The Story of Us

- two -

"My wonderful family!" I hear Theo say, his arms stretched out as he reaches closer. He hugs his mom, giving her kisses on the cheeks before going to his dad and giving him a huge hug.

"Theo! I didn't know you were coming!" Brielle said hugging him tightly. He gave her a small kiss on the top of her head, hugging her back just as tight.

Theo and Brielle were close but not extremely close. Brielle tried to keep in touch with Theo as best as she possibly could, but as life happens, they'd both often get caught up in their own thing and not respond to the other as much. Theo was currently in school to be a pediatrician, which means he was really good with kids, which also meant he had many women practically throwing themselves at him. Theo looked very similar to Brielle, but uniquely different in his own way. Theo had the looks of a typical bad boy player, but truly he was anything but. Theo would grab every girl's attention in the room and just like Brielle, he loved the attention but wouldn't randomly sleep with a girl. Theo had been in more relationships than Brielle in his life, but he was anything but a man-whore. He was extremely sweet and caring, most likely even more so now because of training to be a pediatrician.

Theo had the same color brown hair as Brielle, and the same color eyes, eyelashes and eyebrows. Theo stood just below 6'2 and even though I've never seen his bare body, you could tell he was muscular. His hair had loose curls at the ends, although it was pulled back in a bun, you could see the curls framing his face and some falling out of his bun. His lips were perfectly shaped and for as long as I can remember they were never not moist. I haven't seen Theo since I was around 17, not only because the minute he graduated at 18 he moved out with his buddies and went to college, but because he wasn't my friend and if anything, he looked at me as a little sister.

Theo walked over to my family's side of the table, giving my dad a bro hug before chatting with him for a little. He then hugged my mom and gave her a kiss on her cheek, complimenting her over and over and causing her to blush slightly at the sudden attention. My heart started pounding and I held my breath as he walked closer to me, I felt almost paralyzed as he stood in front of me, his arms reaching out, indicating he was expecting a hug. I stood up, giving him a hug, praying that he couldn't feel my racing heart against his own chest. He smelled of fresh laundry, pine, and old spice. He held our hug for only a little longer before pulling away and going towards Avery, which for her, he grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it, telling her how beautiful she looked. I glanced at Avery as she looked like she could've passed out. He helped her sit back down before scooting her chair in for her and taking a seat right in the middle of Brielle and me. I frowned slightly as I sat back down, getting lost in everyone's chatter as everybody asked Theo many questions on how college is going.

As the chatter continued, I told my mom I was going to go outside and get some fresh air while we waited for the food to come. I found a small bench on the side of the restaurant that I sat down at, staring into the parking lot. Once again, my mind wandered to everything else happening in my world. Especially with my schooling. I never went to college. I wanted to take a gap year and ended up never actually going. I blamed it on moving out with some friends too young and that plan blowing up in my face and me moving back in with my parents. Then finding a decent job that didn't require me to have any experience in college and finally getting my own place but barely scraping by. As much as I wanted to go now, I just couldn't. I developed severe social anxiety after having my very first panic attack in a crowded mall on Black Friday. I tried to go to college, but it didn't work out for me and by that, I mean I didn't even go for the college tour, so I knew then I wasn't going to be able to go.

I didn't even notice anyone sit next to me until I got my shoulder nudged. I immediately got a whiff of that strong pine smell and old spice, realizing it was Theo.