For Better Or For Worse

s e v e n

"Hey Erin I thought I was going to come pick you up?" I asked as I entered the living room, Rachel following behind me.

My sister looked up from her phone, a smirk on her face and I knew she was in a devious mood.

"I thought you were going to as well Kelley but after trying to call you for half an hour and no answer, I decided I'd be quicker to grab a taxi and come find out was keeping you from me. I obviously found my answer." She said nodding towards Rachel.

"Shit where's my phone? I think I left it in the kitchen. Anyway Erin, this is my girlfriend Rachel." I said pulling Rachel closer to me. "Rachie, this is my annoying little sister, Erin." Rachel immediately surprised me by letting go of me and walking over to Erin, holding her arms out for a hug which my sister happily excepted.

"Finally. It's about time Kelley starts introducing me to people. I've been dying to meet you for forever." Rachel squealed and I just sat on the sofa and watched them interact.

Erin pulled away and then sat back down, watching to see what Rachel would do but she just came and sat next to me, her hand finding its way to my exposed thigh.

"I mean I'd say the same but Miss Kelley here was pretty good at keeping you a secret. Mom and Dad keep demanding she bring you home to meet them. Why were you guys so secretive anyway?" Erin asked getting straight to the point after being in our house for less than five minutes. Typical.

"I think at first it was fun. Just the two of in our own little bubble. And then Kelley worried about what people might say about us. And then time just seemed to go on." She explained with absolute ease. Where was the panicked over thinker I was used to?

"Worried about what? Why would anyone say anything? The entire world knows you're gay Kel." My sister said. She wasn't being rude or standoffish. This was Erin being genuinely interested, my sister just had a habit of coming across as a bitch.

"There's a bit of an age gap between us. We don't care but I just worried some people would and it would affect how relationship if it was still new. Now seemed like a good time as any though." I explained. Erin raised her eyebrow and I could tell her question without her even having to verbalize it. "Seven years, Rachel is twenty-three, Erin."

"Jesus, you like them young Kelley. Hey, least she's legal."

"ERIN!" I said leaning over Rachel to whack my sister and make them both laugh in the process.

"Will you order some pizzas while we go wash this paint off us? Pepperoni for us both please." I asked my sister who agreed so Rachel and I headed upstairs together.

I shut my bedroom door and instantly recognized the anxious girlfriend I had come to know.

"Did I do okay?" She whispered glancing at the door as if Erin would burst in at any moment.

"Perfect babe but I can't take you serious covered in paint. Come here and take a picture with me?" I asked and she obliged.

Although I was taller, Rachel stood behind me and hid her face into my neck- the paint on her forehead, cheek and the tip of her nose still visible. She wrapped her arm around my other shoulder and I smiled into the camera. We took a couple of different ones but the first one was my favorite.

"Rach can I post it please?" I shouted as she went to the sink to begin washing her face.

"Yeah. When you set my new phone up will you make me and Instagram so I can see the photos too and maybe we could make one for my photography too?"