The Ugly Stepsister

by Avril Sabine

Chapter Four

  Ellie knew if it was a battle of strength she couldn’t win. She met his eyes. But strength wasn’t her only option. There was also distraction. Not to mention she was curious. She rose up on tiptoes so she could press her lips against his. Taking advantage of his surprise, she deepened the kiss. Within seconds she’d forgotten the reason she’d kissed him and her arms twined around his neck.

  “Beth,” he whispered against her lips.

  The name jolted Ellie back to the present. She pulled away, gathering her scattered thoughts. “Well, you’re no Frankenstein, but you weren’t too bad.” Turning, she quickly made her way inside. She caught the sound of his laughter as she closed the door. Seeing Sam was still on the phone, she grabbed her handbag and hurried into the bathroom.

  When she saw the water damage to her makeup, she was glad Sam’s back had been to her. After she repaired her makeup, she frowned at the wet marks on her clothes, shaking her head. Her handbag wasn’t bottomless. She hadn’t been able to fit any more clothes into it. As much as she hated the idea, she was resigned to wearing these clothes until she could go home tomorrow. Late in the afternoon. The house would be empty then. Empty of people anyway. If past weekends were anything to go by it’d look like a disaster area.

  Before she left the bathroom, Ellie sent the photos to her email address. She grinned. Now he could delete them if he wanted. She tucked the phone back into her pocket, swung the door open and stepped into the lounge room. Sam was off the phone and Tom stood in front of her, waiting.

  He held out his hand as he stepped forward. Ellie was forced to retreat. She pulled her phone out and tried not to grin as she held it out to him. Tom stopped, frowning. Ellie lost the battle to keep a straight face and grinned.

  “You’ve sent it to someone,” he accused.

  Ellie laughed. “You’re welcome to delete it if you want.” She wasn’t about to let him know she’d taken two.

  Tom smiled and shrugged. “Round one to you.”

  Ellie shook her head, still smiling. “Oh no, I think it must be round one, two and three to me.” She slipped her phone back in her pocket when he didn’t take it from her.

  Tom became serious. “Why the makeup?”

  “Why the stud in your nose?”

  Tom smiled fleetingly. “You going to get out so I can have a shower or were you planning on sticking around to wash my back?”

  Ellie laughed. “My phone has heaps of space still on it for photos. I bet I could make a fortune at school showing them around.” When Tom said nothing, Ellie grinned. “Round four to me?”

  “You go to my school?”

  She had to be more careful of what she said. “If I did, I’d probably have to be insulted by the fact you don’t remember me.”

  “With the amount of students at my school it’d be impossible to know everyone. Although if you did go to my school you mustn’t wear that makeup. No one could miss seeing it.”

  Sam appeared at the bathroom door. “Are you coming back to play?”

  “Do you play?” Ellie looked at Tom.

  He shrugged. “Sometimes.”

  “Do you die every minute?”

  “No.”

  “Then come and play. My dude needs another shield to hide behind.”

  “I can’t do anything until I’ve had a shower. How long were you expecting me to stand here dripping?”

  Ellie reached out and ran her fingers across his chest and then held them palm up. “You’re nearly dry so stop whining.”

  Tom grabbed her wrist, taking a step forward. His lips parted to speak. He glanced at his brother then changed his mind. Letting go, he gave Ellie a gentle push in the direction of the bathroom door. “Out.”

  Ellie grinned when she heard the door lock behind her. Even Sam’s constant stare didn’t bother her for nearly an entire minute. “Ready to watch my poor dude die another million times?”

  Sam nodded and headed back to the lounge suite. “Do you want me to put the game on an easier setting?”

  Ellie shrugged. “I don’t think it’d make that big a difference. I’m hopeless at these games. But I don’t mind. At least I die spectacularly.” She hesitated near the lounge chair. “Can I bring the beanbag out to sit on?”

  Sam stumbled to his feet. “I’ll get it for you.” He rushed away before Ellie could speak. He was back in seconds, dropping the beanbag at her feet.

  “Thanks.” Ellie moved it to where she wanted it, moulded the beanbag into shape and then dropped into it. She wriggled until she was comfortable. Looking over to tell Sam she was ready to play, she saw he watched her again. Now there was someone who needed to be told to take a picture. She ignored the urge to comment. He was letting her stay. And for that she could forgive him his unnerving tendency to stare. “Okay. I’m ready to die again.”

  Another couple of hours were taken up playing games and then Ellie hit on the idea of watching movies. They were stored in the lounge room upstairs. She looked around as she stepped onto the soft carpet. It was as perfect as it had been earlier in the day. Instead of a ‘keep off the grass’ sign, she felt like there should be one that read ‘keep off the carpet’. She forced herself to follow Sam across the lounge room to the television cabinet he’d opened.

  “I’ll let you pick out some movies while I figure out what’s for dinner.” Sam stepped back, giving her more space.

  “If it tastes even half as good as breakfast I’m sticking around to eat it.”

  Sam nodded, wandering over to the kitchen. Ellie stared after him for a moment. Should she take that as a yes? She gave up trying to figure Sam out. He was odd. You couldn’t figure out someone who was that odd.

  She picked out five movies and closed the cabinet. A picture on the wall caught her attention. It was Tom and Sam with two older men. She looked at the next picture. The two of them were with a woman now. She guessed it was their mother. She wandered down the hallway, looking at the pictures.

  “Where are you going?”

  Ellie spun to face Tom. “Isn’t your father around anymore?”

  “What?” Tom looked puzzled.

  “I haven’t seen any pictures of him. Unless he was one of the really old men in that picture with you.” She pointed back to the first one she’d looked at.

  Sam joined them. “That’s our grandfathers we were named after. Thomas and Samuel. Tom was named after our paternal grandfather, I was named after the maternal one.”

  “What about photos of your father? Is he camera shy?” Ellie looked from Sam to Tom.

  Tom laughed. “Not at all.”

  Sam shook his head. “He couldn’t be. He’s-”

  Tom interrupted his brother. “He’s just never around when photos are taken. He works long hours.” He looked at the movies in Ellie’s hand. “Which one are you watching first?”

  She turned them so he could see the one on top. “You want to join us?”

  Tom shrugged. “Might as well.”

  Once they were back downstairs, Ellie lay in the beanbag again, Sam in a chair across from her. Tom threw a couple of pillows, which he’d brought out of his bedroom, onto the floor. Ellie tried to concentrate on the movie, but she had two distractions. Sam kept watching her. Given time, she probably could have eventually ignored his regular glances in her direction. The second distraction was a little harder to ignore. She kept thinking back to the kiss she’d given Tom. He lay within arm’s reach. Looking over at him again, her eyes were drawn to his hair. What would it feel like? Spiky? She gave into temptation and reached out to touch it, surprised his hair was softer than it looked.

  Tom turned to look at her, a question on his face.

  Ellie smiled slightly. “It feels different to what I thought it would.”

  Tom fleetingly returned her smile before he turned his attention back to the movie.

  When Sam left the room to check dinner, Ellie ran her fingers over Tom’s hair again. He turned and caught her fingers in his.

  “What are you
playing at?” Tom sat up still holding her hand.

  “It’s soft. Sort of spiky, but still soft. I thought I might’ve been mistaken. It feels the way your brother’s hair looks. What does your hair look like when you let it grow?”

  “Like Sam’s. I’ve told him he should cut his and he wouldn’t look so young. It’s the curls.”

  Ellie ran a finger along Tom’s jaw line. “I don’t know. His features aren’t as sharp as yours. They’re a lot softer. Rounded.” She pulled her other hand away before he could capture it too. She tugged on the hand he held and he let her go.

  “Then what’s your verdict?” Tom asked.

  Ellie heard footsteps on the steps and turned to see Sam enter the room. She stared at him and he stopped halfway back to his chair. He looked nervously from Ellie to his brother. Ellie rose to her feet and slowly walked over to him.

  Sam licked his lips. “What’s happening?”

  Ellie shook her head and walked around him. When she was in front of him again, she reached up and pulled his hair tightly back. She let his hair fall around his face and turned towards Tom. “Grow it and tie it back.”

  “Tom?” Sam continued to stand where he’d stopped, glancing between the two of them.

  “Sit down, Sam. She was just talking about how everyone should wear their hair.”

  “How’s dinner coming along? And what are we having?” Ellie dropped into the beanbag and wriggled to get comfortable.

  “Quiche. It’s nearly ready.”

  “Good. I can smell it and it’s making me hungry,” Ellie said.

  “Do you want a snack while you wait?” Sam was back to watching her.

  Ellie shook her head. “Nah. I can wait.” She frowned. “Does anyone mind if I rewind the movie? I’ve missed at least the last ten minutes and wouldn’t have a clue what’s happening.” In more ways than one.

  Chapter Five

  Ellie stared at the time on her phone. Ten. She momentarily closed her eyes and held back the groan that wanted to escape. Dinner had been as wonderful as it had smelled. After they’d eaten, Ellie had gone online to chat to Lauren again while Tom had dressed to go out. Then she’d watched another movie with Sam. Well, she’d watched the movie while Sam had watched her. Now she leaned against the bathroom vanity and tried to talk herself into returning to the lounge room.

  She sighed. She couldn’t stay in here all night. Slipping her phone back into her pocket, she wished Tom was still home. But he wouldn’t be back until four. At least that’s what he’d said to Sam. So it would be up to her to fill in the awkward silences that regularly occurred. Ellie unlocked the door and stepped into the lounge room. Sam’s eyes fell on her immediately. Ellie forced herself to yawn.

  “Do you mind if I crash on your lounge chair? I don’t think I got enough sleep today.” Ellie gestured towards the lounge chair she’d slept on. The pillow and blanket were still there.

  “Now?”

  Ellie nodded. “If you don’t mind.” She deliberately yawned again. Anything had to be better than Sam staring at her the rest of the night. She was beginning to feel like a specimen under a microscope. That and the awkward silences were making her extremely uncomfortable. She really had to figure out a better plan for future weekends.

  “Okay.” Sam turned off the television.

  Ellie curled up on the lounge and watched as Sam switched off the light and retreated to his bedroom, closing the door. She tried to get comfortable. Maybe if she’d actually been tired it would’ve been easier to fall asleep. Trying to roll over to her other side was impossible. How had she managed to sleep here earlier that morning? She didn’t know. Sitting up, she saw there was no light showing under Sam’s door. She guessed he’d gone to sleep. She checked the time on her phone. Either it was broken or time was going extra slow. Only fifteen minutes had passed. She smiled. It was still at least six hours until Tom was due home. Setting the alarm on her phone to a quarter to four, she grabbed the pillow. After a glance towards Sam’s door, she hurried over to Tom’s room and slowly opened the door.

  Once again he’d left the bedside lamp on. There wasn’t anywhere near the mess Sam had in his room and drawers and wardrobes were all closed. The only real mess was the scattering of paper and books on the desk around a laptop. She strode over to the bed and dropped onto it. Sighing happily, she stretched out. Much better than the couch.

  Sitting up, Ellie placed her mobile phone on the bedside drawers and turned the light off. She pushed and prodded her pillow until it was how she liked it, then lay down again. Within minutes she was asleep.

  When the light came on, Ellie blinked groggily up at Tom. “Had planned to move before you came back. You must be early.”

  “Shove over.”

  “What?” Ellie yawned, trying to figure out what he meant. Sleep tugged at her and nothing made sense.

  “Move over or you’ll be squashed.”

  Ellie moved over on the bed, watching as Tom kicked off his shoes, dropped his shirt on the ground and pulled his jeans off to reveal boxers. He lay on the bed.

  “Ah… Tom?” Ellie tried to focus. It always took a while for her brain to start functioning again when she was woken early.

  “Go to sleep.”

  “The alarm on my phone will go off at a quarter to four.”

  Tom reached over, picked up her phone and turned off the alarm before he dropped it back on top of the drawers. Next he turned out the light and the room was plunged into darkness. Ellie considered asking him what was going on. She listened as his breathing slowed and guessed he’d gone to sleep already. Surely she’d be awake before him. Rolling over, her back to him, plenty of space between them, she returned to sleep.

  * * *

  Ellie slowly woke, aware of heat against her back. Her eyes blinked open and she tried to focus. She faced a wall. Frowning, she slowly turned over to find Tom lying on the bed beside her, one hand under his cheek, his eyes still closed. She smiled as she remembered the interruption to her sleep. She guessed the ghastly look she’d created had done its job. While she watched him, Tom opened his eyes.

  “Morning,” Ellie said softly.

  Without comment, Tom rolled over and opened the top drawer. Pulling out a card of Panadol, he pushed two out and swallowed them with a mouthful of water from the bottle sitting by the lamp. Dropping the card of tablets into the drawer he left it open and fell back onto his pillow, closing his eyes. His action was almost comforting to her. She’d seen it so many times before.

  She smiled. Either he’d had too much to drink last night or her makeup truly was terrible. Bad enough to give someone a headache after one glance. She looked at the alarm clock that sat behind the bottle of water. It was only seven. She still had hours to kill before she could go home.

  Since one side of the bed was pushed up against the wall, her only option for getting out was to climb over Tom. When she attempted to, his eyes opened and his hands reached out to stop her. She stared down at him, trying to hold her body off his, when all she wanted to do was relax against him. But she didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. That would’ve made all the effort of applying the makeup a waste of time.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To get a kitchen knife. Any preference?”

  “A sharp one. The steel is in the second drawer.”

  Ellie grinned. “Bathroom.”

  Tom smiled slightly and let her go. She was nearly at the bedroom door when he called out. “Beth.”

  She took a few steps back so she could see past the corner of the ‘L’ shaped room. “What?”

  He held up her phone.

  She walked back to the bed and tried to take it. He held tight. “Now what?”

  “When are you leaving?”

  “Today.”

  “You don’t know Sam. You’ve got nothing in common with him. Surely there was somewhere else you could’ve stayed last night.”

  Ellie shrugged. “I was already here.”

  “Why do
I think there’s more to the story than that?”

  Ellie met Tom’s eyes. She didn’t need this. It was the exact thing she’d been worried might happen. Next time her and Lauren looked for someone for her to stay with she was going to insist they find an only child. “You’ve been watching too much TV. What do you think I am? Some criminal mastermind?”

  “I’ll figure it out.” Tom grinned, letting go of the phone. “I’m persistent.”

  “Obsessive.” Ellie turned and walked away. Obviously this wasn’t somewhere she could stay in the future. She had a year and a bit left of school. There was no way she was going to end up being picked on again. Her fingers involuntarily rubbed against the scar on her arm. Opening the door, she stopped abruptly when she saw Sam sitting in the lounge room watching Tom’s door. Looking away from him, she headed straight for the bathroom. She couldn’t get a break today. Which wasn’t good since the day had barely begun.

  When she was finished, she stood in front of the bathroom door and stared at it. Her stomach rumbled. She guessed she had to leave the sanctuary of the bathroom soon, but she needed to come up with a plan first. She kept drawing a blank. She couldn’t think of a single plausible excuse for why she’d stayed here last night. The first night was easily explained. It had been too late to go anywhere else. And Tom knew perfectly well she wasn’t interested in Sam. She didn’t know what Sam thought. And she didn’t want to know what he thought. Some days she was barely able to figure out what she thought without worrying about anyone else.

  Taking a deep breath, she slowly let it out. There was no point stalling. Squaring her shoulders, she stepped out of the bathroom. Sam had moved so he could watch the bathroom door. Creepy. She managed to suppress the urge to tell him to quit staring at her, but only just. Her mess wasn’t Sam’s fault. It was no point taking it out on him. Especially since he’d been nice to her in his own fashion.

  “Ahh… I was wondering about breakfast.”

  Sam jumped to his feet. “What would you like?”

  “The same as yesterday?”