Going home

John meet us at the airport the next day. From what Lauren had told me last night he seems like a decent guy. He was always nice to her, held a steady job, and as far as she knew had been loyal to his girlfriends whenever he had one.

Once we landed, the four of us took a cab to the hotel. Normally we would just stay in the guest room back home, but with the potential fallout of my news, I thought it best to have somewhere else to stay. The plan was to visit my parents tomorrow, we had plans to meet up with our brother Nick today. We had agreed to meet him in the lobby later and then all go out for dinner together. We told him to bring his fiance as we all had dates, and to not tell mom and dad that we were here a day earlier. We had told him we had a surprise, which is probably as true as it gets.

Nick was 4 years older than me. He lived across town from my parents, a short 20-minute drive from where we grew up. There he shared an apartment with his girlfriend now fiance. They had been together for the last four years. Her name was Kelly, the quintessential girl next door. She worked as a hairdresser and Nick did something in an office related to construction. I never really paid that much attention when he spoke about his job.

No one spoke much as we all sat in the lobby waiting for Nick and Kelly to arrive. I'm not sure who was most nervous between me or Lauren, but at least she had a legitimate reason to feel sick.

"Hey, there you are" Nick's voice cut through the tension as he walked straight past me and over to hug Lauren. She got up, hugged him, and turned to John. "Nick, meet John.. my boyfriend". They exchanged formalities and Nick introduced Kelly. "Hey Paul, didn't know you would be here too. Aarons not here yet?" Nick asked. Lauren look like a fucking ghost that was about to throw up, but somehow pulled herself together and turned to me and Paul. "Nick..." she said bracing herself for what she was about to say. ".. You already know Paul.. Erin's boyfriend". Paul stood up and shook his hand. Poor Nick was probably very confused about why Paul was here and who Erin was. "Aaaannnd.." Lauren continued. "This is Erin... formerly known as Aaron..." Real smooth sis...

"Hey bro.." I said in the timidest voice ever. Half expecting him to slap me or storm out in anger.

Nick did neither. He simply sat down and looked at me. "Huh.." he said rather matter-of-factly. "So how long have you been Erin?" he asked. His calm reaction threw me off, but I composed myself and we all sat back down. "Three months now"

"Cool... Cool..." he said, nodding absent-mindedly as he said it.

"That's it?" I asked. "Not upset, angry, or anything?"

"Should I be? Besides I kind of had an idea."

"WHAT?"