It Was What It Was

"Someone to hang out with." Lydia said, "You know, do things with."

"Get a dog." Sybil answered

"Someone to make you laugh." Brent said.

"Get a funny dog." Sybil answered.

"You both know where I stand on the whole relationship thing, I tried it once remember Ahmed." She exaggerated the pronunciation of his name for full effect.

"Not all men are like him, and we tried to warn you...but no, you wouldn't listen to us." Brent said "You're going to try and tell me that if you met the right man, you wouldn't consider marriage again?"

"He would have to be pretty amazing; I've kissed my fair share of frogs. Don't get me wrong...I think that a good shag is one of the things that you can't very well do with a dog, well...you can but that's disgusting on so many levels."

"Fuck sis that is fucking sick." Brent said as Lydia turned his chair around to face her.

"I'm sorry this entire time I'm trying not to think about what just transpired." Lydia (she winked) you must be dying for a fag, hurry up.

Lydia brushed the hair from the nape of Brent's hair with a large fluffy brush, unfastened his cape and folded it.

"Hurry up with the smoking; I've got to get going home." Brent added standing up and taking a look in the mirror. "Pretty good, what do I owe you?"

"It's on the house." Lydia said.

"And why shouldn't it be after what just happened." Sybil mumbled.

"What was that you just said?" Brent asked

"I said." She began. "Why shouldn't it be, because of what's happening, you know, the funeral parlour."

"Sybil..." Lydia said while sweeping around her station. "Are you next?"

"Yah right, I'm still recovering from the bowl cut you gave me years ago."

"That's what you get when you let your hammered friend cut your hair." She laughed.

"Jean-Paul would kill me if I was to be with another stylist." Sybil added.

"How did we get from your relationship woes to Jean-Paul?" Brent asked.

"The only relationship woes that I've got at this time are David coming from England to pretend that he's this incredible man that I'm ready to co-habitat with, and being able to pull it off without a hitch." She sighed deeply

"Don't worry, with the two of us helping you along, what could possibly go wrong sis." He took the bottle of wine and two glasses. "Let's get going, tomorrow is going to be here before you know and it's going to be crazy at the funeral parlour."

"Right, well I'm having my fag before we get into your pristine car." She added following Brent to the door.

Lydia scanned the room and turned the lights off and locked the door behind them. Brent set the glasses and the wine bottle on the small island in Lydia's kitchen. "You two go do your thing, I'll tidy up." Brent said.

"How very sweet of you, thanks." Lydia said. She followed Sybil past the living room and out the front door. Sybil lit her fag and watched as Lydia took one out of the package.

"Well?" Sybil finally said. "Tell me everything."

"There's really nothing to tell." Lydia lied still recovering from Brent.

"I can't believe that you're not going to share, listen...forget it, it's a bit strange to know, I mean he is my brother." Sybil added.

"Good, let's leave it at that then." Lydia answered

The two sat in silence and finished smoking. Sybil already could imagine what had happened in the salon, and she couldn't wait to get home to write about it for her next column. She had lied to Brent earlier; she'd never actually used a salon as a setting for one of her erotic tales. She followed Lydia into the house and gathered up her things.

"Are you okay to drive?" Sybil finally said.

"I'm fine...really." Brent rolled his eyes.

"Now remember Lydia...David is arriving tomorrow, so-"

"Give it a rest would you, we're not brain dead." Lydia snapped.

"I know, it's just that you don't know how important it is for me to keep Slutera Honeypenny as a secret at all costs, especially now." She answered with a pleading look.

"Stop worrying, get home and get a good night sleep and let tomorrow take care of tomorrow." Lydia said and gave Sybil a hug.

"Thanks again, for everything." Brent said taking his jacket from the hall tree.

Sybil was about to speak when Hilary called for Lydia, she ushered them to the door and said good night. "It must be really hard for Lydia to be a single parent." Brent said as he pushed the unlock button on his keys.

"Oh yes, we've had some great talks about the pitfalls of single parenting." Sybil said opening her door. "I hope that things work out for you too." She added.

"What are you talking about?" Brent said while situating himself in the car.

"Well...must I draw you a picture." Sybil answered fastening her seat belt.

"It was something that just happened, must I draw you a picture." Brent replied.

He turned the ignition on and put the car in reverse, backed out onto the dark street. "Let's forget about it shall we, it was what it was, nothing more...nothing less.