Drawn to You (Lover to Stepbrother)(69)

“Thought you may need this.” I place her cup on the coffee table and she turns around and smiles at me. I can see how the day is starting to take its toll on her. The dark circles under her eyes have started to become more prominent since we left my dad.

“Thank you, sweetie, you are a star.” She takes a sip and sighs. “I am almost done in here so at least we will be able to watch television in the morning and have something to sit on without having a fort of boxes surround us.”

I chuckle. “I got the kitchen sorted so we can have our breakfast without boxes everywhere also. I am just going to sort out my room so I have somewhere to sleep, then I think I’m going to call it a night.”

My mum stands and walks over to me and gives me a tight hug. “Thank you for taking all this so well. You have been my rock, you know that?”

I do. My mum has been a wreck and she is trying to move on with her life. I think if I was a complete bitch about the move and acting like a spoilt brat, she would fall apart.

She needs me, and I will be here for her.

“I know. So, try to not stay up too late, okay?” I tell her, and she rolls her eyes at me.

“Yes, Mum,” she teases, and I give her a kiss on the cheek and take my tea to my room and make a start.

I have finally made a dent in my room when my phone rings and when I look at the caller ID I groan seeing my cousin’s name appear.

“Hi, Cara, what’s up?” I answer.

“Hi, my beautiful cousin. How is moving day? Do you need me to pop around tomorrow to help?”

I know she means well but her and helping wouldn’t happen. She would sit and talk as we did everything. “No, we are good. We just have our bedrooms to do and we are basically done.”

“Wow, you two really did work your butts off. Well, I’m glad it all went okay, but I mainly called because me and some of my friends are going to a bar tomorrow night and wondered if you wanted to come. It would be a chance for you to meet my friends, and most of the people who go there are students, so a good chance to make friends, etcetera.”

I bite my lip as I contemplate it. I do need to make friends and I don’t want to start college where the only person I know is my cousin. Plus, I love dancing and I think I need a night out. “Sounds good to me. I will see you tomorrow.” I hear her squeal and I can’t help but giggle at her excitement.

“You are going to love it. Can’t wait to see you. Have a good night.”

We say our goodbyes and hang up. I hang up all my clothes into my wardrobe as there is no way I’m living out of a suitcase again. I take out all of my makeup and toiletries, taking them to the bathroom.

I can’t wait to have a relaxing bath tomorrow. As my mum has her own bathroom, this bathroom is basically mine. I look back into the living room and it’s all clean and sorted. You wouldn’t even think that we just moved in, well not until you walk down the hallway and see all the flattened boxes leaning against the wall.

“Who was on the phone?” I jump and turn to see Mum coming out of the kitchen.

“Don’t scare me like that! What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?” I place a hand on my chest.

“Yes, it is my life goal to give my daughter a heart attack so I can deal with all this mess on my own.” She waves her arms around indicating the boxes. “I heard you talking on the phone,” she says again.

Sometimes I think she thinks I’m still talking to Dad, which I am not. “It was Cara. She asked me to go out with her and her friends tomorrow—I said I would.”

“That will be fun. You can make some new friends.”

“Well, that was the idea,” I chuckle.

“Okay then, so I’ll see you in the morning. Thought you were going to have an early night?” She smiles at me.

“I was until dedication took over. I’m not living out of my suitcase for another day. I just put some stuff in the bathroom, but I am going to bed now. My eyes are starting to get heavy.” I pout at her and she pats my head.

“Aww, my poor baby. Go and sleep.”

I watch her walk to her room and I head to mine. I change into a long black T-shirt that covers my ass and fall onto my bed, hugging my pillow. It doesn’t take long until sleep takes over.



The day has flown right in and I’m now getting ready for my night out. We finally got rid of all the boxes and the place really does look homey, but it’s temporary. We even ordered Chinese takeout and sat on the couch looking around with accomplishment. I thought it was going to take days but like my mum, once we have something set, we are determined to get it done.

I Googled Randi’s Bar, the rock bar Cara is dragging me to and it’s a place where rock bands can play. Luckily for me, it isn’t far from here. I just hope her friends like me. I can’t believe this is going to be my first proper night out in America. It still feels surreal. My mum was born here, her family is here, hence why we moved here, but I miss England.

I think I deserve a drink and to dance my little butt off. At least I have only a year left of college. I do want to move back after, but I don’t really want to leave my mum behind; it’s something I’m trying not to think about until I have to. All my friends were jealous when I told them I will be spending my senior year of college in the US. I will be at the same school as Cara since we are the same age—she is just a few months older than me—but just like appearances, we are total opposites.