Overcast Skies

The rhythmic sound of rainfall on glass was the first thing Alan heard on waking up. Laying in bed he saw a steady sheet of rain against the window.

“Good thing I don’t have to go out today..” he thought blearily through the haze of sleep that still dominated his brain.

The last few days had been the most exciting he had had in awhile, that also made them some of the most exhausting. Even as Alan found himself growing more and more grateful for the changes in his life, he was thankful for a day where he could just decompress.

Swinging his legs to the side of the bed, Alan sat up. There were a few shows he had been meaning to catch up on, or perhaps he could start one of the books that had started piling up since he started working. His stomach rumbling made the first objective of the day clear, so he put on some clothes and went into the kitchen

Passing the living space, he could see that Beth’s stuff was all gone, she must have left before he woke up. More surprisingly he saw his sister shuffling in the kitchen preparing some fruit and yogurt.

“Hey,” He raised a hand in greeting. “Good morning, I thought you said you had to be up early.”

Lena didn’t turn to look at him, “I was planning on running this morning, but the weather makes that a pain so my plans got kind of trashed.”

“Oh, fancy watching something together today?” Alan made his way into the kitchen and began taking out supplies to make french toast.

Pointedly, as he got there, Lena grabbed her bowl and turned to the table. Still not facing him she replied, “Not really, not in the mood.” her tone was even but curt, seemingly like she had to keep full focus on what she was doing.

“That’s fine, did you catch Beth before she left?” He began cracking eggs into a bowl.

Lena’s tone grew harsher, “Yeah, she said she had to go home and clean up for a date with Ken, her boyfriend.”

“She told me about him, surprised you never mentioned him.” Alan was trying to keep his tone even. Lena was clearly upset with him, but he couldn’t figure out why and knew if he assumed anything he’d likely step into a worse situation.

“I DID mention him before, but you’re not around most of the time, and when you are around you don’t pay attention. Sorry for not giving you a special bulletin on it.” Apparently, all pretext at neutrality was gone now and Lena had entered full passive aggressive mode.

Admittingly, Alan had been less observant of things while working the night shift. Days blended together and the little things his sister told him could get lost in the fog of everything. Alan stopped prepping his food and turned around to face Lena.

“Sorry, I’ll try to be more attentive, but if I did something to upset you mind if you can clue me in?” Alan’s tone was exasperated, he found himself wanting to get over this quickly rather than a lot of concern for how his sister was feeling.

“ Jesus christ Alan, you’ve been an ass lately. I was giving you a hard time to tease you before, but if sleeping around is your new thing, mind not doing it with my friends and not in the next room over VERY loudly.” She snapped at him

“Oh just that?” Alan waved his hand and concentrated on sending a wave of calm at Lena, “Yeah sorry, we just got caught up, didn’t mean to bother you.”

While her physicality settled down a little, Lena was still on edge “That’s it? Fuck Alan, she has a boyfriend.”

“Yeah? And she said herself it’s not that serious. Also,” He wagged a finger at her “Isn’t it her decision what she gets to do?” He tried a wave of acceptance this time.

Her expression was downcast, “That’s it? You can brush it off just like that?”

“Well…yeah. We’re all adults here, we can make our own choices. And if things get more serious with her boyfriend, I’m not gonna stop that. Come on Lena, I’m sorry, let’s not make a big deal about this.” He watched her and tried to send her a wave of affection, hoping the family bond would carry them through.

So he was surprised when he saw guilt flash across her face before whimpering out

“You asshole.” and then storming off to her room and locking it behind her.