I'm your shy older brother who's charming and fun as hell once you get to know me, but maybe a little standoffishly awkward because I never got that socializing thing right. I've always been that way. Not you though. You're outgoing and friendly and popular and... experienced. Not slutty. You haven't been with tons of guys. But you've been with enough to know how much fun it can be with the right person and that trust is a huge part of it.

You see me struggling with women. Trying to ask them for dates. Misplaying my hand over and over again. Not knowing what I'm good at. Trying to sound the way I think men who successfully talk to women sound like. Facepalming when you don't think I notice.

But I notice. I notice a lot. I notice how your voice changes when you're talking to a guy. I notice how you emphasize certain aspects of your personality depending on the type of guy you're talking to. I notice how you dress when you really like someone vs. when you don't care and are going out with him just because you're bored.

And at some point, all that noticing turned into wondering. And you, you're not oblivious. You notice me noticing. And you catch me looking a little longer than I should have. And it doesn't repulse you the way I feared it might. Instead, it makes you a little curious too.

Curious enough to tease and flirt and taunt and sprinkle our conversations with delicate innuendos and double entendres that you're confident I'd only pick up on if I'm thinking what you're thinking. And you know exactly what I'm thinking. After all, you've known me your whole life.

One afternoon, and I've never been clear, what led to this or whether you'd thought about it beforehand, you asked me if there was enough time for you to take a shower before I started getting ready for work and I said yes. You dashed off, took care of yourself real quick and popped into the shower. And when I got in there, there they were. One article of clothing left behind on the tiled bathroom floor. So easy for me to secret them away to my bedroom with my towel and the rest of my clothes. And when you returned after I'd left to notice that they had, in fact disappeared from the bathroom, you smiled.

That's what gave you the confidence one night, after lying awake for what seemed like forever, to walk down the hallway to my room.