Our Love Story

Chapter One

I know what you're going to ask me: how is it possible to grow up with someone and not like them? Well, I hope I'll be able to answer your question.

Before I was born, my parents became really good friends with another married couple who lived next door to them, so naturally, their kids would end up growing up together. At the time, my parents already had a kid, my older sister, Katherine, who was 5 while my mom was pregnant with me, ready to give birth any time soon. The other woman, who is my mom's best friend and like a second mother to me, was also pregnant and ready to give birth.

So, when me and the other baby, a boy named Everett Park, were born, all the parents were excited for us to become best friends. However, that didn't happen. Once we reached the early age of three, we would always be trying to hurt each other in some way, be it pushing each other or wrestling until the other cries, with my older sister trying to calm us down and get us to get along.

Our childhood consisted of us spending birthdays together while scowling at each other the whole time, grumbling on joint family vacations, and pretty much ignoring each other as best we can. Katherine thought we were being dramatic and kept pushing for us to get along, but whatever she tried never worked. Everett would always make verbal jabs at me while I repeated whatever he said in a high voice to annoy him. Both of our parents had already given up long ago on us ever being friendly with each other, opting to just sigh whenever they caught us bickering.

When Everett and I were thirteen, I learned his biggest secret - he had a crush on Katherine. I always had a feeling that he did, with how he always seemed to smile and brighten up whenever she walked into the room, and did his best to make her laugh. What confirmed my suspicions about his feelings was when I caught him staring at picture of Katherine on his phone (well, it was more like a picture of the three of us together that he zoomed in on, her face filling the whole screen). "Ooh, what, you got a crush on my older sis?" I asked, leaning over the back of his couch as I peeked at his phone.

He jumped, quickly standing up and hiding his phone behind his back. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, stumbling over his words a bit.

"Auntie invited Katherine and I over for dinner, remember?" I told him, smirking. "You should be careful. You're lucky it was me who snuck up on you."

Rolling his eyes, he stuffed his phone into his pocket and cleared his throat. "You won't tell her, right?" he mumbled.

I stared at him, noticing how his face was a bit pink from embarrassment and laughed. "Don't worry! Your secret is safe with me."

He narrowed his eyes at me, squinting. "Can I really trust you?"

This time, I rolled my eyes. "What would I get out of telling Katherine about your little crush on her? Besides, she has a boyfriend, so there'd be no point in telling her anyway."

His eyebrow twitched at the mention of her boyfriend, however he said nothing and just walked past me and up the stairs, the sound of his room door shutting a few moments later. I scoffed, crossing my arms. Why does he have to get so dramatic over Katherine?

Once we entered high school, Katherine was already gone for college in the next state over, so she only ever came home for holidays and some random weekends. Everett and her kept in touch of course, and as for him and me, we barely spoke, walking past each other without a word at school and only seeing each other out of school when our parents invited the other family over for dinner.

One night, while Katherine and I were talking on the phone, she said something really weird. "So, Everett is really popular, huh?"

I blinked. "What?"