New Step Brother, New Family, New Life? Thanks for Nothing, Dad

"OMG! This is too great!" Smokey exclaimed, her face lit up as I finished tell her the story. We were home from the farmer's market, having sold a hefty amount of our crop.

"No, this isn't great. What am I supposed to do?" I exclaimed, falling backwards on to my bean bag. Smokey spun once in the computer chair, still smiling.

"Of course it's great! Two guys like you! Not one, TWO! That'll show Kris! You should call him up right now and--" Smokey exclaimed but was cut off by me sitting up and slapping my hand over her mouth.

"Ok, seriously Smoke, I love you. But sometimes you just need to shut up. I'm not going to talk to Kris or intentionally contact him again," I stated matter-of-factly. 'Smoke' and 'Smo' had been Smokey's nickname since we were kids.

I lay down on the bean bag again and removed my hand from her mouth. Smokey just rolled her eyes at me and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm so confused. I don't know how I feel about either of them. I didn't even know they liked me!" I said with an exasperated sigh. I grabbed a pillow and covered my face with it angrily.

I heard Smokey sigh and she knelt down next to me. "Well, I know if I were you," she answered, "I would be ecstatic. Hell, I'm ecstatic for you. If you don't know how you feel right now, then I have one question for you. What are you going to do when you face them?"

"I don't know, Smoke," I replied, though it was muffled by the pillow. "I just don't know."

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"I think it would sound better with a C sharp minor chord," I said to Smokey as we tried to figure out the music to a new song we were writing.

"No, no. I like a regular old C better," Smokey said, strumming the said chord. I shrugged and was about to argue when someone knocked on the door. Without permission, Ethan strode right in.

"Hey chickadees," he said happily. A little bit too happily.

I rolled my eyes and sat my guitar in its stand. "What happened? Why are you all Mr. Joyful today?"

Ethan smirked and flung himself onto the bed beside Smokey and I. "Well, not only did I go out with the hottest girl ever last night, but I also got all of us out of a weekend of farm work!"

Smokey's jaw dropped. "How in the hell did you get that from Mr. Finn?"

"It was simple," Ethan said, "All I had to do was win a bet." One thing about my dad is he always honors bets. The second thing you need to know is that you should never asked about a bet among men.

"So where do you plan on going?" Smokey asked curiously.

"A friend of mine has a lake house and said we could borrow it for the weekend. Right on the water with a two bedroom cabin. Completely stocked. We don't have to pay for anything unless we go out!" Ethan exclaimed, smiling.

"So... that means we can leave tomorrow morning. Friday!" I said excited, jumping up and down in anticipation. I slid off my bed into my closet. I grabbed the black and white checkerboard suit case and began throwing in random clothes and a pair of flip flops.

"Um...yeah..." Ethan said, watching me with wide eyes. Smokey was just laughing hard, clutching her stomach. I rolled my eyes and dragged the suit case to the bathroom where I threw the toiletries bag and straightener into my bag.

I zipped up the case and dragged it back into the bedroom where Ethan and Smokey were making small talk.

"I'm ready!" I called, flopping down on the bed in between them. Ethan looked at me, amused. He stood up and began walking towards the door, still facing us.

He stated, "Well, ok. See you all girlies tomorrow morning. We're leaving at eight a.m. sharp. It will take a few hours to get there."

Smokey smiled and nodded. "Great, we'll be ready."

Ethan looked at Smokey for a moment longer, than glanced at me for just a second. He shrugged and nodded, turning to leave. Once in the door way, Ethan stopped abruptly and spun to face us.

"I almost forgot." He smirked, though it was mostly at me. Like he knew something that he shouldn't, or that could be used as blackmail. I shivered at the thought. Then he continued,

"Trent and Tyler are coming too."