Ok, I need to be straightforward.

"All right."

I began cautiously. I remembered the last time I had gotten Charlotte riled. She did have a bit of a temper, but I was starting to understand what set it off a bit better today.

"I'm not trying to say I don't want you here. I DO. I'm just worried that she's going to immediately think I'm cheating on Kaila, or that Kaila dumped me, or any of a hundred other things, and will start in on me right away."

I pulled the van around the concrete island that somehow seemed to block anybody from getting into the gas station without a long circular route involving a stoplight. I noted the cop car idling in a nearby parking lot with city colors on it, and it all made sense.

"Yeah, you know, she's had it rough, and she might be having a difficult time, especially considering that her car..." I continued, trying to explain how it almost always wasn't her fault that she was never in a good state when she had to call me.

"No, no way, Brent, let me stop you RIGHT there on that one." Charlotte interrupted me. "That's classic bullshit. There were way too many guys when I was slutting it up that I pulled that shit on. If you're always SAD when he shows up, then you get happy just from him doing things for you... You get the idea."

There was still a car in line ahead of us, and no escape from this conversation. No real way to change the subject like I wanted to desperately. Was Charlotte calling my little sister a slut?

"Well, Imogene just has bad luck," I began, intending to explain.

"No, Brent, a tree through Helen's Perfect Vacation Spot is Bad Luck. Did it ruin EVERYTHING? Did I have to have you console me? Did I have to call up one of my brothers to come get me? Wake up. What was it last month? Lose a job? Boyfriend disrespecting her? Oops, she had a few too mini martoonis?" She slurred the last and I remembered a drunken phone call after a disastrous date where Imogene was sure that her escort had slipped her a roofie. She never wanted to press charges, just wanted to sleep it off somewhere safe.

I pulled the van to a stop next to the green pump. I took a deep breath, not wanting to think about Imogene in that way. Charlotte hadn't even met her, after all.

"Look, I think... I think you'll see things are different when you meet her." I opened the van door and placed a foot on the ground. "Can you... well, you're honest with me, can you do the same with her? Maybe it will help. I want to make this work."

"Yeah, so... Uh... don't... don't tempt me. " Charlotte shook her head with a cautioning waggle. "I honestly am tempted to set that girl straight. I mean not... well, ok, I mean set her... fuck I'm screwing this up. " She took a deep breath. "I can already see that your sister does a lot of shit that I used to do when I was stringing guys along, just from what you tell me. "

I nodded, glancing at the readout as the digital numbers scrolled past. Far faster than I'd like. Gas in this part of town was always at least a buck above standard, but driving over the hill would be risky. I'd already taken a chance driving this far on the little gas we had.

"I mean, some of that stuff is straight out of Cosmo. " She shook her head angrily. "The Duck face behind the hot friends back is a classic trick to get you to think you're going to get a three way."

"Well, I don't need to worry about that." I pointed out. "Besides, Imogene's a vir... "

I immediately shut my mouth on that. That was a discussion we had had which I probably shouldn't be sharing. That was the night I had got Imogene to stop getting quite as wasted quite as often. Kaila hadn't seen that. She had been playing a gig that night, and was pissed to find Imogene on the couch. Again.

"She's a what, Brent? If you were about to say what I think you were about to say, how do you know that? "

"Because she told me, Ok? It's just a fantasy." I objected, "We worked it out."

"Keep telling yourself that, Brent." She smirked. The sound of the Gas pump shutting off drew my attention.

"I'm gonna grab a drink, want anything?" I pointed to the small convenience store that adjoined the gas pumps.

"Yeah, thanks, something with caffeine please. " She nodded.

Several moments later I returned having paid the clerk, and grabbed a couple sodas from the huge racks of beverages that dominated the back and side wall of the place. Charlotte was already back in the van, and I handed her one of the drinks while we waited for the car ahead of us to move and let us leave.

"I'm starving by the way. We didn't eat this morning." Charlotte pointed out after a moment's reflection.

"Well, you wanna grab lunch after we pick up Imogene?" I asked.

"Sure, and speaking of her, let's talk about what she's going to do when you see her." Charlotte nodded. "Because you know your sister, if she starts the tears right away, what are you going to do?"

"Ok, uhm..." I thought over how Imogene always behaved when I rescued her. "She Doesn't usually do the tears thing. She usually says thanks, and then I help her with whatever the problem is."

"First I bet she gives you a huge hug and says how wonderful you are though, right?" Charlotte stated acerbically. "After sobbing about whatever the problem is."

"Yeah, she does, but I'm the only one she can count on..." I began.

"Oh that's a classic!" Charlotte laughed. I finally began to pull the car out of the station and back onto the Highway after two quick turns. "That one ranks right up there with 'I have a fake boyfriend' which we already know she plays."

"I am her brother, come on." I objected. Another stoplight, and a seeming endless parade of cars crossed the highway as we idled.

Charlotte stretched languidly.

"Oh, I think she knows what she's doing. You ever fuck Kay when Imogene was over?" Charlotte asked.

I thought it over quickly. Not in a while, not in a long while. Kaila and her sister were usually upset when Imogene came over these days.

"Once or twice, I think." I tried to remember the last time that Imogene had been over when Kaila and I had made love. Oh right, that was the time I got drunk and blurted... "We were quiet though. I didn't want to freak her out."

"Brent, I've fucked Kay. You and I both know she isn't quiet in bed. "