My best friend's brother

(2) New and Improved

*picture of Maddy's bikini*

He pulled his black ray bans off his face, running his fingers through his curly brown hair. His big brown eyes seemed to sparkle in the sunlight, his lips spread in a wide smile. You could tell that he had had braces for years, as his teeth were perfectly straight. If you looked really closely, you could see a little stubble growing in on his chiseled jaw. He was dressed in a fitted white v neck, the simple yet irresistible trademark shirt for hot boys. He wasn't too built, but you could clearly see the definition of his muscles through it. His shirt was loosely tucked into his khaki shorts, which showed off his cute butt quite nicely.

I stood watching as Sadie dropped her bags and threw her arms around her brother's neck. He chuckled, wrapping his arms around her waist. After what felt like ages, the two released, and thats when Declan's eyes landed on me. It wasn't difficult to see that he was surprised based on his facial expression.

"Fatty Maddy? Is that you?" I winced at my childhood nickname, memories of me sitting in my room in tears flooding back. He eyed me up and down a few times, before a smirk settled on his face. I had to fight the urge to wrap my hands around my body to hide my stomach. All these years later, and Declan still had the ability to make me feel self conscious. I couldn't help but notice that here was something different about this self consciousness, however. It wasn't an embarrassed, ashamed feeling, it was more of a nervous, jittery feeling.

I was suddenly grateful I had chosen this outfit this morning. It had taken me a while to chose it out, as I didn't know whether to dress comfortably or nicely. Finally, I had settled on something in between. I was wearing my favourite pair of pastel pink denim shorts, a flowy white tank top, and a small grey cardigan on top. My straight, dirty blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail. Sure, if I knew I would be in this situation I might have dressed nicer, but it sure beat the sweatpants I almost put on.

"Fatty Maddy's not so fatty anymore." Sadie replied proudly, swinging an arm around my shoulder and pulling me in tight. I hugged her back, smiling.

"Clearly." Declan said, that smirk still sitting on his face.

"Good to see you, Dec." I replied, with a confidence that surprised even me. I shot him a nice smile, slung my bag over my shoulder and walked into the cottage, without saying another word.

~~~~~~

"Sadie and Maddy, you two will be sharing this bathroom." Mrs. Conrad said, pointing to a small but cute bathroom with blue painted walls. "Since I assumed you girls didn't want to share a washroom with Declan, I gave him the room with the ensuite. I hope thats okay?"

"That's perfect, thank you Karen." I replied sweetly. She gave me a nod in response, and returned to the kitchen to finish unpacking the food.

I slumped onto my queen sized bed, taking in a deep breath of the cool air. Sadie and I had our own separate rooms, which were conjoined in the middle by the bathroom we shared. My room was beautiful, with a big window that looked out on the water and a dresser more than big enough to fit all my possessions. The walls were painted bright green, with fresh white linen on the bed.

Minutes later, Sadie came skipping into my room, sitting down next to me on the bed.

"Isn't it so pretty?" She beamed. I nodded appreciatively.

"I can't believe this is gonna be our home for two months. It's gonna be so relaxing." I replied, pulling a pillow to my chest and hugging it tightly.

"What do you wanna do now?" She asked me. "We still have the whole afternoon ahead of us." I paused for a moment, contemplating our options.

"Well first, I'm gonna unpack. Then, I'm gonna put my bathing suit on, cause that lake is calling my name."