“She’s not your sister” Chris grumbles.
I choose to ignore his little tantrum, they do this all the time, him and Sam argue over it constantly. “I’m okay, I just wanted to see if Chris was going to be home tonight, and I guess you’re there too.”
“Yup, you gonna come over?” He asks excitedly.
I bite my lip, am I really about to do this? “Actually, I was thinking that maybe I could bring the guys over to meet y’all.”
They’re both silent, and I see Sam's jaw drop before Chris rips his phone back and stares at me, “are you sure about this angel?”
Nodding my head I give him a hesitant smile, “it’s time. They’ve shown me that I can trust them, they’re worth the risk.”
“I’m glad you finally found your people.” I know he means it, he just wants the best for me.
With as much courage as I can muster, I finally walk into the house. The guys are in the living room, which gives me no excuse to put this off like I want to. Nerves tunnel through my stomach, I feel like it’s about to drop out of my ass. I’ve never been this scared to have a conversation.
“Can we talk for a second?” I ask them all.
“What’s up?” Davis turns down the volume on our TV so they can hear me properly.
Deep breaths Claire, deep breaths.
“I have some stuff I want to talk to you guys about, it’s really important so I need you to just listen before you say anything.”
My friends look at me confused, but stay silent nonetheless. I almost never sit them down to talk like this, so I’m thankful they’re taking me seriously.
“I haven’t been completely honest with you guys, and I think that I’m ready to come clean.” I’m not ready to just whip out the fact that Chris is my brother, I need to ease into it first. “My parents and I don’t have the best relationship, it’s been messy for a long time now and they’re part of the reason why I have issues trusting people. August has been helping me, I get these panic attacks that make it really hard to function.” I laugh under my breath, “so I guess that’s the next thing I wanted to tell you guys.”
“So that’s why August has been so protective over you?” Lucas asks.
I nod my head, “I haven’t felt at home with other people for a long time now, and after these last weeks with you guys, I’ve realized that you’re becoming my family and you deserve to know the truth.”
Miller comes and gives me a hug, “you’re definitely part of the family Claire bear.”
“There’s one last thing I need to tell you guys, but I think it’s better if I show you in person.”
They all pile into their cars, while I drive mine… alone. I need time to prepare for this, I need time to figure out what all I’m going to say and how to explain all of this to them.
When we finally get to Chris’s house, Blair steps out of his car, “why are we here? What is this place?” Blair asks.
“Who the hell owns this house?” Davis takes in the multi-million dollar home that my brother lives in, and I have to stifle a laugh at how ridiculous he looks.
“Come on, you’ll see” I say. We all walk to the front door, and I can see the confusion etched onto their faces when I walk right in.
“Claire, I don’t think we can just walk into this person's house” Miller whisper yells.
“We can, because this is my brother's house.”
I hear footsteps running from around the corner and next thing I know, Sam is scooping me up into the air, “baby sis is in the house” he laughs.
“Hi Sam.” His blonde hair is just as messy as always, his blue eyes and tanned skin doesn’t help with the lazy surfer boy look he sports. He’s gorgeous, but I grew up around him, I see him as nothing more than a brother.
“Y- your brother is Sam Connors?” Blair yells.
“No actually,Iam. Sam just likes to act like he is” Chris says as he rounds the corner. He gives me a kiss on my temple before wrapping an arm around my shoulder, “you doing okay?”
“I think so,” I tell him, looking up and giving my most convincing smile.
Chris looks at the guys and sticks out his hand, “it’s nice to meet you all. We have a lot to talk about.”
