Inexperienced

*Saturday Afternoon*

*Buzz* *Buzz* *Buzz Buzz Buzz Buzz Buuuuuuzzzzzzz*

I groaned and literally fell out of my couch. The was buzzer still going off as I made my way over to the call box.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming!”

There is only one person in the world that would do that with my buzzer just to annoy the hell out of me.

Luca.

Why must my brother always act so childish and annoying? Shouldn’t a 28-year-old be more mature?

*BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZ*

Nope.

Not my brother.

Holding the intercom button, I spoke into the little box.

-Must you do that every time you visit? I don’t think I even wanna let you in now.

-You love me too much to do that. Plus I brought coooookieeessss!

And just like that, I let buzzed him in.

Nothing came between cookies and me.

Luca bringing me cookies has sort of been a tradition now. He’s been doing that since I was five. Whenever I’d feel upset or down, or if it was that time, he’d go out and get me chocolate chip cookies. Even when I moved out of the house, every time he came over, he always brought a bag of cookies with him. Now I had a special cookie jar that I got just for that.

As I opened the door, I looked up just in time to see my brother come flying towards me and engulfing me in one of his famous bear hugs, almost knocking me down.

“KARE-BEAR! OH HOW I’VE MISSED MY LITTLE NUGGET!”

I’m pretty sure I’ll have permanent ear damage because of him.

I gently patted him on the back and tried to break free from his steel grip.

“Hello to you too, brother. I missed you too, blah blah blah. Now give me my cookies.” I tried to retrieve the bag from his hand but he was too tall for me to reach.

But of course he wanted to make a game out of this.

He let me go and held the bag full of heavenly goods up in the air. Out of my reach.

“I’d like to see you try and get them, but it seems you still haven’t grown an inch,” he said, a teasing smirk plastered over his annoying face.

But he was no match for my infamous puppy dog look he always fell for.

“Pweeeeaaaase,” I batted my eyes and pouted.

I had inherited my mom’s big, bright hazel eyes. My mother would tell me that as a toddler I had the most heart melting pout that no one could resist, especially Luca. My brother did almost anything not to see me upset.

His head instantly fell and he held the bag out to me. I quickly snatched the bag and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“Not fair,” he mumbled.

My brother and I are only four years apart but we could practically be twins. He and I have the same wavy dark brown hair and light brown eyes. The only difference is our height. While he’s a towering 6’2”, I’m barely 5’5”.

This kid has always been there for me. We’re hardly like normal siblings. I don’t remember us ever fighting with each other. He’d always take care of me and protect me when we were younger. He knows all of my secrets and I know all of his.
Growing up, he would always make sure I was happy and wasn’t feeling left out if he were hanging out with his friends.

We sat down on my couch and started munching on the cookies.

“So how’s Nat? Anything new? I haven’t talked to her in a month, I miss her,” I say, stuffing a handful of cookies in my mouth. Hey, I grew up practically surrounded by boys, I’m sorry if I forget my manners.

His friends were also like my older brothers. He had this one girl best friend, Natalie. She was practically my older sister. I don’t have any sisters so absolutely adore her. She was a role model for me, growing up. She’s the one that taught me every girly thing I know, like how to apply make-up and how to do my hair, while my brother and his friends taught me all the boyish things, like how to play baseball, swear, and belch. Lovely, don’t you think?

Natalie and Josh suddenly realized they had feeling for each other (I totally called it) when they were 18 and started going out. At first, it was on and off but then it was becoming petty serious.

Then, when Nat and Josh were 25, he proposed to her at my 21st birthday party. I was so incredibly happy for them. Of course I planned it all out so it was my idea to have him propose on my 21st birthday. Mostly because I didn’t want to miss out on the celebration by being the only one drinking Coke while everyone is having alcoholic beverages my barely legal self craved. I only got to have two drinks before Luca decided that was enough for me, but two of his best friends, Jake and Tyler, helped sneak some drinks over to me.

Best night ever. Worst hangover ever.

“Actually, we have some…pretty big news.”

He looked down at his half eaten cookies and fiddled with his wedding ring.

Practically twins, man.

He finally looked up and I was barely able to catch what he said.

“Uh…well…umm…There’s a little Luca Jr. on the way,” he said, his face beaming with happiness.

I almost choked on my cookie.

“SHE’S PREGNANT! SINCE WHEN?! OH MY GOD! I’M GONNA BE AN AUNT! HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN?! DO MOM AND DAD KNOW? I BETTER BE THE FIRST ONE TO KNOW ABOUT THIS OR ELSE I WILL RIP YOUR EYES OUT LUCA! IT’S A BOY?!”

I was smacking him yelling with excitement, cookies forgotten. I could barely control my excitement and happiness. I have been waiting for this day all my life!

“Okay, first, ouch. You’re damaging my ears. Second, STOP HITTING ME AND SIT YOUR ASS DOWN.” He laughed and pinned my hands to my sides until I was sort of calm.

“Of course you’re the first to know. And C, she’s two months pregnant. But we don’t know what it is yet. We’ll find out soon and yes, you will be the very first to know. We found out two weeks ago and I would’ve told you but we waited till we came back from Italy, which was literally two days ago.”

I chuckled and shook my head in amazement.

“My big brother is finally going to be a dad.”

He sighed, the biggest smile on his face. “Yea. It’s…crazy. But I am so happy. I can’t wait to see the little sucker.”

He suddenly turned to face me and lightly shoved me, that smile still dancing on his face. “But how are you? I know you’re pretty psyched about this Blackhawks job.”

We spent about three hours catching up with each other when we finally decided to finish helping me pack.

It took another three hours to finish packing whatever was left and taking the boxes down to our cars.

Once we were done, I took one last look at my small apartment. I was going to miss its homey-ness. Although it was small, it was my first place. It was what I called home for the past two years.

Now, I was about to start a new chapter in my life and I couldn’t be any happier.

Life was definitely pretty good right now.