Fool Me Twice (Formerly Persephone)

1

Seph followed the crowd of other passengers from her flight through the airport hallways, searching for the baggage claim. Chris promised to meet her there. She had a backpack slung over one shoulder and she tightened her grip on the strap as she entered the baggage claim area. Seph scanned the faces of everyone in the room as she walked, searching for Chris' familiar face. She reached the conveyor belt for her flight's luggage and waited for her small purple suitcase to make its way around to her. As she grabbed it, she heard somebody calling her name. 

"Seph! Sephie!" Seph spun around to see her long-haired, bearded brother barreling towards her, waving frantically. As soon as they reached each other, Chris wrapped her in a hug, picking up her and her luggage and swinging her around. "My baby sister! I missed you so fucking much!" His loud voice earned him a glare from a mother with a young son a few feet away. The kid giggled, muttering the swear to himself and earning himself a glare from his mom. 

"What the fuck happened to your face?" His voice was hushed this time, but the woman still heard him. She huffed loudly and pulled her son and luggage away from Chris. 

"Oops." Chris chuckled and turned away, walking back towards the door to the pick-up zone with Seph in tow. Once they were out of the main crowd but before they reached the doors, Chris stopped walking. "Seriously though, did you fight somebody?" 

"No I fell down the stairs, okay?" 

Chris gave her a weird look but accepted her excuse. "So, two things and please let me explain them fully before you get mad at me," He sped up his words to keep Seph from being able to start to say anything. "First, my cars in the shop and I had to have a friend drive me here to pick you up so there's going to be somebody else in the car sorry I didn't warn you. Second, I have to leave tomorrow just for four days. I couldn't get out of it, a publicity event for Lottie and I." Chris continued rambling about their manager and publicist, reminding Seph that he was an up-and-coming musician. 

"Oh shit and one more thing," Chris said, "The guy who's my ride, Jeremy, is also living with me right now." 

"What?" Seph thought her heart had stopped. "It's not just you and Lottie? This one you really should have mentioned." She couldn't help the irritation that seeped into her voice. Her shoulders were tensing, causing them to ache. She tried to relax, but it wasn't easy. 

"I didn't think you'd care, we always had random people over at home when it was just us." 

"Yeah well, that was a long time ago." Seph tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice but Chris caught it. 

He stared at her for a minute, really looking at her. "Seph are you okay? Why did you wanna leave Texas?" 

"Anna sold the house." Seph said simply. It was a good enough excuse. 

"Since when do you call her Anna?" Chris had stopped calling their mother by anything other than her first name when he was in high school, but Seph had continued to use 'mom' or 'mother' in the hopes it would remind Anna that that was who she was. Apparently, it didn't work. 

"Since I realized she stopped being my mom a long time ago. If she ever really was to begin with. Chris I really don't want to talk about all of this. You already know about my problems with her." 

Chris nodded slowly, not fully feeling that Seph was telling the truth. But what did he know? Seph was right, it had been a long time. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Jeremy sat in the driver seat, jiggling his leg. Was he nervous to meet his best friends' little sister? Absolutely. Chris had pictures of him and Seph in his house. She was gorgeous, and according to Chris, she was really smart too.