Stepbrother: Impossible Love

by Victoria Villeneuve

  “It’s different for sure. I lived in New York my whole life until a couple of weeks ago. I never thought I’d leave, really. Then my mom got engaged to a guy here, and here I am.”

  “Well, welcome to England! I hope you like it. You get used to the rain, I promise.”

  “As long as you don’t get storms the media starts calling “snowcopalypse” every winter, I think I can handle a bit of rain.”

  Annie laughed. Just then, a tall, balding man walked to the front of the room and cleared his throat while dimming the lights with a remote control in his hand. The projector came to life, shining a powerpoint presentation titled “English Literature” with the subtitle “An attempt to teach you 1000 years of history in five months”

  I could hear Annie giggling at the title, and I smiled to myself as well. A similar thought had occurred to me when I saw the course name, but seeing as it was a mandatory course for my degree, I signed up for it nonetheless. Besides, going back to basics couldn’t hurt.

  For the next hour and a half I took diligent notes as the professor – Dr. Andrew Gillespie – outlined the course and jumped straight in with a lecture about one of the earliest and most influential works in English literature, the Canterbury Tales.

  Right at 10am the professor wrapped up and let us out to go to our next classes.

  “I have Journalism 101 now,” I told Annie as I got up to leave. “How about you?”

  “Some science elective, I’m awful at science so I figured I’d get it out of the way quickly. Genetics or something. My older brother told me it was easy. But I’ll see you for our class on Wednesday for sure, right?”

  “Yeah, you will,” I replied, and she waved goodbye to me as we parted ways. I smiled to myself. I thought I made myself a friend!

  Before I knew it, I’d finished three classes, and my first day of University. Michael came by to pick me up when I texted him, and on the way back I sat excitedly in my seat.

  “Good day?” he asked. I was surprised, Michael never really made much conversation in the car.

  “It was, actually. I didn’t know what to expect.”

  “I’m glad. It’s a great school.”

  “Yeah, I was just worried I’d be way too dumb for everyone there. I mean, I might still be, but at least they seem like normal people for the most part, you know?”

  “I do. You’ll be fine, Julianne. Don’t worry.”

  With those words of support I made my way back into the house when we got back, and immediately started on my reading assignment for the English Literature class, where we actually had homework on the first day.

  Maybe University wasn’t going to be as bad as I’d feared after all.

  Chapter Five

  The next day my first and only class of the day was Introduction to Human Resources. As part of the degree we had to have a first year business class and a first year science class completed, to make sure we were well rounded students. Human Resources sounded easy enough, so that one was the one I chose.

  When I got to class, the first thing I noticed was that this was a way more intimate setting, way smaller a classroom than those for my other classes. There were only enough seats for about fifty students, three rows of long tables with multiple chairs, arranged in a semi-circle as always.

  This time, however, my eyes weren’t drawn to the empty seats, trying to find the easiest free spot to get to. They were drawn to the familiar wavy brown hair and chiselled face sitting in the back row, goofing off with some buddies, obviously not exactly prime studying material.

  God, he was sexy. I could feel my pulse quicken just by looking at him, but I forced those thoughts out of my head. He’s a douchebag, remember? A douchebag that I bet has a six pack under that shirt, but a douchebag all the same. Plus he’s your brother.

  Was it bad that the fact that he was my stepbrother somehow made him seem more exciting? I forced that thought to the back of my head, refused to acknowledge it.

  I started quickly making my way to a spare seat on the other side of the room, hoping he wouldn’t see me.

  “Hey, sis!” he cried out, and I knew I was out of luck. I tried to ignore him and made my way towards the empty chair, honing in on it like sitting down would suddenly make me invisible to him.

  “Hey sis, come and sit with us over here,” he invited, shouting out to the whole class while his friends laughed loudly next to him. I could see every pair of eyes in the room on me.

  “No, thanks, I’m not a fan of douchebags,” I replied with a tone that was luckily way more confident than how I felt.

  His friends all “oooooooed” in mock outrage, and Jack laughed.

  “Too good for us? Oh well, I can promise you the view is better from up here, little sister,” he told me before bursting out into another fit of laughter and going back to his friends and whatever they were doing.

  I sat down in my chair and focused on the table in front of me, trying not to cry. Did he really have to embarrass me in front of everyone by calling me his ‘sis’? It made me sound so young. Sure, he was older than me, but only by a couple of years. I wondered what he was doing in this class. Maybe he’d failed it before.

  When the professor came in, my brother and his douchey friends were still acting out. The professor finally warned them that he’d have them removed from the class if they couldn’t control themselves, and after that things continued smoothly enough.

  As soon as we were let out I grabbed my bag and put my laptop under my arm and rushed out of the class. I didn’t want any post-class interactions with my brother. I couldn’t believe he was in one of my classes! Of all the people in this country, one of the five or so that I knew, and the only one that I hated. What were the odds?

  I made my way to a quiet corner of the cafeteria to finish up some reading before my next class, an hour and a half later. I had promised Annie I’d meet her there, and sure enough, she was waiting for me at “our” table, which was far enough out of the way that it was usually empty, an empty smoothie cup next to her.

  “Hey, que pasa?” she asked as she put away her Spanish textbook. “Something wrong?”

  I told her the entire sordid story, about the awkward dinner, about seeing Jack in class, about him making fun of me in front of everyone.

  “I feel like I’m going to cry, Annie. I’m so humiliated. Everyone else in the class saw, how can I even go back there again? I could just drop the class, take it another time.”

  “And let him win? Let me guess, you don’t have any brothers, other than Jack. None that you grew up with?”

  “No. It’s just him. I’m an only child.”

  “Well I have four brothers. And a sister. Let me tell you, that’s just how brothers are. They tease you and they torment you, but deep down they love you.”

  “I’m pretty sure Jack doesn’t love me. After all, we’ve only seen each other twice.”

  “Well, either way, the tormenting and the teasing is totally normal. You’ll get used to it. Don’t react to his taunts and he’ll get bored of bothering you pretty quickly, don’t worry. If you quit the class, he’ll know he got to you, and he’ll double down on the teasing.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Four brothers, remember? Three of them are older than me. I’m experienced. Now go get a frozen yogurt, it’ll make you feel better and they have a cake batter flavour that I had the other day which is divine.”

  I liked Annie. She was exactly what I needed in a friend. I got the frozen yogurt and decided to treat myself to a bit of caramel sauce on top. Sure enough, delicious. The treat, plus the conversation with Annie, quickly made me stop feeling quite as sorry for myself, and I found my happiness level rising back to its normal state. I knew Annie was going to be a great friend.

  “How was your day, sweetie?” my mom asked as I entered the house again. She looked like she was ready to go out, all done up and putting some heels on.

  “It was fine, mom, thanks.” I didn’t want to tell her about J
ack, because I knew she’d tell John, and I didn’t want him worrying. I didn’t see him often, he worked long and late in the city taking care of his business, but whenever I did see him he always made sure to ask how I was settling in, if there was anything he could do to help make my move over here easier. I was thankful for it, but I definitely wanted to keep away from the topic of his son.

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  “Where are you going? Heading out?”

  “Yes dear. I was feeling a little bit faint this morning, so Anita thinks I should go to have a doctor check things out. Also, John and I have settled on a date. We’re getting married May 12th, so I’m also visiting the wedding planner to get things started.”

  “Congratulations! That’s not very much time to plan the wedding.”

  “It’s not, but neither one of us want to wait. Listen, this talking is quite hard on me, and I have to get going, alright?”

  “Sure, mom. I hope you feel better soon,” I told her, knowing she would. She always did. I wondered if it really was Anita’s suggestion to go to the doctor, or if my mom forced the suggestion onto her. Still, she was my mother, and I loved her despite her faults.

  I gave her a quick hug as she left, and made my way up to my room to get a bit of studying done. Then, Annie and I had decided to meet at one of the local bars and go out for drinks. I was looking forward to visiting a real English pub, which I hadn’t done yet. The Pig and Keg, this one was called, and according to Annie it was the hot place to be near campus.

  After a few beers with my new best friend, who ended up going home with a random guy from one of her other classes – who I had to admit was pretty damn good looking – I went home and fell asleep, never so thankful for the ability to call the kitchen and ask for a greasy breakfast delivered with a side of Advil as the next day when I woke up with a wicked hangover.

  I was definitely not used to the more liberal drinking age here in England, I had never managed to sneak more than one little cooler at a time from my mom’s collection in the fridge back home. The next morning I really suffered for my lack of experience.

  Chapter Six

  Sure enough, my mom was completely fine after her visit at the hospital. It was Saturday, and when I finally rolled out of bed, I had a nice hot shower, then made my way down to the kitchen to see what kind of other greasy foods I could convince the cook to make me.

  A couple fresh pretzels in hand, I made my way upstairs, where I found my mother in the large dining room with the wedding planner, all sorts of patches and pictures spread out across the huge table.

  Well, at least all that size is finally coming in handy, I thought to myself as I nibbled a bite and watched from the door as the ladies worked.

  “I think purple and white will work wonderfully as spring wedding colours,” the woman drawled in her upper class accent. She sounded like the Queen. “However, I wonder if you might not consider cream instead of white. White is quite a harsh colour, especially in bright sunlight, and cream has the same classy effect with a little bit of softness.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea Susan. Yes, I think we will go with cream and white instead.”

  Suddenly, my mom noticed me standing at the door.

  “Julianne, come in, please!” my mom exclaimed. “Susan, this is my daughter, Julianne.”

  “It’s lovely to meet you,” the wedding planner told me, holding out a hand.

  “Why don’t you come and give me a hand with some of these choices Julianne. It would be nice to have your input,” my mom said.

  “Thanks, mom,” I replied, and went over to the table.

  For the next few hours we bonded over flower choices and centrepieces. Of course everything was really far from being finished. I found out that I was going to be the maid of honour at the wedding, at my mother’s request, as I had been at the last three. It was going to be held right here on the estate, and as I saw just how happy my mom was about it, I put aside my feelings that this wedding was going to be like all her others.

  Finally, Susan left, after my mom and I had made quite a few of the important decisions. Invitations would be sent out that Friday, after coming back from the printer, and after giving me a warm hug and a thanks for the help, I made my way back out to the main room.

  Suddenly, John Alcott pushed past me, obviously very upset about something.

  “Are you alright?” I asked out of instinct.

  “I am, thank you Julianne. Everything is fine, I just need to speak with Mary for a little bit,” he replied with a forced smile, and continued on.

  I wondered what was wrong, since he was obviously lying to me, and went back up to my room to check on social media for a little bit.

  A couple hours later I heard a knock on the door.

  “Come in,” I called out, and my mom made her way in.

  “Hi honey, mind if we have a chat for a bit?”

  Something was definitely wrong.

  “Yeah mom, what’s up?” I asked, inviting her to sit on my chair and moving over to the bay window. The sun was just finishing setting and making a nice little glow over everything.

  “I just finished talking with John. Unfortunately, it turns out his son was arrested this afternoon.”

  “What? Arrested?”

  I knew Jack was a douchebag, and probably didn’t have the best grades, but I still never really pictured him to be the type to get in trouble with the law.

  “Yes. He was caught with a couple of his friends spraying paint on the walls of one of the buildings at the University. They called the police, and he was caught quite literally red-handed.”

  I’m not going to lie, a part of me was pretty glad to see him get his come-uppance. I’d only had a couple more human resources classes, and every time I tried to get there just as the professor was entering, and I was always first to leave. I could feel my brother’s eyes on me in class though, and he’d always call me “my little sis” if he was referring to me to his friends, and always made sure to do it loudly enough so that I’d hear.

  The worst was the last class we had together, though. I walked in and had a quick glance. Sure enough, Jack was sitting with his friends where he usually was, but this time there was someone else there with him.

  The most gorgeous girl in the class, who looked like Kate Moss and could have just as easily gotten an amazing modelling contract, was sitting on his lap, and his hands were sitting on her hips, fingering the edge of her skirt so short I was amazed it covered anything.

  I tried to hide the fact that my heart had just plummeted down into the floor. I knew he was my brother, and I just shouldn’t have desires like that for someone who was part of my family now, but I couldn’t help myself, and it crushed me to see him with a girl like that, a girl who was so, so far outside of my league we weren’t even in the same galaxy.

  I’d gone and sat down in my seat and tried to focus on the professor’s words instead of thinking about his hands on that other girl.

  God, how I hated how he treated me. I hated how he made me feel. And I hated how my body reacted every time I saw him.

  So yeah, while I was surprised he was in trouble, I wasn’t exactly broken up about it.

  “So the university was going to expel him. Instead, John worked with them to work out an arrangement. Jack gets to continue his studies, and part of the agreement, on top of restorations, is that Jack has to move back in with his father.”

  Had my mother just told me what I thought she had?

  “Wait. Jack’s moving… here?”

  “Yes. I know he wasn’t the nicest to you, and hopefully if he lives here the two of you will start being nice to each other.”

  “Yeah. Sure. I’m not the problem here,” I told her. I was pissed off. Why the hell was I going to have to live with this guy who never said a single nice thing to me, ever? What had I ever done? I was being punished for this idiot’s actions?

  “I know you’re not sweetie.” My mom sighed, and I felt bad for sna
pping at her. She knew it wasn’t my fault, and I’m betting she didn’t want this any more than I did. “Hopefully it’ll just be for a little while, ok?”

  “I hope so.” I gave her a small smile and my mom got up, kissing me on the forehead.

  “I’m going to call it an early night, I feel a bit of a migraine coming on. You let Anita know if you need anything, ok?”

  “Sure. Thanks mom. Good night, I hope you feel better.”

  A minute later I was sitting by myself at the window, watching the sun setting, wondering what on earth I’d done to deserve this fate.

  Jack Alcott, the bane of my existence here in England, was going to be living here.

  Worse than that, he was going to live in the room right next to mine.

  Pulling out my phone, I decided to text Annie.

  Hey, you know that douchebag brother of mine?

  I waited to see if she’d reply, and sure enough, my phone beeped a minute later.

  Yeah?

  Well, he’s moving back in here.

  You’re kidding.

  Nope.

  Oh that’s shitballs.

  Certainly is.

  Wanna grab a drink?

  Nah. I think I’m going to call it early tonight.

  Well, don’t worry. Maybe he won’t be so annoying when you live with him.

  I hope not.

  We continued texting back and forth for a bit, then eventually Annie said she had to go and I went over to the nightstand to charge my phone.

  Ugh. This sucks I thought to myself before crawling into bed. I just wanted to have a pity party for myself. Then I rationalized with myself. Just because he lived in the same house didn’t mean I’d see him that often. And Annie might be right. When we had to live under the same roof Jack might be a little bit more reasonable.

  I wondered about how much patience John Alcott must have had with his son. I wasn’t an idiot, I knew the “agreement” with Oxford would have included a hefty donation. It must be nice to be that rich, I thought to myself as I drifted off.