Author's Note - All characters are 18 and up.
Thank you to everyone who has enjoyed my story so far, and I hope that I can keep up your high praises.
I do have much of this story planned out, so I will do all I can to get these chapters out in due time, but I don't want to force these out and ruin the story I've worked so hard on.
And I will be working on The Bet as well so look out for that!
Enjoy.
"Sean...I'm in love with you." Is this real life? Am I still in the hospital right now? Deep in a coma, unable to wake? Emma waited to see if I was going to break my "no interruption" rule. Unbeknownst to her, my brain was frozen due to shock. "Sean, I'm sorry," she continued. "This is just a feeling I can't escape. I've tried to run from it. I've tried to suppress it. I just can't do it anymore. After everything that happened yesterday and today, I don't know what I would do if I didn't get this off my chest. When I took you to the hospital yesterday, I truly thought I was going to lose you forever. I told myself, if you made it through the surgery safely, I would tell you no matter what. I know that this is something a sister should never feel for her brother, but like I said, I can't stop these feelings for you. But now you probably think I am a sick freak or something, and never want to talk to me ever again. That's why I wanted to have tonight, one last night of us being siblings, before you hated me and wanted me out of your life." She lowered her head in defeat. I took this as my chance to speak again, but I was still in shock to the point the words wouldn't form themselves. I took my hand to her chin and raised it, so she was looking back at me again. Tears were running down her face, which broke my heart. But the tears helped me find the words I had been longing to tell her for so many years.
"Em...I love you as well." Yeah, I thought to myself, this is real life. Fate had finally smiled upon me. It looked as though her mind had frozen up, like mine had. But I left it at that as I worked to wipe away her tears, and smiled at her.
"You do? Like 'Love, Love'?" I smiled even wider and nodded, almost ready to tear up myself. Emma started to bawl as she dove into my chest, hugging me as hard as she could.
"Careful there baby girl. Still recovering here." I said trying to hold back a grimace. She started to pull away but I pulled her back, just more gently this time.
"I'm sorry, I'm just so happy you don't hate me, let alone feel the same way." She softly wept into my chest.
"I know how you feel. It almost seems too good to be real." Emma pulled away from my chest, but stayed close. We sat there for a few minutes, just thinking and praying this was not a fever dream. She finally broke the silence.
"What do we do now? If this was a movie or something, we would have probably tackled each other to the ground and started ripping each other's clothes off by now." I wasn't sure if she was joking, or trying to hint at something. Even though I had been wishing for this moment for so long, I never really put any thought into what I would do first if this dream ever became real. I was sure of one thing though, I did not want to ruin this moment by just rushing forward into sex and mess up this once in a lifetime opportunity. I grabbed her hand in mine.
"Emma, I know already in my heart that I love you more than anything on this planet. I do not want to do anything that might jeopardize this, like rushing into all of this like an idiot." I took a deep breath in, so I could stop shaking. My nerves were trying to get the best of me. "I know that if we actually try and make this work that we will have higher obstacles than any other couple, but if that means I get to spend my life with you, then baby girl, 'There ain't no mountain high enough'."
"Wow," she breathed.
"What?"
"I guess I never knew how much of a romantic goofball you are." She giggled. "But if I get to spend all of my life with you, then 'there ain't no river wide enough'." We laughed together, and slowly grew quiet. We both knew what should happen next. Our faces were already a foot or so away from one another, and the nervous energy grew within both of us. We both seemingly pushed through it as our faces grew closer and closer. I could feel her breath on me. Fate had been so good to me just now, but like luck, it flipped as the telephone began ringing. It startled both of us, as Emma looked at me and rolled her eyes, as she got up to answer it.
"Hello?" Emma said to the person on the other side. She then called out to me. "It's mom, they made it to the hotel." She then began to speak a bit more softly, as she continued the conversation with our mother, while in the kitchen.
"Great," I said softly and sarcastically more to myself than anyone in particular. I started to worry a bit though. Mom and Dad. How were we going to keep this from them? I doubt we could go very long without one of them figuring things out. What if we just were upfront with them and laid everything out? I doubt they would understand. What mother or father could cope with, let alone approve of their own children falling head over heels for one another? Either way, approval or not, I wasn't ever going to stop loving Emma, and now that I knew the truth about her feelings, I would fight to the death to be with her. A sense of pride started to swell in me, which was a welcomed feeling, especially due to the fact that all night I was nervous and scared that I had ruined everything, and would never be able to talk to her again. I ran my hand through my hair, and just took a huge breath, which felt like exiling the stress and heartache of the past few years out of my body.
I began to think about how close I just was to kissing the girl I had dreamt about for so many nights. Then I thought about all the love stories I had ever read. Usually the two lovers would come close to their first kiss, hesitate or get distracted, then would have to wait for so long to share that moment again. This was my love story and I was going to kick that cliche to the curb. I had come somewhat to the brink of death in the last 48 hours and you aren't promised tomorrow. So with all the strength I had, I got up and made my way to the kitchen. Emma must have seen the urgency in my eyes or thought something was wrong.
"Mom, I have to go. Sean needs me." She had no clue how true that statement was. "Love you too. I will," she said as she hung up the phone. "What's wrong?" Without a word, I walked up to her and placed my hand on the side of her cheekbone. My thumb rubbed her cheek as I pulled her face into mine. Her lips were soft, and she instantly melted in my hand, as she started to kiss me back. It may have only lasted for a minute, but it was years of torment erased in a second. We finally parted lips, and breathed heavily towards one another. I could have had a heart attack at that moment, and I would have a smile in my casket. Emma just looked up at me for a moment, before I gave her another, quicker, peck on the lips this time.
"That's what I needed," I smirked.
"Glad I could be of service," She replied giggling.
After that, we returned to the couch, and cuddled for a bit, just enjoying each other, not saying a word. We were finally able to enjoy being close to each other in our new romance bliss. Emma finally broke the silence.
"So are we a couple now?" I was confused by her question.
"Yeah, I do believe so, why do you ask?" I replied.
"Just wondering, since you know, how complicated things could become."
"Well baby girl, I will never want someone else in my life, so I guess you are stuck with me until you see fit." She looked at me and gave me yet another kiss.
"Forever and a day."
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"You said however long I see fit. I see it being forever and a day." I could only smile, and hug her closer. Then a new burning question entered my mind.
"How long?" I asked.
"Huh?"
"How long have you felt this way about me?" I asked again with genuine curiosity. Had she been fixated on me as long as I had felt the same for her?
"Well to be totally honest, it happened after 'The Incident'." She sheepishly explained. "I talked to mom after you saved me, and she said you bursted towards the pool like a torpedo. Then I remembered how you cradled me in your arms, as you lifted me out of the pool. It was like something out of a romantic movie. And to cap it all off, even though you didn't have to, you stayed with me all day and watched the fireworks show with me. I knew in that moment that I would never find any man that cared about me as much as you do Sean. So I guess it just grew and grew from there, and yesterday it came to a climax with you going to the hospital." I sat there in disbelief. Emma must have sensed something in my lack of a response. "What you thinking about?"
