She doesn't.

"Hi, can I help you?" Elizabeth smiled. A smartly dressed blonde stood on the front porch, looking impatient.

"Hi! I'm Kelly, I'm just here to get a few things for Megan. I know where they are. You fetched the paper for her already?"

Elizabeth nodded and let her in without any trouble. It took Kelly a few minutes to get what she was looking for, including the copy paper Elizabeth had bought, and leave.

A few minutes later, Elizabeth was back on the sofa when she felt the phone buzz again, two very long vibrations.

Good job, thanks for doing that! It really helped :-) Let's grab a drink later!

She smiled and got up from the couch to leave. With the phone back in her purse, she realized she'd been waiting in the house until Megan texted her, but couldn't remember why she'd decided to do that.

******

That evening at a little restaurant in town, the two sisters shared a drink and some laughs about how work had been going for Megan, and how Elizabeth's husband's job search had been going.

"So he hasn't found anything local?"

"Nothing, the whole industry is laying off right now. He has an interview in a few days with a company in Iowa, but that's three states away! And its in the middle of nowhere!" Elizabeth set her forehead on the table and let out an exasperated sigh.

Megan reached over and patted the top of her sister's head. "Oh, Ellie. Its all going to work out. You know it."

Elizabeth swatted her hand away and sat up. "I know, I'm just worried is all. We could lose the house. I'm scared." She frowned.

"And don't call me Ellie. You know I hate that name."

"Why? It's a cute name, everyone used to call you that when we were little."

"Yeah, it was real cute until 3rd grade when everyone realized our teacher Mrs. Farnsworth brought her dog named Ellie to school for Pet Day."

Megan laughed, "Oh yeah, I forgot."

"Well I didn't. Everyone was calling me the Teacher's Pet for weeks."

They took sips of their drinks, a pause that let the tension disperse.

"So what did you say to Kelly when you let her in?" Megan asked.

Elizabeth shrugged. "Nothing. She came and got the paper and left."

Megan nodded, "Ok, that's good. I told her you were my sister, I just figured you'd be more friendly."

"Well she seemed like she was in an awful hurry."

"Yeah, she was. Hey, since Jeff is going to be out of town on that interview, do you want to come stay with me for a while? We can stay up late and watch cheesy movies for old times' sake."

"You mean you actually still want to hang out with your older sister?" Elizabeth teased, but she smiled. "Yeah, that'd be great. I'd love that. It will certainly make the time less lonely."

*******

"Just how does this kind of thing happen to you?" Megan said in between giggles.

"Aaaagh! I'm going to kill Jeff when he gets back!" Elizabeth shouted.

They stood on the porch of Elizabeth's house late in the evening, an angry red LED blinking at them from the fingerprint lock on the front door. Elizabeth had a papercut on her thumb that she was holding closed with her other hand.

"I can't believe that thing is so sensitive it won't read your thumb with a freaking papercut." Megan sighed. "I guess you'll have to call a locksmith, but its so late, you'd probably get charged a college tuition."

Elizabeth only responded with more loud curses about her husband. The cool evening was turning into a cool night as they stood on the porch.

Megan sighed again, "Listen, why don't you just come back to my house for a while. You can stay there. I don't have a guest bed yet, but I do have an air mattress you could sleep on. We can call a locksmith in the morning."

Elizabeth agreed, "Oh, damnit, fine then. That's probably for the best."

Megan a grin, "Yay! Sister sleepover!" She pumped her fist into the air. Elizabeth just sulked.

"Ok fine, be that way," Megan finished. "Come on, follow me."

Elizabeth's phone buzzed two short pips, and she pulled it up to check it, but there were no messages. strange, she thought.

"If you do end up staying over, you'll have to get a few shirts and such, I don't think we're quite the same size, ya know?" Megan said.