Falling for my step brother

Moonlight and laughter

The late evening in the De luca’s mansion looked extremely beautiful, the sun set and the stars were scattered in the sky, it brought forth light all over the whole place.

Justin Albert was done overseeing the chores for the day. It was a restless day for him, he retired to the balcony after a long day with his easel and his box of paint held tightly under his arm. He wore a casual black hoodie and a long jean as he headed to his favorite spot to set up his painting equipment. Painting was his favorite thing to do, he loved it so much and it already became his solace and escape. This was a habit he picked up growing up as a teenager.

As he set up his easel just to start painting, he glanced at it for a few minutes and smiled broadly. He loved these moments,every bit of it, that was his favorite moment he looked forward to each day. Painting encourages him to think outside the box and explore his imagination on the canvas, it allows him to stay focused on the present moments and forget about his worries. He dipped his brush into a bowl of orange paint, and sketched the outline of Rome’s rooftop. He had mastered this from years of staring from the mansion’s window. His strokes were so perfect and his brows remained focused, he was highly concentrated. While at it, a small smile suddenly played on his lips, he was so impressed and he knew his mom would definitely be proud of him. This was his way of holding onto something, could be his mom, who cherished his messy drawings from his childhood, or maybe just himself.

Lora just completed reading a book, she came to the kitchen to pick up some snacks to munch on, her very dark long hair loose and shining in the light. She wore a baggy sweatshirt which belonged to Smith over tight leggings, her phone was kept in her pocket, its screen glowed faintly. Immediately she sighted Justin at the garden, she grinned, she was always happy to see him. She tiptoed barefoot across the grass as she made her way to him and tickled him lightly from behind, he looked back, laughed and squirmed a bit. Lora loved to see him smile, she felt at home with him, she couldn’t explain the comfort she found with Justin. She dragged a light seat closer to her at the garden, she pulled her knees up and rested her chin on them as she watched Justin closely as he did his painting.

“Pablo Picasso, Picasso” she called and teased him. This is what she calls him whenever she wants to hype him up. This Spanish painter was Justin’s role model, he looked up to him and was always making researches about him, this was someone he would really love to meet and lock hands with tightly. Lord knew this and was always ready to make him smile by calling him that, he chuckled. “What's on the menu tonight?” She asked. “Just Rome”, he said, then waved his brush at the canvas. Lora helped him with the paint, she studied the painting, it was a vivid sunset bleeding into the orange sky and clashing into the night. “This is so pretty,” she said, honest and soft.

Justin raised his shoulders, he felt high, dipping his brush into the yellow paint. “Do you want to try?” he said. Knowing fully well she didn’t want that. “No, I will observe instead, this is so interesting” she said. He smiled and added “unlike dad’s trip, I am sure he’s negotiating over high-end watches right now, boring everyone to death”. lora laughed out very loudly, bouncing off the garden walls. “oh exactly! And mom buying all the jewellery that matches all her dresses” he grinned, flicking a bit of paint on her intentionally, a tiny yellow paint landed on her sleeves. “hey” she screamed, cleaned it off but her giggles kept coming.

They were already used to this rhythm, their sibling-like dance of jokes and jabs that had grown over the years. Lora’s laugh reminded him of his mom, very light and free. Justin always made a quiet night feel alive, Lora loved this about him. They traded barbs and gossiped about their parents' unending merchant lifestyle, how Lorenzo would make very loud phone calls not minding if he was disturbing the people around him and Maria’s obsession with fancy bags and jewelries, each of the story funnier than the just concluded one. “can you remember quite vividly how dad tried to sell off his broken watches to the guy?” Justin asked, laughing so loud. “yeahhhhh”, and mom had to convince and persuade the guy to buy from him. That was classic”. They both laughed and made fun of them.

While they were talking, she brought out a sketchbook from her sweatshirt pocket, it’s a small old book, it was worn and already had frayed edges from use. She opened the pages, her pencil drawings were all over the pages of the sketchbook. Lord did not plan to draw, she only wanted to capture Justin right there, the way he looked under the moon as he was fully focused on his painting. She sketched him quietly without him knowing, her pencil scratching the soft lines, his jawline were strong and his profile were so sharp against the dark, his eyes were narrowed as he mixed the colors. She paid so much attention to the details of her sketch, his messy hairs,

The curve of his hoodie, the way he handles the brush. While at it, her heart beat rose faster, but she kept smiling and kept it a secret, focused between his unending jokes and her drawings.

Justin was so focused and lost in his painting that he didn’t even have an idea of what Lora was trying to achieve. While painting, his heart drifted to when they were very much younger, he remembered him and Lora as kids, his mom would scold them with a big grin for sneaking cookies from the kitchen. “Have you ever missed those trips we took with mom?” he asked all of a sudden. Lora looked up at him and paused her sketching. “Do you mean Ivory Coast? Yeahhhhhh, I honestly missed those trips, you would always draw the waves of the ocean back then and I would chase the crabs”. she smiled, a little bit sad, “that feels like forever ago, I missed when we were very much younger” Justin nodded and continued with his painting.

Lora’s feeling were not just nostalgia, it was more than that. Although she had not figured it out yet. As she watched Justin with his easy smile, focused on his painting, she felt something new. An admiration, it was not just an admiration for her big brother figure, it was way deeper than that, quite warmer, an excitement feeling in her chest she could not name yet. She shook it away immediately, and returned to her sketch, her pencil lingered on his jawline, tracing it with so much attention to details and care. She made him look most heroic, her hand trembled lightly as she added shadows to the sketch.

Justin looked back suddenly and caught her sketching. “What are you doing?” he asked. He moved toward her direction. She was scared he must have caught her, her breath ceased, she picked up the sketchbook, and held it behind her back. “nothing!”. she answered , a little bit scared. He raised an eyebrow, shocked and smirking, “you are so bad at lying, you had better let me take a look at it now”, she refused, held the book tighter and ran away. “No, it is private, it is an artist business”. she answered from a distance. He laughed so loud and said “an artist business indeed. Okay, keep your secrets to yourself. It is probably a scribble of Smith falling anyway”.

She was so relieved he did not push further, she struck out her tongue to make jest of him. “Maybe, it is a scribble of you falling on your face anyway” she responded. He laughed and turned back to his canvas. She was so relieved, because she never wanted him to know, not now, not yet, not when she did not even know what it was. She wanted the sketch to stay hidden, so she kept the sketchbook under her armpit. Her eyes lingered on him, longer than expected, tracing him while he was at work.

The night went deeper and the moon climbed higher, it gradually got darker. Justin added his final touches on his painting, the white stars beautifying the sky, and a glow on the rooftops. “wow, this is so beautiful” , he said to himself, as he was highly impressed, he was so proud of himself and he was sure his mom would be as well. She stepped back to admire the work of art he just concluded. Lora applaud him from a distance, “this is a masterpiece! You are going to be known and more famous than Pablo Picasso one day” she smiled and teased him again. He was so proud, he could not stop smiling. “yeahhh, I know right. Just a hobby.” she encouraged him. “A great hobby at that. Do not quit.”

He felt so fulfilled and accomplished as he packed his equipment. Lora did not move closer to help him because she hid her sketchbook behind her back. They stared at each other from a distance, something hung between them, it was quite heavy and unspoken. Justin put his easel across his shoulder loosely, he then turned to her, “are you coming in or not?”, he asked, his voice was casual. Lora hesitated, she wanted to say something, something quite heavy, but she nodded instead. “yeahhhhh, give me a second.” she said reluctantly.

He moved towards the house, almost ready to retire to his room. Lora remained outside by the fountain, it was night already. She looked into her sketchbook again, staring passionately at Justin in pencil, the emotions were growing, a seed of something more, something she could not admit, something quite dangerous. She touched his face in pencil, her fingers touched the lines of his cute smile, she whispered to herself, “what exactly is wrong with me ?”

Justin got to his room and dropped his easel by the door, he went back and glanced through the kitchen glass. Lora was still there. He stared at her from a distance, he felt that too, he felt the shift he could not fathom yet, he felt the closeness he could not place. He whispered to himself, “I think it's just the night. Or could it be the painting? Or maybe something else.” He went back inside.

Lora, a bit exhausted, closing her sketchbook, the chirping of the crickets became more audible, the garden became still. She moved towards the house, then stopped all of a sudden. She stared at the shadows towards the fountain, Her breath ceased, she began to question herself suddenly. “What was I feeling?.