Charity Dinner

"Get in there," he sighed, "I'll room service us some ibuprofen."

Oh fuck yes. "You're a god."

We were late by about ten minutes. The place looked like nothing on the outside but was pretty nice on the inside even if the tables were packed shoulder to shoulder. It had probably been at least three other things over the years, none of those a restaurant, but someone had converted it pretty well. We entered a small foyer with fake gas lamps and beyond the podium there were three different seating areas: the main floor, a raised area to our left near the windows, and a round kind of pit with a short, curved staircase.

We found Kelvin in the pit.

"Good morning, dear sister," my little brother called from below us, "you look like what the cat dragged in."

I gave him the finger and a smile as the waiter led us through the maze of tables. Kelvin, of course, looked amazing despite probably running on less than four hours of sleep. He had always been that way, always energetic, friendly, and vibrant even when he'd been out all night partying. He was also a master of makeup, wearing clean clothes, and the cup of coffee in front of him was probably his third or fourth. He'd ordered us all coffee, actually, and orange juice; oh my delightful little brother who knows me so well.

He was right about me, though. The shower had helped but I still had dark circles under my eyes and a bit of a hangover stare. He probably hadn't missed that I was also wearing last night's clothes: my skirt was a little wrinkled, the top didn't really work for brunch, and the heels were comfortable but had made the walk here a lot harder. As for my panties... well they weren't in a condition to be put back on this morning so fuck it, it wouldn't be the first time I'd gone commando in a skirt.

Kelvin didn't know about that last one of course. Dixon did because I'd left them on the floor of his hotel room and promised to be back for them later. I'm pretty sure that made his walk here a lot harder too. No double entendre there. Nope. None at all.

Speaking of Dixon he'd made it through the morning a lot better than me, although I might be biased. He had a change of clothes, still department store chic but it looked good on him, and a lot less hair than me to manage. He also looked a lot less hungover.

"Did you forget to charge your phone last night?" My brother asked as we arrived.

"I was a bit busy," I replied as the good looking, a-lot-less-hungover guy who'd fucked me silly twice last night stepped ahead to tug out my chair. A great lay and a gentleman, it seemed.

"I see that," my brother said, eyeing Dixon before extending a hand, "hi, I'm Kelvin."

"Dixon," my plus one replied as he took his own seat and extended his hand back. They shook. Polite. Friendly. So that was good.

"Nice to meet you," Kelvin responded but he had that look on his face, that look he got when he had a joke or a story but wasn't sure whether he wanted to tell it or make you ask about it. Which could also be good, or not.

"What?" I asked him as I grabbed my orange juice and eyed it skeptically. No pulp, and it had that telltale look about it. Could it be...?

"Nothing," he responded, smirking.

"Kelvin, what?"

"Nothing, no, it's..."

I waited, taking a sip of orange juice in the pregnant silence. Tropicana. Ugh. Maybe I'd stick to the coffee.

"It's just funny," he finally continued, "you guys met at the party, right? Last night?"

"Yup," Dixon said, and shot me a look. I grinned at him. I knew where this was going now, I'm pretty sure Dixon did too, and I was more than happy to let it play out.

"So it was thrown by Charity Sider, and I was thinking about the party and you guys meeting there and her name and... no you know what it's not that funny."

"Oh no," I grinned, "go on."

"Well..." he sighed. "I was just thinking it would be funny, you know, if he were Charity's brother? You know, because his name is Dixon? And then he'd be, um, Dixon Sider?"

"Hmmm," Dixon said in a familiar monotone. He was shooting me a peeved look and I gave him an innocent one right back. What did I do?

"You know," Kelvin responded, "like dick's inside her?"

"Yes," Dixon continued in the same monotone, "wouldn't that be hilarious?"

I hid behind my coffee cup as I watched them, my favorite (okay, only) brother and my favorite (okay, new favorite, for the moment, as of last night) man. The coffee was too hot to drink but the mug did a good job of hiding my smile. Three... two... one...

Revelation dawned, I could see it on his face, and then Kelvin let out a long sigh. "You're her brother, aren't you?"

"Yup," said Dixon, and sipped his juice.

"You're Dixon Sider?

"Not at this exact moment, no," I interjected. I tried not to giggle while I said it and almost made it. Dixon coughed on his drink. Kelvin just looked confused.

"Not at..." my brother began, then realization dawned a second time and he turned a glare towards my smiling face. Most of a glare. More of a look of long suffering.

"Just for that you're paying for brunch," he said.

I took Dixon's hand and smiled at my brother. Worth it.