“No, it’s because we don’t want to go do multiplication homework,” Allison reminded her sister.
“Oh yeah.”
“So, Yvette, how’s life in grad school?” Lyla asked, starting to run the hot water. She plugged the sink and added soap. Then she started scrubbing.
“Not bad,” Yvette shrugged. Allison’s sister had originally gone to college and majored in history. Later, she’d decided that she wanted to try something else, so she was going back to school to study psychology. She was working on her master’s degree and hoped to eventually work with teenagers who were struggling. It was a noble endeavor, Allison thought.
“Lots of homework?” Allison remembered grad school well. She’d only done a semester before she’d decided that she was ready to start working instead of continuing to study.
“Something like that,” Yvette said vaguely.
Lyla started chatting, talking about the boys and how she hoped they would go to college one day, but she didn’t seem to notice the way that Yvette’s face fell when Allison asked about homework. Allison tried to pay attention to her mother, but as soon as Lyla stepped out of the room to use the toilet, Allison grabbed Yvette by the arm.
“What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on. Dish.”
Allison knew her sister well enough to know when something else was going on: something more than met the eye. Allison’s little sister was a darling, but she also wasn’t the type to hold back when it came to talking about school. If Yvette was being sly, there was a reason for it.
Yvette sighed and looked over her shoulder. Lyla was still gone. She could speak freely without her mom finding out what she wanted to say.
“Okay, fine,” Yvette said. “Frank and I broke up.”
Allison raised an eyebrow.
“Frank?”
“I know, it’s a stupid name, and it sounds like he’s an old guy or something, but he’s not. Well, he wasn’t. Isn’t. I don’t know anymore,” Yvette shook her head. Allison’s heart hurt as she reached for her sister and pulled her into a tight hug. She hadn’t even known her sister had been dating someone. Yvette was pretty private when it came to her personal life. Still, dealing with a break-up sucked.
“I’m sorry you broke up, and it’s not a stupid name.”
“He’s stupid,” Yvette whispered.
“Anyone who breaks my little sister’s heart is definitely stupid,” Allison agreed. “You deserve better than that, you know.”
“I hope so.”
“I know so. What happened? Do you want to talk about it?”
“Maybe? I don’t know. We were happy and then we weren’t.”
“How long were you together?”
Yvette wasn’t really what Allison considered to be a player, but she did like to date a lot of different people. The thing about Yvette was that she had a lot of love to give, and she was high-energy. She’d always been that way. The idea of her settling down with one person was foreign to Allison.
“A year.”
Wait, Yvette had been dating Frank for an entire year?
They’d been dating for a year and Yvette hadn’t told anyone?
What the hell?
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”