Hood Rats | Sandy Milkovich

Frater!

The L train was a constant in many people's lives in Chicago, but Rory rarely used it. Unless it was for work, she never really went across town. She sunk into her seat, trying not to think about who had sat in that spot before or what residue might still be on the seat. Her toes wiggled in her worn out sneakers. Micah lived on the West Side, so it was safe to say that he'd be better dressed than she was. 

It was a little too easy to lie about where she was headed. A quick mumbling about meeting her parole officer explained away her absence for the rest of her day off. It helped that Diego had been incredibly distracted with work for the last few weeks. She was too, of course. Straight back to two jobs each to support all three of them.

"This seat taken?"

She shook her head and scooted over to give the other person room. Truth be told, Rory hardly ever felt this nervous about anything. Talking over the phone was one thing because she could fill in all the blanks in Micah's apperance with her imagination, but he was about to be in front of her, solid and real.

Still with no idea what to expect, Rory stepped off the L into a crowd of people waiting for a train to bring them to their Saturday excursions. Getting coffee was simple enough. It was a neutral location, there was always a drink to distract them if the conversation got too awkward, and there weren't any social expectations. 

The cafe they agreed on was only a block from the station, so she arrived at the front of the shop all too soon. Her head was on the swerve the second she pushed the glass door open, even though she had no idea what she was looking for. The place was busy this early in the day and the people blurred by.

All Rory knew about her half brother was that he was seventeen. He probably had darker hair and eyes, the skin tone was up in the air. While her other siblings all shared the same parents, Rosie had always been paler than the others by far. Just by flitting over various faces, she knew that those factors wouldn't help her. 

Her phone chimed then, pulling her from her thoughts. The text was from Micah. "That u in the long socks?". She laughed a bit. Maybe her thigh high striped socks were a little much for a cafe at ten in the morning. When she looked up from her phone and immediately locked eyes with a boy sitting at one of the smaller tables to her right. They were the same deep warm brown as her own.

He stood from his stool, fumbling like he couldn't get up fast enough. Rory tentatively moved closer. "Aurora?"

Finally, she could match that voice to a face. A face that looked startling familiar. God, he looked just like Diego, just leaner and sharper in the face. Micah's dark hair curled around his ears and rested against his forehead. 

Were they supposed to hug? Shake hands? After a moment of awkward consideration, they both decided on neither and just sat. "Hi."

While she searched for a place to set her bag, Micah stared, taking in each of her features. Rory squirmed under his gaze, feeling like a frog laid out on a metal tray for dissection. She settled on keeping the strap of the bag on her shoulder.

"Jesus." He ran a hand through those perfect curls. "You look just like-"

"You?" A smile split her painted lips. 

"Yeah. Uh, you can just set your bag on the floor."

He pointed, but Rory's hand tightened over the strap. That's how you got stolen from. "I'm good. Did you order already?"

He was barely listening to a word that came out of her mouth. Micah couldn't stop staring. "Aurora- like the disney princess?"

Startled by the unexpected question, Rory blinked. "What? Oh, no. Aurora, like the sun goddess. My mom studied mythology." Before she dropped out of college to raise two kids and then abandon them.