Choose Me

Chapter 2

"Shhhhh, everyone. He's coming," Elsie yells after hanging up the phone. Everyone goes quiet and turns off the lights as we wait in silence for Elsie's brother to knock on the door. Moments later a loud, hard rap sounds on the door and Elsie quickly unlocks the door and someone turns on the lights at that very moment, and we all yell "surprise" from our hiding spots.

"Holy fuck, you're all so loud," he says in a deep voice with a chuckle. I see Elsie get pulled into a hug but I can't see him from where I'm standing. I don't need to see him to recognize that he has a sexy voice and I don't doubt he has a gorgeous face to go with it.

"Come in. Come in," Elsie says excitedly and pulls him inside. People immediately swarm him, blocking him from my view. I take the opportunity and head to the kitchen where the snack table is.

I munch on some chips while I wait for people to get over the whole commotion. I mean, I'm glad he's back and am happy Elsie finally has her brother back, but I don't get why everyone is making such a huge deal about it. He's probably still the same twerp that left home five years ago to get his shit together.

Don't get me wrong, I admire him for having balls of steel. He picked up his whole life and moved to another state where he didn't know a single person. He started from scratch and he never asked his and Elsie's parents for any help. Not once. He made it all on his own and I honestly admire him for that, but to me, he will always be Elsie's baby brother. The one who just so happened to walk in on me when I was topless in his sister's room ten years ago.

I was eighteen at the time and the little twerp was just thirteen, so I can only imagine what he felt seeing what I have no doubt was his first pair of real boobs. I bet he bragged about it to his middle school friends for days. The little shit. Someday, I'll get back at him for having walked in on me when he did.

That day changed everything between us. He never looked at me the same after that incident. I could always feel him staring at me but when I would try to make eye contact with him he'd avoid my gaze. At first, I thought he may have developed a crush on me, but then he just started avoiding me altogether, so I ruled that out quickly.

He clearly did not like me and didn't even want to be in the same space as me, but what I never understood was why. I never teased him about what happened or even brought it up again. I simply let it go but he always avoided me like the plague. As much as I tried, I never figured out what his deal was with me and I never got the chance to ask him. The years passed and before I knew it he graduated from high school and moved away, never to be seen again. Until today.

I find it odd that he suddenly decided to come back after five years, but it definitely intrigues me. He came back for something, but I'm not sure what.

I can't deny that I'm curious about is his appearance, because literally, no one knows what he looks like. He's stayed off social media since he left, and he hasn't sent one picture of himself to Elsie or her parents in all these years, so he's literally a mystery to all of us, but I'm not so sure he's a mystery I want to solve.

"Miss me?" I hear a deep, baritone voice ask from behind me, pulling me out of my train of thoughts, and I instantly know it's him. I was hoping he'd take longer to find his way to me but here he is. I take a deep breath and count to ten before slowly turning to face him, not knowing what to expect. I'm met with a black T-shirt and a leather jacket. "My eyes are up here," he says jokingly and I can't help but smile as I lift my gaze.

I expect to see the scrawny eighteen-year-old boy who left here five years ago, but instead, I find a full-fledged sexy as hell man standing before me. Where the hell did the tall, lanky boy I used to know go? This isn't him. He looks like he could be one of those models gracing the cover of GQ.