The summer I turned 19, my aunt and uncle came to stay with us while their house was being remodeled. It was only supposed to be for a couple of weeks, but the first month passed and they still had not gone.
My mother became increasingly short with her sister as the days dragged on, and my father, now that he had a drinking buddy, spent more time out than at home. This was fine with me, because it kept them out of my hair. Besides, I had my eye on the gorgeous foreign exchange student they'd brought along.
Nick was from a small country... over there... I had no idea which one. His English was perfect; better than mine, in fact, and his accent was thick and sexy as hell. His hair was light, and fell over his eyes in a Devon Sawa kind of way, and his skin was slightly tanner than mine, which set off his beautiful blue eyes magnificently.
At first, I'd been nervous around him. I felt like I was always on display, and had to be ready for anything, which is exhausting work. I waited until everyone was asleep at night to take a shower, to avoid being interrupted. Instead of my usual sleep attire, which was panties and maybe a bra, or a tank top, I resorted to pajama pants and a t-shirt. No matter what, I was not going to let myself get caught looking bad in front of him.
It wasn't that I was unattractive, because I was damn cute. I had sandy hair in layers down to my shoulders, and blue eyes, and I'd finally developed that six pack I'd been dreaming of, and my legs were perfectly toned, along with my arms, and my breasts were just the right size for my body. I was confident. But there's getting dressed up and going out to dinner and a movie with a guy, and there's frozen pizza and rented movies which you'd like to watch in your pjs, but can't, because there's this gorgeous guy on the other end of the couch who looks hot without even trying.
One morning, I woke up to the sound of my mother's voice in the next room.
"If they want to go off and be men, we'll go off and be women," she said, as I sleepily rolled out of bed and across the hall. She was packing a bag.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Your father and uncle are going away for the weekend. So, Marla and I are going away also. There's everything you need in the kitchen, and I'm leaving some money in our secret hiding place for pizza or whatever, just don't throw a party and don't burn down the house, okay?"
"What about -"
"I love you, see you Monday," she said, passing me and dragging her suitcase down the stairs and out the door. And just like that, she was gone.
"What's up?" Nick's voice behind me made me jump.
"They left."
"All of them?"
"Yep."
"Hm. Breakfast?"
I nodded, and we went down to the kitchen. As I passed the mirror on the stairs, I realized that my hair was a mess and I had no make up on. I tried to smooth my hair, but had to give up and pull it up into a ponytail.
"You look beautiful this morning, is that okay to say?" Nick said as I settled on the couch next to him with a bowl of cereal.
"Thanks," I blushed.
"I can tell you take pride in your appearance, because your makeup is always just so and you spend at least half an hour on your hair every morning. And your clothes are always..." he swallowed and seemed to lose his nerve.
I had no idea how to respond. We'd hardly said a word to each other during the entire month he'd lived down the hall from me, and yet all this time that I'd been daydreaming about him, he'd been noticing how beautiful I was. I pondered this for a moment, and relaxed for the first time in four weeks.
For the rest of the morning, Nick and I watched television and talked about his home and his family, and what it was like living with my aunt and uncle for the past two years.
"I wish we'd done this a month ago, I've been wasting all this energy making sure that I looked pretty 24/7," I laughed.
"Do not think it went unappreciated," he said, winking. "When I signed up for this program, I never imagined that one of the perks would be living with a beautiful girl like you."
I blushed.
"Can I just say, though, that this outfit is my favorite of yours so far?" he smiled, moving his eyes over me.
