Protector or Plague?

She shrugged. “Nope, not really. But I guess I don’t really need to spend my money on anything_responsible_ right now. Except for new cleats - think I could justify those to Mom as a responsible purchase? Mine are going to shit after last season.” Already certain she was boring him considering her field hockey woes weren’t relatable, Dani nudged him. “Someday you’re going to have to be my finance guy because I can’t keep it all straight.”

David’s shift in demeanor was hardly unfamiliar. She was well-versed in her brother’s moody, sulky side when his writing didn’t quite feel right. He’d spend hours and hours on a single line. Sometimes, she envied his patience — though she could be focused when she needed to be, her attention was far more productive when funneled into constantly shifting action rather than a Word document. “Well, see, there you go. I got the point right on the nose. I thought it was emotional. Fear, love. Those are pretty hefty feelings. Even that part about ‘gasping’ — it nearly sounds frantic, which is sort of how that unrequited love is supposed to be, right? Like you’ve got a lot to lose and it’s terrifying, but you can’t switch it off.” She rose her eyebrows. “True. Hey, I met Rhiannon in the cafe the other day and she mentioned she’s mentoring you or something? What’s that about?”

“Well your new cleats would totally be responsible, since they’re helping you, you know, go to school. Just put it to mom that way instead of focusing on how destroyed I bet they are.” He smirked and then let out a weak laugh, shaking his head. “Man, just use cash so you actually feel the stuff leaving your hand, and make sure you put money into savings so you earn interest.”

While David did have patience in the fact that he would work on a certain project for ages until it was finished, this didn’t mean that he didn’t have outbursts or a bad attitude as a result. Quite the opposite, in fact. Being a perfectionist meant that things turned out well, but it also meant sleepless nights getting them that way, and work having to be damn good to be up to standard. The corner of his lip lifted as she praised him before he closed the computer, deciding to work on it when he didn’t have free time to spend with his sister. “Yeah, yeah, that’s what I was going for.” He mumbled something that might be some sort of thanks afterward, but didn’t want her getting all high and mighty, feeling as though she could fix his mood, though she could better than anyone else, certainly. “Oh,” he sighed. “She’s taken an interest in my writing and wants me to make it better, which, I appreciate, but she takes way too seriously. She gives me assignments.” He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “Probably gets off on bossing me around.”

“I’m sure you get your fair share of demanding customers.” A small smirk curled up the edges of her lips as she leaned on the counter. “It’s tiring but knowing how much good you’ve done makes it worth it.” Her smirk faded for a second and in it’s place was a real, genuine, smile. One that was often quite rare and never lasted long. This one followed the way of all the others. Thinking about doing good always lead her to thinking that she would never be able to do enough good in her mind, to offset the bad. Instead her small smirk returned. “Oh my hero. I knew there was a reason why I liked you.” She gave him a wink before she started to laugh quietly. “I would never take advantage of your kindness. Don’t worry. I’ve seen enough of that happen in the ER.”

David shrugged. That day hadn’t been too bad, so he didn’t want to complain now and jinx everything. “Yeah, I guess you do more but you also get to feel as though you’ve actually done something useful at the end of the day.” He exhaled a laugh as he moved to start making her drink. He obviously knew that food service workers had jobs that mattered a lot more than people realized, but it wasn’t as though he could really compare himself to a nurse. He raised his eyebrows and looked up. “What does that mean? Do I want to know?”

Daniela rolled her eyes, not even bothering to grace David with a proper response. As most siblings did, they exchanged insults or nagged more often than they expressed sincere emotion, much less compliments. Still, it had meant a lot that David defended her to her mother, and she refrained from hooking him in the arm like she might have otherwise.

“But why would I do that when I can get them for free instead? I’m probably supposed to use that money for something responsible anyway. Graduate school or a car or something.” Suddenly thoughtful, she wondered if she should actively look for those stupid savings bonds sometime soon. The expense of veterinary school was a serious obstacle she hadn’t the faintest idea how she was going to overcome without taking out thousands of dollars in loans.

If she were being honest, she didn’t care about poetry as much as she cared about David. It was only because of the latter that she ever made an effort to have literary opinions at all. “Hm.” She tapped her chin with her index finger. “Okay, so the gist is that someone loves someone else but they don’t feel the same way, right? The biggest thing I got from that is being afraid rather than actually being in love. Which isn’t a bad thing if that’s the point you were getting at. The metaphor’s a little pretentious but to be fair I think a lot of poetry is pretentious.” The last comment was intended as a slight joke.

There were moments that the twins were genuinely nice and sweet to each other. However, when it went on for too long, it just got uncomfortable. The only time it lasted was when they were worried, which was unpleasant, or drunk but that was more funny than sappy. So David learned how to diffuse the situation fairly well with an insignificant insult.

David huffed and rolled his eyes. It didn’t bother him that much that Daniela asked for an employee discount and free drinks, but the fact that she did it all the time, especially when he told her just how many drinks he got an hour did get on his nerves sometimes. Plus, it was something that he had to play up at this point, since they’ve been going back and forth about it for so long. “You’re so annoying. Do you even need a car?” He figured he’d skip over the bit about graduate school to avoid making Daniela upset again.

David sighed and shook his head, closing the tab again. “Yeah, kind of, it was supposed to illustrate more of, well, so they actually both love each other but one would rather not, and, I don’t know.” He frowned and shook his head, mood already turning. When his writing didn’t come perfectly together, he could be very melodramatic, which helped out the rest of his writing, but not his mood. “But yeah, the being afraid rather than in love, I really wanted to like, feel that.” He shrugged. “I don’t know,” he repeated. “You haven’t read enough poetry to know it’s not all pretentious.”

“You’re dead fucking right, he’d never touch anything that’s been in a processing plant,” Cormac nodded thoughtfully. He was glad that David vaguely seemed to recall Ben’s tea habits, but maybe even more glad at having an outside party to lay some of the stress out on, even if it was through accidental tea metaphors. “Thanks, bro, you got me,” he said, fishing his wallet out of his pocket and handing over his card. “Oh, nothing really, just haven’t really seen him in a day or two so I was wondering…it’s just, well, something happened, and I’m afraid I might’ve scared him off, I guess…” The admission was slow and halting, but in a way it was nice to put fear into words.

David smirked. He’d encountered Ben’s clean freak attitude more than once. He didn’t mind; he still wasn’t quite as bad as some people, but he didn’t always understand it. He took the card, processed the order, and moved to start making the drink, but still glanced at Cormac over the counter while he spoke. “Scared him off?” David wasn’t going to pry, but if Cormac wanted to get something off of his chest, here might be the place he would. It was a wonder how much David learned just because people saw someone giving them a warm drink and mistook it for affection and a kind ear to tell their problems to. He didn’t mind, exactly, but didn’t really understand it, much like Benjamin’s organic habits.

There was a moment of silence, and Ben wasn’t really sure of what to say. He shifted a bit awkwardly. “This is the part where I tell you, right? I thought that only happened at hotel bars with people drinking heavily or something like that.”, he sighed. “Okay, I think I fucked things up with my best friend. Forever.” He really wasn’t the type to go around talking about his problems. Hell, this was probably the first time he had told someone about what had happened, and he wasn’t even getting into details. However, the second the words left his mouth, he felt somewhat relieved. “Yes, large Earl Gray. I’ve gone completely mental.”

“Uh, if you want to?” David never really liked forcing people to say anything. Sure, he wasn’t one to completely shut down gossip, but he wasn’t one who spread it or looked for it. Maybe that made him the ideal person to tell secrets to, since you know you’d be safe, but maybe you wanted a more attentive listener. “I guess we can swap out brandy for tea or something.” He raised his eyebrows a bit as he moved behind the counter to start making the drink. “Cormac?” It was a dumb question; of course it was Cormac, who else would Ben describe as his ‘best friend’? “Are you sure?” If anybody knew the friends or glanced in their direction, they’d be able to sense that one would have to do something fairly terrible to ‘fuck things up’ with the other.

“Oh, I don’t know…” Kat mused once they made it to the front of the line, leaning on the counter in return and grinning at David. “I don’t suppose you’ve got the stuff for a Mexican Mocha back there??” They usually weren’t up and about at this time, but there had been something about that morning that had woken them early (and in their own bed for once), maybe lingering thoughts from the night of the gala, maybe something else. They certainly weren’t going to be able to figure it out without a little caffeine. They ignored the strange looks they were getting from the café-goers for being in full makeup at this hour, instead focusing on David’s smiling face which was always a sight for sore eyes. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks but that can’t possibly be right… How’s your sister?”

David squinted slightly as he thought. “Okay, I know that I definitely made one recently and that we absolutely have cinnamon and nutmeg here, but the cayenne isn’t a guarantee and I could have made it at home.” He nodded. “I’ll totally check for you, though, it’d just be with the other spices. If not, I totally owe you one.” David smiled a bit more. There were a few people that could get him in a very good mood, and Kat happened to be fairly high on that list. “I think we bumped into each other while I was at the bar at the party, but properly hanging out... Hasn’t happened in a while. Maybe we should change it.” Now he was actually making plans. He must have really been in a good mood. He nodded again. “Oh, she’s good, same as always. You’re up early, though, did you sleep at all?” He knew that they were much more of a night owl than he was, and it was possible that they'd stayed up so late they figured sleeping would be useless.

Truthfully, Daniela was joking; she knew David understood her better than most, and no matter how annoying his candor could be it was typically what Dani needed to hear anyway. His sincerity was relatively unexpected. She too couldn’t help but smile, her minor irritation with their mother dissipating in the face of affection for her brother. “Thanks. You should say nice things like that to me more often.” It wasn’t too difficult to lift her spirits generally, but David always managed to do so with the most efficiency, and thus her shifted mood had her sitting up properly to face him, folding her legs pretzel-style. “And for the record, even hearing you say the word dick is honestly a little scarring so I vote we drop that subject.”

She paused before continuing, thinking. “Um. Actually, I don’t think I threw them out but they’re either in my sock drawer, in that shoebox under my bed, or Mom has them stashed away somewhere which is honestly the best case scenario. Hope you don’t lose sleep over that.” David’s poetry typically revolved around highly-charged subjects; she was left unsurprised by the inspiration behind his current project. She knew so little about literature that her opinion probably didn’t matter, but she always offered it anyway. “Oh. I mean, you usually write about that stuff, right? Feelings and love and…whatever, that super intense stuff. You’re usually good at it. Bet if you stared at anything for more than a few hours it’d sound like mierda. But you’re welcome to do a dramatic reading and I’ll tell you if it’s actually shit or not.”

David was pleased that his sister’s bad mood seemed to brighten, and he figured that now would be a good time to make fun of her. Things just sort of worked that way, like give and take. You give a compliment, and then you have to balance it by giving an insult. “Then I’d have to see your gross teeth even more.” It was a strange insult, and not a serious one, since his sister’s teeth were fine, but it worked. “I second it. I know your weakness now though.”

“I’m not losing any sleep over it. I’m just saying that if you try to get free drinks from me at the cafe, I might let you know that maybe you’d have money to actually pay for them if you’d actually cashed in those checks.” David couldn’t really talk. The only reason he even knew where the bonds were was because he lived with his mother. He was more responsible than some twenty year olds, but he didn’t get carried away. Too much. He laughed. “Yeah, I guess I do write about that super intense shit, but this one’s... It just feels weird? Like, okay, here.” He opened the tab and read;

“I don’t know when exactly my like turned to love, and that turned into a prepositional phrase, but it scares me to think that you don’t want to feel this way. You’re a faulty oxygen tank, giving me enough hope that I think I can make it to the surface, but then leave me gasping with thirty meters to go. I forgive you.”

He shrugged. “Is it too pretentious or fictional to convey actual emotion? I can’t tell.”

“Yes please. You’re a total life saver. Apparently I wasn’t quite awake when I walked into my kitchen this morning. I suppose a long shift will do that to you.” She mustered up a better smile and tried to make her voice seem less tired. “I like seeing you in a good mood though. Makes me feel a bit better.” She laughed lightly and picked up a straw to play with. “You win some, you lose some. I guess I just have no luck this morning. Used it all up.”

David nodded and moved to start making her drink. “Oh, yeah, all I do is make coffee and I’m dead on my feet after eight hours. Can’t imagine how it’s like getting home from the hospital. You were working all night?” He felt that he and Jade had some sort of understanding. Normally they just both exchanged a few words, went back and forth for a few minutes until they decided to keep each other company in silence. It was a nice setup, but talking to her wasn’t exactly terrible. “Ah, I wouldn’t say no luck. I get two free drinks on my shift and haven’t used them, so,” He shrugged a bit. “This one can be one of them. Don’t expect it all the time though.”

This particular dynamic was far from uncommon. Mrs. Arevalos wore Daniela’s nerves thin often, and vice versa. David had always been Mom’s chiquito. She’d feel bad making him be the referee so often if he didn’t seem to enjoy being the fair one. And annoyingly enough, she knew he was right. It had been an odd adjustment to the Arevalos house once Dani moved out, and she hypothesized her mother was still adjusting to it even years afterward. Her nosiness was well-intentioned. “You’re the worst person to complain to because all you ever do is sit there and be fair.” She pulled a sour face. “I hope you at least play the same card when she’s complaining about me, because I know she does.”

Since she didn’t have the energy to sit up properly and reach, she settled for sharply elbowing his leg in response to his hypothetical nudity. “You look that bad in the nude? No wonder you’re single.” The mention of the leash was a memory Dani had long forgotten, though now that he’d mentioned it the discussion came to mind clearly. Thankfully, Mrs. Arevalos had ignored her sister’s advice. “Shit, I’d forgotten. No wonder she only gives me savings bonds for Christmas. Trying to enforce responsibility or whatever.” Mildly interested in his website designing, she stretched her arms over her head and let out a yawn. “What are your poems about? Why do you think they’re bad? They probably aren’t.”

David rolled his eyes, but the smile stayed on his face. He wasn’t exactly tired of his mother and sister going back and forth like they did, but he did wish that they could just sit down and work out their differences and say what they actually meant instead of David having to act as each of their mouthpieces. Not that he could exactly complain about it to them. If he brought that up, they could bring up the fact that he was never really direct with anyone, and the only reason he didn’t fight with anyone was because he avoided conflict like it was the plague. “Nah, I fight way harder in your favour. Can’t let her talk about my twin that way.” He looked up from his computer to smile at Daniela. Even when it came to bickering with their mother, David always took his sister’s side. He normally took a stance in the middle, but he felt protective over her, even though she was the one who could snap him like a twig.

David clicked his tongue and swatted at her. “Fuck you. No matter how good I look naked, you could go blind from seeing your brother’s dick.” He let out a laugh. “God, I bet she’d try to put you on a leash now if she could. Also tell me that you don’t just throw those out, because you could totally cash those in for a quick buck.” He scrunched his nose and shrugged. “About, like, different relationships and feelings of love. I don’t think they’re bad, just... sort of, I can’t tell if they sound disingenuous or not, you know?”

Zac took any opportunity to talk about himself. Even if he didn’t really care about David attending his gig inviting him provided the perfect entrance to talking about himself, his band, and his unfaltering aspirations. David worked in a coffee place, surely he was hungry to hear some real stories.

“Yeah sure bro! Can’t have you miss this kind of crazy crap, I’ll even sneak you in if I’ve got to. Friday night, and if you already have plans cancel them and bring whoever you made plans with.”

David had absolutely no intention of going to the show, but he let Zachary go on, figuring that hearing himself speak was probably one of his favourite things to do anyway. He just nodded, glancing back at the register. 

“Wow, sounds sick. Definitely will look into it. I’m gonna try and get out of plans with my mother, I guess. She wanted help painting the kitchen.” Utter bullshit, but he figured Zac didn’t really care anyway.

It wasn’t until Layla’s stomach rumbled loud enough to draw others attention, that the girl realized she had been hungry. She had spent a good chunk of her day poring over essays that a handful of freshman asked for her eyes on. Layla didn’t mind, she was always quick to lend a helping hand, but when the work started piling up like this, she considered charging her peers for her efforts, especially considering that they were all meant to be on break, The stomach rumbles were more than enough of an excuse for her to actually grab a bite from the cafe that she had been sitting in.

Layla approached the counter with her hand in her bag, fishing around for her wallet while she gave her order (“Let’s do a peach tea with heaps of sugar. Oh and a blueberry muffin.”) Once she got a few dollars in her hand, she looked up and was pleasently surprised by the familar face in front of her. “Oh my gosh, hey! I didn’t think you’d be working right now. Picking up some extra shifts?” she asked returning his friendly smile.

David tapped in the order, took the money, and was already fishing for change when Layla finally noticed who it was that she was speaking to, which was funny enough for him to take note of, but not quite funny enough to bring up without sounding passive aggressive. He thought it was nice that she knew his schedule enough to take note of it, however, though he wasn’t exactly surprised, since she was normally a bystander when his sister came by to harass him during his shifts. “Ah, yeah, Phil just sort of puts us wherever we’re most needed, and I said I wouldn’t be opposed to a few more hours this week. Summer’s a good time for more shifts.”  In the winter, it was hard for David to convince himself to get out of the warmth of bed, but the summer had its perks; since it gave him an excuse to get out of the house during the day and provided air conditioning when it was too hot.

“It’s just been a long couple of days.” Not that David cared, probably, not that anyone cared. He had no idea why he was now oversharing. Maybe he had been spending too much time with the walking reality show that was Nina. Ben shook his head. “It’s not necessary. Well, I mean, please do wash them extra well of course. That could save you from a lawsuit one day.” He tilted his head, considering the options. If he was going to distract himself, he was going to need a lot of tea. “The biggest you have please. You only live once, right?”

David raised his eyebrows a bit, prompting Ben to say more if he wanted to. He found that when people really wanted to say something, they didn’t need much incentive, and for some reason, they really liked to talk to the person behind the counter. “Oh, well I don’t think we’re getting any lawsuits about the cleanliness of this place,” he said as he glanced behind him. He’d cleaned just this morning, and would definitely rinse off some lemons if it was utterly necessary. “Alright, large Earl Gray. Completely off the rails.” He smiled a bit as he joked. 

“Maybe…” he answered, as if it was a secret. It felt a whole lot like if he said yes, he might just pour out his whole soul at the counter of the coffee shop to poor, unsuspecting David. So maybewas for the best, at least until he figured out how to get himself under control. “No, no, he definitely doesn’t want to rot his teeth out like me; he always gets on me about how much artificial shit I’m putting in my body when I get coffee like I do…right, yeah, that’s a good idea, I’ll do that, thanks. I’m just all over the place right now. Hot, I think. Yeah, let’s go with hot, fuck the weather.” Cormac nodded decisively, at least on that one, and glanced around, as if to see if anyone was listening in. “Has he been by the past few days…just wondering…”

David tilted his head a bit but didn’t question it. Sometimes, people liked to play games, and sometimes they were just a bit weird, so he let them. Whatever kept them entertained. He exhaled a laugh. “Yeah, I think just honey is fine for him. Doesn’t drink the refined shit anyway, probably.” He nodded and tapped in the order. “Sounds familiar. Now that I think about it, I don’t know if he’s ever ordered anything cold here, besides ice or something.” He told Cormac the price before squinting a bit. “Uh, I wasn’t here yesterday, and I don’t think I saw him the day before, but no promises. Any reason you’re wondering?”