For The Hope Of It All

Kiyara

"Mom wants you to come over more" Ari says right before her bite of French toast. My mom's first child born from her second marriage, my seventeen year old sister who I loved more than anything in this world. My little mini me. She had slept over my apartment last night, an almost weekly routine especially now during summer break. We spent the night doing Korean sheet masks, listening to music on Jude's record player and deciding what to do about the guy, Frankie, that she's had a year long crush on. Somehow, she convinced me to take her out for brunch so here were at Samantha's in Kips Bay, sitting at a table outside in the burning heat.

"I come over every fortnight" I roll my eyes, taking a sip of my mimosa. The lukewarm orange juice is making me regret not getting a cocktail especially when my armpits are getting slick.

"She wants you to come over more. You're like an 8 minute Uber drive away, Kiya"

"Yeah, Kiya. Wouldn't kill you to see your siblings more often" Gio adds just to annoy me. I can see the sweat gathering at his hairline even though it's only 11AM.

"Says you. When was the last time you saw mom?" Anya, Gio's older sister and also my co-worker turned friend, elbows at him with a chastising frown. The Clarke siblings were the best people to invite at the last minute, always willing to go out no matter how short notice except this time I was sure they were regretting it much more in the summer heat. Neither one of us woke up early enough to get a table inside where there was AC blasting so we were left with the tables outside. Even with the big fan blowing behind us, it was starting to get more miserable.

"Shut up"

"My mom's just going to go on and on about how she found the love of her life at twenty three and here I was, single at twenty four" I sigh, finishing off my mimosa with one gulp. Part of me was a little bit bitter about it. As if her divorce with my dad wasn't the reason why I was so uninterested in relationships.

"Single at twenty four actually means you're disgustingly unwanted to mom's." Anya laughs, pushing around the eggs on her plate.

"Well maybe if you dated someone or even introduced mom to someone you're seeing she wouldn't nag so much" Ari defends, deep red hair flying into her face. Even though we were half sisters, we looked nothing alike. Ari's dad was Spanish and Chinese and with my mom's genes, she was the perfect fair skinned wasian with gorgeous auburn hair, where as my dad's Indonesian genes showed out completely, giving me year round tanned skin and jet black hair.

"Kiya doesn't date" Gio snorts.

"She should" Ari pushes back while avoiding my gaze. She was always my mom's little soldier.

"Why don't you just bring Santiago to meet your parents?" Anya raises her eyebrow at me.

"Because he's not my boyfriend" I remind her again. Anya is convinced that the two of us are dating and keeping it from her. Santi, Anya and I started out as temp workers at Delano College where we spent every single day together for a year. We still spend our lunch breaks together even though we worked in completely different departments now. Santi as an English professor, me as an adjunct art instructor and Anya in the admissions office.

"I know that. But your mom doesn't have to know. Santi is the perfect boyfriend to bring home to your mom and I know he wouldn't mind at all."

"Fake date for mom?" Ari raises her eyebrow before her eyes widen and a huge grin blooms onto her face. "And then you two actually fall in love with each other and get married?"

"You need to stop reading those silly romance books of yours" I point my fork at her. She only rolls her eyes in response. "I don't know. Maybe I'll ask him if she keeps bringing it up."