AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
____________
Teddy
I'm already nervous. There are too many people here and all of them are too loud for me to be comfortable. I should have waited and came with my sisters but I didn't want to have to wait for Willa to finish getting dressed. That girl never goes anywhere without looking like she just stepped off a runway.
She's the pretty sister. Not that all of my sisters aren't gorgeous. They are. My older sister, Charley, is the smart sister. Hadden is the wild one and Payton is the one getting married. That just leaves me. The sister who has anxiety attacks just thinking of going out to a bar. The quiet one. The one everyone overlooks or ignores.
Not that I mind. It has made me very good at what I do. I read people...well, actually I write about people and everyone else reads them. I’m a romance writer, which is hilarious since I don't have a clue about romance in real life. My sisters think it's this big running joke that I write about people finding true love when I've never even been kissed. You have to be close to people to kiss and I don't like being close to anyone other than my family. Not sure where that leaves me but it’s not going to change anytime soon. I've tried.
I hear a squeal and look over to the door to see Willa running to me. She's tall and her hair naturally curls around her face and bounces on her shoulders. She's beautiful but doesn't realize it. She models but she’s not like one of those snobby women who think they can only hang out with other models and rock stars. Willa is just a down-to-earth, small-town girl. I think one of the reasons people love her so much is because she has an innocence about her that makes people want to protect her.
Right behind her is a tall man with broad shoulders and strikingly blue eyes. He fits Willa somehow and before she gets to the table I'm at I can already tell they are together. They have to be, don't they? Both of them are beautiful. Both of them look like models. Both of them are coming this way. I stand up just in time to catch Willa who throws herself into my arms.
"Teddy!! I missed you so much! Tell me everything." She acts like we don't talk almost every day. Or that she didn't call me the second she got into town. She pulls away from me long enough to look me up and down. I feel seriously underdressed standing next to her. She's in a short dress that compliments her complexion and her light brown hair with its golden highlights. "Oh my goodness, where are my manners? This is Reef. Reef this is my sister Teddy."
"Teddy." He repeats my name and I realize how much trouble I'm in. Damn, I'm going to be writing about his voice once I'm back home. He holds his hand out and I have no other option but to put mine in his. "Teddy."
He repeats my name and I have to remind myself that he’s my sister's boyfriend. I try to take my hand back but he holds onto it just a bit longer before he lets go.
"Reef and I live together in the city. I brought him here as my guest for the wedding."
They live together. Maybe he's more than just a boyfriend if Willa is living with him. Willa likes her privacy almost as much as I do. She wouldn't let just anyone get that close. I open my mouth to say something about it when I am picked up off the ground in a hug.
"Hello, Teddy Bear." I know instantly who it is.
"Ford." My sister is standing right beside him. He's the groom and he’s not really supposed to be here. "Aren't you supposed to be at a bachelor party tonight?"
"The only woman I want shaking her ass around for me is standing right beside me. I don't need a party to help me give up being single." We're supposed to be here celebrating Payton's bachelorette party. Ford has must have read my thoughts on my face because he holds up his hands like he's surrendering, "I won't stop you girls from having your fun. I'm just going to make sure you all won't be bothered while you do it." Said another way: I'm going to chase all the men away from Payton and make sure no other guy gets too close to what's mine so I don't go to jail for murder before my wedding.
Damn, that must be nice. To have the kind of love where a man wants to spend all his time with you, can't get enough of you, and does anything for you. I sneak a peek at Willa's man for some strange reason. He's looking at me which doesn't make any sense. Why wouldn't he want to look at Willa? She's much prettier than I am. He's here with her not me.
Does he act like Ford and thinks Willa hangs the moon and stars and never wants to be far from her? He wouldn't be wrong. Willa is pretty damn great. I think she hangs the moon and stars - whatever the fuck that actually means.
Before anyone can say another word more commotion at the door causes us all to turn around. Standing at the door are my other two sisters, Hadden and Charlie. Hadden is still living with my mom and dad. She had Charlie pick her up so she could drink tonight I'm sure, even though she's only eighteen. She's our bad girl and since she's also the baby of the family everyone gives her a little more...freedom. She has to share the title of Baby with Payton though. They're twins. Not that Payton was ever as wild as Hadden. Payton popped out knowing what she wanted and started working to get it. The first day of school she went for Ford who was like three years older than her.
Of course, anyone on the outside looking in wouldn't really be able to tell which ones of us are twins and which ones are just sisters since we all look alike to some degree. Payton and Hadden have always looked so different it was easy to tell them apart. Hadden has dark brown hair and Payton's hair tends to run towards the redder side. Willa has the lightest hair out of all of us with her golden-brown curls and Charlie has darker red, auburn. Me? I have brown. Just brown. It's not as dark as Hadden's, not as light as Willa's, and not red like Payton's and Charlie's. It's just brown.
We all have a mix of green and brown eyes with mine being the brownest. They're just brown. I feel like sometimes I just get washed out around all of my sisters' quirks and interesting traits. I am just stuck in the middle. Technically, me and Willa are both stuck in the middle but Willa could never be overlooked. She's too pretty.
"Let's dance!" Willa and Hadden are pulling Payton to the dance floor while me and Charlie are left sitting at the table. Willa's hottie excuses himself leaving us alone for a precious few minutes.
"Are you watching Hadden tonight?" I'm not really asking. I know she will. Charlie watches over all of us. I'm more just offering my help. She nods. "I'll help."
"Did Willa bring a date with her?"
"Yeah, his name's Reef. They live together."
Charlie's eyes widen. "Do mom and dad know?"
I shrug my shoulders. If they don't, I'm not going to be the one to tell them. Not that Mom and Dad aren't awesome and wouldn’t support us no matter what. They would just be all over this guy finding out everything there is to know about him.
"Oh wait," Charlie looks away like she's trying to remember something important. "I don't think...."
Before she can finish, the others have come back from dancing and are ordering us rounds of drinks. And once more, I fall back into the shadows and start observing everyone.
"Where's Reef?" Willa looks around for her man who seems to be missing at the moment.
