1. Sutton

one

Sutton

H aving parents who grew up in the '80s, I've learned to love everything about that decade—from the music to the movies, even the style of clothing.

My favorite John Hughes movies featured Molly Ringwald: Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, and, of course, Sixteen Candles. With our matching strawberry-colored hair, I felt a true kinship to Molly—it even earned me my nickname, Strawberry Shortcake, or Shortcake for short, from my brother's best friend, Ryan.

Luckily, as the years passed, my hair color changed from the bright red hair that can only be found in clowns, women over seventy who swear by their box hair coloring number, and Molly and me. Now, my hair is a luscious deep red, better known as bombshell red. Pair my new hair shade and curvy figure and I look more like Jessica Rabbit than Strawberry Shortcake.

Hair color isn't the only thing I share in common with Molly Ringwald—we also each have our own Ryan. She has Jake Ryan from the movie Sixteen Candles, and I have Ryan Jacobs, my brother's best friend.

Well, he's not technically mine.

My brother Seth is Ryan's best friend, and Ryan's sister, Lucy, is my best friend. Our families do everything together, from vacations to holidays to birthday parties—everything you could imagine. The four of us are known as the fearsome foursome even though there is a five-year age gap between the boys and the girls.

Through the years, we've dared each other to do some pretty crazy stuff. My least favorite is when, for some reason, we all don't fly together to our shared destination; whoever got there first made a sign with an outrageous name on it and held it up, waiting for the others to step off the plane. Then, for the rest of the trip, we would call that person by the fake name. I was known as Betty Buttmunch during our last vacation to Disney World, which was devastating for a seven-year-old girl but hilarious for two twelve-year-old boys.

Finally, after years of suffering through horrible names on vacations, I'm getting my revenge since my plane landed first. While I waited for Ryan's plane, I made a sign with the special name I've been keeping secret all these years—Ty Niewoehner. When you say the first and last name out loud, it sounds like you're saying tiny wiener.

Not that I've ever seen Ryan's wiener, I wish , to know if it's tiny or not, but from the bulge in his swim trunks I've glanced at through the years during our beach vacations, he's far from tiny. But the name is still funny.

I stand at the gate, waiting for Ryan to step into the terminal, with my sign held high. The other passengers only give me a few strange looks as they step off the plane. When I finally see him in the crowd, he stands head and shoulders above the other passengers.

Another thing I love about Ryan is his height and muscular body. Add that to his funny personality, and he's perfect—just not perfect for me.

If he truly wanted me, he would have claimed me on my college graduation day like my brother claimed Lucy. The four of us have always done everything together—this wouldn't have been any different if Ryan had romantic feelings for me like I do for him.

But instead of pulling me into his arms and kissing me senseless, as my brother did to Lucy, Ryan handed me a snowglobe with a nurse wearing an old-fashioned white uniform, complete with a nurse's cap and holding a stethoscope to her ears. This was perfect since Lucy and I were both graduating from nursing school. But it wasn't what I had dreamed of getting from Ryan on my graduation day.

Don't get me wrong; I love snowglobes. I have a huge collection from all of our travels throughout the years, but after seeing how my brother swept Lucy off her feet, making her dream a reality, the snow globe felt like a weight weighing me down.

Lucy and I had always dreamed of the moment our white knight would claim us. Now, she's the only one getting her happy ending, which is fine. I'm happy for her and my brother. My goal for this destination wedding in our yearly family Christmas vacation location in Wintervale, Montana, is to get through it and move on—find my knight in shining armor, who isn't named Ryan. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be the one getting married here next year. All I have to do is not fall in love with Ryan more than I already am.

Ryan makes his way to the front of the crowd until he is standing in front of me. With a smirk, he takes the sign out of my hands and says, "So you're looking for a tiny wiener? I'm not sure I can help you with that." His smile deepens as my eyes automatically zone in on the front of his pants, and lord help me, he's wearing gray sweatpants with a very clear outline of a wiener that is certainly not tiny.

"Eyes up here." He puts his hand under my chin and tips my head up until I'm looking into his bright green eyes. "Or you'll see firsthand how not so tiny I am." He says before dropping his hand to his side.

I know he's just teasing. There's no way my gaze would make him hard, but I still can't help the audible gulp I make as my eyes take one last peek at the bulge in his pants.

"That's your final warning, Shortcake. I won't be responsible for what happens if you keep staring at it and licking your lips like that."

I gasp. I'm not licking my lips, am I? I press my lips together, and sure enough, they're damp, just like my panties. And just like that, his words sink in—he called me Shortcake. That one little nickname breaks the spell, reminding me that all I am to him is his best friend's little sister.

"Whatever? You wish."

He snorts in laughter at my less-than-mature response. "Come on, Shortcake." He throws his arm around my shoulders. We have a lot to do. A snowstorm grounded Lucy, Seth, and the rest of the wedding party and guests. Seth sent me a text. He said Lucy will send you one, too, with everything we need to do as the maid of honor and best man to get everything ready for the wedding in their absence."

Just great.

My plan to avoid Ryan this week went from an eighty percent probability to a near zero probability.