"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar," Dan said, and I could just imagine the look of irritation on Elise's face at that comment. For some reason, it made me smile to think about it.
"Except I'm not trying to catch him at all," she said, and Dan just laughed.
I'd had enough of listening to them talk about me, so I continued down the stairs, stomping my way into the kitchen in time to catch them both looking like they had done something they shouldn't have been doing.
Elise had the grace to look sheepish, but it was impossible to tell if that was because she thought I had overheard them or because of everything else.
Dan just grinned after a bit, like he didn't care either way, and that made sense with the way he was. "Morning, Logan," he said brightly.
"It's afternoon," I replied. I glanced at Elise, who was standing in front of the coffee maker and sighed before moving closer. "Excuse me."
Her eyes went wide, and she moved out of my way faster than I would have thought possible.
"I'm going to go," she said to Dan. "Before it gets any later and I still haven't accomplished anything." She dashed out of the kitchen before either of us could reply, although Dan had no issues calling after her.
"Vacation isn't about accomplishing things!"
She didn't respond, and he just shook his head before turning back to me. "My sister. Always needs to be useful."
I shrugged, eyes intent on measuring coffee into the filter. "There's nothing wrong with being useful," I said. "Some people could stand to be more useful, in fact." I let that hang there, wondering if he'd be offended that it was clear I was talking about him.
True to Dan form, he didn't seem to care all that much. It took a lot to actually insult him, and that was one of the reasons we got along so well. My generally bad-tempered nature just rolled off of him.
"You're in a good mood today," he said.
I turned to give him an incredulous look. "I barely got any sleep last night," I said. "I feel like shit."
"Oh. Well, you just seem more pleasant than usual, I guess. You didn't spend twenty minutes bickering with Elise over nothing."
Damn. I was trying to be less obvious by avoiding her, but maybe that was the more conspicuous thing.
"Didn't seem worth it," I said, hoping that was good enough. "She had places to be, and I just don't care that much."
"Sure," Dan said. "Whatever the reason, I appreciate it. I want you two to get along better. You're my best friend, and she's my sister, you know? It's awkward when you fight."
He didn't know the half of it. If he thought us arguing was awkward, he hadn't seen anything yet. And hopefully he wouldn't have to because it would never come up.
It wasn't like we were going to sleep with each other again, after all. It had been a one time thing. Anger turned into something else because we were... I don't know. Lonely or something.
At least that was my excuse. I didn't know what Elise would claim had been the catalyst.
I reminded myself thatthatdidn't matter either.
Elise seemed content to make herself scarce for the rest of the day. I didn't see her until it was time for dinner, and we were all gathered around the table to eat the food Lydia and Deanna had brought back from their excursion of the day. Spiced meat and potatoes with pita made up most of the dish, and there was hummus and olives and stuffed grape leaves.
For once, I was actually content to just eat and let everything else happen around me. I could honestly say the food in Greece was some of the best I'd ever had, and that was a nice break from the take-out I seemed to live on when I was working at my hardest. Which was admittedly more often than it should have been lately.
Down at their usual end of the table, Elise and Jason were laughing about something.
He was telling her a story, complete with hand gestures, waving his fork around like some kind of idiot, looking to put someone's eye out, and she just laughed and smiled while she ate, encouraging him to continue.
I gritted my teeth, annoyed all over again.
Why Elise gave him the time of day I would never understand, and even if it wasn't any of my business and I didn't really care, I could acknowledge that she could do a hundred times better than him.
From what I understood from Dan, Elise had a habit of ending up with guys who were terrible for her, and I didn't know why.
I also didn't know where I fell on that spectrum, even though we were definitely not ending up together, so I didn't know why I was even thinking about it.
