The Christmas Olympics

Snowball Fights

I was still seething when Miles sat me down at Video Outpost Coffee—a specialty coffee shop and roaster that simply decided to move into the old VHS and DVD rental store named Video Outpost and add "Coffee" to the end of the name. It hadn't been here the last time I was in town and despite my fowl mood, the coffee was delicious.

"When did Maple Springs get all these cool little shops?" I asked Miles, thinking about this coffee shop and the bookstore, even the bakery Arden worked at.

"Maple Springs is actually becoming a cool town if you ever came home long enough to notice. But stop trying to change the subject," Miles said. "What the hell is going on with you and Arden?"

"I already told you—"

"I know. She was always one-upping you at everything. I feel like there's got to be more. It just doesn't make sense for you to hate her this much for doing better than you on tests in high school."

I held my brother's gaze. His brown furrowed and he crossed his arms. My brother rarely frowned. Still, I refused to speak.

"If you're not going to go to therapy you might as well talk to someone."

"Fine, why don't you call one of your friends from Maryland?"

I bit my cheek. I didn't have what the layperson would call "friends." When I'd moved to Maryland for school and my residency, I didn't have time to make friends. There were no late nights in the bars or going out to trivia or parties. I was consumed with my work. I'd only met Sarah because she was in the same program and all of our time spent studying and working together inevitably brought us close enough to start dating.

"That's what I thought," Miles said.

"Rude. You should be nice to your older sister, who is going through a tough time."

Miles rolled his eyes. "Right. And I'm trying to help. So tell me. I don't get it. Arden did better than you on tests, so what? That was fifteen years ago."

I rolled my coffee mugs between my hands and started into the brown liquid, reflecting my face. I thought back to myself in high school, how much Arden actually pissed me off, how upsetting it was whenever I'd studied all night and managed to score a 95 on a test, only for her to saunter over and slap her paper down on my desk with a 99 on it, knowing she didn't spend all night studying. Or when I'd decided to run for class president senior year and suddenly Arden decided she wanted to as well, only to lose to her.

"Arden is just one of those people," I began. "She's arrogant, she thinks she's better than everyone, she has no regard for other peoples' feelings. She's just an asshole and she hasn't given me any reason to think she's changed."

Miles sighed, like perhaps I was going to tell him more, and his hands through his thick, brown hair that he'd let grow out a little longer than I was used to.

"Why are you so concerned about Arden and I?" I asked. "Did she say something to you?" I scowled; I wouldn't put it past Arden to talk bad about me, even to my brother.

"Of course not. Arden hasn't said one bad word against you. She asks about you sometimes, when you come up in conversation, but that's it."

"What does she ask about?"

"Just how you're doing. How medical school was going. How your residency was going." Miles shrugged. "Just normal stuff someone asks when they're taking a polite interest in their friend's life."

"We're not friends."

"I meant me. We're still friends, you know? You're my sister. So Arden always makes it a point to ask after my family."