Perfectly Imperfect

three >> of fleetwood mac and family.

prompt 3: write a scene where your favorite song is played in the background. 

The smell of coffee is intense.

As soon as it hits my nostrils, I feel at home. This is what I know. This is what I have grown up with. I've been working here for my family since I was thirteen. Coffee, this is the smell I know. This is the smell that makes all of the trouble of the messed up world outside completely disapear. I flip the sign on the front of the shop that says closed to open and head for the counter, where my younger brother stands.

"Hey, Marina." He says groggily. It's only six in the morning and he has never been a morning person, unlike me. I adore mornings.

"Hey," I mutter, going behind the counter and setting up the machines because of course Kyle didn't. Why would he?

As I am flipping on the last machine, Kyle flips on the radio. A familiar plucking of guitar strings hits my ears.

I took my love, took it down. Climbed a mountain and I turned around.

 Kyle's eyes widen, and he is about to change the station.

"No, " I say quietly. "Keep it."

"But I know it was- it was Serena’s favorite song." He whispers.

 Serena. My adorable little sister. And by 'little', I mean my twin. She was born a few moments after me. We always joked about being twins, saying we were the only people in the world who truly weren't born alone. That we wouldn’t die alone either.

I guess we were right. At least in her case.

I remember our last car ride. The last of liquor on my tongue, how she had offered to drive but I was far too stubborn to admit I was even slightly drunk and promised I was only a little tipsy. She let me. Serena was always non-confrontational towards me, despite her otherwise outspoken manner. She did whatever I told her. So of course she didn't drive.

We were going over a bridge, and I don't remember much except that Landslide was playing and we were singing along as loudly as possible. We had just belted out, "Well, I've been afraid of changing 'cause I built my life around you!" when I lost control of the wheel and we swerved.

I thought I died.

I didn't.

Something worse happened. I awoke in a hospital and Serena, my baby sister, the person who was always there for me, was gone. I suffered only a broken leg and some bruised ribs. Not a fitting punishment for killing your sister, is it?

 And now as Landslide plays in the background all I can think about is how those were her last words. "Well I've been afraid of changing!" That was the last thing she ever said. Or sang, I suppose. Either way, it's the last words I'd ever hear from my baby sister.

 So as it neared that part of the song, I decided to make it count.

I got on the counter, all of my anger and depression and anxiety for the past year getting the best of me.

"Well, I've been afraid of changing 'cause I built my life around you! But time makes you bolder. Even children get older and I'm getting older too! Yeah, I'm getting older too!"

Kyle looks at me like I'm insane, then slowly gives a sad smile. He gets up on the counter too, which I realize is quite unsanitary.

"I'm getting older too!" He joins in, and we sing the rest of the song. We are horribly out of tune, bad dancers, and nearly fall about five times. But it is the happiest I have been in months.

And when the song is over and we just stand there crying like babies, it almost feels like an apology. It feels like a sorry for life continuing without Serena, a sorry for killing her, a sorry for being acquitted at trial, a sorry for being sorry.

It feels like a new beginning.

A/N: Hope you liked this prompt! I wanted to write something with less romance and more family/friendship. Because let's face it, family and friends can be so much more important than any other relationship. I also added the coffee shop bit to make up for the first prompt. Figured I may as well kill two birds with one stone, right?