Tania rolled her eyes at my dramatics as we made our way to the skating rink. Carly following me and Nick in silence long since used to my dramatics and play fighting with Nick.

"For the last time Sydney no. Absolutely Not! we are not - Oh, hey Bruce."

Cutting his words off to greet his best friend was a distraction tactic. One that never failed to work. One that I always fell for.

This time was no different.

Perking up, I whirled around to find a grinning Bruce, hands already raised in anticipation for me inevitably hurtling myself into them. I didn't disappoint.

"Bruce!"

Strong arms caught me around the waist, giving me a spin before setting me back on my feet.

"How are you doing sweetheart? I've been swamped with so much work I didn't even have time to even check how you were doing."

Laughter danced in his eyes - the striking green starkly familiar, but unplaceable. Holding me at arm's length, his eyes took me in from top to bottom.

My hands resting on the crook of his elbow and back arched to keep eye contact with him.

"I'm doing perfectly fine."

"Or so Cameron mentioned," He said with a smile.

Eye twitching, I pushed away from his arms. "No! Absolutely no! Do not mention that menace, at all," I yelled, pointing an accusing finger in his direction.

For his part, he looked amused. Not taking me seriously at all.

"Ouch, that hurt. I thought we had something a bit more special than that."

I spun around to come face-to-face with none other than the devil himself. Hand placed over his heart, he wore a 'kicked puppy' expression.

Not that I bought the innocent act. This boy was nothing short of a devil in disguise.

Huffing,  turned back to Bruce, ignoring Cam's very presence.

"How do you know this menace as well? I though it was just Nick who hangs out with them," I asked.

Bruce laughed, ruffling my hair, all intentions on annoying me.

"Because that menace is my little brother," He said matter-of-factly. The grin he wore as devilishly handsome and an exact replica of Cam's.

Honestly, how I could have missed something that was glaringly obvious is beyond me. Now that it had been pointed out to me, the similarities between the two of them was so apparent.

They had the same bottle-green eyes, almost identical grins, pointed nose and sandy hair. While Cam was a touch more sun-kissed than Bruce - probably due to playing football. Bruce had a lither build than Cam, border lining on lanky.

"Wait a minute!" I exclaimed, narrowing my eyes at Cam then Bruce. "How come I'm just now finding about this? I can't believe you hid the fact this menace is you brother from me."

"It's probably because you are too busy living among the clouds to bless us lowly mortals with your attention," Nate, one of Nick's colleagues, stated.

Lower lip jutting out, I crossed my arms.

"Probably because your brother dearest threatened the lot of them away from throwing a second look your way," Bruce said, shooting a stern look at Nate. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder before adding, "And you keep declining dad's offers to a family dinner, how could you have met him before?"

"Okay, but then why are they no longer taking the threat seriously? Also, I'm not accepting Mr. Striker's offer anytime soon, so ask him to stop inviting me.  Only you are getting the privilege to showcase my paintings."

Elbowing him in the rib's I slipped out from under his arm, shooting him a meaningful look as I did.

"Seriously? Could the two of you maybe not talk about business when we come out to have fun?"

Nick's groan sounded from behind me, skates in hand and Carly by his side. Seeing Cam not far from us, hand wrapped around Daliah's waist, she stopped short.

I was stabbed with guilt for having forgotten about her in discovering he was Bruce's brother. Which is why I grabbed my skates from Nick's hand and rushed over to where she had stopped a few feet away from us.

"Sorry, I didn't expect them to be here as well when Nick mentioned his friends," I whispered as I hooked my arm through her's and walked as far from them as we could get. 

Smiling she shook her head.

"It's fine. Let's just forget he's here and enjoy ourselves, yeah?"

Still feeling guilty, I could only nod my head. Carly laughed and shook her head, pulling us to sit on a bench so we could change into our skates.

"Mina's on the rink," She said suddenly, nodding towards the rink.

My head shot up, searching for the bleached blonde. She was skating with one of the guys from the team, Paul? and had yet to see us.

Not surprising since the two of them seemed to be lost within each other's eyes. He has holding her up while she wobbled in her skates. Their laughter mingling with the shouts of children.

"I guess the rumor of them dating wasn't baseless after all," Carly mused, watching them as I did.

I looked at her with a big question mark hanging over my head. It wasn't strange for me not be on the loop when it came to gossip. If it's something Stacey hadn't mentioned it's something I haven't heard of. Mina's love-life was something that Stacey would never take interest in.

Not even if she's dating one of the football players. 

This was the kind of rumor everyone agreed was just that. A rumor. 

"Just groundless gossip that's been running around school since forever. Paul dates around too much and mostly everyone just calls her a sl*t for hanging on to him despite him not being interested. No one dares to actually say anything to her because she's Leo's sister. And because they are terrified of Cam."

I raised an eyebrow at the mention of Cam. What did Cam have anything to do with spreading rumors?

"Oh, the last person to bully her was bullied out of school by him. He was suspended from school for a whole month for that, but he made it very clear that Mina was not to be messed with. Not unless they wanted Cam to mess with them. I'm sure they also beat up that guy that was harassing her, but no one found any evidence it was their doing."

Mouth popped in an 'o' I watched the pair with renewed interest.

There was a gentleness in the way he held her, like he was holding on the something fragile and delicate. His smile soft, fondness in his gaze, as he guided her around the ice. Her smile bright as she melted into his touch with an ease that came with trust and love.

I had yet to change into my skates, seeing Carly had already changed into hers and was waiting for me. I asked to go on ahead, that I wanted to sketch first. Seeing Mina and Paul my muse had been roused and I didn't want her to disappear.

Rolling her eyes in good nature, Carly left me to sketch in peace. Whereas I settled down on the bench, pulled out my sketchbook from my tote, grabbed my charcoal as well and started to draw.

It must've been close to an hour before my concentration was disrupted.

A body flopping down on the bench beside me and a shadow falling across my page from behind.

"You did not just annoy me into taking you ice-skating to sit here and sketch," my brother's voice drawled.

"You could've just asked for a little help if you don't know how to skate. I'd be more than happy to help."

Cam's voice came from behind me. His tone more teasing than a genuine offer of help.

Nick snorted at his words, but otherwise stayed silent.

"The fact that you think I would ask you for help, foregoing three people who would be more than willing, beguiles my mind," I said giving Cam a sickly sweet smile over my shoulder. I flipped my sketchbook shut before adding in a monotone, "I know how to skate."

"I'm not believing that until you prove it to me."

"You're free to believe whatever you want to believe. Not my problem."

I gave him another fake smile before jumping to my feet. It is only then I noticed that everyone had gathered around me, just lost in their own conversations.

Carly stood back, taking with Mina and Paul. The only reason I didn't run up to her was because Cam's attention was on me.

I'd rather deal with him giving all his attention to me that giving even a nick of it to her. As much as I hated his attention, it was better than him making fun of her yet again.

Daliah wrapped her arms around Cam's waist. A venomous smile shot my way.

"How about we head out for dinner? I'm sure everyone is hungry."

I'm sure she didn't realise how much of a help she was being by diverting Cam attention away from me. It was rather unfortunate that my own brother diverted right back to me.

"Just once?"

I gave Nick a sour look, knowing very well what he was playing at.

"I agree with Daliah, let's go eat!"

"Leave it alone if she doesn't want to Nick. It's not worth the effort," Tania said.

Hands crossed with an exasperated look, her words earned a glare from Nick. For some thankful reason he held his tongue than berate her over it. Tania must've realised it as well, for she huffed and looked away.

"You are all free to go, I'm not moving from here unless Sydney gets on that rink at least once," Nick said, an eyebrow raised in challenge.

"That's gonna be a problem then, because I'm not leaving until you do."

I'm not sure where Bruce popped up from, but he held a pair of skates in his hands when he did. Cheeky smile as he held them out to me.

"And I happen to be these guys ride," he added to me with a wink.

"Can't believe you both teamed up for this, so rude."

I was grumbling for the pure sake of not wanting to give in despite having already given in. The two of them were well aware of this. Hence not defending.

"I mean, why did I even expect you to take my side over the love of your life's? That was stupidity on my half."

It wasn't until everyone around us fell completely silent that I realised I had said something I shouldn't have. Except, I had no idea what that something was.

Nick and Bruce, long past used to me pointing out what they aren't daring to tell each other - to be honest, I've been saying this since I got to know Bruce and feelings were yet to develop, now it was a joke between the three of us - barely reacted at my words.

"Can it not be for something far more simpler than that?" Bruce asked, a smile playing on his lips. There, yet not there.

I tilted my head in question.

"As great a partner as your brother is, he is no where near as great as you," was how he choose to answer me.

I beamed at Nick, to which he rolled his eyes and stood up.

"You better step on that rink within the next fifteen minutes," he threatened before walking away.

I stuck my tongue out at him behind his back.

He didn't look back before flipping me off.

Bruce ruffled my hair, giving an encouraging smile before following after Nick. Seeing that no one planned on leaving yet, the others dispersed from around us as well, leaving me alone.

Or rather, leaving me alone with a menace named Cam.