The Fight For Me

I sighed in exasperation as I prepared myself for the daily war against my younger brother.

"Ace?!" I yelled, pulling the bed sheet off of him, "You're gonna be late!"

Ace moaned, his hand searching for the missing bed sheet.

"Gimme 5 minutes!" He mumbled, his face buried in his pillow.

I took the minute to look around his bedroom, his was one of the two bedrooms from the apartment I had just found two months ago. The windows lay bare welcoming the sunshine like an old friend, I wondered how Ace could sleep through this. He had customized the room, there were dirty clothes scattered around and wrappers from the packed food that he and I had been eating for a couple of months now. The only piece of furniture was the chest of drawers, I wished that I could give him more than that, but I couldn't, at least not now.

"Ace! 5 minutes are over, get your butt out here, NOW!" I scolded him.

I didn't blame him for this, just a few months back, I had been the same irresponsible teenager as him, well I wasn't a teenager but still, I was irresponsible.

"Ugh, Fine!"

Still half-asleep, he dragged his body to the washroom letting the door slam behind him. I left his bedroom leading into the living room occupied by what once was a grey fluffy couch, and a small table on which Ace's homework lay scattered.

"God help me." I muttered under my breath as I grabbed his books and shoved them into his bags from where a large pile of papers fell out.

I went through the pile which contained several failed or near to fail tests and warning letters. I collapsed on the couch, what was I gonna do about this boy? Feeling helpless, I walked to the tiny kitchen, I rinsed the saucepan and filled it with half a cup water for my morning coffee.

CREAAAK!

The bathroom door opened and my brother emerged, dressed in a black tee and ripped jeans. I was about to consult him about the papers but I decided to give him his space. Who knew what he was going through? I would most likely be flunking school if I was going through this stuff in my teens. He opened the refrigerator while wrinkling his nose and pulled out the remaining cheese sandwich from last night's dinner.

"I'm leaving Esmer." He said as he passed me, he didn't even look at me as if he had better things to do, I could help but scoff.

"K. Do well in school, will ya? You don't wanna fail!" I called after him as he left.

Now, it was my turn to leave…for work. I grabbed my pink cap which was hanging behind the door. The cap was my lucky charm, it had saved my life countless of times, especially in embarrassing moments, I could just pull the cap over my head and pretend like I didn't exist. I never go anywhere without it. I locked the door behind me as I climbed 2 stories down and left the dimly lit hallway and breathed in the fresh morning air. The morning air felt like freedom, everywhere, people were bustling about trying to get to schools or colleges or their jobs or universities. I smiled, allowing myself a moment to enjoy the new freedom I had stepped into.

I pulled on my helmet after placing my cap safely in my bag back. I climbed on top of my bike and began my 10 minutes ride to our local grocery store where I so happened to work.

"Late again, Miss Andréa." The owner, Mister Ronald eyed me through his thick spectacles while counting a customer's change.

"Sorry Sir." I muttered as I walked to him.

"Here, take these to the back aisle." He handed me a large box which I struggled to hold.

I carried it to the back aisle which was the hygiene aisle, I was placing the men's colognes on the shelf, imagining how it would feel like to have a boy, smelling like that as your boyfriend.

"Could you help me look for a nice cologne?"

I turned around abruptly and came face to face with the most handsome young man. He had light brown hair through which his mesmerizing green eyes stared through, he was dressed in a white tee and wore black jeans. One of his perfect veiny hands was shoved in his front pocket while the other one clutched his mobile phone.

"Uh…yes, of course, I'll…I'll help you. What are you looking or exactly?" I stuttered.

"Hmm…I'm not too sure, could you give me some samples?" He asked.

Gosh! How could I say no?

I walked him through the aisle, showing different colognes, when he suddenly asked

"How long have you been working here?"

That question caught me off guard, "3 months maybe." I said quietly.

"And what's your name?" He asked.

"Uh…I'm…Andréa" I told him, looking away to hide the colour that my cheeks had just become.

"That's a really pretty name, Andréa." He whispered, leaning in and gently tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

His breath tickled against my neck as Goosebumps went all over my body. It felt like forever before he pulled back and smiled at me. I hadn't felt this way since my high school crush, I closed my eyes and inhaled sharply as the feeling of his hand against my cheek repeated itself in my mind but I didn't allow myself to smile. My heart was racing so fast and I couldn't exactly make out of what had happened just now.

"I-I-I really have to get to work now, sir. I hope you have found what you're looking for, do visit us again." I muttered hastily as I turned around and hastily walked off.

"Damn right I will." I heard him say behind me.

Who the hell was he? Was I falling for someone that I didn't even know the name of?

'Not yet, but you will soon enough' a greedy voice inside me said.

I let myself fantasize about the boy that I had just seen while serving the other customers.

After my shift and the extra work I had been assigned, I left the grocery store.

"Shit!" I said out loud, my bike was out of fuel, the fuel tank had been opened by someone.

"What's wrong beautiful?"

I turned around and an encounter with another dazzling male. He looked twenty two, twenty three maybe. He was tall and just the right build, not too muscular but not too thin either. He had blonde hair with red dyed tips and his eyes were a piecing grey. He was dressed just right too, he was wearing a black hoodie with jeans, just my type. Headphones dangled from his neck and 'Senorita' played faintly from them.

"Nothing, it's---"

"Ahhh, is that yours? Lemme have a look for you." He interrupted

He squatted and ran his hand through his hair, his right sleeve went up and I saw the tattoo on his right arm.

"It's pretty bad…the fuels all out." He then told me.

"No kidding Sherlock." I murmured under my breath.

"Did you say something?" He turned to me and his grey eyes met mine.

"No, and its fine. I don't live too far from here, I can just walk home, thanks for the help." I turned around, slipped my hand through the handles and was about to start walking when I heard an engine roar behind me.

"Why don't you get in? I'll drop you off, wherever you live." He said with a wry smile.

That just reminded me of why you cannot trust hot guys that you meet on the street or your job shift.

"No thanks." I huffed.

"Suit yourself. Cya around." He let the engine roar once more before he took off.

"Oh wow." I muttered under my breath as I started walking, my head still processing the events that had occurred today before allowing myself to smile, as wide as it would go. Today had been my lucky, lucky, lucky day.

The front door was already open when I arrived home, I was over an hour late from the time I usually arrived on. I stepped in and dropped my helmet on the couch.

"Why so late?" Ace asked me as I turned around to go to the kitchen.

"My bike, someone opened the fuel tank." I told him.

"You need to be careful sis, there's weird guys everywhere. You shouldn't be out so late." He lectured me.

"Weird guys? Bro, weird guys only harass pretty girls, or girls with nice breasts. Luckily, I don't have any of those." I rolled my eyes as I pulled out a juice bottle and took a sip.

"Actually…you have both of those." He was eyeing me weirdly, as if he was thinking about something else.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Ima go to my room. It's late, order some food." I patted him on the shoulder and shut the door behind me as I threw my phone behind me.

Strangely, I found myself checking out the girl looking back at me from the mirror. She wasn't too ugly, but she wasn't like...hot either. More like an average. She had a hazel eye and a dull green eye. Her red streaked hair hung over her shoulder reaching the tip of her chest. I sighed before finally tearing my eyes away from my reflection and putting my head down on the pillow to take a rest, but sleep hit me soon after.