Leif gave Stevie a frown as she in the kitchen later that afternoon with her bass. She put down her things, straightening her tank top and skirt as she tried to ignore the disapproving look he gave her
"Stevie? Is that really what you're going to wear?" Leif asked with a frown.
"Yes." Stevie said without looking at him.
"Are you sure?" Leif persisted.
Stevie put her hands irritably on her hips with an annoyed look. "No offence Leif, but you don't really have any right to tell me what I can and can't wear. Besides, this is more than most of the girls wear to school every day."
Leif didn't really seem satisfied.
"Fine. What's wrong with my outfit?"
"It's just so… James!" Leif gabbed his brother, dragging him over to Stevie, who rolled her eyes. "Explain to Stevie what's wrong with what she's wearing."
"You look great!" James said with a goofy grin, "If you weren't my sister I'd totally hit on you!"
"That's a little weird, but thanks. See Leif? James doesn't think there's anything wrong with what I'm wearing."
Leif frowned.
"He's just mad because you look hot." James explained.
Stevie chose to ignore that comment. "Oh my god Leif. Seriously? I'm seventeen! Not twelve. Wasn't the whole point of lunch for you guys to actually see me as a seventeen year old?"
"Yes, BUT, you're still my little sister-" Leif protested.
"Leif. I'm not even going to have this conversation with you. This is ridiculous." She shook her head, looking down at her phone as it buzzed. "Zanders here, I've got to go. See you all later."
Stevie opened the door to reveal a grinning Zander. "Hey" she smiled back.
"Ready?" he asked, taking the bass from her, it wasn't as if she couldn't carry it herself, he just liked to carry it for her and she was way past the stage of protesting.
"No kiss?" Stevie pouted.
Zander just smiled and pulled her out the door. On the front path, behind a bush that blocked their view of the road, he put the bass down before wrapping his arms around her. "I can't do this in front of your brothers." Zander leaned in kissing her slowly as he dipped her backwards. He could feel her giggle on to his lips.
"Zander," Stevie pulled them out of the kiss, "Why can't we do this in your truck?"
"I drove the others too. I can't kiss you properly with them there."
Stevie smiled, pulling him closer so she could wrap her arms tightly round his neck as she let him run his tongue over her lips, slowly opening her mouth.
These were Stevie's favorite kind of kisses, the ones where they seemed to mold together, personal space didn't exist, because there was no separation between them.
"Wow." She breathed as their lips separated. Every kiss was like this, spinning in to infinity and being pulled dizzily back to reality.
"We should go." Stevie whispered, although she really didn't want to. But Zander was already kissing her neck, Stevie figured that their friends could wait.
Stevie lets out a little moan, she's pretty sure that standing will soon become impossible. "Z!" she gives a breathy gasp. "You're not doing this now. We can't."
He knows she right, but he's curious to see where it would have gone. Slowly he pulls away, brushing a strand of hair off her face. "Have I told you yet that you look fantastic?"
"Not in the last hour." Stevie smirks.
"You look fantastic."
She smiles and suddenly he's pulling her down the garden path. Stevie wants to stick her head in a bucket of cold water, would that make her less red? Because she's sure she looks like a tomato.
"What took you so long?" Kasey inquires with a frown as they get in the car. She's sandwiched between Kevin and Nelson in the back seat, who are totally focused on their games and consequently oblivious to everything. It's not a position Kasey wants to be in for very long.
Zander looks at Stevie who smirks, "My brothers had some questions about the time and stuff." Stevie replies as calmly as possible.
Kasey doesn't look convinced but she drops the topic- she doesn't need to hear about their make out session (she knows that's what happened).
"So, where are we going for dinner?" Kasey asked, leaning forward to talk to Stevie and Zander.
"Where do you want to go Steves?" Zander asked his girlfriend, who was staring out the window hoping not to be involved in the conversation.
She shrugged.
Zander frowned. It wasn't like Stevie not to have an opinion on food.
"How about you Kace?" He asked
"The diner?" Kasey suggested.
The diner was 60's themed. Stevie had dragged Zander there the minute they had gotten back from camp the first summer. Stevie wanted to work there, but you had to be 18 to apply.
Zander nodded "Steves?"
"Sure." She replied without turning around. Zander glanced at Kasey as he stopped for the traffic lights. Only a few minutes ago she had been Zanders confident, smiley Stevie, and suddenly she had gone quiet.
"Kevin? Nelson? Do you HAVE an opinion on food?" Kacey asked the pair.
"Yep, Food. Foods good." Kevin said, without looking up from the game.
"Can we get food?" Nelson added.
Kasey face palmed.
Usually Stevie would have confiscated the games by this point, but she still hadn't moved.
Stevie didn't say anything even when they sat down at the table.
"What are you going to get Steves?" Zander asked, leaning so close to her that his breath tickled her cheek.
"I'm not really hungry." She responded without looking up from inspecting her chipped nail polish.
Zander frowned. "You're always hungry."
"No. I'm often hungry." Stevie corrected him. "And now I'm not."
Zander grabbed her hand, "we'll be right back." He told the other three.
"Zander!" Stevie protested as her dragged her away. "What are you doing?"
"Going outside."
"Why?" Stevie made a feeble attempt to struggle out of his grip.
"What's up?" He asked as soon as they were standing on the pavement.
"What do you mean what's up?" Stevie asked indignantly.
"Why are you so quite? And why don't you want to eat?"
"I'm quite because I was trying to avoid this conversation and I don't want to eat because I'm literally not hungry."
"You're always hungry."
"No, Zander, I'm not."
"Don't do this to yourself!"
"Do what? Make an educated decision about how I feel? Why is that bothering you so much Zander?"
"You've barley eaten all week Stevie!"
"Zander I swear to god! I had a big salad for lunch a few hours ago! Aren't I entitled to be able to choose when I eat?"
Zander ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Stevie, I'm just worried. Okay?"
"Don't be Zander! I'll get something at the club."
"Promise?" He took a step forward, lightly touching her arm.
"I'm not anorexic Zander."
Zander pulled her into a tight hug. Stevie buried her head in his chest and took a deep breath. She liked the way he smelled all Zander like, something she couldn't put her finger on.
"I just want you to be safe." He whispered in to her hair
"I am safe you idiot." Stevie punched his arm.
"Owww." Zander whined.
Stevie did get something at the club. She split her fries with Zander who made sure to watch exactly what she ate. And to everyone's relief had been much more animated during the rest of dinner- although she had clamed up when Kasey had asked her about lunch.
The gig went surprisingly well. Kasey had been secretly worried that Stevie would totally forget how to play the base or something. It was stupid, Stevie had music running through her veins and there was no way she could ever forget how to play. Stevie had gotten into it without a problem, and they'd sounded great.
Zander hadn't made any attempts to flirt with Stevie, only giving her reassuring smiles between songs
"Stevie!" James grabbed his little sister in delight as soon as the band had walked off the stage after their gig, picking her up and spinning her around. Stevie giggled. "You were fantastic!"
"Thanks." She said as James set her down.
"She was good wasn't she? Now you just have convince her to sing lead for a song." Kasey wrapped her arm around Stevie's shoulders.
"No way." Stevie dead panned, taking Kasey's arm off her.
"Don't you remember when you were about five and you wanted to be a singer? You used to go around singing all the songs from The Little Mermaid." Leif smiled "you were so cute!"
"I was five. A lots changed since then." Even still, Stevie smiled.
Finn didn't skip a beat, adding to Stevie's current embarrassment "You made us watch all the Disney movies with you, remember? You knew every word of those songs- you know I was always impressed by that."
"Oh Steves! You never told me you liked Disney movies." Zander teased wrapping an arm around her.
"And you were never meant to find out." Stevie grumbled back.
"I could have told you she liked Disney!" Nelson flicked his hair off his face proudly.
"Tell me more!" Zander smirked at Stevie, "what other adorable things did you do as a kid?"
"You know her bedroom used to be pink?" Finn said, smirking at Stevie who looked ever so slightly pink- although Stevie chalked that up to the way Zander was rubbing circles on her waist with his thumb.
"Pink?" Zander looked in disbelief at Stevie.
"That was before I convinced Mum and Dad that I hated pink."
"Mum was so disappointed. All she wanted was a little girl to dress up and go shopping with." James smiled.
"I do remember the time you made all of us dress up as princesses and you were the knight in shining armour who came to save us." Ben smiled
"I was a good knight." Stevie grinned.
"That was so embarrassing!" Finn groaned.
"But I looked great in a dress." James reminded them.
"You're so vain!" Stevie punched him in the arm.
"Hurtful Stevasaurus!" James whined.
She punched him again. "Don't call me that."
"Stephie?" How about that?" James teased.
Stevie punched him "I will punch you every time you call me one of those stupid nicknames." the words might have sounded angry but Stevie certainly wasn't. She knew she wasn't covering up the laughter well.
"I like Stephie!" Zander grinned cheekily.
"Of course you do." Stevie rolled her eyes.
"So Stephie-" Zander was cut off by Stevie punching him hard in the arm. "Oww! Must you hit the same spot every time? I have a permanent bruise on this arm!"
"I'll punch somewhere that will hurt more."
Zander looked nervous "Oh babe! Punch my arm whenever you like."
"I told you this morning not to call me babe."
"Miss Stephanie, I do apologise!"
Stevie fort to hide the blush and smile that was settling on her cheeks. Everyone noticed though and Zander gave a satisfied smile.
"Wait!" Kasey exclaimed, "Where did Stephanie come from?"
Stevie raised an eyebrow at her friend, "that's my name Kace."
Nelson put his hands over Stevie's ears, leaning over towards Kasey, "Don't call her that though, she'll get mad."
"I can still hear Nelly." Stevie took his hands good naturedly off her ears.
"Why does no one call you Stephanie?" Kasey asked.
Stevie took a step towards Kasey, "Because I don't like being called Stephanie." The menacing tone in her voice made Kasey step back.
Zander pulled Stevie back towards him with both hands and locked his fingers together over her stomach. "Ok Steves. Deep breath." He breathed in her ear. Tingles shot up Stevie's spine.
"Do you remember the time you dressed up as a fairy for Halloween?" James asked with a cheeky grin.
"No." Stevie gritted her teeth. Was this really necessary?
"But you went all in all black and told everyone that you were the dark? And someone called you a fairy and you yelled at them and made them cry?"
"Nope." Stevie deadpanned, "Must have been one of your dreams Jamie."
James rolled his eyes and there were mutters from all four of her brothers, 'I remember that'
"Like that time Kasey made you dress as an angel." Zander smiled
"Wow. How embarrassing that was." Stevie rolled her eyes sarcastically. "You really have the whole idea of this conversation down pat, don't you Z?"
Zander spun Stevie round to face him, she raised her eyebrows at him. "Do you want me to tell everyone about the time we went to the-"
Stevie covered Zanders mouth with her hand. "You swore you'd never talk about that!" Stevie hissed.
Zander licked her hand.
"EWWW! Zander!" Stevie shrieked as she wiped her hand down his shirt. Zander took the opportunity to pull her closer and kiss her.
Part of Stevie felt this was the most inappropriate time to do this, the other part of her wanted to make her brothers squirm. Besides, when had she ever actually been able to resist Zander kissing her?
Kasey grabbed hold of Stevie's hair, dragging her friend towards her and away from Zander.
"You two already had tonight's make out session." Kasey proclaimed loftly.
"I had no idea there was a limit on the amount of times I could kiss Stevie." Zander counted.
"There is only a limit on the amount of times you two can kiss in front of us."
"What other time tonight have we kissed?" Stevie asked indignantly, throwing her hands in the air.
"Um. Before we went on stage."
Stevie rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "We literally do that before every show. And besides it shouldn't even be classified as a kiss."
Stevie flexed her fingers. She felt sick. Today had been long and she really didn't want to keep being nice. "I'm going to the bathroom." She spun on her heels and stormed off.
Kasey bit her lip. "Why is she so moody tonight?" she frowned at Zander.
"I would guess it's because everyone's giving her a hard time." Zander crossed his arms.
"She was moody earlier too." Kasey pointed out.
"Look." Zander started, "Kasey-" he paused unsure of how to phrase this, "can you just lay off her for a while? She's just not… in the best place right now." Zander ran a hand through his hair.
"Why?" Kasey persisted.
"Just. Stop. Ok?" Zander commanded. "I'll go check on her."
"No." Kasey sighed, "I'll go."
Zander gave a curt nod. Should he trust Kasey to talk to Stevie?
"Stevie?" Kasey's voice sounded so small in the bathroom-even though the room wasn't much bigger than a cupboard.
"What." Stevie emerged from one of the stalls, she gave Kasey a stoney glance before washing her hands.
Kasey gulped, she honestly had no idea what to say. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Stevie ran her tongue round the inside of her mouth apprehensively.
"Everything?"
Stevie turned away from her, slowly drying her hands on the paper towel. "Don't worry about it."
Kasey frowned, "Don't worry about it? That's it?"
Stevie spun around, "What do you want me to say?"
"I don't know, give me some kind of explanation or something."
"I don't have an explanation to give you Kasey. And even if I did, I don't know what you want an explanation for."
Stevie ran her fingers through her hair, shaking it out gently.
"I don't know what to do anymore! I don't know how to act around you, I don't know what to say- I have no idea what you're dealing with that's making you so upset!"
Stevie pulled her cardigan sleeves further over her hands. "Just be normal." She responded finally, her voice quiet as she rubbed her palms together, her eyes focused on the loose thread she could see unravelling from her sleeve.
"I tried that. You just storm off."
"Well that's better than the alternative!" Stevie turned and placed her hands on the vanity counter, shutting her eyes tightly.
Kasey stood still. What was the alternative? Was Stevie going to cry? Kasey took a tentative step forward, putting her hand on her friends back and rubbing slow circles.
For a moment neither of them spoke. In one swift motion Stevie turned and wrapped her arms around Kasey, burring her head in Kasey's shoulder. Kasey was surprised but she responded quickly, holding on to Stevie tightly.
The hug ended suddenly as Stevie pulled away "Sorry." She took a step back. "We should, um, go."
Kasey opened her mouth and closed it immediately, she couldn't think of anything to say that would make Stevie feel less awkward. So she followed her friend out of the bathroom without another word.
"Leif." Stevie grabbed her brother's arm, standing on her toes to get closer to his ear, "you're taking Kasey, Kevin and Nelson home."
Leif looked confused, "why?"
"Because I say so." She let go of him.
There was no use in questioning her, Leif figured. Right now he needed to stay in her good books.
"Can we go now?" She whispered to Zander. Looking up at him with the puppy dog face she reserved specially for him.
"Where?" Zander asked.
"The park." Stevie responded, nuzzling closer to him.
"With Kasey, Kevin and Nelson?" He looked surprised.
"Leif will take them."
Zander nodded, had she really just manipulated everyone in to doing exactly what she wanted?
"Have you got everything?"
She nodded and then turned, walking off. Zander looked back to everyone "um..." He started.
But Stevie reappeared carrying her base. Zander looked somewhat shocked. Grabbing his little sisters arm Ben bent down and whispered, "No sex without safe sex."
Stevie frowned and hit his arm. "For your information Ben- not that I should tell you, Zander and I are going to the park."
"Ok." Ben muttered, "no matter how much you punch me I will still be the protective older brother."
Stevie felt a bit relieved. Ben was the one brother she wanted to be protective of her. She smiled at him "I know."
"When will you be home?" Leif asked almost sourly. To be frank, he didn't understand why Stevie was letting Ben be protective and say things like that and she wouldn't let him.
"I don't know. Sometime." Stevie was already pulling Zander away.
"Don't worry." Kasey finally spoke as soon as Stevie and Zander were out of hearing range, "Zander won't let anything bad happen to her."
"He better not." Leif growled.
Finn put a hand on Leif's shoulder, telling him to calm down.
"Are they always that... Touchy?" Finn said, making his voice as even as he could muster.
"That," Nelson put a finger in the air in a knowledgeable manner, "was almost no contact compared to how they usually are. And while it's clear Stevie enjoys seeing you all squirm, she also seems to feel awkward touching Zander while you are all here."
"How do you know that?" James asked in awe.
"You forget," Nelson took a step forward, "Kevin and I have known Stevie since we were five." He flicked his hair out of his face proudly, "We tend to have an idea what she is thinking."
"It's terrifying." Kasey put in.
"And I don't think they've ever stuck around this long after a gig." Kevin added.
"Maybe it would have been better if they hadn't stayed." Kasey muttered.
"What happened… in there?" Ben asked slowly, not wanting to intrude but feeling too curious not to.
"I actually don't know." Kasey shook her head. "Whatever's bothering her isn't just going to pass."
"No?" Finn frowned.
Kasey shook her head.
"Now what?" James looked perplexed.
Kasey shrugged. "We wait I guess."
"Correction." Nelson piped up, "We hope Zander fixes her tonight."
Kevin nodded in agreement. "Otherwise we have to stop her."
Kasey looked even more alarmed.
"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that." Nelson finished.
"Come to what?" Kasey quavered.
Kevin and Nelson exchanged a decisive look, "We can't say. We're not even supposed to know."
"How do you know then?" Kasey crossed her arms and took a threatening step towards the two.
"It's not like it wasn't obvious." Kevin snorted
"To us." Nelson added. "We saw her every day, so…"
"I see her ever day!" Kasey exclaimed indignantly.
"Not then you didn't. You made our lives horrible then."
"So this is my fault?" Kasey was horrified.
"This time- we don't think so." Kevin patted her arm sweetly.
"Last time- only partially." Nelson explained.
"And us?" Ben wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.
"You're all a factor both times." Nelson answered harshly.
They were all silent.
"I'll take you home." Leif said finally, nodding at the three teenagers.
They all left without a word. Each one silently hoping that Zander would work some kind of magic on Stevie.
So. Its been awhile... Side Effects ruined and writing ability I had for this chapter and then fixed it. I watched the last episode today and cried. I am simultaneously devastated and relieved that it's over.
This chapter turned out to be EXACTLY 3500 words. I thought that was a little strange. Any ways, like last time, if you have any ideas you would like to see incorporated in to the story, please send them to me (especially if their happy, I have trouble coming up with happy things to write.) and I will try to include them all!
Thank you to my lovely reviewers!
HTRobsessed: I know we already talked, but I'm going to respond to your reviews any way :). Firstly, Thank you! :). Secondly, Max Schneider does have an amazing voice- I could listen to his songs all day. But I think Zander could have a robot voice or something and Stevie would still find it attractive. I certainly have no plans for Stevie and Zander to get married, honestly, I think they would probably literally forget to get married. You know, they'd just keep going about their lives and it would never occur to them to get married. But I have an idea for something like you suggested. and I have an idea for the other idea, but I don't want to give anything away soooo...
And yes, that is my account. While I was procrastinating from studying putting my drawings upon the internet and some how getting famous and making a living from it seemed like a really good idea. That didn't last AT ALL. But occasionally I have enough time to photograph the drawings and find a convenient spot to put my name.
Guest: Thank you! have you finished watching Side Effects? I've spent all day fangirling over it (silly me, I really need a life...). Lexi just cracks me up. I know its meant to be serious and everything, buttttt, her facial expressions...
I LOVE Annie! It is one of my favourite musicals of all time. (I'm secretly hoping I'm still short enough to play Annie, but I'm to old.)
I'll start on the story any time you like :)
Hopefully the next update will be quicker... (fingers crossed)
xxx Encantria 3