Free Stepbrother Dearest by Penelope Ward Page A

considered a friend, although it
    was obvious he wanted to be more.
    Friday night rolled around. I had styled my hair into waves and put on a royal blue dress I’d bought on
    sale at the mall, but my enthusiasm level was the same as if I were going over to Victoria’s to watch a
    movie.
    When Corey came to the door, my mother opened it and yelled upstairs, “Greta, your date is here!”
    There was low music coming from Elec’s room, and the door was closed. A part of me wanted him to
    see me leaving with Corey, but another part didn’t want to deal with him.
    Corey was waiting at the bottom of the stairs with flowers, and that made me feel oddly embarrassed for
    him. I could never picture Elec picking up a girl and handing her Gerbera daisies. Let’s face it; he didn’t
    need to.
    “Hey, Corey.”
    “Hey, Greta. You look awesome.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Do you mind if I use your bathroom real quick before we leave?”
    I hesitated to send him upstairs in the event Elec were to come out of his room. “Sure. It’s upstairs. Just
    take a left, and it’s at the end of the hall.”
    I waited on a stool at the counter.
    “He seems totally nice,” my mother said.
    “He is,” I said, placing the flowers into a vase.
    That was the problem. I’d grown to love a little mean mixed in with my nice.
    After a five-minute wait, Corey had an odd look on his face when he returned.
    “Are you ready?” I asked.
    “Sure,” he said without making eye contact. He walked in front of me and led me to his Focus parked
    out front.
    He was still acting strange after we got in the car and before he started the engine, he turned to me.
    “I ran into your stepbrother upstairs.”
    I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Oh?”
    “He said to give you these, that you’d left them in his room.” He handed me a pair of pink lace panties,
    the second to last piece of underwear that Elec had been harboring.
    I took them and stared out into the street in disbelief, confused as to whether I was angry or slightly
    amused.
    When I composed myself, I turned to him. “He’s just trying to mess with you…and me. It’s sort of what
    he does. I know this sounds silly, but he took all of my underwear as a joke and hasn’t given them all back.
    Nothing else is going on.”
    He sighed but still seemed a little uncomfortable. “Okay. That was just really weird.”
    “I know. Believe me. I’m sorry.”
    Corey was looking straight ahead at the road, so I took out my phone and discreetly sent Elec a text.

    Greta: Why would you do that???

    Elec: Don’t get your “panties in a bunch.” It was funny and you know it.

    Greta: It wasn’t funny to him.

    Elec: You don’t even like him.

    Greta: How would you know that?

    Elec: Because you like me.

    Greta: You’re full of yourself.

    Elec: You wanted to be full of me too once, remember?

    My jaw dropped.

    Greta: Why do you always do this?

    Elec: What’s that?

    Greta: Revert back to your inner asshole.

    Elec: In her asshole, huh?

    Greta: You suck!

    Elec: I do…very well. I’d show you if I could.

    Greta: Why are you doing this?

    Elec: Because I can’t fucking stop.

    I wasn’t going to write back. He texted again.

    Elec: Come home.

    Greta: What?

    Elec: Come home. Hang out with me.

    Greta: No!

    I shut off my phone and glanced over at Corey who was still looking ahead quietly.
    Elec was out of his mind. Who did he think he was, trying to prevent me from casually dating while he
    continued to whore himself out?
    Elec had cast a shadow over the rest of the night, and while we were able to make small talk at the
    Mexican restaurant, I knew that Corey was totally turned off by what Elec did. The sick thing was, I wasn’t
    even that mad. If I were being honest with myself, it secretly satisfied me that Elec cared enough to want to sabotage my date.
    I tried to focus my attention solely on Corey and was doing a half-assed job while eating my flan
    dessert. All I could think about was