Chapter 3

A few days latter Natalie was laying on her bed doing her history homework, while listening to her ipod. When suddenly her bedroom door burst open and a younger boy ran into the room and jumped on the bed next to Natalie.

Natalie yanked her headphones out of her ears and glared at the boy who was looking back at her.

"What do you want Matt?" Natalie asked icily still not breaking eye contact with her younger brother who's eyes merrier her own.

"Nothing" Matt said bursting out with laughter and scurrying out of her room.

Natalie rolled her eyes, younger brothers should be outlawed especially ones who were in fifth grade. But Natalie could never stay mad at him for to long he was too cute. With his amber eyes that matched her own, sandy blond hair and a light splattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose, something that all three of them shared, he was one of the cutest kids she knew. Natalie put her headphones back in her ears and continued doing her homework.

A few minutes latter her door opened and she turned her head preparing to yell at Matt again but instead Ben was standing there putting his shirt on.

"Ew, Ben why on earth can you not dress completely in the bathroom after you shower?" Natalie asked averting her eyes. Most girls in her grade (well the whole school) would kill to be in her position, they would get to see Ben with out his shirt on at least once a day guarantied. With his washboard abs from all the years of playing soccer and nicely defined chest he had a very nice body that caused many girls to sigh when he removed his shirt. But not Natalie, it was her own brother and that grossed her out enough to not take pleasure in staring at him. The only time she could stand him with out his shirt was when he was outside, but on any other occasion it was just nasty in her eyes.

" Sorry squirt its just what I do" Ben said smirking at her " and mom says that its time for dinner and wants to know why your late, she told me she sent Matt up here to get you"

"That little twerp" Natalie mumbled under her breath

She followed Ben out the door and followed him downstairs to the dining room where they were having dinner that night. She was pleasantly surprised to see that there were five places set. That meant that both her parents were home, normally only one parent was home early enough to have dinner with the family, but they did set aside to have dinner as a family on the weekend but on the week days it was a luxury that she enjoyed.

After dinner was over Natalie went back up to her room to continue doing her homework Ben following her up the stairs. Natalie turned to go into her room and to her surprise Ben followed her. She walked over to her bed and Ben walked over to a chair that sat in the corner of her room. Natalie looked at him and he looked out the window.

"So Ben why are you here?" Natalie asked breaking the silence

Ben looked at her and then ran his fingers through his hair making it stand on end.

"Ben you know you can talk to me about anything" Natalie said setting her homework aside. She had never seen Ben being this reserved around her other people sure but never her.

"Well" he began " I sort a kind of like this girl but I don't know if she likes me back"

Natalie looked at him simi shocked Ben had never come to her before with issues about girls not even when they were little. He always knew what he was doing, or so she thought

"Well, why don't you just ask her or tell her how you feel" Natalie said she was definitely not used to giving him advise on girls let alone seeing this vulnerable side of him.

Ben looked at her the normal spark in his brown eyes was gone something else had replaced it but Natalie couldn't put her finger on what it was.

"Nat, I can't just tell her or ask her, we have a really good thing going and I don't want to ruin it by saying how I feel if she doesn't feel the same way"

Natalie knew he was really nervous about this he never ever called her Nat and if he ever called her Natalie she knew something really bad had happened like the time he broke his wrist when they were playing over in the park when they were nine and he told her to go get Mrs. Fisher who was pushing Matt on the swing.

Natalie took a deep breath

"Ok how long have you had these feelings for her?" she asked trying to find out how long this had been going on.

"Sine half way through the summer" He responded automatically

"And why do you think she doesn't like you back?" she questioned

Ben looked at her again his brown eyes meeting her amber ones

"Well some times I think she likes me but then other times I think that she just thinks of me as a really good friend or like a brother or something like that"

"Well I think that you should tell her or hint that you like her and if she likes you back great and if she doesn't, then she doesn't, blow off the hint and make things good again by throwing in something like good I think that that would have been really weird between us if you did… something like that" Natalie said hoping that she could help her brother.

Ben was silent for a moment and then he stood up abruptly startling Natalie

"ya ok, well I have home work I should be doing thank god tomorrows Friday, talk to you latter squirt" he said as he began to walk out of the room

"Ben" Natalie called before he could open the door.

"Its Emma isn't it?" Natalie asked

Ben stopped in his tracks and turned to face her, after looking into her eyes for a few seconds he replied

"If you tell anyone I'll tell the whole school about how when we went to Disney World when we were six you peed your pants because you were scarred of Mickey Mouse"

"Deal" Natalie said instantly, damn her brother knew how to fight dirty.

"Good" Ben said his eyes returning back to normal and he walked out her room

Natalie grabbed the pillow that was lying next to her, placed it over her mouth and screamed. She couldn't believe that her brother liked her best friend. But the more she thought about the summer the more the signs were there, always hanging out with them and being home when he knew she was coming over, and meeting with her at her locker every morning. She desperately wanted to tell Emma, they would make such a cute couple, and she didn't know why she had never tried to set them up earlier.

Natalie roiled back over on to her stomach and attempted to finish her homework but her thoughts kept wondering to Nate Fisher. The past couple of days he seamed really distant but she didn't know what would be causing it. But that thought quickly left her head and was replaced with daydreams of her and Nate going on a double date with Emma and Ben.

This is the perfect set up Natalie thought then me and my best friend will be sister in laws and be together forever.

At eleven Natalie turned off her light and went to sleep praying that Emma liked Ben back and that Nate would wise up and ask her out soon.

Hi guys so I hope you liked this chapter! Let me know what you think! I have a lot of stuff going on right now but I'm going to do my best to get the chapter up as fast as i can