CHAPTER ONE: SECRETS

ELLE’S POV

The morning light streams through my window reminding me that the day has begun and i smile to myself because i have a lot of things to do today, I'd been planning for weeks for Jack's birthday. I'd known him for so long, and yet, every year, it still felt like a thrill to plan something to celebrate him.

I stretch myself which ever way and jump out of bed, today I felt extra happy because i had a birthday dinner to plan, tomorrow was my brother's best friend's Birthday and he also happens to be my own best friend since we all grew up together.

I walk into my bathroom, brush my teeth as i hum a song i love to myself, looking at myself in the mirror i look happy and my eyes seem to sparkle, i wash up my face and move to my closet finding my favourite jeans and small white top getting myself ready feeling all happy and excited as i rush downstairs.

My family was all there sitting at the kitchen table, we were a very close family there was my older brother Luca then me the middle child, and my little sister Sam who i adored too much.

There was so much love in our tiny family, we did almost everything together and loved doing little things as a family, we never fail to have breakfast as a family and today was like any other day.

“Hi everybody” i greet them as i bestow little hugs and pecks on them,

“You look too happy” I hear my Dad say while he drinks his coffee.

and i just smile at him as i sit on the table while my mom hands me a cup of coffee.

“ of course she is, its Jacks Birthday tomorrow she is always happy on that day than when its her own birthday” Mom says while laughing as everyone joined.

As i sit Luca also comes through the door coming from his house next door, he is always here for breakfast in the mornings. He sits down as Mom and Dad get ready to leave for work.

We eat and talk for a while after finishing i get up from the table, i had so many things to do today, i Finished college a few months back and there are many things i am planning for my life, i am to join the Family business which my Dad and brother run.

My mom had other things she did for work she was a very renown Psychologist and had her own private practice and my sister Sam was only still in high school but as for me am so ready to start working so i can start making and having money that i worked for my self, Cheers to being independent girly’s in the world.

We live in a very small beautiful town outside of new York, in Connecticut and i love it here my brother has his house next to my parents and he is very much single but he is also always busy with running the family business so its kind of understandable to me at the moment. For his next birthday i have to remember to buy him a dog because he has a big house and i feel bad because its always just him living in it if i don’t count the ex girlfriend that had lived with him for a while to our parents shock.

But this leaves me and Sam who are still living at home which will not be long especially for me since i plan on moving to my own apartment soon, that i have found just around the corner, in about two days time i will be moving in, i feel like i am grown up now 23 years is old enough i think for big girl duties, and responsibilities and living on my own is the next step to my independence and taking care of my self.

While am clearing the table the door opens and my best friend Claire walks in looking as beautiful as ever she is so beautiful and she has her signature smile on as always but i notice her looking straight at my brother Luca today, did something happen? I think to myself and he also seems to be looking at her and only her.

I have always noticed how my best friend and brother look at each other and how they interact with each other and even though Claire has told me she does not like him i feel like there is some chemistry there but what do i know about chemistry anyway,

Even though my brother has always had girlfriends Claire has never had an official boyfriend which is the same for me, But It would not surprise me if they got together.

She walks over to the breakfast table and she greats me and Sam cheerfully except when she greats Luca she looks away shyly as usual then she follows me as we leave together.

Claire and i go to the Mall as she is helping me get the birthday presents and stuff that are needed for the big guy’s day.

My guy best-friend Jack, has been around my family for the whole of my life , he is also my brother's best-friend and he has always been around ever since we were kids, we never got along well when we were young but when we were growing older we had become inseparable from each other, he is Two years my senior and he has everything going well for him he has a company that he runs with his brother and they make big bucks, he owns a big beautiful home for himself, he has everything and more from the way i see it and i am proud of him.

He is always with me when he has free time from work but he is out of town today which gives me enough time to get him stuff for his birthday tomorrow, i am so excited for him to add one more year i would do anything for him he is the best thing in my life, he is the closest thing i have had to being close to any guy in my life apart from my brother he is everything to me.

I had a realisation when i had turned sixteen and he was 18 at the time, with all the teenage hormones and changes that take place during that time i realised a change in how he had always made me feel. He made me happy and I was always looking forward to seeing him every single day, always wanting to be around him which made me realise that i had started to like him, and thats how my crush on him started.

i would sometimes dream about him all of a sudden, how could i not when we were always around each other, and Luca being his best friend too meant he was at my house since childhood, His whole family and mine were very close his family friends we went to the same church and country clubs and organised stuff together during the holidays.

His family was well known in our town because his Dad has been the mayor for almost fifteen years. So his family hosted a lot of gatherings at their home which meant we were always around each other and so its not surprising that i did develop Feelings for him, the fool became my dream guy since then.

Claire knows about my crush on him but i would never tell Jack how i feel, i am very much afraid of him rejecting me because obviously he does not feel that way about me, am sure he looks at me as his friends little sister then his best friend, it would break my heart if after all this time he was no longer in my life because i complicated our relationship so i would rather not tell him so i can have him around and not disturb anything we have going on. I know my confession would only end with my heart being broken.

Me and claire arrive at the mall and we look around for some guy stuff to buy him and get gift wrappings, cards and a big cake and some decorations, to top it all off i would also have to cook him his favorite foods for the birthday dinner.

“You know you have to tell him sometime in the future right”? Claires asks me as we walk to the next shop.

“ its not so easy, Claire you and me both know he sees me as a little sister and friend”, i pout to myself, feeling vulnerable.

"but keeping it inside is eating away at you. Maybe it's worth the risk? at least you'll know and can move on."

“ i don’t know, we’ll see”. Elle responds.

We end up shopping for ourselves and had some food before finishing up and then heading back home, i drop Claire at her house which is also not very far from mine. Then i drive myself back home, my mind wandering to the gift I'd chosen for Jack, wondering if he'd like it. I always felt a little nervous around him, like I was walking on eggshells, afraid that maybe he can tell how i feel for him, that he would know i feel more than friendship for him. I'd known him for so long, my fear was justified because i knew that it would end our friendship.

I arrive home after the long day me and Claire had at the mall and am surprised to actually see Jack's car in my brother's driveway, i did not think he was going to be back in town so soon but am happy i get to see him so i take everything for his birthday out of the car very quickly and i hide them in my room then i run over to Luca's house, i open the door and i know exactly which room they are in but as i am about to knock on the door of the room where they are in i hear something thats interesting to my ears so i stop by the door and eavesdrop for a sec.

“I like her,”Jack says, his deep voice low and serious. “She is beautiful and i think she is a good woman,you know we have been talking for some weeks now", Jack continues to say to my Brother Luca.

"If you say so Man thats amazing ", Luca responds.

As I stood outside the door, listening to Jack's conversation with my brother, I felt my heart skip a beat. Who was this 'her'? And why did I feel like my world was about to change?"

Who has Jack been talking to?, i question in my head. There is a woman? What about me?.

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