese" He stated, holding out his hand. "How have we not met before?"
I took his hand. "We have, just not formally like this" I threw a small smile at him. "Usually, when I see you, you have your arm wrapped around a kids neck"
Taking his hand away from mine, he laughed in response.
"C'mon, I'll walk you home" He said, walking ahead of myself.
"You know where I live?" I swear I could hear him gulp after I spoke. He turned to me, directing a wide smile at myself.
"Would you find it creepy if I did?" Reese asked. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Would you?"
"Well, I'd find it flattering if I were you"
I smiled at him, dropping my frown.
"Stupid question" I muttered as we continued walking.
"So, you know my brother?" Reese said, glancing quickly at me before diverting his gaze back to the concrete before us.
"Uh, yeah, has he never mentioned me before? I mean, we kinda grew up together in school"
"Oh, he has, like, a lot" He puts emphasis on the last word. Really? Malcolm talks about me?
"Right... Well, we're still lab partners now so we're working on a new project to do with an enzyme" I informed the teenager.
I saw him nod in my peripheral vision.
"That's cool, would you wanna come over later to work on it?"
"Malcolm asked you to do this, didn't he?"
He stopped suddenly, holding his gaze on me.
"You're good," He smiled. "Yeah, he's kinda shy around you, so I said I'd help, just don't tell him I told you" He said, his brow furrowing into a worried gaze.
I smiled. "Don't worry, mom's the word and I'd love to come over to work on our project tonight, what time?"
"Anytime after 6"
"Deal"
---
"Where is he, Reese? I've been here for an hour already" I asked the teenager from across the room. He was laying on his bed whilst I leaned on one of the desks opposite him, tossing a ball back and fro to each other.
"He'll be back soon, I think" Reese said, throwing the ball back to me. I looked at the boy before me. He wasn't looking back at me as he spoke.
"Reese," I said, placing myself next to him on the bed. He was still avoiding eye contact with me. "Malcolm isn't comi-"
"Hey, sorry I'm late, Beth" I turned my head to meet a pale blue-eyed boys gaze. Malcolm.
"Oh, Malcolm, hey" I said.
"C'mon, let's get started" He said, confidently. Reese just lay there on his bed, ignoring us. I sighed and stood up, walking over to Malcolm who was near the desk I had previously been leaning on.
"So, how come you're late?" I asked the teenager, standing beside him as we placed the lab equipment on the desk.
He looked at me. "Oh, I had to drop Stevie off somewhere in the car"
I nodded in response.
---
After around an hour of working, Malcolm and I decided to take a break.
"So, there is something I need to talk to you about" I told Malcolm as we sat opposite each other on his bed, our knee's bent.
His pale blue eyes met mine, his mouth slightly agape and his brow furrowed.
"What's up?"
"Reese kinda knows where I live... And he mentioned you too" I informed him.
He stared at me, blankly at first, then his expression changed into worry.
"Umm, it's a long story and hard to explain" He started to become all twitchy and fidgety, slapping his comic book closed and scooted closer to me, so he was sat before me in the lotus position.
He was fidgeting with the blankets when I noticed how uncomfortable he was. I placed my hand on his.
"Hey, you know I'm easy, just tell me" I told him. He held his gaze on mine for a second, before doing something I never thought he'd ever have the courage to do.
He leaned his head closer to mine, before I could react, his lips were on mine. He wrapped his hand around my neck and pushed his weight down onto me.
I wanted to push him away, but something felt somewhat right about kissing this boy.
I was laying back on the bed, Malcolm on top of me, full on making out by this point.
I could feel his hand slide down my side, slowly edging closer to my center.
"Malcolm" I said, out of breathe, pulling away from him.
He held his head up to look at me. He looked between my face and his hand, clearly reading my expression correctly.
"S-sorry, I-I-I don't know what the hell came over me" Malcolm said, holding himself over me.
"It's fine, Malcolm, I've gotta admit, that was kinda hot" I laughed, holding a large smile at him.
He smiled back at me, pulling me back into the kiss.
"Malcolm!" I jumped at the loud voice, Malcolm mimicking my movement.
He spun his head around to meet the gaze of his older brother, Reese. He was standing in the doorway, arms crossed, brow furrowed. He looked mad.
Malcolm was still sat on top of me, frozen in what looked like... Fear?
"Reese! I-It's not what it looks like!" Malcolm shouted at his brother, waving his hands in the air at him.
I was sitting up, pushing Malcolm off of me whilst getting ready to defend Malcolm from his brother, who looked ready to pounce.
"You've known that I've liked her for years! And then you just steal her from me just 'cause you've liked her a couple months? What the hell is wrong with you, Malcolm!?" Reese almost screamed at his younger brother.
"What? Why does no one tell me anything?" I muttered under my breath to the boys. They heard me, only just.
I scooted off the bed, standing between the two beds. Malcolm remained on the bed, balancing on his knees. Reese stood beside Malcolm's desk, eyeing me.
"Beth, I'm just going to come out and say it... I've like you for so many years now, and I thought by inviting you over here you'd get to spend some time with me, but Malcolm just had to ruin it, didn't you?" Reese said, glancing at Malcolm before approaching me. I backed up so my back was against the wall.
"Reese-" Before I could say anything else, he too tried to kiss me. "Reese, stop!" I yelled, grasping his neck and shoulders.
He looked at me, brow still furrowed. He slid his hands down to my waist. I could see Malcolm behind Reese, getting ready to throw a punch at him.
"I'm not interested in dating anyone right now, however, I kinda like the both of you," His brows lifted high on his forehead as I spoke. "As friends" I finished.
I heard them both sigh.
"I'm sorry, I won't bother you again" Reese said, a sad tone coating his voice. He leaned forward, wrapping his hand around the side of my neck before placing a kiss on my cheek.
He threw a small smile my way before turning and exiting the room.
"Oh, damn" I said, looking at Malcolm.
"Well, atleast he's gone now" Malcolm said, smirking, before pushing me against the wall and slamming his mouth back onto mine.
I placed my hands on his chest, shoving him away.
"Malcolm, stop for godsake, I'm going to see if Reese is okay" I said, storming out into the hall. "Reese?"
I could hear weeping coming from the bathroom.
"Just leave him" Malcolm said from behind me. I spun around the meet his blue-eyed gaze. He was scowling at me.
"Malcolm, instead of being an ass, why don't you talk to him?" I asked the boy, adding some sass to my sentence.
He huffed and sat on the couch after storming over to it.
I sighed and entered the bathroom, laying my eyes on the brown haired boy before me.
"Reese," He looked up at me from where he was sat. He stood up, almost in defence. He wiped his cheeks and slapped his hands down by his sides. "Listen, I don't 'like' your brother, he came onto me, but-"
"I don't want to hear it, just stay away from me"
"No, Reese-" After he cut me off again, I grabbed his arm, causing him to turn around and face me. He was only around two inches taller than me so I noticed when his emerald eyes met my ocean blue ones.
"Don't, just leave me alone, or you'll regret it" He said, showing no emotion through his facial expression.
He turned towards the door, swinging it open and walking into the hallway.
"Hey, Reese!" I heard Malcolm tell from the lounge.
I ran over to the boys, only to be greeted with Reese on top of Malcolm on the sofa, hands wrapped around his brothers neck.
"Reese! Stop!" I yelled at the older brother, running over to them and pulling at Reese's shoulders. He elbowed me in the stomach, winding me.
I fell to the floor, as did they. They landed on top of me as I tried to breathe, shoving at Reese and Malcolm.
"Stop!" I shouted at the two of them who were fighting like chickens. Malcolm was sat on the left of me and Reese on my right.
I looked between the two of them.
"What the hell is wrong with you two? I don't want to date either of you so just quit it!" I yelled at the pair of them. Both Malcolm and Reese gave me a wide-eyed look.
"I'm still going to beat the crap out of you, Malcolm!" Reese shouted as he threw his arms either side of me to get to his younger brother.
Reese pushed me into Malcolm, resulting in Reese on top of me, and myself on top of Malcolm.
"What the hell did I just say Reese?" I raised my voice at him, holding his shoulders.
"If you hadn't defended him, then we wouldn't be in this situation now, would we?"
I let out a frustrated noise as Malcolm began talking, "She was defending me because she likes me"
Reese's arms were either side of me, trying to get to Malcolm. I continued to push Reese away, even though I was ready to just let him beat the hell out of his brother.
"Oh for godsake," I stood up, shoving Reese on to the couch and spun around to haul Malcolm up by his hand, "Beat the crap out of each other for all I care, I'm done"
---
Word count: 1925
Wooo I'm sorry for such a long and dragged out chapter, this turned out to be more of a Reese AND Malcolm x reader by ehh who cares? This was really fun to write so ENJOY.