Page 100 of Some Things Never Change

I crossed my arms across my chest as I raised a curious brow at him. He was usually the better player out of the three younger guys. His skills even rivaled Uncle Gary since he always went to his dad whenever he wanted to get better.

Andy avoided my gaze as his cheeks heated up bright red, and the others started chuckling. He quietly took a swig from the water bottle he held. Jonathan turned to me with the same grin Anthony wore, despite being on the losing team.

“We’ve been joking about how Andy’s always been head over heels for you,” he said with a ragged breath.

“How so?” I asked, confused.

Before Andy could even speak up to defend himself, Anthony blurted out loud. “Andy cried himself to sleep when he found out you had your first kiss with Diego Ramos back in high school,” he said. “Bet you never knew about that one!”

Diego Ramos was the son of one of Uncle Gary’s project managers. We kissed one cool summer night on the Hughes' back porch when he and the twins used to be close. He came by the house often to play video games with the boys during the summer. I asked him for a kiss one night he slept over in secrecy.

After seeing Andy kiss one of his girlfriends a few weeks before, I was curious at the time. I’d seen so many fiery kisses through TV and movies, but when I caught my best friend fervently kissing his then girlfriend, that was something else. I wanted to know what it felt like and if it was as amazing as everyone made it seem.

Diego was sturdy, dashing, and we were fifteen. But it was only once for the experience. I realized then that it wasn’t the act of kissing that made it passionate. It was the person you were doing it with. Although Diego was cute, he wasn’t Andy. He wasn’t a boy I liked, and I never asked for a kiss from him again. Regardless, I truly did not need Uncle Gary to know about my little mouth-to-mouth experiment with one of his project managers’ sons.

“Diego Ramos, huh? Julie, you sure like the handsome ones, don’t you?” commented Uncle Gary with a laugh.

Both Andy and I glared at Anthony with heat rising up both our necks as Uncle Gary and Jonathan continued to chuckle away. Meanwhile, Anthony simply shrugged.

“Stop glaring at me like that. I’m happy for you two,” he said.

His statement seemed to have calmed Andy down a bit as the two brothers shared the same wide grin as they stood across from one another. Anthony’s grin was a bit boxier than Andy’s, but it was still similar, nonetheless. Both the Hughes brothers’ grins grew wider, if possible. Anthony patted Andy’s shoulder.

“I still can’t believe it took you two this many years to get together, Julie!” continued Anthony. “You even got this guy to arrange flowers for you, can you believe that?”

“I gotta say, I’m not surprised. Julie, you’ve always had him wrapped around your little finger.” Uncle Gary laughed.

“Is that what it takes to win my sister over?” asked Jonathan, stunned. He glanced over at me. “Glad to hear you finally have some standards now!”

I knew he was referring to David without even having to say his name. Although my ex got along fine with my brother, Jonathan wasn’t a big fan of his.

“He was cute, and I made that mistake only once. Give me a break!” I said, getting a little defensive.

Jonathan rolled his eyes. “Cute, my fucking ass. He looked like a thumb. I’m surprised it even took you this long to see how amazing Andy is. If all it took was for you two to move in together for you to see that, then we should’ve locked you both up in the backyard shed back in high school.”

Anthony let out a bellowing laugh at Jonathan’s scathing comment, and I flipped him off with a red face.

“Don’t go flipping me off! You traumatized us for life with your asshole ex-boyfriend. Why do you think we were all anxious about the man you were going to bring home?” said Jonathan.

Before I could tell him to shut up, he started giving me this big, ecstatic smile. There was so much warmth radiating from his beam. Although he would probably tell me later when we were alone, I knew my brother was happy for me.

He continued, “Thank God it’s finally Andy. I had a hunch something was there, and I even pointed it out, too. But I just couldn’t put my finger on it then.”

I shook my head. “You’re acting as if I’ve never had a crush on Andy.”

That was when Anthony and Jonathan came to a sudden pause, all the while Uncle Gary was laughing.

“I’ve always known you two were in love with each other,” he said, warmly.

“What? Since when?” asked Anthony, surprised. His eyes quickly darted between Andy and me.

“Are you telling us that you’ve always liked Andy?” asked Jonathan, shocked.

“Yeah, since we were teens,” I answered. “I was just really good at keeping my feelings in check so none of you would figure it out.”

Jonathan’s jaw dropped as Anthony gave me an astounded look. “Why didn’t you two get together earlier?” they asked, in unison.

“Because Julie’s that oblivious,” Andy laughed.

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