Brother and Sister

Two weeks later

Tyler is loving it here, he gets out for Christmas break in couple of weeks. He is loving basketball too, he won their last game against East High, it was the biggest game of the season and they won it with Tyler three point shot. I screamed like proud parent, well I kind of was. John and I are still planning our wedding that is happening on New Year’s Eve, his mother Rosemary was excited beyond words. She cried on my shoulder, while his dad Aaron just shook his hand. John and his dad have never gotten along, but they try. His older brother Jonathan loves me; he is always there when I need him. He’s a sweetheart.

Rosemary was torn up when my mom and dad died, she kept in constant touch with my mother, and she only met her once. She refused to go to her funeral, she wanted to remember my mother the way she was. Aaron didn’t like me, so he could care less what happened to my parents. That was another reason why John and Aaron couldn’t get along, I felt so guilty about it but John always told me to not worry about it.

I was outside in the back yard, enjoying my coffee to this beautiful cold morning –not that cold actually- when Tyler came outside to join me.

“Nice morning, not to cold or too hot.” He mused.

I nodded, “Yeah no kidding.”

He sat in the chair on the other side, and starred at me. “What’s wrong?”

I starred at him, “Nothing, why?”

“You’re face looks like your concentrating really hard on something.” he smiled.

I sighed, “I was thinking of mom actually. I miss her so much right now.”

“I know what you mean, she would be baking cookies right now with Christmas carols surrounding all the rooms.”

I grinned, “I miss that about home, when I first moved out here, I baked cookies and cakes with the music on. It made me feel like I was home.” I remembered the first holiday I spent here. I couldn’t make it for Phoenix that year, so I had my own little Christmas party.

Tyler laughed, “I remember you telling me that.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be at school?” I asked, looking at my watch.

He sighed, “Yes I do. I just came out to see how you were doing.”

I smiled, “Thank you that’s sweet, but go to school!”

He stood up and kissed the top of my head, “I have practice after school, so don’t expect me for awhile.”

I nodded, “Ok, be careful.”

“I will.” He shut the glass door and I watched him close the door. The bus stop was only a block down.

I had a class today at Albuquerque University, I was majoring in medicine. I stood up and locked the door behind me. I dumped the rest of the coffee down the drain and strapped on my jacket. I threw my bag over my shoulder and grabbed my keys. I set the alarm and walked out.

I walked in quietly to my class room and was relieved when I saw Professor Garcia hadn’t arrived. I took my seat and opened up my computer. While I was waiting for it to load, my best girl friend Stephanie came beside me.

“Hi!” she said.

I hugged her, “Hey girl!”

She pulled away and rested her chin on her hand, “So what’s going on? How are you?”

I shook my head, “John and I set a date for the wedding!”

She beamed, “You’re kidding?! Wow!”

I nodded, “Yeah, how’s your baby?”

I haven’t seen Stephanie in a while because she got pregnant by her boyfriend Tom. She was out her whole last month because she didn’t know when she could have the baby, she was experiencing serious back aches and contractions. So this was her first time back in a month.

“She’s good.” She pulled out a pictured from her wallet and handed it to me.

“Her name is Rebecca Elizabeth. She’s amazing Rachel.”

I couldn’t keep my eyes off that pretty little bundle of joy. She was so beautiful. She had the most prettiest face, just like her mother.

“She’s beautiful Steph.” I mused.

“I know. I didn’t know you could love someone so much.” She whispered.

I looked at her and smiled, “Congrats missy! This is something else.” She took the picture from me and her frown disappeared.

“I heard about your mom and dad, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.” She hugged me again.

I pulled away, “It’s ok really. Don’t worry about it.”

She shook her head, “I couldn’t believe it when I saw you’re Facebook. All I read was “Getting ready for funeral. RIP Mom and Dad.”

I nodded, “Yeah. It’s tough, but we are all doing ok now. My brother moved in with me, and he’s going to school here.”

Her eyes went wide, “You’re brother moved in? Wow, must be hard.”

I shook my head, “Oh no, he’s adjusting well.”
She was about to say something when Professor Garcia strolled in the room.

“Good Morning class!” he yelled. “Open your books to page 137 in Wuthering Heights and we shall continue were we last left off.”

After class Stephanie kept up with me till I got to my car, “So he’s doing well?”

I nodded, “Yeah, he really loves it here.”

He smiled, “That’s great!”

“Well I better go, I’ll talk to you later ok?” I hugged her goodbye.

“Yeah alright. Take care!”

I nodded, “You too.” I slipped into my car and drove home at three in the afternoon.
I opened my door to find a rose petals in the shape of a heart, I dropped my back by the door and dropped my keys on the table by the door. I looked up and saw John standing with his hands in his pockets.

“Hi.” He grinned.

I grinned back, “What’s all this about?”

He walked to me and took my hands, “Just something to say ‘I love you’”. I didn’t know what to say about this, it was all too sweet. He bent down to press his lips to mine, then he pulled away.

“Come with me.” He whispered. He took my hand and led me to the kitchen, I sat on the chair that was covered in a few rose petals. He took out the champaign and carried two tall glasses.

“Strawberry wine?” I raised my eye brow as he poured the wine.

He grinned, “Yes, just like your favorite song. Tonight is all about your favorite things.”

I smiled and touched his glass, “To us.” I whispered.

He raised his glass, “To us.”

I smiled and took a swing out of the wine. It was the best ever.

“Yum.” I whispered.

He grinned, “So how’s the plans going?”

I shrugged, “Ok. I just talked to Aunt Megan this morning, and she got the centerpieces in
along with the bridesmaid dresses.”

He smiled, “Great. What color are they?”

“Lavender.”

“Of course.” He chuckled. John knew lavender was my favorite color.

I giggled, “What?” I smacked his shoulder.

“Hey! Nothing, that was just kind of predictive.”

I laughed, “Whatever.”

“Tyler is giving you away right?”

I nodded, I remember that night I told him he was giving me away, he nearly cried.

“So new year’s eve?” he raised his eye brow.

I nodded, “Yes, because I want this year to end the happiest night of my life. The night I married my prince charming.” I reached over to kiss him.

“From the day I met you, nothing has gone wrong. My world has always been set right since the first time I held you.”

I blushed, he touched my cheek and stroked it with his thumb.

“I love you Rachel.”

“I love you too.”

He kissed me one more time. “So since you gave me my favorite flower, my favorite wine, what will you give me to eat? Hamburgers?”

Hamburgers are my favorite food, me and my dad used to cook the patties outside and we could eat them all day.

He nodded, “Of course; along with cheese fries.”

My mouth watered, anything with cheese was the best, “Yum.” He chuckled and kissed me once more. He walked into the kitchen and started cooking while I sat on the table and talked to him.

“So do you think Tyler would want some?” he asked.

I nodded, “Hell yes! Tyler and I love hamburgers.”

He laughed, “I guess that was a stupid question.”

I giggled, “I still love you.” He winked at me.

I went upstairs to change in something comfortable. I ended up putting on my favorite black cut off sweats and my green holly shirt. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and took out my contacts. Mom helped me pick out these glasses. They were black and really nice.
I walked downstairs and saw Tyler sitting on the table.

“You’re home early. I thought you had practice?” I hugged him awkwardly.

He shook his head, “Coach cancelled it for today. He had a family emergency.”

“Really? Wow. I hope everything is ok.” I walked into the kitchen to dump my glass and rinse it.

“Yeah, same here.” He sounded upset.

I sat next to him, “Are you ok?”

He shrugged again, “I guess. I’m just tired.”

I patted his back, “Aw. Go take a nap. I’ll call you when this is ready.”He nodded and walked upstairs. John sighed.

“You know what’s wrong. Tell me.”

He shook his head, “No way. Guys have a strict guy-to-guy thing. Unlike you girls who hear something and call each other the first second.”

I rolled my eyes, “John this is my brother. What’s wrong?”
He peaked around the wall to see if he was gone, to confirm it we heard the door close.

“Ok. Promise me you won’t bug him about it?” I bit my lip. I wasn’t promising anything.

“Fine. He has a girlfriend, and he thinks she’s cheating on him.”

I gasped, “That bitch.”

His eyes went wide and then he laughed, “What?”

“That bitch! Thinks she can go around cheating on my brother. Whore! Slut!”

John covered my mouth and was shaking with laughter, “Stop!”

I narrowed my eyes, “Whatever.” I said in his mouth.
He pulled away and washed his hands to finish rolling the meat.

“Now go talk to him, because I know that’s what you want to do.” He rolled his eyes.
I was gone before he even finished the sentence. I knocked on his door.

“Tyler?” I whispered.

“Come in.” I wanted to strangle the bitch that was hurting my brother.
I peaked around the door and saw him laying on his bed starring at the ceiling.

“What’s wrong little brother?” I sat on the floor beside his head.

He turned his head and sighed, “I have this girlfriend, and we’ve been going out for a couple weeks. Anyway, Jordan –my friend- says he saw her with Anthony the quarter back of the football team making out. So I freaked and asked her about it, she just said that I didn’t trust her and she wanted to break up. Anyway we worked things out, and I followed her after her class to her locker. I was going to scare her, but then I saw Anthony come and he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. She turned around and kissed him back. I walked past her and I heard her calling me but I didn’t say anything.”
My hands were clenched in fists, that bitch was going to die.

“Rachel? Why can’t I find true love? I just want to be happy again. I know that’s a selfish request, but I don’t want to be sad all the time.”

I looked up at him and cringed at the agony in his eyes.

“Tyler you can’t rush fate. You have to let her come to you, don’t go looking for her, she will come to you at the perfect time. You’ll know when she’s the one, because she’ll make you feel things that you never thought would happen. I know its hard talking to me or John about this and not dad or mom. But they are watching you, and they don’t want you sad. They’ll send you the girl that screams ‘Tyler’ to them. And they’ll be happy to see you happy. You can’t be sad brother, you have to enjoy life to the fullest, because you never know when it could end.”

He propped his head on his hand and sighed, “I know. I just thought she was the one.”

I tilted my head a little, “Tyler you have plenty of time to find her. She will come to you; you just have to have patience. This might sound wrong, but think of your ex as a test, they sent her to you so you can be aware of the kind of people that are out there. So now the pain your feeling won’t happen again. You’ll be strong and be able to shrug it off when it happens to you again. That ‘one’ won’t hurt you ever, she will make you smile and laugh. Trust me.”

He smiled a little, “Were you ever cheated on?”

I shook my head, “No. But I did have boyfriend that treated me like shit.”

He raised his eye brows, “Really? Oh wait, I remember. Wasn’t his name Russell?”

I nodded, “Yes. I hated him so much. He would love me away from his friends, but at school, he acted like he didn’t know me.”

“Bastard.” He whispered.

I smiled, “It’s whatever now. I found John. John is my one.”

He gagged, “Ew.”

I laughed, “Well how I feel right now Tyler, you will feel one day. You will know she’s the one when you see the future in her eyes.”

He nodded, “Do you see that in John?”

I grinned, “I do.”

He slid off the bed and sat in front of me, “Thank you.”

I reached over to punch his shoulder, “Anytime.”

“So why is John making hamburgers? I’m not complaining, but why?”

I giggled, “Because he’s being too sweet. He gave me strawberry wine –named after my favorite song- and made heart out of roses –my favorite flower- and now he’s making my favorite food.” I smiled.

Tyler pretended to have fallen asleep, I kicked him.

He jumped and laughed, “You’re relationship is so weird.”

I narrowed my eyes, “No its not. John just knows how my day better than it already was or is.” I was confusing my self.

Tyler laughed, “Don’t give yourself a brain hemrage.”

I kicked him again, “Shut up! You will understand one day and when you’re following your wife with googly eyes, I’m going to laugh at you!”

We laughed together for a few minutes. Then he got quiet and hung his head.

“Do you really think that I will find her?” he asked. He looked up at me from under his lashes.

I sighed, “Yes Tyler you will. We were not put on this earth just to be alone, we were put on this earth to find our special someone and live until death separate’s us. Have faith Tyler.
You will meet your other half.”

He nodded, “Ok.” I reached over to hug him, he hugged me back tight.

“So you lost your girlfriend, screw her. The way I see it, she lost something great.” I smiled.

He grinned, “She did huh?” He popped his collar.

I rolled my eyes, “You’re so full of yourself sometimes.”

He laughed, “I know. But I can’t help it that all those beautiful women through themselves at me.”

I laughed and stood up, “Ok Casanova.” He laughed harder, I walked to the door when he called me.

“Hey, thanks again. I love you.” He grinned.

I smiled, “I love you too. Don’t be afraid to come to me with anything. I’ll listen.”

He nodded, “OK.” I closed the door and walked out the door; pleased with my good deed. I semi-healed my brother’s heart. Now I get to enjoy the rest of my evening with my prince.