Owned by My Best Friend's Brother

2. Welcome Home

STELLA POV

The town car stops in front of a huge house with a large front yard. Most of the houses are similar if not a little smaller. I've never seen so many windows in a house. The driver opens the door and we exit the completely unnecessary limo. My best friend is a princess through and through and her family treats her as such; hence the limo. The driver pulls our bags out of the trunk and walks ahead of us and places them on the porch. I made a mental note for myself. When I settle down, I want a home just like this.

"Come on Stella, stop daydreaming." Cici made fun of me while reaching out her hand for me to take. "I'm coming." I whispered, still in awe of the home she grew up in.

She grasps my hand and pulls me with her to the front door and, before she can ring the bell, someone who I presume is her brother answers. He has dark black hair and hazel eyes, his facial features are the only things that match Cici's. He is very handsome and towers over me, but you can tell he's her younger brother, his eyes give him away.

"CiCi!" He booms and envelopes her in a bear hug.

Her arms are flaying around and her legs are swinging around.

"Let me down, Logan! You big brute!." She giggles and huffs. "That is not the way you greet your favorite brother." Logan scolds her playfully. "You're my favorite little brother. Now can you please let us in?" She teases him while pushing past him. "Hey! I'm your only little brother. And who is we?" He looks over Cici's shoulder as she pulls me behind her. "This is Stella. Stella, this is my little annoying brother Logan." She beams, pausing her steps for him to shake my hand.

I stuck my hand out expecting a handshake.

"Nice.." My greeting was interrupted by the bear hug Logan gave me. I'm as stiff as a board, not used to such physical contact.

"Let her go Logan!" She yells and swats his back.

He puts me down and smiles at me. He must be five-nine or something. It's a little overwhelming. I'm used to being the shortest person in the room, but is everyone going to be this gigantic?

"Sorry, she's just so tiny and cute." Logan chuckles and walks ahead of us. We followed behind him and Cici put her arm around my shoulder, trying to calm me down. She can sense I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed. "Sorry Stella, my brother just turned sixteen and grew about a foot. Girls are all over him. He probably thought you would be too, the little pest." She rolls her eyes and glares at him while he grins.

I don't bother responding, I'm too busy looking at the people that are waiting in the living room. She didn't tell me they would be having a welcome home gathering. I'm sure my eyes are wide as saucers and even with my tanned skin the blush must be noticeable on my cheeks.

CICI POV

My bestie looks like she's going to blow a gasket. I feel bad for not telling her my family is having a welcome home party for me, but she would have run for the hills! She is not anti-social or anything, but she prefers her own company, at least that's the way she justifies it. She also overacts. The only people here are my immediate family. She's acting like there are fifty people here when in reality there are about five or six people here aside from us. I can see how my family can be intimidating though. We are on the taller side and very friendly.

"Cici honey we missed you!" My mother smiled and walked over to hug me. "Hey mom, this is Stella, my best friend." I pushed her forward so my mom could attack her with love.

For being so small, Stella is pretty strong. I had to really put some weight on that gentle push into mom's arms. As expected, my bestie awkwardly stands while my mom hugs and gushes over her. We are going to love her out of that shell she's in if it's the last thing we do.

"Stella, it's so nice to meet you. All Cici ever talks about is Stella this and Stella that. You can call me Vera by the way." Mom smiles and puts her arm around my bestie, guiding her further into the room.

Stella looked back at me expecting me to save her. Not this time, girlfriend. She is such an amazing person but she wont allow anyone to see it. Most females at school think she's weird and the males are intimidated because she's already half way though college and is our age. Don't get me wrong, plenty of guys have tried asking her out but she always has an excuse. She is so focused on graduating she's neglecting the best part of college. MEN!

"Hey sweetheart." My dad hugs me into his side and watches as my mom introduces Stella to my my brother and his girlfriend.

"Hi daddy." I smiled at him and he kissed my forehead. "So he's back with Tina again?" I nodded my head toward my brother Derick and his on-again-off-again girlfriend. "Yes, unfortunately. You know your brother, he doesn't want to settle down but he likes having someone to take to family events." He sighs and shakes his head.

I can tell Tina doesn't like the way Derick is looking at Stella. Derick is a good guy, but at twenty years old he enjoys playing the field. Tina knows this and continues to let him come and go as he pleases. That's her fault if you ask me, I wouldn't put up with that crap. My mom takes Stella over to sit on the couch. Luckily for her, my grandparents are in Chicago, where they live, and aren't here to join in on the attack. There is only one person missing.

"Daddy, where is Alex?" I looked around the room to see if I missed him. "He's on his way, he had a meeting with the accounting department he couldn't postpone." He assured and walked over to sit with everyone.

My mother quickly introduces Stella to him and, since he's the tamest out of all of us, Stella catches a break.

"It's a hot day, we should take advantage and use the pool!" Logan suggested to everyone. "That sounds like a good idea." I smiled at Stella and pulled her up so we could go to my room and change. "I don't have a swim suit, Cici." She says while we walk up the stairs. "No worries, you can borrow one of mine." I said quickly while pulling her into my room.

I quickly go into my closet and start to pull out some for me to choose from and some I think would fit her. She is going to kill me. I don't own any one-piece bathing suits.

"I don't think anything of yours would fit me though." She points out, trying to get out of having fun.

I poke my head out of the closet and narrow my eyes at her. She looks away and starts to examine my room.

"Nice try Stella. I have plenty of bikins and they should fit you just fine." I grinned and went back to my search. "BIKINI!" She yells and throws herself onto her back on my bed.

She knows there is no way I'm taking no for an answer. I have a few I think would fit her nicely and a few for myself to choose from. I walk out and throw the bikinis on the bed and point at the bathroom. She tried to give me her sad puppy dog eyes, but before she could start begging, I made a stern face and pointed her to the bathroom again. She begrudgingly walked into the bathroom with the bikini in hand. This is the first step in getting Stella to have fun and let her girly side out. Now, how am I going to drag her out of this room and into the pool? I may need Logan's help. She's little, but when she puts her mind to it, she can really dig her heels in.