The Sibling Coffee Date

"Ben, what the fuck have you done in there?" Her dad's voice thrummed through the bedroom door. It sounded like it was coming from the bathroom. Melissa had just been getting ready when the commotion interrupted her, tying her long auburn hair into a ponytail. Once she had the hair through the bobble, she let it drop, feeling it hit her back as it fell.

"What?" Ben's muffled voice yelled back, through his bedroom by the sounds of it. Then the click of a door opened, the floor creaked with the sound of footsteps, louder towards her door and then trailing off toward the bathroom.

Melissa tried to ignore it, returning her attention to her small circular mirror. "Do I look attractive?" she muttered to herself as she got ready, pondering the question. The face in the mirror seemed normal enough. Melissa didn't think she was attractive, but really, did anyone think that way of themselves? Maybe only vain or arrogant people. And she thought that was a rather ugly quality. Deep blue eyes stared back at her through the mirror, a small nose one could easily pinch, and thin pink lips. She put on some lip balm and neatened her black and white striped shirt as she got up. "Attractive enough, I suppose," she said in the most not-vain way possible. Not that any boys would tell her otherwise, how many times she had to listen to her friends talk about how some boy was hitting on them through text, or in the most random places like a coffee shop, yet she had never had any of that. It shamed her to admit it made her jealous and was one of the many reasons she secluded herself nowadays. It pained her to hear them talk about it, or how their boyfriends treat them so well, or how good they had been fucking the night before. What did Melissa ever get? Some cheap one-night stands and a pump and dump.

"It's all over the floor!" dad fumed.

"It's not that bad," Ben said nonchalantly. They bickered for some time, and once the shouting started annoying her, Melissa went out to see what all the fuss was about.

The bathroom door was wide open, with her dad and Ben standing in the bathroom. Then she saw it. Green bile and the half-digested chunks of Ben's vomit all over the floor. "Jesus Christ." She scowled, the sight sickening her. Her dad and brother stopped their arguing as they noticed her walking toward the bathroom. "You got food poisoning?" she said to her brother.

"That's a mild word for it," dad sneered. "Must of ate a whole raw chicken to fetch that up!" He chuckled at his own wit, putting his hands over his round beer belly as he laughed.

Ben frowned. "It's still better than coming in here after you've been in the morning." Her brother looked a little paler than usual, and purple bags hung under his eyes.

"Don't be stupid," dad replied. "At least I clean up after myself. You're not fucking twelve anymore."

Ben looked down once more, and his face went a shade redder. "I was just tired."

His usual confident demeanour now shrunk as a sudden look of fear struck his face, which Melissa found odd. He had a strong-looking face, with defined features and a strong jawline peppered with a layer of freshly trimmed stubble. His brown hair looked windswept, though he styled it that way on purpose, and his fringe just fell over his eyes in sharp fingers. He shared Melissa's deep blue eyes, inherited from their mother. "I've just had a rough couple of days..."

"Rough?" dad mocked. "Yeah, that's one word for it. Did you swallow two bottles of vodka?"

Then a cold anger lit up in Ben's eyes. "Would you just fucking leave me alone?" He stormed out of the bathroom, leaving the pair awestruck.

"What's gotten into him?" dad asked. The door to Ben's bedroom smashed shut. It even shook the second floor a little bit.

Melissa frowned. It wasn't like Ben at all to snap like this, something must have been wrong, though he had been acting normal most of the day. "I'll go talk to him."

Melissa walked over to Ben's bedroom, knocking on the door. "Ben?"

"What?" he snapped.

"Can I come in?"

A pause. "Sure."

She opened the door, shutting it behind her. His gaming rig was set up in the corner, a small PC on a desk, on the underside was an Xbox One and a PS5. Several posters decorated the dark green walls. A Joker poster in the comic style fashion, an AC-DC poster, and then a Bob Marley one. Ben lay on his bed, scrolling on his phone. He didn't look at her.

"What's up?" Melissa asked, coming to sit on the side of the bed. "Not like you to burst out like that."

"I was going to tell everyone, but I don't know." Ben shrugged. "Dad just riled me up. A-Amy's dumped me." He shifted uncomfortably when he said it.

Melissa's heart sunk. "What? When?"

"Just yesterday..." he mumbled. "Everything was going so well, like normal, then just out of nowhere, she says she doesn't feel right about us anymore. It was like a light switch went off."

"I didn't see you update your Facebook?" Melissa remarked. He was normally on top of that.

"I will, I will," he said. "It's just been eating me alive." He brushed a hand through his hair, looking flustered. "Doing that will make it feel more real... right now it just feels like a nightmare. One I want to wake up from."

Melissa's heart broke for him, and she thought she could see his eyes twinkle with the spark of a tear. "Aww, bless you." She went over and gave her brother a hug. A small smile crossed his lips, and he welcomed her embrace. How warm he felt. "I'm so sorry to hear that happened."

It upset Melissa too, genuinely. Her and Amy were good friends, and sometimes Amy felt more of a friend than Melissa's real friends. Amy came by to the house far more than Melissa's friends, and she would frequently chat with Melissa when they crossed each other in the kitchen or the hall. Like Melissa, Amy was also into painting and arts, though more of a hobbyist. Melissa was trying to go at it professionally, albeit with little success so far. A stereotypical starving artist. Whereas Amy seemed to enjoy it a lot more, since the stress of squeezing income from it was not an issue for her. Amy's drawings were so much better than Melissa's too, she'd frequently give her hints at how to improve and critique her work.

"I am, too..." Ben muttered. "But it's done, I suppose I just have to get over it. Probably by wallowing alone and playing games until I don't care anymore."

"Don't be stupid." Melissa shifted closer. "It's better to talk to people and let it all out after a breakup. Hang out with your friends?"

"How would you know?" Ben snapped, rather harshly. "You've never had someone to break up with you. You've never had anyone!"

Ouch. That was a low blow, like a dagger through the stomach. "Okay, no need for that!" Melissa barked with a raised voice. "I'm just trying to help, god." He was right, though, and that's what made it sting worse. In truth, she had regurgitated that advice from when she'd heard her friends speak about the issue, and they spoke of it a lot. I was just trying to help...

Her brother's anger subsided when he saw the genuine wound across Melissa's face. "Sorry..." he said. "God, I'm just worked up, my head's all over the place. You are right, about the talking to people thing. It's just hard. My friends will call me a bitch or something stupid like that, better to not say anything."

"Are they really your friends if they'd say that when you're hurt?" Melissa raised a brow.

He grinned, shaking his head. "You don't get it. They're my boys, they show up when I need them, you know. But it's just with this sort of stuff... We joke around a lot with each other, and they'll make insults as jokes and shit like that, so it's easier to just say nothing, trust me."

"Well, a mate date never hurt anyone..." Melissa shrugged, looking absentmindedly through the window, at the clear blue sky outside, the small birds whizzing by. Didn't she know it. She fiddled with the blanket she sat on. Melissa had been on many mate dates with her friends to comfort them in their times of need. A safe outing between two friends to share their sorrows, or in her case, to listen to the sorrows of others. But she was content with that, she had long accepted her place in life was a mere background character in the lives of others.

"A mate date," Ben scoffed, now laughing, still looking at his phone. "That's such a white girl invention."

"Maybe the white girls are onto something," Melissa said, then, seeing how upset her brother was, an idea hatched. "Why don't we go on a brother and sister date?"

Creases formed over his brow, and now his eyes fell on hers. "Pardon?"

Melissa guffawed, she knew that would get his attention, though she didn't mean it sexually. "Like a mate date, but siblings. Not an actual date, stupid. I feel like we never hang out anymore."

"Please never say 'brother and sister date' again." But he smirked all the same, seeing the joke.

"I won't... only if you'll come on one with me." Melissa giggled. "Come on, you need cheering up. And I'm bored, Stevie cancelled plans... again."

"The stupid bitch," Ben sneered.

"You said it." And they both laughed.

Ben sighed, locking his phone and putting it down. "Go on then, why not? Where do you want to go?"

"Isn't the man supposed to plan the date?" Melissa grinned.

Ben cackled. "Would you stop? That's so weird."

"I know." She got up, trying to hide her laughter. "I'm trying to annoy you."

"You're just making me cringe."

"Good, that's my job, let's go." After all, Stevie had cancelled on her when she was in the middle of getting ready, and she had put on her cute outfit for the week and everything, she wasn't going to waste it.

Ben got up, reaching for his trainers that he weirdly kept in his room. It added a weird, damp smell to the place that he didn't seem to mind. "Where do you want to go then?"

"Oh," Melissa sighed. "You really are making me plan it? Let's just go get a coffee or something, maybe take a walk after. That's what me and Stevie were going to do."

"Fairs," Ben said, and with that, they set off.

#

They got a coffee at Amaretto's, a small coffee shop that carried a rustic aesthetic which always made Melissa feel like she was away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Distressed wooden floors beneath her feet, creaking occasionally as she walked over them, hanging vines around a black chalkboard which had the menu written on it in quirky handwriting.

Melissa and her brother sat opposite one another in the back corner. Only two other people sat in the shop, on the far side, chatting quietly, accompanied by the sound of the coffee machine humming away.

"Have you spoken to her since you guys broke up?" Melissa sipped at her hazelnut latte, the frothy drink steaming, filling her nose with the nutty aroma.

Ben shook his head, taking a sip of his tea. "No. I think it's just better if we're apart right now." He shifted in his seat, almost bristling. He was trying to hide it, but Melissa could tell how uncomfortable he was about it.

"Well, you know, I'm always here if you need to talk about it," Melissa said with a smile, reassuring her brother. "Or if you ever want to hang out, for what it's worth. I can't remember the last time we hung out."

"Never?"

She chuckled. "Not never, there has been a few times." But it was long ago. A trip to the mall when she was 13, going to the cinema one time because a movie came on they both really wanted to see. That was when she was... 15? She could scarcely remember, not now that she was 21.

Ben grinned. "A long time ago. This is nice, thank you, Melissa. Really. I appreciate the thought. I shouldn't be sat here sulking."

"You have every right to sulk."

He shook his head, drinking more of his tea. "Nah, I'd rather not. The sooner I get over her the better. But enough about that, talking about it doesn't help. Let's talk about you now, that should make for interesting conversation." He raised a brow when he said it, emphasising the sarcastic tone.

"No need to be sarcy. But you'd be right, I'm the same old boring me." Melissa made a mocking smile, rolling her eyes. "Why do you care, anyway? You never ask me questions."

"Aren't we supposed to ask questions on a date?" He leaned back smugly.

She chortled, a red flush going to her cheeks as she looked around, ensuring no one heard that comment. "Oh my god, I was joking earlier, and I said it at home. Don't say crap like that in public."

Ben lowered his voice, glancing to the couple by the shop window. "Why? No one knows we're related here."

"Still..." Now Melissa glanced. "It's just weird, stop."

Her bother shook his head with a mocking grin. "I'm going to ask anyway. How's your art coming along? Sold anything yet?"

Melissa bit her lip, now regretting asking him to come here a little. She didn't like talking about her art, partly because of how much of a failure it was. "No. The galleries don't like my work, and I drew a couple of things for people on the internet, but that's it. I'll probably have to work full time soon." The work she got barely paid for anything, and it was so hard now that AI seemed to drag most of her customers away. She was born in possibly the worst time to be an artist. And the prospect of full-time work gave her terrible anxiety. Melissa had held full-time jobs before, never lasting more than a few months. All of the angry customers, screaming insults at her, or some asshole manager either trying to touch her up or fuming at her for doing a bad job. It was too much to bear sometimes, she didn't understand how other people did it.

"And boyfriends?" Ben asked now. "You not speaking to anyone?"

She shrunk a little, trying to hide her face behind her coffee mug as she took a long sip, then she sighed. "No... The last one ghosted me, if you must know the truth." She laughed at herself, because if she didn't laugh, she would cry. Oliver he was called, he was quite handsome, was a manager at a bank, and she really liked him. And then he vanished like all the others.

"That's a bummer," Ben said. "You'll find someone else."

Melissa scoffed. "Unlikely." Then found herself looking at the couple at the front of the shop again. Laughing and smiling with each other, sharing a kiss on the lips. How could they have it so easy, when something that looked so simple seemed to elude her at every turn? "I think I give up."

Her brother leaned forward, elbows on the table. "God hates a quitter. Of course you will find someone else... Y-You're beautiful, Melissa. Any man would be lucky to have you." He looked straight into her eyes when he said that. It was quite powerful, and Melissa found herself shuddering. How could she respond to that?

She ran a hand down her ponytail, hanging over her shoulder. "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?"

"It's true... Honestly..." he leaned forward, talking with a voice so quiet it was just above a whisper. "If you weren't my sister, I'd make you mine."

She chortled, throwing a hand over her mouth as she looked away, checking to make sure no one else heard that comment. She couldn't believe it, the absurdity of it, and yet... she couldn't help but feel a little flattered, her cheeks going rosy as she blushed. That can be meant in a platonic way, right? "Stop it now!"

"You're blushing," her brother teased. "You look cute when you blush."

She nearly choked on her coffee when she heard that. "You're doing very well at hiding that joke. Have you ever thought about being an actor?"

He linked his fingers on the table. "What if I wasn't joking? Would you be creeped out?"

"Obviously, you idiot." And yet, she couldn't deny how flattered she had felt for just the briefest moment. Almost no men had spoken to her like that, it was like the sorts of things her friends would talk about when they said men were hitting on them. And it would be me where the only man who says that to me is my brother. My life is a joke, she thought rather sadly.

"I'm wounded." Ben laughed. At least he could laugh at her expense, she hoped this would take his mind off Amy, because now it seemed to be Melissa who was suffering more. "We should do this more often."

"Not if you're going to be like that!"

"Okay, I'll stop." He got up. "I'm going to get a slice of cake, you want anything?"

"No." Melissa popped her phone out of her pocket as Ben went to order himself some cake. She didn't have any messages, which wasn't unusual, so she just opened Instagram, scrolling along, pretending she had something interesting to be looking at, or looking busy. After seeing some irrelevant adverts, a funny cat video, and someone saying "happy birthday" to a relative, she saw something she'd have to hide.

A picture of Ben's girlfriend, or ex, Amy. A relationship status update, with a boy called David Handy. He didn't look too bad, similar in shape and age to her brother. But she frowned all the same. Moving on so quick? Amy must have been speaking to him before her and Ben cut things off. What a trashy thing to do, and to think, Melissa had called her a friend, yet the dagger of betrayal punctured her heart as much as it would puncture Ben's. Should she tell him? He deserved to know, after all, yet at the same time, he was fresh out of the relationship. It would only hurt him more now, than if he found out later.

But if it was me, I would want to know... She thought, biting her lip. Yet she wanted to protect her brother.

Ben came back to the table holding a plate, atop which was a slice of ginger cake.

"Ben, have you seen this?"

"What?" He sat down.

She was just about to show it, then lost her courage at the last minute, fearing he would break down or burst into a fit of rage, and just scrolled back up to the cat video. Melissa held her phone up to his face, and his eyes fell on the screen, watching the video. He smirked a little, then sat down. He wolfed down the small slice of cake in two bites, and then they sat there, looking around absent mindedly. Only a storm raged in Melissa's head about the whole thing. Was she wrong to hide it? Maybe it didn't matter. He would find out eventually.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Ben said. "Looks like it's going to rain soon, don't want to be caught out in that."

The walk home didn't take long, and they missed the rain. It was quite pleasant, on the contrary. Not too windy nor cold, just normal. Though when they returned home, the drive was empty. "Where've they gone?" Melissa asked, referring to their parents.

Ben shrugged. "Probably shopping or out to eat. They never tell me anything now." He unlocked the door, and they went in, where he took his shoes off and walked to the kitchen. "I'm going to have a whiskey, you want one?"

"A whiskey?" Melissa raised a brow as she took her coat off. "It's six in the afternoon."

"So, I'm not at work. Are you?" He took two glasses out of the cupboard, then took a luxury Japanese whiskey out from the alcohol cupboard.

"Dad will kill you for taking that one."

"You going to tell him?" He poured the amber liquid into the two glasses.

"I didn't even say I wanted one!" she snapped. "Now we'll both get in trouble."

He peered up at her as he filled her whiskey glass. "Oh, is our date over already?"

Melissa's cheeks went red again, and she couldn't even look him in the eye. "Okay, I regret making that joke now."

"I just like teasing you." Ben slid her cup across the oak-top kitchen table. "Drink up, your life is just as tragic as mine at the moment."

Melissa took the glass, taking a small sip. The fiery spirit lit her chest aflame as it cascaded down her throat. "Is that how you talk to the women you date?"

"Now who's taking it far?" he quipped.

"You made it weird, not me."

"Melissa," Ben said, downing his whiskey as though it was a shot. "I'll tell you what I wasn't joking about."