Marla called out Kevin and Ethan’s arrival commenting on how long they were holed up in Kevin’s room.

            Carmen stood up and walked over to Kevin to hug him, keeping him in the hallway he was coming from.

            “Well, Kevin, this is Ethan whom you already know, and he is my partner at the T&R.”

            “Oh, good you can keep an eye on her for me,” Kevin said while winking at Ethan.    

            “And you told Kevin I wasn’t interested in dating my brother?” Carmen asked Ethan while eyeing Kevin.

            “Of course he did. Just relax and have a good time, Carmen,” Kevin replied for Ethan.

            “Good and I will. You have nice friends, I’m happy for you. I just wish you treated me as well as you treat them!”

            “One of them seems to treat you well,” Kevin said while using his thumb and curled fingers to point at Ethan.

            “You know he isn’t a replacement for you,” Carmen said feeling the anger turning into sadness.

            “Uh, I think I should let you two catch up for a minute while I go grab some drinks,” Ethan said suddenly feeling out of place.

            “Carmen. I’m sorry, I just left and never looked back and constantly let you down with empty promises,” Kevin said while hugging Carmen in his arms.

            Carmen thought about what to say. She loved her brother so much that if there was a chance he wouldn’t ignore her again she would take it and all could be forgiven and she could move on.

            “I’ll forgive you on one condition.”

            “What’s that.”

            “Let me see you every once in a while. Either hang out with me or invite me over if you are too lazy to go out.”

            “Isn’t that already solved with you being Ethan’s partner?”

            “No, the invitation would be coming from him. It has to come from you. Are you even listening to me?”

            “Yes, I got it. Carmen, I would like to invite you to all our get-togethers from here on out as my sister and Ethan’s partner.”

            “I accept your invitation. That’s a good start, you big dummy.”

            “Next order of business. Since I am a genius and also a good friend and would also like to demonstrate how much I care about you, I am going to ask you a question, before we get any closer to the living room and before Ethan comes back. Do you like Ethan?” Kevin said asking the question so fast Carmen would have asked him to repeat it if she wasn’t so attentive when hearing Ethan’s name.

            “I … what? Um, how would you know about this?” Carmen asked while turning red and feeling the need to escape.

            “Okay, I guess you do. Um, Ethan told Ray and I about how you started acting cold about a month ago after having greeted him nicely for a month before that and he wanted advice as to why you would act that way and Ray and I surmised from other info that you liked him, and we told him that if he could get you to this party, we would help him figure out if that was true.”

            “And … why does he want to know if that’s true?”

            “Originally, I think he wanted to figure out the root of the problem to fix it, but so you aren’t mad that I might tell him later that you do like him. I’ll tell you now that he does like you. He told me so, just now, in my room.”

            “Oh, no, no, no. I didn’t come here ready to deal with any of this, you and him. He drove me here. If you tell him, I like him it’ll be weird going back. I don’t have any dating experience. I’m not even flirting with him. There’s no way I can do this.”

            “I can hold off telling him or I won’t tell him if somehow you two figure it out.”

            “No, wait. It’s not fair that I know how we both feel. You should tell him. And hurry up before I change my mind.”

            “Okay. Got it. I’ll go tell him. Gosh, you two are so weird.”