Tilting my head, I carefully examined my reflection through the mirror. My hips were adorned in a tight cotton skirt, the black material of which contrasted nicely with my waist pinching, maroon-coloured crop top. Satisfied that my outfit looked slutty enough for a club, I smiled and wrapped my black evening coat around me.

It was my date tonight, and I was on my way to meet Liam at the downtown club. It wasn't the most romantic of locations, but I didn't really mind since it wasn't really supposed to be a proper date.

When I got his text this morning, I was incredibly tempted to stand him up, but I knew that would be an incredibly mean thing to do.

It was already bad enough I had asked him out to prove a point. And besides, who knows, maybe I might have fun tonight, or at the very least, it might help me stop thinking about Nathan all the time.

I couldn't forget the speech he gave me yesterday, it kept playing over and over in my mind like a broken track. No guy has ever said such things about me before, and no guy has certainly ever liked me that much. I mean, sure, they've liked my body, but never who I really was.

What took me aback the most was how open he was about it, how blunt. I'd never seen that level of confidence in someone, and I would be lying if I didn't admit it was hot.

Come to think of it, a lot of things he did were quite hot...

That thought instantly sparked anger in me. Why the fuck was he letting himself be hot in so many ways? Didn't he know I was trying to stay away from him?

I swear to god, some people are so insensitive...

As I thought more bitter thoughts to myself, the doorbell suddenly chimed throughout the house.

Finishing buckling up the last of my coat buttons, I made my way hurriedly to the door, wondering who was there.

The moment I swung open the door, I froze. Stood on my doorstep in a smart button-up coat was the very guy I was supposed to be avoiding - Nathan Woods. I cursed myself for not checking through the lookout hole before opening it.

 "Hmm, so you do know how to open the door for me?" he said with a teasing spark in his eyes.

I looked away in embarrassment, knowing he was referring to all the times I hadn't answered the door to him over the last week.

 Letting out a heavy sigh, I returned my eyes back to his. "Nathan, what are you doing here?"

His eyes narrowed. "I've come to chaperone your date with you and Mr pretty boy," he said simply as though it was a completely justifiable reason for being here.

"And why the hell do I need a chaperone? I'm nineteen, Nathan, not ten," I scoffed.

"Hmm, debatable," he drawled. "And you need a chaperone because you're my girl, not his," he said with a matter-of-fact shrug. 

My heart fluttered at his words, but I immediately shoved the stupid feeling away, feeling embarrassed at myself.

Before I could deny anything, Nathan cleared his throat. "So, where's Liam the leprechaun taking you, huh?" Nathan asked as he leaned against the doorframe in fake intrigue.

"Liam the leprechaun? I questioned; an amused smile pulling to my lips. 

"Well, he's short, isn't he?" Nathan said with a simple shrug as though this was a good enough reason for the name.

"Not really, he's probably only like two inches shorter than you," I snorted.

"Hmm, well, I bet he's also a couple inches shorter than me in other ways too," Nathan murmured slyly.

I merely cocked up an unimpressed eyebrow up at him, knowing what his ego-centric brain was trying to imply.

"Anyway, back to the topic. Where's he taking you?" Nathan asked, his eyes narrowing interrogatively.

I let out a heavy sigh. "If you must know, he's taking me out clubbing."

His face screwed up. "Clubbing? He's taking you out to a club?" he scoffed. "What a sleazy asshole. He clearly just wants to fuck you," he spat with disgust.

I stared Nathan down with a challenging look in my eyes. "Well, maybe I want to be fucked," I shrugged.

Nathan's mouth immediately snapped shut, and we then proceeded to have a little staring match. 

He adjusted his posture, his eyes still set firm on mine. "If that's what you want, then stay home with me, and I'll give you just what you want," he said, letting the promise of his words, rest within the air.

I swallowed nervously and took a step back, desperate to settle my rising heart rate. His offer was far too tempting for my hormonal brain, and if I lacked a single thread less of self-control, I would have undoubtedly took him up on his offer. 

But I didn't, of course. I owed it to him to stay away from him; he deserved better.

"L-look, I already told you, I'm not attracted to you, so no. Now, if you excuse me, I'm late," I said as I rudely pushed past him.

"Woah, Woah, hold on a second," he said as he quickly caught up with me. I

 let out an aggravated sigh as he blocked my path to the door once again. "What's the problem now?" I huffed.

" You're not going to walk, are you?" he said as he scanned me over in disbelief.

"Well, erm yes, considering it's like a ten-minute walk from here," I snorted. 

"But it's dangerous. It's dark outside, and someone could follow you," he frowned.

"Nathan, I literally make money off of teaching people how to punch people in the face. I think I'm good," I muttered sarcastically.

"True, but a lift can't hurt, right? Come on, let me drive you," he sang persuasively. 

His eyes looked too much like an innocent little puppy for me to resist, and I soon found my resolve melting. "Okay, fine, but the lift doesn't mean anything," I said warningly.

 Nathan chuckled warmly at me, not looking as though he had really internalized my words. But nonetheless, he opened the door. "After you," he smiled.

Five minutes later, I was sat in the passenger seat of Nathan's posh car. Although things were hard to make out through the darkness, I remained stubborn in my mission to stare out the window. I didn't dare look in Nathan's direction for too long, in fear of what I might do. He made me way too weak.

His eyes briefly broke away from the road to glance my way. He'd been doing that for a while now, but this time, he cleared his throat. "Sophie, what did you say to my brother?" he asked, breaking the silence.

Not expecting him to ask me that, I looked over at him in surprise. "Why'd you ask?"

"Well, after you left Greece, he apologized to me. For everything. He said you slapped some sense into him," he said, looking over at me with curious eyes.

I let out a half-hearted chuckle. "I might have lost my temper a little, that's all," I mumbled.

"Well, whatever you did, it must have been pretty awesome," he said, his eyes searching deeply into my own. "So, thanks," he smiled. "It's good to have my brother back."

I gave him a weak smile. "It's the least I could do," I whispered honestly before turning back to the window.

As soon as Nathan pulled into a parking spot, I wasted no time before unbuckling my seatbelt and climbing out of the car.

I only got about a couple of steps away before I heard a car door slam and the sound of footsteps catching up with me. I let out a heavy sigh of annoyance as I saw Nathan enter my peripheral vision with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"For goodness sake, what are you doing now?" I groaned as I threw my head back dramatically. The amusement in his eyes only further intensified as though he was getting a kick out of pissing me off.

 "I told you already, silly, I'm your chaperone," he winked.

I stopped and gave him a flat look. "Nathan, I'm not stupid. I know chaperone is your code word for ruin your date," I said flatly.

"Yeah, duh," he snorted, not even bothering to deny it. I rolled my eyes at him before turning away and heading towards the doors of the club.

I stopped before the doorman and fumbled around in my pocket for my phone. I quickly showed the guy my bar code ticket on my phone, and he nodded his head for me to enter.

"Your ticket, sir?" I heard the doorman call out behind me. 

I quickly turned around with a triumphant smile on my face, realizing Nathan couldn't possibly have a ticket. The only way you could get into this club was if you pre-paid online. This meant his plans to follow me around, and annoy me all night had essentially crashed and burned.

I clutched a hand over my chest in fake pity. "Oh, Nathan, you don't have a ticket, do you? Aww, what a shame," I said, giving him a little baby pout. 

 Nathan raised an eyebrow at my performance, but his smile didn't falter for a second. I watched in confusion as Nathan stepped closer to the bouncer. What was he doing?

While making direct eye contact with me, he whispered something in the doorman's ear while pointing at me. The doorman glanced over at me as Nathan spoke. After staring at me contemplatively for a while, he nodded his head, seeming to make his mind up about something. 

"Go on in," the man said as he stepped aside for Nathan. What the actual fuck?

Nathan smiled in thanks and then walked his way through the door with a cocky arse smirk on his face.

I watched him approach with my mouth hung open in shock. He reached out for my chin and closed it gently for me. "You should close that pretty mouth of yours, a bad guy like me might get excited," he winked. My anger intensified at his words, and I slapped his hand away in annoyance.

"First of all, you're disgusting, and second of all, how the fuck did you get in?" I hissed as I gestured a hand to the doorman's back in confusion.

He snickered. "I told him the truth," he shrugged. 

"The truth?" I questioned. 

"Yeah, I told him that my girlfriend is purposely trying to make me jealous, so I've got to keep an eye on her."

I felt a blush burn to my cheeks at the word girlfriend.

I pulled myself together enough to glare at him. "I'm not trying to make you jealous, and I'm not your girlfriend," I snapped.

"Erm...you literally asked out a guy in front of me, so I'm pretty sure you're trying to make me jealous. And you will be my girlfriend, eventually," he said with a confident spark in his eyes.

"You're just so...I'm just so...I...Just ugh," I finally stammered out, so flustered I could barely form a full sentence. Nathan laughed and bit his lip as he looked me up and down.

"Just behave, okay," I snapped as I glared at him warningly. 

"What do you mean? I'm always good," he said as he widened his eyes all innocently.

I rolled my eyes at him before making my way into the coat area where I started to unbutton my coat. Once I had it off, I threw it onto a set of pegs by the door before turning back around. The moment I caught Nathan's gaze, I froze. 

His eyes roaming all over the parts of my body that the coat has previously obscured. My cleavage line, my waist than the length of my legs before finally returning to my eyes. The music sounding outside the coat area started to fade, and all I could feel in its place was the thick tension between us. 

Nathan took a bold step towards me, his eyes still set on mine. Shocking me half to death, he suddenly grabbed my waist and pushed me back into the wall behind us.

I let out a shaky breath as his head dipped to my shoulder so that his lips were brushed to my ear. "You have no idea how badly I want to kiss you," he breathed, his voice coming out deep and stressed. My eyes closed on their own accord, and I shamelessly lifted my neck to bear more of my it to him.

"Sophie? Is that you?" a voice suddenly said from behind us. 

Immediately recognizing the voice, my eyes shot open and to my horror, it was exactly who I suspected it to be. It was Liam. Or otherwise known my actual date.

I shoved Nathan away from me at the speed of light before frantically straightening out my outfit. 

"Oh my god, hi, Liam," I squeaked out with a nervous laugh. I stepped out in front of Nathan and emerged from where we had been tucked up by the coat pegs.

"Erm, hey," Liam said awkwardly as he looked between Nathan and me.

I didn't even need to look over my shoulder to know Nathan was likely grinning from ear to ear. There was no way he wasn't revelling at the fact Liam had caught us in this position. It was all his fault, and he knew it.

"What's he doing here? Is he your boyfriend? You know, I'm not into threesomes, right?" Liam asked with a nervous laugh, seeming slightly panicked.

"Yeah, funnily enough, we weren't inviting you, buddy," Nathan piped up drily.

I elbowed Nathan swiftly in the stomach before turning back to Liam with a smile. "No, of course, he's not my boyfriend. He's my...he's my-" I said as I desperately racked my mind for a good answer.

"He's my brother," I finally spat out.

"What the fuck?" Nathan cried, his voice coming out a cross between disgusted and shocked.

I gave Nathan a warning look, urging him to work with me.

Then plastering an innocent smile back on my face, I turned to Liam. "Yeah, he's my brother. And he...erm...only had me up against the wall like that because he was hugging me," I rambled out nervously.

I heard Nathan let out a very unsubtle snort from behind me, which earned him a very swift slap on the leg from me.

"Oh right...that's a little weird. You guys really don't look like you're related at all?" Liam said as he continued to look between the two of us with a raised eyebrow.

My eyes suddenly widened as I realized why he seemed a little suspicious. I was a white, blonde chick, and Nathan was a toned-looking black dude. To say we looked different would be putting it lightly...

"We have different fathers," I added on quickly. "That's why...that's why we look a little different," I mumbled as my cheeks started to flush a little hot.

Nathan leaned down to my ear. "Nice save," he snickered.

I ignored him, and continued to stare at Liam, praying to God, he would believe me.

Surprisingly, Liam nodded his head and smiled as though this made a lot of sense to him.

"Oh right, that makes sense. Sorry for assuming," he chuckled.

"Yeah, no worries, happens all the time," I laughed.

"Anyway, should we get going?" I said as I nodded my head over to the main hall.

Liam smirked. "Yeah, let's," he said as he held out an arm for me to take. "You look stunning, by the way," he complimented as he looked me up and down. 

As I took his hand, Liam threw a glance back at a very peeved-off-looking Nathan. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of your sister," he called out with a smile.

As Liam turned back around, I kept my eyes on Nathan and watched as he made a very rude hand gesture towards Liam's back.

I rolled my eyes at him and turned back around with a triumphant smile on my face. Now that Liam thought he was my brother, there was no way he could ruin my date. I had him exactly where I wanted him. 

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Author's note:

So, what are we thinking of Natalie's new position as her fake brother lol? (I can practically smell a sweet home Alabama comment)

Next Update: Friday (6-8 PM- UK time)