Step siblings (SilverRose and Izzystheone)

[SilverRose]

Emily smiled as she waved goodbye to her friends out side of the main school building. Quickly checking her watch, she shifted nervously, fidgeting with her hands over her uniform skirt, waiting for her step brother Izzy to show up, as he'd be driving them back home.

It was the weekend her mother would be away on a business trip. Emily's new step father would be in charge of watching over them, though considering Izzy was already 18 and Emily was 16, it wasn't like they really needed anyone to look out for them. Still, she was kind of looking forward to spending more time with her new family. Emily and Izzy's parents had only been married for a little under six months, and they we all still barely getting to know each other. Emily had never really had a father, or any male figures in her family so it was exciting for her to have boys around. It was different too. She'd been so used to the way things were with just her and her mom that adjusting to the messiness, and having to cook for two extra people, and clean up after them, help wash their clothing... it was a bit unsettling, but for the first tie in her life Emily felt like she had a real family. She really wanted to get along with them, especially Izzy who was around her age and seemed like a really cool and likable guy.

"hmm," she checked her watch one more time, wondering what could be keeping him. Normally he took his time, but today it seemed he was taking a little bit longer than usual. "I wonder if he's okay." Emily mused to herself as she pushed back a lock of brown hair and tucked it behind her ear. It was starting to get a bit cold, and standing outside in a skirt wasn't helping. But she couldn't really do anything about that. She normally wore thick white stockings in the winter to keep her warm, but that morning there had been no clean ones since her mother had forgotten to do the laundry, being too busy with her business trip, so Emily had had to go to school without them, leaving her long toned legs to be exposed to the elements.

"Hurry up Izzy," Emily whispered to no one in particular as she shivered in place, holding her arms around her curvy body.

 

[Izzystheone]

Izzy hadn't taken very well to his father. Honestly, he didn't care for him at all. He wasn't too sure about his new mother either. She was always leaving, saying, “Your father will be here in case you need anything.” Like he believed that. Izzy had known his father for a good eighteen years, and it was a wonder that he had escaped with his sanity. It's not that his father was as bad as he used to be. Now he only snuck out to strip clubs and passed out on the couch. No more yelling or beating, at least not as far as he could tell. Perhaps having someone with a bit of structure around from time to time had begun to straighten him out. It didn't matter, the past was the past, and even if things were changing, it would take along time for him to forgive him.

Nonetheless, his father was hardly around, so the two of them enjoyed relative independence. He was not bothered at all by the new company of a sister, not to mention one that was essentially gorgeous. In one respect, he couldn't help but look at her as a woman. On the other hand, he was also beginning to be protective over her like a brother. What a strange dilemma. Still, he was getting used to having her around. He hadn't really talked to her as much as he'd liked, but in all reality he'd liked to have spent some time with her. Not just for his own reasons, but to help her brace herself for the family catastrophe.

Izzy soon rolled up, after having ditched school. He wasn't a poor student, he had nearly all A's, it was just the fact that he was somewhat 'rebellious' as a way to try to get his father's attention. Despite parent teacher conferences, his father continued to show very little care for his performance, so he stopped caring as well. He stopped before her, opening the door. “Sorry about that, I kinda got in a bit of a disagreement with someone.” he said as he popped his knuckles. Despite being a little rough around the edges, he was still a relatively good kid, and he often got himself roughed up for sticking his neck out for people who didn't really know how to stand up for themselves. After all, he used to be pretty unpopular as a kid.

 

[SilverRose]

As soon as he opened the door, Emily practically jumped right into the passenger seat. "That's alright," she shivered, rubbing her hands over her freezing thighs. After tossing her book back into the back seat, she turned and smiled at him. Even without Izzy telling her she could tell he'd gotten into another fight. His hair was a mess and there was a slight discoloration on his jaw, he'd probably have a bruise later. She leaned over the divider that separated the drivers seat from passenger seat. "Are you okay?" Emily asked as she reached out to brush his hair back, and gently graze her fingers over the forming bruise. "We better get some ice on that when we get home." she quietly mused, before sitting back up right and fastening her seatbelt to get ready to go home.

It seemed each time she saw him, he'd get into another fight. It worried her because Izzy didn't seem like a bad guy. Of course she didn't know he was getting into fights to defend other people, but regardless Emily was worried about him. She'd often thought of offering to help him with whatever problems he might have, but wondered if it would be overstepping her grounds. They had, after all, only really known each other for a short time, and she didn't want him to dislike her for butting into his business. So at the very least she could offer him an ice pack, and the occasional first aid treatment.

 

[Izzystheone]

Izzy jumped back a little as she hopped into his car so quickly. He soon pulled out of the school, looking over his shoulder as he did. He looked to her, realizing how cold she must have been. He apologized again meekly, "Ehh, sorry for keeping you waiting in the cold." he offered her as he swallowed. He always looked a little roughed up when he saw her, and he was a little embaressed. Once again he was a bit concerned of what she thought of him, but he never really took much time to wonder about the roots of his feelings or impulses in that matter. "Yeah I'm fine, just tired of those stupid jocks always pushing people around." he admitted as he watched them out of the corner of his eye as he sped off. "They act like they can mess with whoever they want." he said angrily. He then returned to the conversation, allowing her to touch his face, with a short jump. "Ouch." he said as he looked to her, "Yeah, ice would be good I suppose."

After only a short drive, they pulled into the driveway, and he opened the door for her, as was custom for him. He let her in the house, locked his car, then threw his keys on the table and dropped his jacket on the coat rack. "You know what, why don't I make something for you to eat for a change?' he offered, as he went into the kitchen. He'd had to take care of himself a handful of times when his dad had been gone for a while, sometimes days on end, and he figured, it would be time that he repaid the favor.

 

[SilverRose]

She smiled, touched by his offer. Despite his attitude towards his father and his penchant for getting into fights and the occasional trouble at school, Izzy was such a sweet guy. When they had first met, he hadn't been particularly friendly, but over the months, Emily was happy to say that she had won him over. Though they weren't considerably close yet, he was kind to her.

"Thanks Izzy," she nodded, following him into the kitchen to see if there was anything she could help out with. But he had said he wanted to do it himself, so in the end Emily had excused herself, to go up and change out of her school uniform into something more warm. She also brought down the first aid kit in the bathroom they shared, to help clean him up later.

"So what are you making?" she asked after returning to the kitchen dressed in comfortable, but form sitting, sweats. She had tied her hair back in a long ponytail and sat down on a bench in the island at the center of the kitchen. "Looks delicious"

 

[Izzystheone]

He was somewhat happy that there was at elast one good addition in his life. To be honest and forthcoming, he was a bit of a loner, perhaps a casualty of having a very poor father, he didn't really trust everyone. Won him over? Perhaps that was the case. Maybe he was lonely? Maybe he was tired of being bitter and not trusting anyone? On the outside he seemed fine, but on the inside he wasn't exactly too pleased with his life, or this world. He'd been working on dealing with all of this by himself for a while, maybe when he moved out of the house, he'd find much more clarity.

He began to cook up one of his favorite dishes. "Well I hope you like bell peppers, I think I will make my specialty dish just for you." he said as he turned to get some of the meat and rice that he would use to stuff the bell peppers once they had been steamed properly. "Well I am no chump in the kitchen!" he said proudly, before looking to her, "You're not going to make me bandage it up all proper are you?"

 

[SilverRose]

"I love bell peppers," Emily replied as she sat at her stool pulling out the things she'd need from the first aid kit. At his question, she gave him a funny look, "No, I'll do it," she replied quickly.

Looking over at him, she decided he didn't look too bad from the beating. There was that bruise on his chin and a few scraps on his arms, so at most she probably would only need to use some disinfecting spray before bandaging him up. "You didn't get hurt anywhere else did you?" she asked, wondering if maybe there was more injuries she just couldn't see. From what she could tell, it was usually the other guys Izzy fought with that were worse off, but because occasionally they did gang up on him he did often get hurt. She knew he didn't like her worrying about him, but Emily just couldn't help it. She really did care about her new brother and it hurt him to see how lonely and angry he sometimes seemed to be. She wished she could break through that and gain his trust, but she just didn't know how.

 

[Izzystheone]

He just nodded, "Good because this is probably my best dish, so otherwise I don't know how impressed you would be." He said as he laughed a little bit. He just shrugged and said, "At any rate, I am sure that you will love it." he said, reassuring himself, and her as well.

He just flinched a little and said, "Really I think I'm okay, I just..." as she moved to help him, he just sighed and let go, letting her do what she had to do to. As she worked on his facial scratches, he just turned to look a little uncomfortable, " Well, I mean I had a few hits to my gut, but... I'll be okay." he said defensively. He covered his stomach with one of his hands, stirring his food before her.

He grabbed a few of spices, and continued to toss them on the food he was preparing. As he drained the hot water from his rice and mixed it with the ground beef, he looked to her, still a little bit defensive. He crossed his arms, putting four bell peppers out onto the table, and grabbing one for himself. "Let me know what you think."

As much as he enjoyed spending time with her, when she began to pry, and when she wanted to help, it made him question her motives. After all, the people in his life that had been meant to help him like his father, had hurt him deeply, and he didn't want anyone else to hurt him. At the same time, he could feel her inching her way closer to him, and he wasn't stopping her.

 

[SilverRose]

Emily followed him around, cleaning his wounds and bandaging him up. At one point she had grabbed his shirt to check the injuries he had mentioned, but upon seeing he was a bit uncomfortable, she decided against it, and went to wash her hands and put the first aid kit away. "Let me know if you need anything else, okay?" she smiled reassuringly as she sat down next to him and picked up a bell pepper and placed it on her plate. "mmmm" Emily closed her eyes and moaned as she savored the flavor of her meal. "It's really good." she licked her lips, nodding approvingly. "It's very tasty."

She actually wasn't surprised his meal had come out so well. Emma had always suspected that Izzy had been the one in charge of the household chores for him and his father. Her step dad just didn't seem the type to take care of that kind of thing.

"Oh!" Emma gasped as she remembered the unwashed stockings she still had to get done. "I'm going to throw in a few loads of laundry into the machine later, so if you have anything you need washed just let me know." she offered.