Three Days

Chapter 4

I had just slipped into the pool when Ellie came walking out of the back door. Julian and Ryan were already in the pool so she was caught off guard by the shirtless boys. Can't say I blame her.

"Hey sugar," she said as she walked closer, not really looking at me as she spoke.

"Hey, these are my boys. Ryan is the tall one and the tesoro is Julian. The one behind you is my brother Nick. Chase is upstairs with the baby," I say pointing all around me like a crazy person.

"Okay I think I got it but what does tesoro mean?" Ellie asks with a funny smile.

"That's what she calls Julian, it means sweetheart," Nick said.

"Yeah, she doesn't love me enough for a nickname," Ryan says right before throwing me over his shoulder. He throws me into the water and then swims after. I can't stop laughing as he wraps his arms around me to bring me back to where we can reach.

"Are you jealous, stupido?" I ask with a huge smirk on my face.

"Ah so my nickname is stupido?" he asks.

"It might be. You didn't answer my question?" I wink.

"I know," was all he said with his mysterious smile. He turned to Ellie, "You can have Nick take you to a guest room. If you want to swim, you are more than welcome to join us."

"Yeah come swim with us Ellie, we can deal with the contract later," I say as I jump on Ryan's back. He reacts by diving under the water with me. I come back up and swim over to Julian, who is sitting on the edge of the pool.

"Go put some music on Tesoro," I say, smiling up at him. He always feels more at ease with music playing so he hops up eagerly to put the music on. Ryan swims over to stand by me as we wait for Julian.

"So what kind of promotion is your boss offering you?" Ryan asks as he pulls his body up to sit on the edge of the pool.

"She is opening a new location in San Diego and she wants me to be the head chef. I would have total control over the menu and the staff," I said as I looked up at the night sky. It was only eight-thirty but the stars were shining bright.

"San Diego? That would be quite a move. What is stopping you?" he asked with a weird look on his face.

"Well aside from the fact that it is two hours away, it wouldn't be my own place. I would be cooking the fine dining I was trained for, but I want to be cooking my real Italian food. Nonni left me all her recipes for a reason. And I really can't imagine not being within driving distance of all of you guys. I just have the feeling in the pit of my stomach that I shouldn't do it. But what kind of idiot would I be to turn it down. Ugh I'm rambling. I just don't know what to do," I say quickly, spilling out the truth that I have been ignoring for weeks.

"Well I am biased because I want you here with me. With us. But this is really something you need to choose for yourself. We can't tell you what to do," he says, taking my hand. Julian sat beside him and had a thinking face on.

"You need to listen to your gut and your heart. Do what will make you happy for now and you won't have any regrets. That is what Nonni would tell you," Julian said. He always knew what to say to me and this time was no exception. I leaped up and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Thank you," I whispered into his chest. I pulled back and said, "I have the best, best friend in the world."

"Yeah you do. I mean your best friend is amazing," Julian said nodding with a huge smile. I pulled my arms back and splashed both of them with water.

"Oh you're going to pay for that one," Ryan said before they both came after me.

Next thing we know Nick was cannonballing right next to us. It gave me a chance to swim away and pull myself up to sit on the other side of the pool. They wouldn't try anything with Nick in the pool. I almost drowned in the pool as a kid so Nick was extra protective when we went swimming. Ellie came and sat beside me. She was sporting a baby blue bathing suit that made the freckled skin look smooth. She groaned looking at me in my dark green bathing suit.

"It is not fair how many curves you have. I mean you are a total hourglass figure," she said, shaking her head at me with a smile.

"Oh please. What I wouldn't do to get rid of my curves" I said, shaking my head.

"Don't talk like that," Ryan growled before looking directly at my boobs, "She didn't mean it."

What has gotten into this boy? Flirting, checking me out, and getting jealous is not normal behavior for the boy who used to pretend he didn't know I had a crush on him. Nick took care of it by punching him in the arm.

"Boys behave," I said. The back door opened and Chase came walking out with a beer in hand.

"Dad told me he would watch her for a few hours and that I should come hang with you guys," Chase said with a shrug.

"Great, another guy looking at my sister's boobs," Nick grumbled.

"They are great boobs," Chase said as Ryan noddled.

"Funny that the only guy that isn't commenting is the only one who has gotten a feel for himself," I said quietly, as everyone whipped their heads around to Julian.

"What?" everyone shouted.

"That was a good day," was all he said. While everyone was thinking it was some big scandal, I looked over at Julian smiling at the truth. Julian was my best friend so sometimes I would stay the night in his room. We have been sleeping in the same bed since we were 8 years old. When we were in junior year, I was staying the night after having broken up with Blain. I cried, ate ice cream and Julian stayed up to talk to me about it. When we woke up the next morning, he had his hand resting on my boob. We talked about it and decided we probably shouldn't sleep in the same bed anymore. And that was the end of it.

I looked back to see everyone still freaking out about the silly news.

"Calm down, it was five years ago and it was an accident," Julian said, rolling his eyes. He got up and walked into the house. Probably to get a beer.

"Grab me a glass of wine while you're there," I said over my shoulder.

"What did he mean by accident?" Nick said still on the subject.

"He meant that we went to sleep, at some point he pulled me closer to him and when we woke up his hand was on my boob. It wasn't a big deal. We laughed it off and never talked about it again," I said, giving him hard eyes to drop it. I looked at the other guys to make sure they got the same message. Ryan looked jealous again while Chase just looked shocked by the new information.

"You just had to say something," Julian said, standing behind me with a smile. He handed me my glass and offered one to Ellie too.

"I'm Italian. I don't think before I speak," I said as he sat down besides me. Everyone had finally calmed down and they were lounging in the water. The song changed to one of my favorites as I took a sip of wine and relaxed against Julian's shoulder.

Julian started singing the song in a voice that I had no doubt would be playing on the radio in just a few short years. For the first time all day I had a chance to really relax.