“Fuck that, Mom. I’m an adult, now. I can make my own fucking decisions, I have my own fucking job, my own fucking car, and my own fucking apartment, and I can fucking swear if I want to. Don’t need this bullshit anymore. I dropped before the deadline, and you have your money. If you can talk to me like an adult, call me. Otherwise, I’m done.”
Ami wiped away the tears dripping down her face with a ferocity that drove Elissa to hug the wall as her sister stomped by, leaving the kitchen deathly quiet. The front door slammed. Elissa looked between her parents and the door, tempted to chase after her sister and smooth things over, but Ami was in no mood to listen to anyone.
Elissa looked from one parent to the other. Her dad’s shoulders slumped, and her mother turned away, trying to stifle the sobs rising from deep within her.
“Don’t worry, Mom, she’ll calm down and call you tomorrow to apologize.”
Ami always did. Her sister’s anger ran hot but fast. Ami had a heart of gold, but she also had a habit of choosing something easy or fun over what most people with common sense would choose. But Elissa admired her little sister. She was brave in a way Elissa never could be, and that was part of the friction in their relationship. Elissa was firmly in oldest daughter role, Leo was the baby, leaving Ami to her own devices. A small part of Elissa was jealous.
“Elissa, why don’t you go check on Leo?” Her dad wrapped his arms around her mom.
She left them standing in the kitchen and went to her brother’s room. Her mother’s sobs tore through the house as she rapped softly on Leo’s door.
“Come in,” he called.
Elissa slipped in, closing the door behind her with a quiet snick.
“Hey, Elissa.” Leo sat on his bed, book in hand, headphones on. “Is it over?”
“Yep.”
He took off the headphones. “Well?”
Elissa sighed and sat down on the bed next to him.
“Ami stormed out, Mom’s crying, and Dad looked…heartbroken.”
“I told her it was a bad idea not to mention it before the money was returned.”
“You knew?”
“Duh.” He rolled his eyes. “We talk when you’re not around. In fact, we talk a lot when you’re not around, since you’ll go running to Mom and Dad with this stuff.”
She opened her mouth to protest but gave it a second thought. Fair. If she’d known Ami had dropped out of community college, she would’ve blabbed to their parents. She’d sworn not to tell them what she knew about Ami’s suspension from the U last year, and guilt filled Elissa every time it was brought up. It was the one thing she’d ever kept from her parents, and she tried to keep it the only thing. Their parents would be more understanding if they knew the whole story, but Ami had begged to be the one to tell them in her own time.
“Now what?” he asked when she didn’t say anything.
“I don’t know, Leo the Lion. Wait, I guess.”
He’d made a noise of protest when she’d called him by his childhood nickname but leaned against her. She hugged him, and they sat there quietly for a few minutes. It had been a rough year. Things had been looking up, but baggage from the past kept intruding on the present. She’d give Ami a day or two to calm down before talking to her. Like an adult. Her sister wasn’t wrong—she deserved to be treated with more respect.
When the silence got to her, Elissa asked, “What are you reading?”
Leo picked up the book, a ragged old Discworld book.
“That’s a good one.” In fact, it was her favorite, but she wouldn’t tell Leo that. Let the kid figure it out on his own.
“I know.”
A firm knock brought their attention to the door. Dad opened it.
“We’re ordering pizza tonight,” he said. “Any requests?”
“Pepperoni,” Leo piped up.
Their dad waved their hand in dismissal and his lips twitched, banishing his grim expression. “Yeah, figured. Elissa?”
“Whatever you want is fine.” She gave him a quick grin.
