Oh Brother - S01 E26

Story 2 years ago

Oh Brother - S01 E26

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 26

“I don’t get this show,” Christian commented, glancing at me. “Why is she dating a killer?”

I rolled my eyes and shoved popcorn into my mouth. “Because she loves him. She knows he’s a good guy deep down.”

“A good guy who happened to kill at least a hundred people, right?”

I sighed. “You don’t get it. You didn’t start watching the show from the beginning, so you don’t understand Damon like us.”

“Fine, but what about Stefan?” he asked. “He’s actually a nice guy, and I have to admit he’s attractive. Why would she dump him for a killer?”

“Didn’t you say you shouldn’t date someone just because their attractive?”

Christian smiled at that. “Yeah, but I also said Stefan’s nice.”

I shook my head and brought my attention back to the TV, just in time to see Klaus hit on Caroline. It was odd having Christian at my side at home, but it had been happening lately. A part of me knew he was trying to ensure things were normal between us, but surprisingly I didn’t care. The company was nice, so it wasn’t a bother.

“And on the note of shallowness,” Christian suddenly said, bringing my attention back to him. “What happened to my favourite guy, Nate?”

I rolled my eyes at the sarcasm. “Gone.”

Christian frowned. “What do you mean, gone?”

“I found out I don’t like him and told him that.” I shrugged. “He’s gone from my life, I mean.”

Something in Christian’s eyes sparked. It looked like curiosity, but I knew better. He was happy. Truly, utterly happy because finally the guy he hated was out of my life. He was lucky I didn’t care about Nate.

“Good,” Christian suddenly said, smiling. “I never liked him.”

“Why?” I asked, always wanting to know the answer to that one question. “Why do you hate him?”

Christian looked away as I stared at him, suddenly looking uncomfortable. I frowned as I watched him, unsure of why he wouldn’t answer such a simple question. When it came to hate, I knew why I hated someone – for the most part. It was that one emotion that was always honest.

Still staring at Christian, I jumped as somone suddenly said, “Sorry to interrupt, but I have a question.”

Christian and I’s eyes flew to where Stephen stood at the doorway. His arms were crossed over his chest, but he looked happy. Satisfied with what he saw before him. It was strange.

“What’s up dad?” Christian asked, smiling at his father.

“Nothing,” Stephen replied casually. “I actually want to talk to Autumn.”

“Me?” I asked, shocked.

I had never hated Stephen. I hated what he did to my life, but never him. But even though I didn’t hate him, we didn’t talk. Probably because when he tried to talk to me, I always gave flat replies. It was surprising seeing him wanting to talk to me personally now.

“Yeah.” Stephen smiled. “Do you want to go out today. Just me and you though.” He glanced at Christian. “Sorry son.”

Christian shrugged as I fought back a look of surprise. No one in this family hung out one-on-one with the adults. Not even Christian and his own dad. This was out of the blue, but oddly I was touched by the request.

“Sure,” I replied, smiling. “Where are we going?”

“Fishing.”

I blinked. “Fishing?”

That was the most stereotypical thing to do with a father-like figure, but I was slightly intrigued. I had never been fishing, so it would be cool to try.

Before Stephen could say never mine, I then said, “Sounds great.”

*****

“Is it supposed to take this long to catch one fish?” I groaned.

“I have no idea,” Stephen replied, sighing tiredly. “This is my first time doing this and I’m disappointed.”

I couldn’t help but smile at how deflated he looked. We had been here for an hour and the both of us were exhausted. The weather was slightly chilly, but we were actually sweating from the strength we were using to hold the fishing poles up. For me I could admit I was out of shape, but Stephen was quite buff. That was how I knew this was a lot of work.

“So, Autumn,” Stephen said, breaking me out of my thoughts. “How’s… Life?”

“Alright,” I replied honestly. “How about you?”

“Alright.” He sighed. “Not what I expected.”

“Why?” I asked curiously.

“Can I be honest? Even if it may offend you?”

I nodded. Stephen was the one person I didn’t find myself getting mad at easily. Before I may of not been that friendly with him, but I never been rude to him. To my slight horror, I realized I had only ever been a b---h to Christian. I wondered why.

“I expected this new family of mines to be one, big happy one. One without drama,” he said, looking slightly sad. “I thought we would all take care of each other, but it’s the exact opposite. You and you own mom don’t talk, me and Alice aren’t one good terms, and-”

“Wait,” I cut in. “My mom and you aren’t on good terms?”

From what I saw, they were in love. Deeply, madly in love. Even though I wasn’t my moms biggest fan, I was happy she had that. But, now Stephen was telling me they weren’t on great terms. That told me I really hadn’t been paying attention to my mom lately. I wasn’t really surprised about that, even though she was once the centre of my universe.

“Yeah.” Stephen sighed. “We have… Different opinions.”

“On what?”

“You.” His eyes softened. “I don’t agree with how she treats you.”

I couldn’t help but blush as something twisted in my heart. It was nice to know that he didn’t agree, just like how it seemed with Christian. Too bad opinions couldn’t fix anything.

“I also don’t agree with how she hates how close you and Christian have gotten,” he continued.

My eyes widened. “She hates it?”

This was a surprise to me. I didn’t even know that they knew we were close. We usually hung around when they were out of sight and made sure to still look like we weren’t each other’s biggest fan. I wasn’t even sure why we did that, but from hearing my mom’s opinion I wished we tried harder. I knew she would do about anything when she was angry.

“Yeah, it’s stupid.” Stephen shook his head, looking unpleased. “I actually love how close you two have gotten.”

My eyes softened as warmth blossomed in my stomach. “You do?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, smiling. “You know, you make him happy. After the divorce he was so negative and always brooding alone. You’ve brought out such a better side to him. I-”

“Wait,” I cut in as my eyes widened. “Did you just say Christian was negative? Mr. Smiles and let’s save the world with kindness. You’re lying.”

“I’m afraid not.” A sad smile appeared on his face. “He was so much different before. I have to admit his ways of acting out did die down as years passed by, but the Christian you know now is still different than the Christian I knew before the wedding. This Christian, is so much happier it seems.”

Now I let myself be surprised. My jaw dropped slightly as I was stunned. Christian having a past of acting out was surprising, something I would never have expected. He was always so nice. Always so happy. But then I remembered how his eyes were before, when we met. They were so tired, and I realized maybe because of life. And then I remembered the guy he punched. Of how horrified he felt about it, saying it was a mistake.

I felt like an idiot suddenly, knowing I had never asked about his past. Never cared to ask about his own wounds. A sad and regretful feeling suddenly twisted at my heart.

“That’s why I want to thank you,” Stephen suddenly said, snapping me out of my thoughts of regret. “I do want to bond with you, but today is a day for me to thank you. Like any dad, I love my son. I want him to be happy. He hasn’t been that for a while, but you changed everything. You gave him a person to trust. A person to care about. Someone, to love.”

I blushed as Stephen stared at me with his old eyes. My once twisting, regretful heart was now full of warmth. I couldn’t believe I was the one to make Christian happy. Me who had been nothing but a b---h to him before. A part of me found it unbelievable, but something in Stephen’s blue eyes told me that this was real. That he had witnessed this blossoming of happiness in Christian with his own eyes. At that, my heart fluttered.

“You don’t need to thank me,” I said honestly. “Christian has been nothing but nice to me. I should be thankful that he’s in my life.”

To my surprise, I felt like that was the most honest thing I had said in a while. And it was true, I was thankful. As my heart pumped happily, I was glad to be the one who had made Christian happier. He definitely made me happier, so I was glad to see that somehow, I was special to him.

“You know, Christian cares about you a lot,” Stephen suddenly said, causing my eyes to widen. “It’s strange, but-”

I yelped as something pulled at my line. Turning my focus back to the fishing pole, I began to rewind the line. A thankful smile appeared on my face as I focused on the task of getting the fish.

But to my disappointment, a garbage bag was what I found at the end of the line. Stephen laughed as I grumbled about it, and I found myself smiling at his low chuckle. Today was the first day I had spend with my stepfather, and I had to say I had a great time. With a warm feeling seeping through my body, I was surprisingly really happy. Maybe because of what he said about Christian. I was leaning towards that.