“Just give the guy a chance. I thin

“Just give the guy a chance. I think you’ll like him.”
“And if I don’t, it will make everything awkward. I would never want to ruin any of your friendships.”
“Well, I’m giving you permission, so just try.”
I rolled my eyes. “I just told you I have a date tonight.”
“What’s this guy’s name?”
“Ethan.”
“Ethan what?”
“I don’t know.”
“What are you doing tonight?”
“He’s taking me to dinner.”
He nodded in approval. “So you like him, then?”
I felt my cheeks blush. “Yeah.”
My brother caught the look. “So you like him a lot, then?”
I shrugged. “I just met the guy.”
“Well, your face is redder than a tomato.”
Thankfully, the waitress came over and handed us our dishes. We ate in silence for a long time. My brother and I are barely over a year apart and I think that’s why we are so close. We always experienced life around the same maturity level. Sometimes we fought until we were on the brink of war, but we always settled our differences no matter what. My brother was a great guy—the best—but I would never tell him that. Besides, he probably already knew it anyway.
“When are you going to break up with Suzie?”
He sighed. “I don’t know. Next time I see her.”
“Make sure you hide all the dishes.”
He rolled his eyes. “I know.”
“She showed me wedding dresses last week. You need to do it soon.”
“That girl is crazy. We’ve been dating for a few months. I never mentioned marriage once. I didn’t even introduce her to Dad.”
“I don’t know what her deal is. You sure know how to pick em’.”
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s true. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
I stared at my brother across the table. He had the same dark hair and green eyes that I did. However, he was much taller and larger than me. He played a lot of sports with his friends and prided himself on his physique. My friends always told me they thought my brother was hot but I never mentioned it to him. It was weird to think about him in that way.
The waitress brought the bill and Jared paid for it like he always did. He refused to let me pay for anything. I never understood why. I didn’t need him to take care of me.
“So are you nervous about tonight?” he asked.
“So are you a girl now?”
He laughed. “I’m just trying to talk to you about this guy. You never go to bars and you never go out with people you see on the streets, or people in general, for that matter.”
I smiled. “Well, he convinced me.”
“And how did this guy manage to pull that off? He must practice hypnosis.”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “He just didn’t give me the opportunity to say no.”
“Well, that’s never worked for me.”
“He had a charming way of going about it.”
“Such as?”
“Well, instead of sending me a drink from the bar, he sent me a rose.”
Jared rolled his eyes. “So cliché.”
“When have you ever seen a guy do that?”
“Whatever. It’s still cheesy.”
“Well, it worked.”
Jared rose from his seat. “You ready to go?”
“Yeah, sure.”
We left the restaurant and returned to the apartment building. My brother and I lived in the same complex. We didn’t do it on purpose. It just worked out that way. He lived a few stories above me and had an extra key to my apartment. Sometimes, when he wanted to hide from Suzie, he would crash at my place. I didn’t mind. He never dropped by unexpectedly. He was always respectful of my privacy just like I was of his. I knew he would always protect me and defend me no matter what my crime. I felt the same way about him.
When the elevator stopped, I got out on my floor.
“Good luck tonight,” he said before the door closed.
“Uh, thanks.”
“And don’t chase him away by being annoying.”
“You only think I’m annoying because I’m your sister.”
“No. You really are annoying.”
“Piss off.”
He smiled. “Have fun.”
I smiled back. “Thanks.”
The elevator doors closed and he disappeared. When I came back to my apartment, a rose was taped to my door along with a note.
 
Sexy lady,
 
I’m very excited about tonight. And I’ll bring my nice ass along. I know how much you like it.
 
My mouth stretched into a wide smile. My cheeks were blushing and a laugh escaped my lips. I was embarrassed but I was glad he was being funny about the whole thing. I didn’t feel so ashamed. I walked inside the apartment and placed the rose on the kitchen counter. I wondered if it was the same rose from the night before.
Koku ran into the room and jumped up my leg. I grabbed him and held him to my neck, letting him lick my skin and sniff my hair. I scratched his ears while I smiled. I felt like a school girl but I couldn’t help it. For some reason, I really liked Ethan. But I was still suspicious of him. I found it hard to believe that he was so stuck on me. There wasn’t anything interesting or amazing about me.