Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

Jared's P.O.V.

I let go of my brother for just a moment before waking up my little blonde nephew. Parker blinked sleepily a few times before giving Jord and me a wave.

“Hey there sleepy; feeling better?” Jordan asked, and Parker nodded, a huge yawn erupting from his mouth.

“Yeah. Where Unca Cam?” he asked, immediately looking around for his favorite “uncle”. I laughed a little, it had only took about a half an hour for me to become old news and for Cam to be Parker’s favorite.

“Making us some supper,” I told him, and he nodded. He saw the TV was on and hockey highlights nonetheless, and perked up; pushing my arm so he could see the TV.

“Watch!” he pointed at the screen, and Jordan turned the volume up as we watched highlights from a matinee game that had been on this afternoon and the predictions for the three games going on tonight. I had time to mull over what my older brother had told me. Well, not really told me, but implied; he was in love. More than that he was fucking whipped; Jordan didn’t get scared when it came to girls, not this kind of scared. The only thing he was “scared” of with girls in the past was when they saw a relationship (or night) with him as the sign of a long-term thing starting. That almost always gave him cold feet and had him running.

I snuck a look over at him as he chattered away mindlessly to Parker; he didn’t really look any different. I mean, sure, he kept himself a little more clean-shaven this season, but that wasn’t a big change. But somehow my big goofball of a brother was growing up on me, and now once again I was going to be the baby brother left to try and play catch-up. I wasn’t ready for a big relationship thing; I liked doing my own thing and definitely hadn’t met the right girl. Christa had been what I thought “the one” was supposed to be, but that went downhill really fast.

“Jay, you all right?” Jord asked, making me jump.

“Huh? What?”

“Cam asked what we wanted for supper,” Jordan told me, giving me a funny look.

“Uh, doesn’t matter. What’d you guys say?” I asked, feeling stupid at having totally zoned out like that.

“Pizza!” Parker crowed, and I grinned at him. He was standing on my knees, torn between talking with us and Cam, and the hockey that was on TV.

“Pizza sounds fantastic,” I agreed, and Jordan nodded.

“All right, sounds good. Anything specific you guys want on it?” she asked, and I shook my head. I wasn’t picky when it came to food; I was hungry almost all the time, so after I got my first growth spurt at fifteen I lost any pickiness I’d had. If there was food on the table I’d eat it.

“Okay, sounds good. Want a snack or anything?” she asked, and Parker said he was thirsty, so I stood up to get him something to drink.

“Oh, he’s got a sippy cup over there,” Cam pointed, and as I got milk out of the fridge realized she was making pizza from scratch. Mom had done that a few times when we were little, but as we grew up we just started ordering it in; it was a huge hassle for her to try and make enough pizza to feed the four of us plus her and dad.

“You make pizza from scratch?”

“Yeah, we always made it ourselves at home,” she shrugged, and I handed Parker his cup over the back of the couch before making my way back to the kitchen. I couldn’t cook to save my ass, but I was curious.

“Can I help?” I asked, and while Cam looked surprised she nodded. We heard Sportscentre end and soon heard the Looney Toons coming from the TV.

“Sure, just wash your hands and then you can… cut salami?” she suggested, and I nodded, doing as I was told. I liked hanging out with Cam; she was like a sibling to me, and it was cool to be older, even if she acted like the older of the two of us.

“I’ve got pepperoni too, I don’t know if we want both or not,” she told me, and I shrugged.
“I’ll eat whatever,” I told her, making her laugh. I looked down to my left to see her; the top of her head was hardly - if even - taller than my shoulder.

“Jordan told me you weren’t picky, but I wasn’t sure if I should believe him or not,” she told me, a little smirk pulling at her lips as she looked up at me. I groaned, wondering what other embarrassing things my brother had told her about me. This is what I hated about being the little brother; the endless teasing. But it had always been nice if somebody else was picking on me, because the three of them had never hesitated to come to my aid.

“God, what else has he decided to tell you about me?” I asked, and she laughed. She was actually quite pretty, as I tried to imagine her with long hair and some makeup on. Not that I should be doing that, but just to see.

“Earth to Jared; take a picture, it’ll last longer,” she said, and I felt my ears turn pink and my face heat up as I’d been staring.

“Sorry, I was just trying to picture you as… you know… girly,” I mumbled, feeling ridiculous and stupid. Instead Cam just walked over towards the counter and grabbed her wallet, before pulling out a card and handing it to me. It was an old driver’s license, and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head when I looked at the picture.

“Holy shit,” I looked back and forth between the picture and Cam several times, unable to believe it was the same person. Cam was a babe, that’s the only word I had for it; damn was my brother ever a lucky guy. Sure, she was attractive now, but with trying to look like a boy she was a little too masculine looking for me to try and wrap my head around, but with long hair and a little makeup and the whole bit… wow. Her dark brown hair had loose waves in it, her blue-gray eyes sparkling and looking a darker blue with a little bit of eye makeup on.

“You’re serious… this is you?” I asked, and she nodded, chuckling to herself as she mixed up pizza sauce.

“Yeah, that’s what I looked like a year and a half ago,” she nodded, and I stared at the picture for another moment before putting it back in her wallet and closing it, going back to my job.

“That’s crazy – you look like a totally different person,”

“That’s the whole point Jay,” she pointed out, and I rolled my eyes at her.

“Sure, keep picking on your brother,” I grumbled, and she laughed before pulling me into a half-assed side hug.

“Aw come on Jay, you know I’m just teasing,” she grinned, and I hugged her back for a moment.

“I know,”

“So Jord’s pretty crazy about you eh?” I asked, and she blushed, making her look even more like the girl in her old driver’s license.

“I hope so,” she whispered, sounding unsure of herself.

“It’s totally obvious; he’s never been like this before. All cheesy and whipped,” I pushed, and while a smile tugged at her lips she still looked apprehensive.

“What’s wrong? Do you not feel the same way?” I asked, and she looked like I’d just suggested she was an alien.

“God no! Jordan’s… amazing. Perfect. More than anything I could’ve ever hoped for,” she whispered, staring down at her hands as she spoke.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m scared Jared; he can do a helluva lot better than me. Eventually he’s going to realize it,” I stood there, shocked. Somebody would have to take his brain out of his head and replace it with an idiot’s before that would ever happen.

“Pft, you’re crazy Cam. Jordan’s head over heels for you… isn’t it obvious?” I asked, and she shrugged.

“I don’t know… relationships haven’t exactly been my strongpoint Jared. I’ve only ever been in a few of them, and none of them serious. How am I supposed to know?” she asked, those gorgeous eyes almost watery. I pulled her into a hug then, as I finally understood what was going on. They were both afraid of being in love for the first time and screwing it up. So goddamn cheesy that if it wasn’t the two of them and it wasn’t so perfect I probably would have puked.

“Just trust me on this one; he’s crazy about you,” I told her, and she smiled up at me.

“Thanks Jay. I just want him to be happy, you know? And there are girls out there who would be so much better for him… I just don’t want to pull him down with all of this,” she whispered, pulling me in tighter for a moment, and it hit me than just how wonderful she was. She would do anything for Jord, and judging by the way she was with the rest of my family she would go to extremes for any of us, without thinking of herself. My brother had to be the luckiest man on earth. He had the most amazing woman on earth and she was madly in love with him too.