What're You Doing Stepbro?

Chapter 3

After everyone was finished, my dad leaned back in the booth, letting out a satisfied sigh. He lazily draped his arm around Sylvia’s shoulder.

“Alright everyone, who’s up for some dessert?” My dad asked, rubbing his belly after cleaning his plate.

“There’s that new cake shop down on 1st avenue. How about we check it out?” Sylvia suggested, smiling sweetly at my father. He nodded in agreement.

“That sounds good to me! What do you kids think?” My father looked at us.

“I could go for some cake.” Cole said, his pink finger slowly caressing the side of my thigh. I sucked in a short breath.

“Yeah, cake sounds fine.” I mumbled; his gestures were starting to make me feel embarrassed.

Sylvia and my father slid out of the booth to go pay. I went to follow, but Cole stayed seated in my way. “Are we not leaving?” I asked, starting to feel annoyed by his childish behavior. He chuckled at my attitude, sliding himself out of the booth to give me freedom. I hurried in front of him towards our parents.

“Let’s take one car, I want the whole family to be together.” Sylvia pleaded with my dad after they paid and headed out the door.

“Okay, dear.” My father was putty in her hands, he always gave her whatever she wanted, though she never asked for anything outrageous. They were so compatible, I looked to them as role models for a relationship. So far, Zane had been living up to the standard that was set for me.

Cole and I followed our parents out to dad’s car, hopping in the back. It was a short ride to the cake shop ‘Patty Cakes’. It was a quaint little store. As we walked in, the sweet smells of cake and coffee filled our noses. I was stuffed from my burger, but because of how delicious the cakes smelled, I decided I could make some room.

“Welcome! How may I help you?” A sweet lady, who looked to be in her late 40s, came out from the back to greet us. She had some flour on her cheek and clothes. Sylvia immediately engaged her; she was a people person.

“Hi there! What would you recommend? This is our family’s first time coming here.” The sweet lady, whose name was Patty, went through her list of favorites and different recommendations based on Sylvia’s tastes. I looked through the cases while they chatted away. My father stood beside her admiring his beautiful wife. I felt Cole come up beside me to look through the case as well. My eyes stopped on a scrumptious looking triple chocolate cake. It had three layers; each layer was separated by a different kind of chocolate cream. What caught my eye the most was the thick layer of fudge frosting and chocolate chips.

“You still love chocolate.” Cole mumbled lowly behind me, looking to see what I was staring at.

“Yes...” I responded tentatively. I didn’t think he’d remember something as trivial as that. “It’s the best.” With that, I walked towards our parents. I was definitely going to get the triple chocolate cake. We ordered our cakes and Patty went to pack them up for us.

“I can’t wait to try mine.” Sylvia said excitedly. “Everything here smells divine. They’ve only been open for a couple of months, but I’m surprised they aren’t busier.” I looked around the small shop, we were the only customers in here.

“Here you go sweetie.” Patty said as she handed the bag to me. “Make sure to stop by again and let me know how you liked them!” She called out to us as we made our way out the door.

“Of course!” Sylvia cheered back to her. Cole grabbed the bag out of my hands as we walked to the car. “What a gentleman.” Sylvia cooed. I was going to be upset by him snatching it out of my hands, but with Sylvia’s reaction I decided to let it slide.

We drove back to the restaurant to pick up Sylvia’s car. “Why don’t you guys take Sylvia’s car back? You barely talked at the restaurant; we hogged him the whole time. I’m sorry Elena, I’m sure you’d love to spend some time with Cole yourself.” My dad said, thinking he was doing me a kindness. We had always been cordial around our parents, enough to make them not suspect that we didn’t get along. Just because Cole acted, sort of, nice at the restaurant doesn’t mean he’d be nice if we were made to be alone.

“Yeah, we can do that.” Cole said, setting the cake down beside him in the back seat and taking Sylvia’s keys from her. He unbuckled his belt and reached for the door, when I made no move to get out, he looked at me. “You coming?”

“Yeah...” I unbuckled my belt and opened my door, following him to Sylvia’s car. My dad honked and waved as they drove by, already making their way back home. I silently got into the passenger’s seat, buckling myself in as Cole slid into the driver's seat.

The drive home was quiet, neither of us turned on the radio. I looked out of the window watching the scenery go by on our drive. “Listen...” Cole started slowly. “I wanted to apologize for how things have been between us over the years and how I’ve acted...” He trailed off as I looked at him. He continued carefully “There are reasons...for why I acted the way that I did. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I was hoping we could start new since I’ll be moving back permanently.” This took me by surprise, I was under the impression that he was only back for a visit.

I sat there for a moment processing what he was saying. “I would like that...yes.” I finally answered.