“This summer’s going to amazing if everyday is like this,” Exhale said lazily, her sunglass-shielded eyes closed as the sun warmed the skin exposed by her pale pink bikini.

The reply that came from Raine beside her was preceded by a scoff of indignation. “Yeah, for you, maybe. Your parents aren’t still after you to get a freakin’ job for the summer.”

“Well, they can’t support your spending habits forever, you know.”

“Hey, retail therapy is essential if I’m going to make it through college, and they’re the ones after me to go. I’d be more than happy to work at the mall doing makeovers at the make-up counters in Dillard’s,” Raine replied jokingly.

They continued their banter until the back door of the Brooks’ house flew open and a male voice yelled to them, “You two are some lazy bitches!”

Exhale’s eyes flew open, her head whipping to the door as she instantly recognized the owner of the voice. “ETHAN!” she exclaimed, jumping out of the lounge chair and running over to her brother, flinging her arms around his neck in a tight hug. Ethan hadn’t made an appearance home since a couple of weeks after New Years, and between both of their schedules and massive amounts of school work, they hadn’t been able to talk as much either.

Raine, who had followed at a much slower pace, appeared behind Exhale and gave him a quick hug and a muffled, “Hey, Ethan.” No matter how many years passed and how many boyfriends she had, Raine could never help the shyness that came over her when Ethan Brooks was around.

Ignoring the perfect opportunity to tease Raine, Exhale instead forced her brother’s attention back on her. “What are you doing home?” she asked, bouncing slightly on her bare feet which were burning on the hot cement.

“I need an excuse to come home and visit the family?” he asked with mock offense in his voice as he turned and headed back inside the house.

‘Well, no,” Exhale replied, rolling her eyes as she followed him in and gestured for Raine to come along. “I just knew you were taking summer classes and working, so I figured you’d be staying at your apartment and stuff all summer.”

“I am, I just needed a break before classes start again,” Ethan explained, weaving through the house and to the kitchen. “I just wanted you all to meet someone first.”

“Meet someone?” Exhale echoed, a confused expression coming over her face. “Ethan who in the hell do we need to-” When the three of them turned the corner into the kitchen was when Exhale stopped short. A tiny, nervous looking girl was standing in the middle of it, a wary smile covering her lips. Beside her stood Magdalen, looking just as surprised and confused as Exhale did.

“This is Skylar,” Ethan said, beaming as he stepped beside the frightened stranger and put his arm around her shoulders. “She’s my fiancée.”

The last few words took nearly a full minute to register in her brain, and all the while her mouth hung open stupidly. Finally, Raine nudged her sharply with her elbow, and Exhale forced her jaw closed. This was the first she was ever hearing of Ethan having a girlfriend, much less a fiancée. Suddenly, she appreciated Taylor’s reaction to finding out about Zac and Reese’s secret affair a little more. It was impossible to deny the sting she had felt when she realized that for once, Ethan hadn’t told her something before telling anyone else. Sure, he’d usually confided in Isaac or another friend first, but Exhale had always been privy to information, especially to something so major, before her parents and her sister.

“Fiancée, huh?” Magdalen said finally, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room. Her eyes darted over to Exhale’s, needing confirmation that Exhale was just as surprised as she was. Exhale’s expression said all she needed to know, as she still looked utterly and completely shocked. “That’s wonderful, Ethan…”

“Skye, this is my mom, Magdalen. The lunatic over there is my sister, Exhale, and the normal one is her friend, Raine,” Ethan said, trying to ease the tension in the room with a joke and a laugh.

“It’s nice to meet y’all,” Skylar drawled, her weak voice barely making it to their ears. The weary smile was now one of utter discomfort.

Exhale couldn’t make words come out of her mouth as Magdalen began chatting with Skylar to try and make her more comfortable. In all honesty, she was far from any girl Exhale had ever expected her brother to date, much less marry. She was a pretty girl, there was no denying that fact, but she was rather plain. Her dark hair fell to just below her shoulders with thick, side swept bangs nearly covering her right eye completely. Her clothing consisted of a pair of denim capris and a simple white top, and she wore no jewelry or makeup. Every girl Ethan had ever dated in his life had looked like she could have stepped out of a Cosmo seconds before, no matter what the occasion might be. And though she was definitely proud of her brother for apparently going for more than just looks this time around, she couldn’t help being honestly surprised. Adding to that the fact that a bomb had just been dropped on her and her mother, Exhale was at a complete loss as to what to say.

She was so involved in her thoughts that she didn’t even realize everyone’s attention was on her until she received another sharp jab in the ribs from Raine. “I asked if you’d bring Skylar up to the guest room to get her settled in, Exhale,” Magdalen was saying, apparently not for the first time.

“Mom, the guest room?” Ethan said, looking at her skeptically. “I mean, I’m 21 and we’re engag-”

“Exhale, please bring Skylar up to the guest room and help her with her stuff while I talk to your brother,” Magdalen interrupted, giving her son a stern look.

Exhale knew better than to say anything else, so she instead turned to Skylar and smiled as warmly as she could, being that she was still completely in shock. “Sure. Come on, Skylar. I’ll carry your bag for you,” Exhale said, grabbing the duffel bag at Skylar’s feet and heading towards the stairs. “Sorry this is so awkward,” she said, finding her voice once it was only her, Skylar, and Raine on the stairs, leaving the muffled arguing of Ethan and Magdalen behind. “I mean, here you are meeting all of us, us two in bathing suits…but I guess if you’re going to be part of the family, now’s as good a time as any to start with the craziness.”

Skylar seemed to relax a little, and even cracked a smile that looked genuine. “I know what you mean. I begged and begged Ethan to call and at least tell y’all about this instead of us just showing up and announcing it, but he didn’t want to listen to me,” she said. “And y’all can call me Skye. Almost everyone does.”

“As long as we’re exchanging nicknames, most people just call me Hale. It doesn’t matter what you call me, I’ll answer to almost anything,” Exhale said with a laugh. “Here’s the guest room.” She pushed open the door to the bedroom hardly anyone saw the inside of. “Mom’ll probably get you some new sheets and stuff for the bed because we hardly ever use this room.” Exhale set Skylar’s bag down on the bed and smiled at her again. “It really is great to meet you,” she said honestly. “I know it might have seemed weird down there, but if Ethan thinks you’re great enough to marry, then I know we’ll get along.”

“I really appreciate that,” Skylar replied, appearing more relaxed by the minute. “Hopefully you and your mom can give your dad and your sister some warning before they meet me so that doesn’t happen again…”

Both Exhale and Raine laughed at her comment, the three of them relaxing considerably. They stayed in the room and talked with her for a few more minutes until Ethan knocked softly on the door and entered, an apologetic look on his face. The two younger girls slipped out of the room, leaving the couple alone. As they thudded down the stairs, Exhale turned to Raine and laughed. “After all these years, your dream man is almost completely off the market. Are you going to cry on me?”

Raine laughed and shoved her playfully. “Shut up! I’m not in love with your brother anymore.”

“Don’t think just because I was distracted outside that I didn’t see you all blushing and shit when you hugged him,” Exhale continued to tease. “Honestly, though…” she said, her laughter subsiding. “I really can’t believe he’s engaged. And that he didn’t tell me.’

“Yeah, I could tell you weren’t too thrilled being surprised with that along with your mom…” Raine said. “Do you think she’s going to make her stay in the guestroom, or cave and let them share Ethan’s room?”

“My mom?” Exhale replied, raising her eyebrows. “That girl might as well get used to that room, because I have a feeling that door will be locked from the outside at night. It’s just like me and Taylor…I mean, she knows we share a bed when I’m over at his house, and she knows we have sex, but if he ever stays over here, his butt’s sleeping in that guestroom or on the couch. No way is she letting them sleep together.”

“It’s just crazy to me, how all of us ended up with people no one would ever expect us with,” Raine said with a toss of her blond curls. “You, the girl who likes the screaming rock music dating the kid who wrote Mmmbop, me dating a skinny punk boy in a band who wears girl jeans, and your brother who always dates supermodels engaged to a plain girl who sounds like she’s from way out in the country.”

Cracking up at Raine’s explanation, she grabbed her friend’s arm and exclaimed, “I was thinking the exact same thing about her when I saw her!”

“God, we are such bitches,” Raine said with a chuckle.

“Listen, I’m gonna go check on my mom right quick…why don’t you go back out to the yard and I’ll be back out there in a few minutes?” Exhale said as they entered the living room.

With a shrug, Raine headed out the back door, and Exhale detoured into the kitchen where she found Magdalen roughly chopping onions. “Mom?” Exhale said cautiously, stepping slowly up to the bar across from her mother. “Are you okay?”

“I just really don’t understand your brother sometimes,” Magdalen said sharply, slamming the knife even more viciously as she spoke. “I mean, yes, he’s young, but even still, if you came home tomorrow engaged, it wouldn’t be such a shock to me, because at least I’m even aware that you’re in a relationship! What in the hell is he thinking, just showing up here without so much as a word about even a girlfriend, much less a fiancée! And then to have the audacity to think I’d just let them spend the night together under my own roof…well he’s just crazy! Honestly, I really can’t even believe-”

“Mom!” Exhale interjected. Magdalen abruptly stopped cutting and looked up at her, exasperated. “Mom, just calm down. Maybe he didn’t know how to tell you.”

“I guess…” Magdalen sighed, her eyes glazing over with moisture. “I guess I’m just not ready to admit to myself that you three are really growing up. It was hard enough to deal with him going away for college, but marriage? I still feel like…like he’s my little boy. I don’t think I’m ready for this, Hale.”

Exhale crossed around the bar and grabbed her mother up in a hug. “Mom, it’ll be okay…Hey, at least he didn’t show up and say, ‘This is Skylar, my soon to be baby-momma,” Exhale teased.

Magdalen let out a sputtering laugh, much like the one Exhale exhibited often, and squeezed her daughter tightly. “Thanks, Hale. I guess this is something I’ll have to get used to, right? I mean, you and Taylor have been pretty serious for awhile now…maybe I just thought that you’d be the one engaged before your brother was ever ready to settle down.”

“So did I,” Exhale laughed. “But you’re happy for him, right?”

“Of course I am…” Magdalen said. She paused, then sighed heavily and laughed. “But if that boy thinks he’s going to be sneaking around at night, he’s sorely mistaken.”

_____________________

The thoughts running through Exhale’s mind made her barely aware of what was going on in the rerun of Seinfeld that Taylor was presently chuckling over as they lay tangled on his couch later that night. The rumble in his chest resounded hollowly in her ear as she looked up at him curiously. “Taylor?” she said, breaking his concentration on the television long enough for him to look down at her in response. “Do you think we’ll get married?”

“I know we’ll get married,” he replied casually. “Why would you ask that?”

“It’s just…My mom, today when she found out about Ethan and Skylar…she just kept bringing up you and me and how she wouldn’t be surprised if we got engaged tomorrow. I mean, I think about it a lot, but I guess I never realized how…how close we are to that age, you know?”

“Haley, we’re only nineteen…we’re not going to be getting married anytime soon…” Taylor replied, looking down at her with a smile.

“I know that, but being engaged…I mean, that could be soon, couldn’t it?”

“I don’t know, are you planning on proposing to me anytime soon?”

“Taylor, I’m being serious…” Exhale groaned.

“Haley, why are we talking about this now?” he laughed. “For once, I don’t want to plan the next ten years of our lives day by day. I have no idea what I’ll be doing tomorrow, much less in a few years. Can’t we just quit talking about the future and worry about now?”

“Fine, I guess,” she huffed, turning her face back towards the television. She knew Taylor had gone back to watching the show, because every now and then her head would be moved around as his stomach shook with laughter. But his fingers sliding gently through her hair did enough to ease her mind, even if only for the rest of the night.

INDEX | CHAPTER ELEVEN