Lauren looked down at Sean in front of her. Against all her will, her eyes welled with tears, as the first slowly ran down her right cheek. Sean's face never showed much emotion, but she could see it in his eyes. His deep, brown eyes were staring back at her, looking into her soul. Sean's short brown hair, brown eyes, and solid, built frame, had always caused Lauren to be strongly attracted to him.
"Yes," Lauren said. Sean's face broke into a huge smile as he moved next to Lauren and the two of them locked lips. It wasn't long before Sean rolled on top of Lauren's thin, beautiful body. It wasn't long before Sean's firm hands unclasped Lauren's bra. It wasn't long before...
***
FOUR MONTHS LATER
Lauren knew Sean was the strong, silent type. This meant she was making most of the wedding decisions. Then again, she had to admit, that's the way she wanted it. But there was one detail she knew Sean would not be up for.
"Honey," Lauren said, sitting down next to Sean on the couch, "I have a wedding question."
Sean knew the drill. He turned off the TV and turned towards Lauren.
"It's about Adam," Lauren started, taking a breath. Sean frowned; he knew Lauren pretty well, and when she took a deep breath it meant she was going to ramble.
"Adam has always been there for me. When we were growing up no matter what was going on we always had each other. When we were real young my dad had that drinking problem, and it's not like he ever hit us, but he was angry a lot. He would yell a lot. And if Adam was the target, then sooner or later he would end up back in his room, crying, and I would be there to comfort him. And when I was the target, he would always be there for me. My mom was too scared to really do anything. Now, obviously she did finally get him to quit, but by that time I was eight, and Adam was seven. We both had already gotten our fair share of yelling. But besides dealing with that..."
Sean just stared; he had heard all of this before. Lauren was almost perfect, but this was a flaw. She always rambled right before she asked for a big favor. He wasn't sure why, maybe it was an attempt to wear him out? But more likely she was nervous that he would say no.
Sean focused back on Lauren, still talking up a storm. He always thought of the Snickers commercials, "Gonna be here for a while?"
Lauren stopped to take a breath, Sean ended his daydreaming, knowing the question was near.
"It would really mean a lot to me if Adam was in the wedding party," Lauren posed.
"What?" Sean hadn't seen that one coming.
Lauren took a deep breath, "Listen, I know I'm suppose to pick the bride's maids and you're suppose to pick the groomsmen, but he's my only sibling. If you had a sister, I would definitely understand if you wanted her to be a bride's maid. And plus, we need three groomsmen. You have the best man, Mark, and obviously you and Eric are close friends, but you weren't sure about the third one. Adam just fits." Lauren forced a big smile as she took Sean's hand.
Sean had to say something, "I know you two are close, but come on. If he's in the party then does that mean he has to tag along on the bachelor party too?"
"Yes," Lauren said quietly, "I really want him to feel accepted. I mean you two are going to be brothers. Don't you want to get to know your own brother?"
Sean grimaced, he was losing. How did he always loose? "Come on Lauren, he's not even twenty-one. No place will let us in."
"Yeah, but we agreed to not do anything too crazy," Lauren started, "so I figured you guys could have it at Mark's cabin. You could drink and do whatever."
Lauren could see the doubt in Sean's eyes. "You know Adam," Lauren added, "he's cool. Whatever you guys did would stay at the cabin. He's not the type to come back and spill, even to his sister."
"Right," Sean knew she was telling the truth, the kid did have a wild streak in him.
"And it would mean so much to me," Lauren continued, gently relaxing her hand on the crotch of Sean's jeans.
Sean smiled, "why not."
***
The gym locker slammed shut as Mark looked at Sean, "Dude, her brother?"
"Yeah, but he's a cool kid," Sean said.
"Who cares," Eric added, putting on his deodorant.
Sean looked straight ahead into his locker, adding, "He's only twenty."
That stopped Mark and Eric in their tracks.
"Huh?" they both said in unison.
"Dude," Mark stated, getting pissed, "you need to be twenty-one for the strip club."
"Or anywhere that serves alcohol," Eric added, sounding alarmed.
"Right," Sean confirmed looking at Mark, "so I thought that maybe we could go up to your cabin."
"My cabin," Mark was now pissed, "what the fuck man? We can go to my cabin any weekend. This is supposed to be special."
"Well," Sean said sternly, taking a step towards Mark, "it's what we make of it. We could have all the beer we want up there."
Eric knew the drill. Mark was about four inches taller than Sean, but Sean was built thicker. They were standing only a foot or two apart, both just staring at each other. Eric knew that Mark was pissed and Sean had already made up his mind.
"Hey," Eric broke in, "Sean's right, I mean if Adam's cool then we could still hirer a stripper. The cabin would be nicer than a dirty club."
Mark always found it funny that Eric was the mediator in the group. Eric was Russian and built more than the other two, the personality just didn't fit his look. Mark looked over at Eric and turned back to Sean, "Would Adam squeal if we got a stripper?"
"Nope, he's a cool kid. I have no doubt he's seen strippers before. He is in college."
Mark backed down, "fine." He threw his stuff in his gym bag and got ready to leave, "but this is pathetic. All that crazy shit we used to do in college, and now your bachelor party is reduced to babysitting."
***
SIX MONTHS LATER
The car hugged the turns along the mountain roads, as the last radio station they could pick up went to static.
Adam turned the radio off, "Hey, thanks for inviting me. I'm sure Mark wasn't happy."
Sean glanced over at Adam in the passenger seat; everyone knew Mark was a little hot under the collar. "He'll deal."
Adam leaned back; Sean wasn't a big talker. Adam had only met his friends a few times, but they seemed like assholes. The three of them were the definition of meat heads. All of them were jocks that obsessed over who could bench more. But Adam didn't mind Sean much; after all he did make his sister happy.
"So," Adam asked, "what's on the agenda for tonight?"
Sean smiled, not looking away from the road, "Beer and a stripper."