Antipodes

Eleven

It was the first time she ever came to his house and it was going to be her house as well. She entered and looked all around the living room/kitchen area. She put a large smile on her face. It was very clean, neatly organized. A large bookcase full of books on one side and vinyls on the other side acted as a separation wall between the living and the dining room. He looked at her studying her features. He was curious about what she was thinking.

"So?", he asked her. "Do you like it?"

"I absolutely love it!", she exclaimed. "By the way, you have some obsessive-compulsive disorder", she added.

"I've always have", he admitted smiling. "Details are my job. Come, I'll show you your bedroom". He took her by the hand and lead her to a door down the hall then to the left. He stood behind her, hiding her sight with both of his hands.

"I tried my best to find whatever you had in your other room", he warned her. "Ready?"

"Ready !"

She opened her eyes and jumped for joy. The bedroom, her bedroom, was so spacious and so clear and simply furnished. She recognized her bed and looked at him dazed.

"Did you steal my bed?", she asked him raising an eyebrow.

"No I just asked Kath and she helped me find the exact same one and insisted that you loved your bed more than anything in the world".

"I think you deserve the award of the best brother in the entire universe", she said kissing him on the cheek. "And I love you more than my bed".

"Aw, you're going to make me cry", he joked. "And you have your own bathroom too, with a bathtub", he added. "So don't you ever go to my bathroom".

"What is in your bathroom?", she asked. And he waved her question with his hand.

"Mostly guy stuff".

He helped her unpack her hundreds of clothes and shoes and was shocked to learn that it was just half of her collection.

"You girls are freaks!" 

"You guys can't understand how a new pair of shoes can make a girl happy", she said.

"How about I take you out for dinner?" 

"Like I said, best brother in the universe", she exclaimed. "Can you get any better at being the coolest person on Earth?"

"Chinese or Indian?"

"Chinese, definitely !"

"Have you ever been to Kum Kau?" 

"No, what is it?"

"Best Chinese restaurant in Brooklyn, come on, get dressed!"

They got dressed fast made and decided not to take the car but rather the subway, taking advantage to smoke two or three cigarettes on the way and discuss. Roxy told him about what she was going to study this fall, Economics. She did not seem too enthusiastic at the idea of going to Columbia even if it was one of the most renowned faculties of the United States. Ryan had studied there, and their father as well. But she wanted to do something different, she was an artist in the soul, but her father refused to pay for her Art School. They arrived at Carroll Street where they took the subway. 

"I'll speak to him about it", he promised to her.

"You can always try!"

"Then, I'll pay for it".

"It's too much Ryan, I can't ask you that", she said declining his offer. 

"You're not asking, I'm proposing. And this is the last time we talk about it, okay?"

"He's going to hate you if you for that", she warned him.

"He already hates me anyway", he told her getting off the subway train and putting his third cigarette between his lips.

"You should seriously stop smoking like that", she said rising an eyebrow.

"Says who". He burst out laughing.

"You are incorrigible", she retorted rolling her eyes.

Arrived at the restaurant, they ordered the same thing: noodles, nems and spring rolls. She rubbed her hands together at the sight of her plate. She took a nem, rolled it in a salad leaf, plunged it into the sauce and took a bite. 

"Oh my God! This thing is heaven!", she went into raptures.

He raised his glass of Coke.

"To the best brother and sister of the universe".

"Cheers!", she said raising her glass of iced tea.

After the dinner, they bought some beers and went for a walk in the park. They sat at a bench and began discussing about everything from politics to the colour of the grass and how it looked so artificial. She told him about her boyfriend and he said he didn't like the fact that she had a boyfriend.

"For someone who hates his dad, you sound like him", she put in a sarcastic tone.

"I'm nothing like him, come on". Then after a moment, he added "he's an asshole".

"Did you ever get along together? I mean, when did you guys begin to tear each other apart?"

"We're not tearing each other apart. And no, we never got along. Not that I remember".

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be", he said finishing his beer.

He didn't like the way she said it. His relationship with his father is the darkest spot in his life. And even him felt sorry about it but he hated when people pointed it out, even if it was his sister.

"Last time he told me that he loved me, I must have been five. I got used to it since".

AN. Roxy's room on the picture !