Some Days

"What are you doing here Mia?"

Mia frowned at her brother. She was still standing on the front porch of his house, suitcase in hand. He had yet to invite her inside, or even smile at her presence for that matter.

"Really Ben?" she stated, removing her sunglasses and squinting at her suddenly bright surroundings. "You can't even act kind of excited to see your little sister, who just so happens to live on the other side of the country?"

If he felt the least bit guilty for his behavior, he didn't show it, but he stood aside, letting Mia inside the house, all the same. Mia heard the door close behind her and turned to see Ben with a distraught look on his face. She heard shuffling coming from upstairs and furrowed her eyebrows, about to ask Ben who else was there when he cut her off.

"Let's just go into the living room. Leave your shoes next to the door."

"Clean freak," she mumbled under her breath.

He seemed not to have heard her. Mia took a seat on the couch across from her brother and took in her surroundings. The house was huge and she wondered how he was so well off.

"Mia," Ben sighed. "Let's just get straight to the point. What are you doing here?"

Mia wrinkled her nose, crossing her arms and leaning back into the soft leather.

"You didn't get my voicemail, did you?"

"What voicemail?"

"Exactly."

She shook her head, smiling slightly.

"Mom and Dad," she said simply.

Ben sighed and nodded his head in understanding.

"You know," he began. "You don't actually have to do what they tell you to do anymore. You're going to be twenty this fall."

"Yeah, but they're also paying for college," Mia replied bluntly.

There was a long silence between the two and Mia heard more shuffling from upstairs.

"You know, you're not the only one who suffered," she told her brother quietly. "You didn't have to run away."

He nodded his head.

"I know. It just seemed like the easiest thing to do at the time. He was my best friend-"

"And he was my boyfriend, Ben. How do you think I felt when you left? You didn't even say a word. You called us a week later, telling us you had moved here but not to come after you and that you weren't ever coming home. I haven't seen you, let alone had a conversation with you, in years."

Ben looked away and Mia shook her head, looking at her hands and biting her lip before continuing.

"You know, Ben, you can't run away from your problems. Not forever."

He replied with a reluctant, "I know."

Someone suddenly came down the stairs, sighing in relief.

"I finally got him to settle down for his nap-"

Mia turned around to see a blonde woman, around Ben's age it appeared, standing in the entrance to the living room, a look of shock and confusion on her face as she saw Mia.

"Who-" the woman started, but was cut off by Ben.

"Em, this is my sister Mia. She, uh, came to visit...."

"Oh."

Mia suddenly felt out of place and quickly stood.

"Actually, I really should, umm... go," she stuttered out. She nodded her head quickly. "Yeah, I'm just going to go."

Mia practically ran to the door, trying to gather all of her belongings at once.

"Mia, just wait!" Ben called behind her.

She didn't listen though, only opened the door and dragged her bags to her car that was parked in front of the house.

"Mia, just let me explain," he continued calling, stepping outside and closing the door behind him.

"Explain what?" she spat. "That you got married and had a child and didn't bother calling your little sister once? It looks like you really weren't living in the past after all. You know, Mom and Dad asked me to come here to make sure you were still alive, but I guess they had nothing to worry about in the first place. I can see you're just fine."

"Mia-"

"Save it."

Mia shook her head as she climbed into the drivers seat, wiping away the slowly falling tears as she drove away. She felt betrayed, she felt hurt, and most of all, she felt disappointed. She felt disappointed that she had missed out on so many parts of her brother's life.

"He chose this, not me," she whispered quietly to herself.

It took about ten minutes of aimless driving and harsh, whispered curses for Mia to realize that she didn't know where she was going or where she would stay for the night. She mentally slapped herself for being so stupid. She eventually found a run down motel that she determined would be good enough for one night. She would find another place to stay the next day.

As she sat on the edge of the bed that night, she thought back on her day, her mind unwillingly wandering to the group of boys she had met at the coffee shop, but more specifically John and his perfect, crooked smile that so reminded her of another boy that was far away and long ago, never to be seen again. She shook her head and turned off the lights. It would be nice to say that she had a restful sleep, but that would be a lie.