Brooklyn
"So, are you ready?"
"I guess so," Justin said, but I knew inside he was screaming "No!".
I squeezed his hand reassuringly, suddenly feeling considerably confident after my talk with the girls. They were right, my parents didn't need to accept Justin—sure it would make things easier—because I would still be with him anyway. But I had a new-found faith that things were going to go smoothly. With luck they would already be having a good time so we would catch them in a good mood.
Watching my step became a difficult task when I was walking next to a boy that looked like heaven and hell had just undergone a battle to create the most perfect human being in the world. Okay, that was cheesy. But it was true, from his hair—he managed to pull the I-just-had-sex-but-look-how-good-I-look style perfectly— to the dark grey suit he was wearing that fit in all the right places, to that red tie that was making me want to jump on him right there. Oh God, what is happening to me? So I tried to look sideways at Justin as little as possible, relying on his arm to keep me steady on my 5-inch-high heels. At least my mom would be pleased to see him looking so... so like she'd want my boyfriend to look, I guess. The only thing she wouldn't like about Justin's appearance was that he was wearing earrings but to me that was hot as hell.
As we walked across the room to the corner were all parents were chatting, I felt Justin's muscles contract underneath the cloth of the tux, which only added to my difficulty to keep from tripping. I was looking forward to some alone time, if you know what I mean.
"You're gonna tell me what Jazmyn's doing after this," Justin said warningly, looking down at me—he still towered a couple of inches over me—and I spotted wariness in his eyes. Of course he'd be worried about his little sister after what happened with her last boyfriend, Colton.
"If you want to know so badly," I said, "she's probably talking with a guy we ran into the other day while shopping for Christmas presents."
He seemed thoughtful. "Is he trustworthy?" He spoke like a sergeant or—much to my dismay—like my father would. I guess that's just men protectiveness for you.
"Yes, he's one of my classmate's younger brother."
"That doesn't make him reliable," Justin debated, widening his eyes at me as if I had said something outrageous.
"He's cute." I shrugged. "In a 15-year-old kind of way," I added quickly, thinking maybe he would take that the wrong way.
Justin gave me a puzzled look, stopping in the middle of the floor. "Since when does being cute equal being trustworthy?"
"You're both." I sent him a toothy grin, hoping to get his mind off the subject. Poor Jazmyn was gonna have to put up with his brother trying to ruin all her relationships. Why does that sound so familiar...Oh, yes, I have my fair share of nagging brother too.
Justin rolled his eyes, although the corners of his lips were fighting a smile. "I know I am." Gosh, he loved people complimenting him even if he could boost his own ego himself. "But that doesn't mean all guys are like me."
I opened my mouth to say some smart comeback—sometimes he was too annoyingly full of himself— but instead chose to ignore it. "Guys around here are usually nice in that sense," I said, trailing my fingers up and down the fabric of the lapels of his jacket, while biting my lip. I seriously wasn't expecting this reaction to seeing Justin in a suit. I mean, I knew he was gonna look good but this seemed like a joke.
He snorted. "That sounds hard to believe."
I bit the inside of my lip. That probably hadn't been the best thing to say after the whole issue with Nate. "Give your sister some credit," I finally said. "She's at that age right now when she's gonna make mistakes with boys and learn from them, and you can't protect her from everything or she'll end up hating you." Actually, it was weird talking like that about Jazmyn when she was only a couple of years younger than me, but I could empathize with her on the overprotective-older-brother thing.
