Chapter 10: Bonding

My heart beat so fast inside my chest that I was afraid it might explode and leave my chest altogether. It hadn't been long since I had met him and here he was, keeping me from falling on my butt and embarrassing me even more than I felt. Why was life so cruel to me?

"Watch where you're going next time," he said, his voice slicing right through my heart but I refrained from holding my chest because then he would know that he had an impact on me.

I was supposed to be staying away from him but life kept throwing us in the same direction so many times that all I wanted to do was cry. But crying wasn't an option.

"Luke, are you okay?" Daniel called from behind and Elliot let go of my arm as if it was the last thing he wanted to hold and then he turned to his little sister.

"Come on Em, let's get you that chocolate you wanted and not tell Austin," he was looking at Emani with so much affection as he held onto her hand tightly.

"Isn't he your friend from earlier? Why are you being mean to him?" she asked in that cute little voice of hers. She was way smarter than her age.

Elliot's eyes narrowed slightly as I tried to suppress a smile. "What are you smiling about? This is none of your business," he said to me then turned to Emani. "Who told you he was my friend?"

Emani squeezed his hand, "Lillian mentioned him a lot and so did you until you started acting mean all again," she said. She was definitely my favourite Grey sibling because she said whatever was on her mind. "And once I found you searching him up on Instagram."

It warmed my heart to know that he had done that. Did I really mean that much to him or was it just one of his fazes? Was he serious about us? The thought made me shake my head, what was I talking about? I wasn't interested in him or there being an us. I was happy with Patience even though lately it seemed I had been ignoring her. I made a mental note to call her when I got back.

"Luke" What's taking you so long?" Daniel called again. "If you still want me to make that hot chocolate for you, then we better get going. I have a few work emails to attend to later." Daniel appeared behind me and he seemed to sense the situation because he gently nudged me with his elbow before he turned to acknowledge Elliot and Emani. "Hey, little one. How are you?"

Emani removed her hand from Elliot's and extended it for Daniel to shake which shocked us all because that was the most grown-up thing I had ever seen a kid do. "I'm fine thanks and how about you?"

Daniel smiled as he bent down and shook her tiny hand. "I'm alright thanks. I like you, what grade are you in?"

"4th."

"Damn." Daniel breathed quietly.

"Austin says cursing is bad and makes you a bad person," Emani said.

"But Eli here does it all the time and he doesn't change." She pointed a finger at him and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. She then turned back to Elliot who was looking anywhere but at me. "Why aren't you friends anymore? What did you do?"

"Hey!" Elliot exclaimed, throwing her a look. "Who said I did anything? I'm your brother, you should be on my side, not his."

Emani bit her bottom lip as if in thought which made Daniel nudge my elbow again to get my attention. "Because the last friend you had, you stopped talking to him and you wouldn't tell me anything even after he kept showing up at home."

Damn, she knew everything about him. Maybe I should make her my friend so I could learn everything about him since she knew him better than I did.

"Em, let's go home before Austin calls me and asks where we are." Elliot grabbed Emani's hand gently. "And no chocolate for you." He said as they walked away from us.

Daniel turned to watch them leave and once they were out of earshot, he turned to me. "I like that kid, she is going to make his life a living hell but in a cute way."

"My thoughts exactly," I muttered.

"Let's also get going." Daniel said, pulling away from my thoughts and back to reality.

We ended up leaving without me getting the ice-cream that I had wanted. Once we got home, I began packing the things mindlessly as Daniel started with the hot chocolate.

"That was a weird encounter," he started from the counter and I turned to look at him.

"Why are you bringing it up again?" I stopped what I was doing and faced him. "Don't you have something important to do other than getting involved in my business?" I knew it sounded mean the minute it left my mouth but I couldn't take it back.

Daniel stopped his stirring and faced me as well. "So it is your business? That's progress," he said and then went back to stirring.

Crap, he had gotten it out of me without me even realising it. "I didn't say that," I tried to defend myself but it was too late. "Just drop it, I don't want to talk about it." I sighed and went back to packing.

"That's all you should have said," Daniel began. "Because you know I respect your decisions, I just want you to know that you can tell me anything and I won't judge or make fun of you. We aren't kids anymore and some things are meant to be taken seriously."

"I know."

We finished what we were doing in silence and once I was done, I made my way to the sitting room and switched on the TV then sat on the couch. Daniel appeared moments later with two mugs in hand and handed me one before he joined me on the couch.

"So what are we watching? I hope it's something really good because I could use a good distraction before I have to get back to all my work stuff." Daniel scrunched his face. "I love what I do but I truly hate all those emails and meetings I have to attend to."

I chuckled, "all the best with them," I replied as I scrolled through the TV channels. "How about some cartoons? They always help with relieving stress." I blew on the hot chocolate before taking a sip.

"Cartoons sound great."

And so we settled for watching our favourite cartoons and just laughing. It was nice to not have to think about anything or anyone and just enjoy each other's company. I missed this, I missed hanging out with Daniel because after he left for college, everything had changed. And it got even worse when he dropped out because Dad didn't want him around me for fear that I might turn out like he did. He had plans for all of us and when Daniel had decided he wanted to make his own plans, everything changed so much.

"I missed doing this with you." Daniel said exactly what I was thinking and all I could was nod my head.