“What did you think of me when you met me?”
“That’s a lot less ominous than I was promised.”
“Come on.”
“What did I think of you? I liked you right away. You’re great for Felix.”
“It’s been a year since we started dating,” she told me. “You know that we met right after his birthday last year?”
“I remember,” I said. Felix hadn’t had a party. Not for 29. He’d been out at a club a few days after his birthday, though, and he’d run into what he described as the sweetest girl on the planet. He’d taken her home, and the rest was history. Lauren might be a teacher, but she was no prude, and she and my brother couldn’t keep their hands off of each other. Eventually, she moved in with him, and everyone was thrilled for both of them. It was the sort of sickly-sweet love story you only ever saw in movies or read about in books.
“When you flew out and I got to meet you, I was so excited,” she said.
“I was a little nervous,” I admitted. I’d flown out to visit Dad, and I’d spent a couple of days with Felix and Lauren. They’d both been so sweet and perfect together. Everything about their relationship was just wonderful. Everything they did made me smile. Together, they were the perfect couple. She pushed him to be a better person, and she kept my brother from working too much. That was important, I thought. It kept him grounded.
After I’d gone back to Monterey, the two of us had kept in touch. We’d become fast, easy friends, and we’d spent many long nights on the phone or online chatting. Lauren and I seemed to know everything about each other. She was even the first – and only – person I’d told about my totally unacceptable crush on my brother’s BFF.
Not that it mattered.
David and I could never happen. I didn’t have time for love or for romance. I was here to buy a house and to celebrate my brother’s milestone birthday with him. That was it. I didn’t need to even toy with the idea that David and I might hook up while I was here. Oh, I bet anything I could give that guy a run for his money in bed, but he was also my brother’s best friend.
He was off limits in all of the worst ways.
He probably viewed me like a little sister, anyway.
I’d confessed to Lauren that I liked him only once. I was drunk, and we both avoided talking about it ever again. I wasn’t even sure if she remembered all of the things I’d said.
“Nervous? Why?”
“Because you’re the girl my brother loves,” I told Lauren. That was the truth, too. My brother didn’t exactly find it easy to fall in love. He was the kind of guy who picked one girl and then loved her for an eternity. For him, Lauren was definitely the one. There was no doubt in my mind about it. In fact, there was a part of me that was pretty sure he was going to propose tomorrow, but I’d never tell Lauren that. I wasn’t about to ruin the surprise if it did happen.
And I wasn’t going to get her hopes up if it didn’t happen.
“Thanks,” she said. “I don’t know why, but I’m still kind of nervous around your family sometimes.”
“Really?”
She nodded, and I felt bad for Lauren.
“Trust me,” I said. “There is nothing to be nervous about.”
“You say that now, but you’re so much more confident than me.”
“Am I?”
She nodded.
“You exude confidence,” Lauren said.
I just shrugged. How could I explain that this was something entirely new for me? The entire “some people are just confident” thing was fake, in my opinion. Yeah, some people were confident. Most people weren’t. Most of the time, people who were “confident” were just cocky.
“I wasn’t always like this,” I finally said.
“You weren’t?”
“No. When we were kids, I was pretty shy. Ask anyone. Ask David,” I said before I could stop myself.
“Oh, I don’t think I need to ask David about you,” she smiled.