Sister Finally Arrives

Billy woke up the next morning to find that his mom had already picked up his sister from the airport. An early morning flight from France would land you in the US in the early morning time because of the time difference, and Billy didn't love his sister enough to wake up at 6 am and endure an hour long drive with his mother while she teases him relentlessly with no where to escape just so he could see Anna slightly earlier than he would otherwise.

Truth be told, he was kind of excited to have her back. They didn't always have the best of relationships. She was a bookworm and he was somewhat of a jock. He liked rpg and fps games while she stayed away from the gaming scene except for the odd story-driven game every once in a while. She took AP classes while he just stuck around with his friends in their normal assigned classes. It wasn't that he was dumb, in fact he could've taken one AP class in his junior year, but he decided against it. They were just two different people living under the same house, except for the last two months. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

But he was never really jealous of her. A single mom raising two different kids had to learn very quickly to appreciate and support both of their hobbies and interests. Whether it was spelling bees, softball games, marathons, or math competitions, she always went to every single event and made them all seem special. Hell, his mother's interest in boxing was the main driver of his plan all along. But it did get rid of any feelings of jealousy. Sure he wished he had the academic achievements of his sister, but surely she wished to have his athletic ones. There was probably an unspoken mutual respect between the two that they probably would have discovered had they not been too distant and actually talked every once in a while.

Yet despite his excitement he was also nervous. He was nervous that his mom would reveal the outcomes of their boxing matches with her. That she would tell her how she knocked Billy out clean with only a couple of punches each time. He was worried about how Anna would react to that revelation. She had always thought of her brother as the athletic one, and their mom would never shut up about how good of a boxer he was. What would she think of him if she found out the truth? Would she lose her respect for him? Would she find it hilarious and tease him about it forever? There were too many worst case scenarios for him to count, which is why he needed to make sure that she never found out.

Billy trudged out of his room to go wash up and brush his teeth, hoping to avoid his mother's taunting for now. The last thing he needed was to have his morning routine ruined. As he turned around the corner and reached for the handle of the door, he was surprised to see his sister standing there with the same idea.

She was standing in front of him, wearing some skinny jeans and a black top, with a cute little black beret that he assumed she got as a souvenir from France. She seemed very timid and immediately let go of the handle and looked down at the floor, as if she was ashamed to look directly at him. He had to be the first to speak up.

"Hey Anna, it's nice to see you."

It was more of a courtesy than anything else. He hadn't even consciously thought about the words he was saying. He just said the first thing that came to mind that he thought would be appropriate to say to someone that hadn't seen in a while. There was an awkward silence for a bit as Anna prepared her response. Billy just stood there in anticipation, then out of nowhere, she moved in and hugged her brother for the first time either of them could remember in a long time.

"I missed you."

Billy was stunned and didn't say anything for a while. Eventually he just brought one hand and put it at the back of her head. It was an awkward hug, but it was a genuine awkward sibling hug.