Strings Attached

Chapter Seven

"Come on! Hurry up! I'm dying to go swimming!" exclaimed Brianna excitedly.

Brianna was very fond of the outside world. She could be outside all day without getting bored, and I admired her for it. I was never the kind of girl whose idea of fun was being outside, chasing bugs and doing mud cakes. Perhaps that was why I had never gotten along with the other kids when I was a little girl. Well, maybe that, and the fact that I was socially awkward.

"Come on, Tina! It's been a while since we went to the pool!" exclaimed Brianna, looking at me with pleading eyes.

I would have refused to go. I would have gone back to sleep and told my mom that I was sick and could not go to the pool, but seeing Brianna's pleading eyes made my heart melt. She truly wanted to go. She really wanted for me to go with her.

It had been a while since we had done any stuff together, and I did not want for Brianna to see me as the boring older sister that I really was. I wanted her to see me as cool and fun, just like little sisters are supposed to see older sisters.

The truth is that I could have lied and told Brianna that I had a bunch of homework to do and simply had no time to go to the pool with her, but I did not want to hurt her feelings. I knew Brianna was very capable of having fun without me, but she still wanted me to go because I was her sister, and I could not disappoint her.

I remembered seeing those same pleading eyes the day my dad left. She had asked him to stay; Brianna had shown him those pleading eyes, full of tears, and he still had left. He had not cared about how disappointed he had made Brianna. He had only thought about himself, and I did not want to be like him. I did not want to disappoint my sister because she had already been disappointed too many times before.

I sighed. "Fine," I finally said.

Brianna's eyes lit up, and she immediately walked towards me and hugged me tightly. She had not hugged me in a long time, so I could not help smiling as she wrapped her arms around me and thanked me for having accepted.

I let go of the hug and smirked. "Do you think I should wear my pink swimsuit or the yellow one?" I asked her.

Brianna shrugged. "You look beautiful in both," she said.

I smiled. Perhaps Brianna was only saying that because I had agreed to go with her. Perhaps she was saying it to make me feel better. But whatever it was, I loved my sister to death, and I also thought she looked beautiful in her swimsuit.

***

As soon as we arrived at the pool, Brianna and Mom jumped inside the pool excitedly, leaving Theodore and me standing outside the pool.

"Come inside, guys! The water's perfect!" exclaimed Mom as she playfully splashed water in Brianna's face.

Brianna frowned. "Mom, stop that!" she exclaimed, grinning.

Theodore smiled and took off his shirt.

Okay, I was definitely not ready for the sight in front of me. My jaw almost dropped to the ground as I saw how sexy Theodore looked without his shirt.

I would have never expected for Theodore to have a sexy body. Sure, I kind of knew he had a nice body, but I had not expected for him to look so sexy without his shirt.

Theodore probably noticed me staring at him because he stared at me with an amused expression, probably wondering if I could be any more obvious. You would not blame me if you took a look at his body, though. He was way more lean and muscular than I had expected. He almost looked like Captain America.

"Are you getting in or what?" he asked, winking. Then, he jumped inside the pool, splashing water everywhere.

"I—I... yeah.... Pool looks good," I said, mentally punching myself for talking so stupidly. I did not want for him to notice how hot he actually looked, but it was hard not to stare. He looked even hotter with water running down his chest.