Repeating History - A Second Chance Office Romance

Andrew

My brother Jacob has dragged me out tonight. He's in rant mode about the most recent escapes of our younger sister Maya.

'She's twenty-one... What do you expect?' I ask, as I down the rest of my beer. 'My round.'

I jump to my feet and head towards the bar of the Kent Mockery. I check my phone as I wait for the barman to get our beers. She hasn't replied. I hate it when she ignores me. I send her a quick message over Facebook Messenger since I haven't managed to get her number yet.

Back to ignoring me again?

I wait a split second to see if she replies, but she doesn't, so I sigh, put my phone back in my pocket and pick up our beers. Jacob is typing into his phone when I get back to him. It's probably work related, so I give him a moment. He's a lawyer and a workaholic. A moment or so later, he puts his phone away.

'Sorry about that. A case I'm working on at the moment... It's a bitch.'

'No worries.' I grin at him. I've always looked up to my big brother, not that I'd ever tell him that.

'As I was saying,' Jacob is back to his rant, 'Maya needs to grow up. If I have to loan her the money to pay her rent one more time...' He doesn't finish his sentence because he knows that whatever words he was going to end it with are meaningless. The threat was completely hollow.

'Jake,' I try to reason with him, 'where is she living?'

'I've no idea. She doesn't tell me anything these days. I think she lives with a friend.'

'Have you spoken to mum about her?'

'Are you serious? Since when has mum had any control over any of us?'

He's laughing at the idea and if I'm honest with myself, I know he's not wrong.

'She's serious about this singing thing?' I ask.

'I don't know how serious you can be about being a singer. I mean, she sings beautifully, don't get me wrong. She's amazing, but can she seriously believe that she can make it into a career?'

I shake my head.

'I don't know.'

'You could offer her an internship or something at TRW.'

'She'd hate it.'

'She's shown no interest at all in the law, otherwise I'd invite her to join me at the firm. At least advertising is creative...'

'Creative? Why do you say that with such abhorrence?'

'I didn't realise I had.' Jacob smirks at me. I know better, though. Our mother has always been a creative sort of person. She draws and sculpts. I think that's why Jake struggles with the idea of our sister trying to be a singer. She's too similar to our bohemian mother. 'So, what girl has you checking your phone every few minutes?'

'I'm not checking my phone every two minutes,' I tell him defensively.

'Are too!'

'Whatever.'

'Come on then; who is she?' Jacob's mood has changed. I can't tell if it's because we're no longer talking about Maya or if it has something to do with whatever he was typing into his phone a few minutes ago. He's smirking at me and it's infuriating.

'Just someone I work with,' I concede, because he'll just keep digging if I don't give him something.

'Right... just someone you work with.'

'Yes.'

'Not giving much away, are you?' He has a teasing glint in his eye. I can't tell him about Clara. He used to tease me about her back when we were in school. He is the reason I used to bully Clara so badly. I'd once told him about the pretty red-haired girl in my class and he'd teased me about her for hours.