Page 4 of Brandishing Beginnings

Kara rolled her eyes. “Then you should have come by yesterday for lunch, like we planned and not have blown me off.”

Marcos scratched at his eyebrow with his middle finger, as he tilted his head slightly, watching his sister warily. “I’m sorry, Lil Manita,” he said before he continued in Spanish. "Ya te dije que surgió algo con el trabajo.”I already told you something came up with work.

Kara sighed. “Alright brother, but we’re heading out.”

He nodded once. “Right. Well here,” he reached into the pocket of his hoody and pulled out an envelope, before he handed it to Kara.

I glanced away, not wanting to intrude on the moment between siblings. I gathered up my coat and keys, while Kara spoke softly in Spanish to her brother.

When they finished up, Marcos turned to me and said, “It was nice to meet you. Next time you’re in town, we should all get together for lunch.”

I glanced at Kara who rolled her eyes, before I said simply, “Sure.”

Once we were in the car, Kara turned to me as I started backing out of the parking spot. “So, I totally walked in on a moment back there.”

I flinched and quickly looked at her, slowing the car to a stop and shifting into drive. “I uh—”

Kara laughed. “Don’t worry about it. I won’t be mad if you end up dating my brother, or sleeping with him, or whatever.”

“I don’t—”

“I’ll just warn you that he’s ten years older than me, putting him at twenty-eight. And he’s kinda a whore.”

A startled laugh burst out of me. Too shocked to say anything, and still confused by the moment I had shared with Marcos, I kept my mouth shut and pulled forward in the parking lot, heading for the exit.

A few minutes down the road, I finally asked. “You wouldn’t be mad?”

“Oh gross!” Kara groaned dramatically, before laughing.

I couldn’t help but laugh as well. “It’s college, right? Slut era?”

“Slut era.” I held out of my fist and Kara bumped it with hers.

Maya

“Areyougoinghomefor Thanksgiving?” Jenna asked, her voice distant, despite the headphones I was wearing.

“I dunno. Are you?” I shot the question back at my older sister.

Jenna sighed. “Probably not. I work that night at eight.”

I frowned, sitting back against the headboard in my shared dorm room, grateful that Terri was in class while I spoke to my sister. “Yeah, mom’s been extra lately. I’m really not feeling it. I was just there a couple weeks ago for Halloween week.”

Jenna laughed. “You were there for like three whole days. You spent most of that week helping me move.”

“Three days too many!” I groaned.

Jenna sighed, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t get it; she wasn’t the one Mom nitpicked at. No, Jenna was the favorite, the one that our mother constantly compared me to. It was an unbeatable standard and really drove a wedge between me and my mother.

For as much as Jenna tried to keep the peace, sometimes there just wasn’t anything to be done about our mother, other than to keep my distance and try to save my own sanity by not subjecting myself to the crazy.

“Mom said they were going to Aunt Brenda’s anyway. I don’t really feel like cramming in the car with both of them for an hour drive,” I said.

“Yeah, I get it. So what will you do?”

“Maybe, I’ll come crash on your couch for those four days.”

Jenna sighed again. “I wish, sister. I’m working twenty-four hours starting Thanksgiving. Supposedly the holidays bring out the crazies and they expect us to be busy.”

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