Christie paused in the living room and tapped her nails on her mug. ‘Hey Topher?” she called for her brother.
“Yeah?” he asked from the kitchen.
“What’s up with your tree?”
“Huh?” Topher turned off the water at the sink.
“It’s…half done.”
Topher walked in, drying his hands on a towel. “What do you mean, half -…oh. Oh no. We never finished it.”
Christie gestured. “Did you run out of lights or something? Doesn’t seem that way…” She pushed the pile with her toes.
“Uh.” Topher turned a bit red. “This guy I’ve been seeing came over to help me set it up. Uh…we got distracted”
“Topher James. You’re getting laid?”
“Oh god. You can’t know that.”
She squealed. “You have to tell me! What’s his name? How hot is he? How tall is he? Where does he work?”
“Christiiiiiiiiiiie.”
She waggled her eyebrows. “Are we thinking kielbasa or vienna sausage?”
“CHRISTIE.” Topher ran his hand over his face. “Good god. We are not gossiping. His name is Derek, we met at a concert, it’s nothing serious. We’re barely official, it’s not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal huh? You have a present under the tree from him. Two from the looks of it.”
Topher turned a bit pink. “He’s nice.”
“Can I meet him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It’s too soon!”
Christie scoffed. “Too soon? If you’re being intimate, it’s not too soon to meet a sister. Parents maybe.”
Topher made a face. “Well, when Derek looked me up on Instagram for the first time, he saw a photo of us and thought we were dating.”
Christie pulled a similar face.
“Ewwww.”
“Yeah. So it’s weird.”
“Oh. Well. If I can’t meet him, I’m definitely going to need all the gossip. Height and profession please. And show me a photo!”
Topher groaned and went back into the kitchen with Christine trotting after him. “I’ll show you a photo, just drop it ok?”
Christine grinned. “No. Why don’t you call him over so you can finish the tree.”
Topher took a beer out of the fridge. “I need this.”
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Captions are fictional.