Temptations

XXI

June 2020

"Ready to meet my brother?" I ask.

"Yeah, of course."

I enter into my childhood home and smile.

"ALEX!" I yell.

"IN THE KITCHEN!" He yells.

I lead Sab into the kitchen and believe it or not, Alex is cooking.

"Hey loser." He turns around and smiles at us.

"Isn't it my favourite sister!" He says.

"Wait, I'm your only sister."

"Exactly. That means you're the default." I roll my eyes.

"Please ignore him. I promise he's not like this all the time." I tell Sab.

"You must be the girl my sister raves about all the time! I'm Alex." He sticks out his hand. Sab takes it and gives him a big smile.

---

"Alex is so sweet." Sab says as she's folding up a pair of pants.

"I think he's a little shit."

"Stop being so mean for like two seconds, its okay to say you love him."

"Being mean is our way of showing love." I tell her.

"I can see that."

I sit on my bed and look around my childhood room. It hasn't really changed, even after years.

"Is this Lucas?" Sab asks holding a picture of him and I, snapping me out of my daze.

"Yeah."

"You must have really looked up to him. The way you're looking at him is adorable." The picture is from after his senior night game and I'm looking up at him as he smiles.

"Yeah, he was my role model, my best friend, he was everything I wanted to be." I tell her.

"I love you." She tells me.

"Love you more."

"I love you the most."

"Not possible." I say.

"You want to go there?" She asks with a big, goofy smile.

"Sab, no..." I try to run away but she grabs my arm and pulls me back and throws me over her shoulder. "AHHHHHH! SAB, PUT ME DOWN!"

---

"I can't believe you took my advice and actually learned how to cook." I tell Alex.

"I actually liked learning how to do all the fancy things. It was actually really fun."

"That's good."

"Is-" I get interrupted by knocking at the door.

"I can get it." Alex says.

He gets up from the table and I hear the door open a couple seconds later, followed by a gasp.

There's a couple seconds of silence and then two pairs of footsteps coming into the kitchen.

"Mom?"