I rode home after school to find Jordan stretched on the sofa reading a book. I raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

He seemed startled to hear my voice all of a sudden, and turned to narrow his gaze on me. "I stayed home today."

I dropped my bag. "Why?"

"I was feeling ill, if you must know everything."

My stance softened and I sat beside him. "What happened? Is it fever?" I leaned forward to lay my hand on his forehead and check his temperature, but he brushed me off midway.

"I'm fine now, it was just a headache... didn't I tell you yesterday I went for a walk in the cold?"

"Oh, okay." Like I ever believed that. "How're you feeling now?" I persisted, not discouraged by his brusqueness.

"I'm good, okay? Now stop pestering me and go have lunch."

I nodded and got up, heading for the kitchen.

"Don't forget to microwave it first... it must have gotten cold now." He shouted across the hallway.

I smiled. "Yeah!" I yelled back.

It was vegetable meat balls with a spicy curry and rice today on the menu. Yum, one of our favourites.

I brought my lunch into the living room and sat on the sofa across from him. After eating in silence for a few minutes, I finally decided to bring up the matter of the letter.

"So, what did you decide?"

He looked up from the book, and gave me a blank look, indicating he hadn't understood what I was talking about.

"About Grandma's offer, of course." Before leaving for school today, I'd left the envelope with the letter conspicuously on the dining table.

He took a deep breath and, turning to his book again, murmured, "I haven't yet thought of it," more to himself than to me.

So at least he'd read it!

I rolled my eyes. "When will you, then? You know she'd hate it if she got a late reply. And," I paused for effect, "how could you still be thinking about it? Obviously, we have to go! We can't say no to her. That would be so rude, and, anyway, she really wants us to come... didn't you see just how expectant and eager she seemed?"

"You know I have something called college to see to as well?" he said curtly.

"So, you'll give her that excuse? I know your college will be undergoing renovations this summer, and all classes will remain cancelled for at least a month and a half," I narrowed my eyes.

He did the same. "And how do you know that, miss smarty-pants?"

"Read it in a circular you accidentally dropped once." Averting his gaze, I looked down into the bowl of food.

He rolled his eyes. "Just stop being so nosy."

"I'm not." I made a face.

"Aren't you getting late for work?" He skilfully diverted the topic, as well as my attention.

I glanced at the clock hung on the wall behind me, and gasped. "Oh god, you're right! I'll have to leave this minute or I wouldn't hear the end of it from Larry!"

It was four pm already, and for my four-hour-long shift I was supposed to be at the café at 3:45. I hurried to the kitchen to stash my plate in the sink, then quickly washed my hands, grabbed my coat off the hanger, and started looking for my bicycle keys. Only they wouldn't be found when I needed them urgently, as usual. Okay, I'll admit it—I'm forgetful enough to misplace something I've used minutes ago. Well, not everyone's perfect!

"Where are my keys now?" I said aloud.

"Great time to lose them." My silly brother said from the sofa. "Leave it, I'll drop you."

"You?"

"At least I know exactly where I keep my things, unlike some other people in this house. Come along." He grabbed his keys off the living room table and made for the door.

"All right," I gave in.

We rushed out as soon as he grabbed his jacket, and he got in his car, not bothering to lock the house. It didn't matter anyway, ours was quite a safe neighbourhood. I climbed in from the passenger side and put on my seat belt. Seeing me do it, he rolled his eyes and did the same.

Jordan backed out of the driveway expertly, and the car gained speed as we moved down the road. As we reached the usually busy intersection, I noticed that today the four-way was completely deserted. Then I noticed a van approaching from the road to our left just as we were about to reach the intersection. Weirdly, it continued to proceed at its pace, without slowing down.

I was waiting for our car to slow down, but when we were too close and weren't retarding a bit, I looked in confusion at Jordan and realized he'd completely zoned out! He was staring straight ahead with his hands motionless on the wheel, without apparently seeing that we were alarmingly close to the van.

I turned my gaze back to the road just in time to see that the two vehicles were about to collide within, like, three seconds; and, without thinking, I reached over to the driver's side and pushed the steering wheel sharply to the right with every ounce of strength in me, bracing myself for the impending impact of the collision, the force that would fling us out of our seats and into the windshield or, in the least, throw a shower of broken glass upon us.

My sudden move brought Jordan out of his badly-timed reverie, and his eyes almost bulged out in shock as he leaned back in his seat, and slammed the brake hard.

The car jolted forward for a second, then screeched to a jerky stop, after taking a sharp, almost ninety-degree turn.

I opened my eyes cautiously.

We were both breathing quickly and heavily, but the van seemed to take no notice as it sped on happily, avoiding brushing with us by only a fraction of a second. I debated whether the driver was mad or drunk...of course Jordan didn't see him coming, zoned out as he was, but how could the other driver have not, as well? I shuddered to think what might have happened if I'd not acted in time. An image of a plane crash suddenly took hold of my imagination, and I knew, at that moment, we were both thinking of our parents.

Jordan calmed down after half a minute, his hands still under mine on the steering wheel, and lifted his eyes to meet mine. They looked terribly frightened, and I felt my heart jerk violently. Before I could think better of it, I hugged him.

Jordan felt limp after our near-death experience. I patted his back, a bit awkwardly at first, but Jordan surprised me by holding me tight. I whispered, "Hey, J... it's okay. We're fine, nothing happened, see? Let's go."

"I'm sorry, Meg, I'm really sorry..." he muttered and burst into tears. This was the first time he'd called me 'Meg' in the last five years.

This shocked me to no end. Here was my brother, crying openly in front of me, with his head against my shoulders. Jordan didn't even cry in front of anyone at our parents' funeral! It was like all his tears had dried up once we lost them. But after all these years, it seemed he was finally opening up.

For a full minute I just let him be, because tears stung my eyes too. Then, realizing we were still in the middle of the road, I spoke. "Shh... shh... we're fine, okay? It's absolutely alright, things happen. It wasn't your fault, Jordan. Come on, we need to move the car from here, right?"

At last, he broke away from me. His eyes were red. I couldn't bear to see him this way. And of course, he wouldn't be in the state to drive now. "Let me drive, come here." I got out of my seat, coming over to his side and opening the door for him. "Come on out now, what are you waiting for?" he climbed out meekly.

I slid in behind the wheel and started the engine, which came to life after a few splutters and coughs, and switched gears. There was no way I was leaving my brother in this state to go to work. Steering the vehicle homewards, I slowed, seeing the grocer's sign.

"I'll be right back," I said, turning off the engine and jumping out before he could say anything. Not that he would; all the way back his face was turned completely towards his window.

Two minutes later, I returned with a box in my hand, and gave it to my brother as I climbed back in and turned the key in the ignition.

"What's..." He started but as his eyes fell upon the package, stopped midway.

I chuckled. "Exactly what you need right now."

A hint of a smile played at his lips, and he tore the box open in the blink of an eye.