Stepbrother With Benefits 12 (Second Season) by Mia Clark Page B

rival and enemy at first, but then they became friends.  It's an interesting story, but hard to compare to anything today.  It's different."
    They go into the showers, leaving us to ourselves.  Before they vanish behind a closed shower stall door, my mom waves to us both.
    "We'll see you two soon!" she says.  "Don't get into too much trouble."
    "Yeah, you hear that?" Ethan says to me.  "No trouble, Princess.  Don't even try it."
    "Me?" I say, acting innocent.
    This isn't hard, because I'm most certainly the innocent one here!  Ethan's the bad one.  I don't even get into trouble.  I'm very good, of course.
    We start walking and play fighting about who is the troublemaker.  I don't think I am, because what sort of trouble have I ever started?  Ethan tries to say that I make him want to cause trouble, which means that it's my fault if he does cause trouble, and I don't think that's true.  It sounds like he's just making stuff up, and I'm pretty sure he is.
    Caleb is waiting for us, with Hero, too.  Hero's sitting in front of Caleb.  Caleb glances over at us as we walk towards him.  He has an excited look on his face.
    "Alright... Hero!" he says to the dog.  "Shake?"
    Hero gives him a funny look.  He doesn't look like he's going to do anything at first.  Caleb's excitement progressively dwindles, until he's mostly back to a sort of unexcited stare, but...
    Then Hero holds out his paw.  His tongue lolls out, too.  He looks very much like a goofy dog, which I think is probably the truth.
    Caleb shakes hands with Hero quick, then turns to Ethan.
    "See!  I'm definitely cool now, right?"
    Ethan purses his lips and furrows his brow, staring hard at Caleb, saying nothing.
    "You said that he only listened to cool people and he listened to me so that means I'm cool?" Caleb says.
    "If you have to ask if you're cool, it means you aren't cool," Ethan says.
    "What?  Are you for real?"
    "Sorry, kid.  Better luck next time."
    Caleb takes a deep breath and sighs, disappointed.  It's a silly sort of disappointment, though.  It makes me laugh.  Ethan grins, too.  Caleb smiles, and we're all back to normal.  Even Hero barks, excited.
    "Yeah, so," Ethan says, "What's this I hear about some girl?  You've got a crush on her or something?"
    "Oh, uh... she's just a friend, really," Caleb says, mumbling.
    "And you really like her," I say, reaffirming what he told me the other day.  "She's nice to you, isn't she?"
    "Well, yeah, she's nice, but I don't think she likes me like that."
    "Let's just see about that," Ethan says.
    "What?  What do you mean?"
    "You have her number, right?  Let's go call her."
    "Yeah, I have her number, but... I mean, she's probably busy or something.  She won't want to talk to me right now.  She's got art things to do."
    "Fuck, she's one of those art chicks?" Ethan asks.  "I can't fucking stand them."
    "She's really good!" Caleb says, defending his crush.  "She's different.  She doesn't take herself too seriously.  It's not like she thinks she's better than everyone or anything."
    "Nah, she's probably bad," Ethan says.  "Actually, she's probably the worst.  I hate her already."
    "You don't even know her, Ethan!" Caleb says, standing tall.  "She's amazing and wonderful and smart and pretty, and..."
    "Fuck, man, if this girl is so amazing, why the fuck are you waiting to ask her on a date?  Some other guy's going to do it before you, and then where the fuck does that leave you?"
    "Uh... what?"
    "I'm pretty sure she's the worst," Ethan says, nodding.  "If you think she's so fucking perfect, what the hell are you waiting for?"
    "It's not like she's here, though," Caleb says, wavering.
    "You've got her phone number, dude!  Call her ass!  What the fuck?"
    "I... uh... do you think I should, though?"
    "What the fuck did I just say?"
    "You really should!" I tell him.  "I bet she's interested in you but she's shy."
    "I really doubt she's shy," Caleb says.  "I don't even think she knows how to be