As promised, Elena waits for me in front of the building.

  She’s playing with a strand of her hair and her smile curls upward, the way children draw the maw of a cat. The perfect smiley of two dots and a three. “Hey, you!” she shouts and I quicken the pace so people would stop looking our way. It shouldn’t be a problem that we are seen together. I have warned the dean that my young sister would start the year at Tufts and he probably warned the rest of the professors. Hopefully. Well, Andrew wasn’t aware. So, that might give an answer. Even if she’s not in the same building, I felt it necessary to come clean about it, as she might join me for lunch breaks. “I don’t like the face you’re making,” I admit while ruffling her hair. She playfully draws her tongue out.

  “What face? This is my normal face.”

  “This is your mischievous face.”

  “I don’t have a mischievous face!”

  “I can assure you that you do.” She fakes an adorable pout and I can’t control the sincere smile that stretches my mouth. “I’ll drive you home.”

  “Surely hope so. That’s why I’ve been waiting for you.” Liar.

  I point at the nearby parking lot and she crosses the road after watching right and left. “Only for that?”

  She turns around with a grin. “Well, yes.”

  “You’re doing your mischievous face again.” She laughs and my hand catches her shoulder before she’s too far away from me.

  “I might have questions…” her eyes glint with curiosity and I join her into a fit of laughter.

  I sigh. “Go ahead and ask.”

  “What was this Andrew doing in your office?”

  “It’s not my office. That’s just where I retrieve myself when I want to be alone.” She nods her head but also gives me a knowing look. She’ll be asking about that later. “And Andrew is a professor here.”

  “Oh! What’s his name? What is he teaching?” she seemed truly inquisitive and I try to find the deception in her gaze. I find none.

  I’m not sure I should tell her about him. Not that it would be problematic she acknowledges his existence but what if she tries to bury her nose too deep in our… situation? That is totally her thing. The number of times she set me up into dates and nights out for no particular reasons. At least not ones she felt like it was important to share.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The more she finds out about him, the more information she’ll be able to use to her advantage. Despite being twenty years old, she’s resourceful. “Andrew Miller.”

  “What? Like our name?” her mouth drops. She even stops in her tracks.

  “Our name is Mlynar,” I correct and she rolls her eyes to the sky. Well, ceiling. Since she wasn’t born in Slovakia, she doesn’t feel entitled to our real family name. Not as much as I am. She’s not denying our culture and native country, quite the opposite, but she doesn’t stand a point at making everyone know we changed our family name as we moved. “And he teaches synergology.”

  I expect her to ask what it is, because I surely didn’t know what it was when I was her age. But she only nods again and worse even, shows interest. “That’s so cool.”

  “How?” I immediately query.

  “What do you mean how?” We continue walking toward my car. I press the button on the key to unlock it.

  We open the doors and sit inside before I turn on the engine. “How is it cool?”

  “Well, it’s rarely offered as classes. It’s original. It helps, sometimes, watching signs and knowing how to interpret them.”

  I choose quietness. She wasn’t born yet so she couldn’t know. Couldn’t understand why synergology is a part of our lives I would rather forget and bury into the oblivion. It shouldn’t exist. It’s not working. It surely hasn’t worked for—

  “And do you and Andrew…” She changes the subject. Now that I’m focused on the road, I can’t really watch her expressions. But she can watch mine. And she sees that I’m not going to divulge anything. “Have sex?”

  My foot on the brake pedal trembles with surprise. She’s thrown out into the glove box. “Put your damn seatbelt on, Elena.” I yell and she immediately executes the task.

  “Sorry,” her face is making it impossible to stay angry.

  I sigh. “Why do you care?”

  “Because you’re my brother! So, you are?!” My vision is focused on the road as I navigate through the cars out of the parking lot, but I’m pretty sure her eyes have tripled in size. And her grin reaches the sky.

  My tone is harsh. “No, we are not.”

  “Why do you react like that? It’s not an insult. You can have sex with men if you want to.”

  “Elena, please. Stop saying that word.”

  “What word? Sex?” I push the brake pedal again, right in front of the open gates. “I’m twenty, Alexej, do you think I’m still a vir—”

  “Okay, enough.”

  I’m not a prude. And I’m surely not homophobic. But for some reason, having this conversation with my sister, it doesn’t feel right. We’ve had multiple opportunities to be really close, and have talked about many different things. Only right now it involves Andrew and… I don’t know. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m not… comfortable talking about him.”

  “Do you feel something for him?” She’s watching me with pure sincerity. It’s obvious she wants part of my life and my personal details as I often tend to avoid sharing. It makes my heart wince knowing that she might feel excluded if I get angrier.

  “Something, yes. But not the way you think.” This isn’t the time to explain. Not that I would know what to say exactly. It goes deeper than just me and Andrew. It’s too long. She’s never met . She couldn’t understand. By the gaze I give her, she notices my struggle. I hope she also knows this has nothing to do with me not being comfortable enough with her. Maybe I should say it.

  A car behind us honks at our immobility. I wave a hand to excuse myself, and the rest of the trip we share is quiet.