Melanie's POV

Oh. My. Cheez-its. I was now Ian Hecox's official girlfriend! I'm not being dramatic, but I think I might be dead. There's no way Ian Hecox could want to make me, Melanie Thompson his girlfriend! Even though I could I hardly believe it, I managed to convince myself that it was somehow true. Although, I did pinch myself a few times to make sure I wasn't dreaming. It turned out I wasn't dreaming so I did my weird victory dance again in the living room once when I got home. Apparently, my brother was awake and came out to the living room just in time to see me flailing about.

"Looking for a mate again?" He teased.

"No, I'm not." I stuck my tongue out at him. "I'm just having fun. You should try it some time."

He just shook his head disgustedly and walked back to his room. I stopped dancing and headed to my room as well. I could use a shower. I thought. I slipped my new bracelet, which I adored, off of my wrist and stripped off my clothes. I went to into the bathroom across the hall and realized I had forgotten a towel. I snuck into the hallway praying that no one come out and see me stark naked. I reached the linen closet with no one in sight and then heard footsteps. I tried to grab one of the towels but they were at the top of the closet and I couldn't reach them. I was the shortest one in the family and the only one with this problem. The footsteps were closer and I turned around and heard a scream. It was Andrew. Of course. As if things weren't awkward enough between the two of us. I screamed with him as he stared at my bare body.

"What the hell are you doing running around the house naked?" He yelled.

"I was going to take a shower but I forgot a towel!"

He started walking towards me and I froze. What was happening?! He reached above my head and took one of the towels out of the closet which he handed to me. "Here."

"Th-thanks." I stuttered and stalked off towards the bathroom, embarrassed. I took a long shower to take the edge off of my encounter with Andrew. I kept trying to figure out how I really felt about him. Did I like him? And if so, was it more than I would a brother? I couldn't come up with a clear answer so I decided to leave it be and think about my new boyfriend, Ian.

Andrew's POV

Oh crap. I had just seen Melanie naked and I liked it. I was going to have to tell her the truth soon before I did something I would regret. Although, I would have to talk to Mom and Dad before saying anything to her.

In the morning I woke up early and fixed myself a bowl of cereal. Mom and Dad were already up and watching the news. I gulped down my cereal and went to talk to them before Melanie woke up.

"Mom, Dad. We need to talk about Melanie."

"What about her, love?" Mom asked as if she had no idea.

"You know exactly what. The reason why I can't feel normal around her! I always have to watch what I say because of the lies we told her!" I was getting angrier now.

"Calm down, son. We don't want to wake her up. Have a seat." He gestured to the armchair next to the sofa. I sat down and tried to relax myself a little bit. I did not want Melanie hearing anything before we had discussed this.

"What are supposed to tell her anyway, darling?" Mom asked, less ignorant this time.

"Everything." I replied.

Melanie wandered into the kitchen and started to make herself some breakfast.

"Melanie, we need to talk." Said my father.

"About what?" Melanie asked groggily.

"About our family." Mother replied. She gave a confused look and turned to me. I gave her an uncertain look. I didn't know how she would respond to this.

"What about our family?" She had no idea what we were about to tell her.

"You may want to sit down for this." I said. "We have a lot to talk about."

*Flashback*

It was a warm, summer day 15 years ago, much like the ones we've been having lately. My parents and our next door neighbors, the Moats, were having a barbecue together and Melanie and I were playing in the backyard. We had always been close. We used to call each other brother and sister which probably made the transition easier. The Moats got a call to go to work and they had to leave the barbecue early and asked if our parents could take care of Melanie while they were gone. They happily agreed. Melanie and I played all the time together while her parents were gone. At first, it was only a couple of days. Then days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Our parents were rather worried about The Moats' absence.

One day, we got a call from The Moats' employers. They told us that Melanie's parents had died in an accident. They couldn't give too many details but offered to take Melanie to an orphanage. My parents asked if it was alright to keep Melanie as their own. The employers were fine with that. We never got any sort of official records stating that we were her guardians so technically, she wasn't my sister at all. We had her official birth certificate and other records, of course, but nothing about my parents being legally her parents.

*End of Flashback*

We told her the story, each talking about different parts of it. Melanie's expression turned from one of shock to one of pain. After telling her everything we waited for her to respond in silence. She hung her head and when she rose it, there were tears formed in her eyes.

"How come you never told me?" She asked, hurt.

"We never found the right time." Mother answered.

"Why now?" Her eyes wandered from face to face.

"I couldn't take it anymore." I spoke up.

"Take what?" Her voice cracked.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her into her room, shoving her onto the bed. I knelt down in front of her. Today was the day.

"Melanie Moat, I-" Just then there was a loud bang and a scream. I jumped straight up in the air and ran out of the room to see what had happened. I flew into the kitchen to see my father limping out of the room, on his way to the living room to sit on the couch. I turned to see Melanie following me to find out what was going on.

"What happened?!" I screamed.

"Your father dropped the toaster on his foot when he was trying to put it away. He's quite the clumsy one." My mother said calmly.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" I shouted in relief.

"Same here." Melanie said, also relieved. "What is it that you were going to tell me, Andrew?" She turned towards me.

"Oh, u-uh." I stammered. I no longer wanted to tell her. It would've have been really awkward. " I-it's nothing." I finally got out.

Melanie searched my face, unhappy with the sympathy and pity in it and walked sadly into her room. I decided to leave her alone to give her time to think about all that we had told her. I hoped nothing would change majorly between us. I don't think I could live with myself knowing that I screwed up our relationship. That was another reason why I didn't confess my love for her. She was going out with Ian anyway. No way would she want a guy like me when she could date somebody famous. I should just try and get over her.

A.N.

Did anybody get "The Inbetweeners" reference? No? No one? Okay...

Lol, well, anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the story so far. I know it's been a while since I've published anything so, sorry. I've been kind of sick lately and haven't felt like writing. Tell me what you think of the story in the comments and if you like how Andrew and Melanie's relationship is developing... I'm not so sure how I feel about it, so I figure I should ask my readers!

Remember, comment, vote, and follow to stay updated! :) Thanks for reading the story so far! Love you :*