I tried to remember what I came upstairs to do.

Clothes. That was it.

I slowly made my way to Aiden's room where Brynn was sleeping. I opened the door and heard her snoring loudly. She was going to be out all night and I would be right behind her if I kept it up. I found my bag on the floor and fumbled with the zipper. My fingers weren't working right and I was having trouble opening the bag. I finally made a big enough hole and stuck my hand in to pull out my clothes.

I had brought pajama shorts and an old band t-shirt with me to sleep in. JD had bought the shirt for me a couple of years ago as a Christmas present. It was my favorite shirt I owned. I wore it so many times, it had become thin and faded, not to mention my shape had changed since he bought it. It fit snuggly across my chest and hips now where it was loose before. My shorts were black and covered just enough of my legs to be considered decent.

JD hated when I wore my short pajama shorts around the house, but I didn't pack my bag to stay here tonight. I thought I would be staying somewhere else. He always tried to pull the big brother card out on me. I could hear his voice in my head, "What are you wearing? Go put some clothes on." Most of the time, I would end up having to borrow something of Aiden's to sleep in to make JD shut his mouth.

I pulled my flip flops out of my bag and put them on my feet. I was not going to walk around this house without shoes on. I know how often these guys clean; their floor was disgusting. I paused and looked at myself in Aiden's mirror. I didn't know why I cared so much about how I looked. There was no one here who would care either. My curves didn't look that bad in my tight t-shirt and a little bit of skin popped out between the bottom hem of my shirt and the waistband of my shorts. The tiny shorts accentuated the curve of my butt and hit me low on my hips. They were tight enough that they looked more like underwear than shorts. I didn't really care. I was comfortable.

I opened the door and at the same time, I saw the door at the other end of the hall open. Ezra was stepping out of the old guest room. He didn't see me at first, so I had another chance to look at his tall, lean build. He had to get girls throwing themselves at him all the time, at least until they found out how big of a jerk he was. Even then, they might still go for it. He was extremely yummy.

He shut his door and began to start walking down the hall. He stopped when he saw me staring at him. I saw his eyes rake up and down my body. He shifted uncomfortably in the silence. I covered my arms across my body self-consciously in response.

"Ladies and Gents, another round is on its way." Aiden called from downstairs. I looked towards the steps trying to convince myself to move. I chanced another quick glance back in his direction and he was still watching me. He turned his head to the side and raised his eyebrow with the rings in it. What was with this guy?

"You got something to say to me?" I asked him as I moved closer to the steps, never removing my green eyes from his icy blue ones.

I unwrapped my arms from my body and moved my hands to my hips. The closer I moved to the stairs, the more I had to crane my neck up to stare up at him. He had a complete foot of height on me. I batted my eyelashes at him and took my bottom lip between my teeth in frustration.

"You couldn't handle the things I would say to you." He said in a hard tone while leaning his head down. His eyes narrowed in my direction. We were less than a foot apart. When did I move this close to him? He curled up one corner of his mouth in a devilish grin. His words sent shivers down me to the base of my stomach. I crossed my arms over my chest again, using them as a shield. What did I ever do to him? Why was he so mean to me?

I stomped off down the hall and began climbing down the stairs. I wished my legs were longer so I could take them two at a time. I could feel his stride right behind me; he paced me on the stairs this time. I could feel his breath on my neck and smelled the mint on him. It was warm and overwhelming. I felt like he was doing this on purpose and I didn't understand why he was taunting me.

When I got downstairs, I walked back into the kitchen. There were shot glasses sitting on the table filled with a black liquid. I didn't even ask Aiden what they were; I just went to the table and threw one back. The liquor was warm and burned as it went down. It tasted like stale black licorice. It was really gross, but I needed to drink if I was going to be around the dark-haired boy all night. A couple more drinks and I was going to tell him off. I didn't care what JD thought. Ezra was a jerk.

JD looked at me with wide eyes. He took in the sight of my pajamas and started in on me with his typical big brother rant.

"Riley...what the hell?"  He barked.

"Don't." I said back to him in a harsh tone.

I gave JD my infamous death stare that I had inherited from my Mom. That shut him up instantly. What did he think was going to happen? All the guys here were like my brothers too, well, except that Ezra guy. He didn't seem like he thought highly of me anyway. No one here was interested in me that way. That was the furthest thing from their minds. I was pitiful, I was in a house full of male testosterone and not one of them was interested in me. I would be alone forever if I continued to hang out with my brother and his friends.

Anna snorted at JD getting scolded like a child. She was drinking out of a plastic cup and she spit the fluid halfway across the kitchen. She wiped at her face and shirt, trying to clean up the red liquid. She would never get the stain off her light-yellow shirt if she didn't wash it out soon.

Aiden and Mark were laughing too. Aiden placed his hand on his stomach, holding it as his body shook. I was glad I could be comic relief for the group. Stupid little sister battling her big overprotective brother. We were a hit. We should consider trying to get our own sitcom.

Ezra was still behind me. He had stepped back a few inches further than he was when we came down the stairs. I was glad I couldn't see his face. I envisioned the same half-smile that he gave me earlier plastered on his stupid face. If I saw it, I might have tried to hit it off him.

As if Ezra could read my thoughts, he moved to my side and reached for another shot on the table. He looked down at me with that damn smile and threw the shot back. He was testing me; he knew I wanted to put my hands on him and wring his neck. I had to get my temper under control before I did something I shouldn't.

I grabbed for another shot of the black liquid and poured it into my mouth. For some reason, I felt like I needed this so I wouldn't act on my impulses. Maybe it was because I did want to secretly. Either way, I was drinking and no one was going to stop me. I didn't want to think about the bad decision I was making by continuing to pound shot after shot. I was already three drinks past a buzz and this alcohol was strong. It was about to put me into blackout mode.

"Let's go watch a movie." Aiden suggested. It didn't sound like a bad idea, but it was not what I expected to be doing the night of my high school graduation. "Kevin Smith anyone?"

"Hell, yeah!" Mark said, running to the living room.

I rolled my eyes, these guys and their Kevin Smith movies. They were hilarious, but every time we watched a movie here, it was directed by Kevin Smith. I spent so much time watching them that I could repeat the movies line by line. We sometimes did. My favorite memories involved the guys standing up and acting out the scenes. They were so ridiculous; they loved to be the center of attention at all times. I guess that was why they chose to be in a band in the first place.

"We're going to bed." Anna yawned.

JD wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head. This was their thing. They invited you over and then hid in JD's room all night. Couples baffled me with their codependency. When one person decided something, it became "we" without the other person's consent. How could anyone let someone else dictate what they were going to do for the rest of their lives? It seemed unreasonable.

JD looked up at me, taking my outfit in again and shook his head. "Behave, Lil Bit. Aiden, don't let her drink anything else. We don't want another incident."

"That was one-time JD. Get off my ass." I said, trying to shake the memories from my mind. I didn't want to think about the time JD was referring to. That was a long time ago and it only happened once. 

"Incident?" Ezra asked. I glanced over at Ezra and he looked intrigued. He raised the eyebrow with the rings in it again to mock me.

"Not going there." I said to kill the conversation. He didn't need to know anything about me. That story was on a need to know basis and he did not need to know.

"Don't worry. I got her boss." Aiden saluted to JD. "I'm on duty tonight."

"I can handle myself." I stood as tall as I could and looked JD in the eye.

"I doubt that." Ezra whispered before he took a sip out of the plastic cup in his hand. He looked down at me through his eyelashes. I was going to go insane; he was literally driving me crazy. I felt the urge to throw something at him. Why did he make me feel so violent?

"Movie's on! Get in here!" Mark hollered from the other room.

"Come on Ry," Aiden said, grabbing my hips and spinning me around. It happened a little too fast and I was not prepared for it. I began to fall to one side and Aiden caught me by the waist and pulled me back into him. When he caught me, my shirt rode up just under my bra so that my whole stomach was showing. I felt his fingertips rub against the bare skin. When I looked back at him, he was blushing. I hurried to pull my shirt back down. Aiden laughed and let me go. I punched him on the arm and pushed him towards the living room.

Ezra huffed and was shaking his head. He was obviously annoyed at something I just did.  I was having a good time. He could just go somewhere else and be moody by himself.

Everyone headed to the living room except JD and Anna. They broke apart from the group to go upstairs. They called a final good night before shutting the door. I had my doubts that they were really going to go to sleep, but kudos to Anna for getting JD to not hover over me all night. He would try to keep asking me if I had a robe or something I could wear over my pajamas. He was so paranoid.

Mark was sitting with his legs crossed on the floor in front of the coffee table. The floor was the last place I would have chosen to sit in this house. Aiden moved to sit down on the couch directly in front of the TV and I plopped down next to him. I kicked off my flip flops and tucked my legs into my body. Aiden took up most of the couch, so I had to sit next to him to have a spot. I was completely comfortable with Aiden, so being this close to him never bothered me. Aiden had always been a touchy-feely kind of guy.

Ezra sat down in the chair in the corner of the room and stared over to where Aiden and I were sitting. He had a serious look on his face that was dark and slightly threatening. I was pretty sure something about my presence was bothering him. Was it because he didn't want to hang out with JD's little sister? I was old enough that I didn't need a babysitter even though JD thought I did. Maybe Ezra just didn't like me. Whatever it was, he made me feel uncomfortable being in the same room with him.

I took the hair tie I brought down with me and tried to pull my hair into a messy bun on top of my head. Some of the shorter strands fell out before I could secure them and I ended up starting over again. I was still way too drunk and it didn't help my coordination at all. Aiden looked over, laughing at me as I fumbled awkwardly next to him. He grabbed the hair tie from my hand and helped me tie my hair in a loose ponytail. He looked down when we were finished and shook his head at me. My shirt had ridden up while I was wiggling around and he grabbed the hem to pull it back down to cover me.

"Riley, you're wasted. I'll take you back upstairs. You need to go to bed." Ezra snapped from the corner of the room. He was about to push himself up to come to grab me.

"I'm perfectly fine." I slurred, butchering the words. I wasn't really fine, but he was not my boss and couldn't tell me what to do. I wanted to stay and watch the movie with Mark and Aiden.

I looked back at Ezra in the chair. His jawline was hard, like he was gritting his teeth. He shifted uncomfortably in the chair and then he moved his hand to twist at the rings in his eyebrow. I stared back at him. I was daring him to say something else to me. If he didn't like how I was behaving and I was annoying him, he could look away. I didn't force him to stay here. He was a big boy and could make his own decisions.

"I got her under control. She'll be fine." Aiden said to him.

I shifted a little closer to Aiden and he pulled a blanket from the back of the couch. He swung the blanket over my exposed legs. I cuddled myself into him to get more comfortable and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. This was how it always was with him. He was soft, warm, and safe. I nuzzled down a little further into his arm and laid my head on his shoulder.

I chanced a quick peek in Ezra's direction and he was scowling at me. The way Ezra watched me made my stomach feel uneasy. Instead of anger towards him, I was starting to feel nervous from the attention. It felt like I was growing a second head or something. Why was he always staring at me?

Mark started quoting some of the movie lines from his spot on the floor. He was using different voices mimicking the different characters. Aiden was chuckling to himself when Mark used the highest pitched voice he could for one of the female characters. I could feel the rise and fall of Aiden's shoulders as he laughed; the deep chuckles rumbled through his chest.

Ezra's eyes met mine and he didn't even try to hide the fact that he was still watching me. He moved his hand through his hair and leaned back against the chair without even blinking. I turned away from him and sunk down further into Aiden to protect myself from Ezra's gaze. I closed my eyes and fell asleep, dreaming of nothing but light blue eyes staring at me from the shadows.