“You weren’t specific, so it still stands.”
Anna watched their exchange with a shrewd gaze, then realised Dante had noticed and ducked into the fridge.
She came up with three bottles of a herbal drink Dante had never heard of.
“Kombucha,” she said. “It’s fermented tea.”
“Don’t tell him that,” Sid protested. “Have him try it first.”
Dante stifled a sigh. “Let me guess, it’s good for me, right?”
“Better than beer,” Anna said.
“I don’t drink beer.”
“Or any other booze,” Sid said. “He’s boring, like me.”
Anna kicked a brow up to her hairline. “You sure seem to know a lot about him,brother.”
Sid sent her a hot glare and went back to scrutinising the pizza boxes.
Dante leaned in the doorway, trying to recall the last time he’d been invited into someone’s home.I don’t know what to do. Or how to do it.A sad fact, but painfully true.
Anna took pity on him. She had stools at her kitchen counter. She kicked one closer to Sid, then reached for Dante and tugged him into the kitchen. “Eat,” she said. “Or Sid will, and we’ll both starve. Has he ever told you why he’s so big and I’m so monumentally small?”
“Is there a safe answer to that question?”
“Yes. It starts with greedy and ends with bastard.”
Sid began to ease himself onto the stool Anna had sent skidding his way, but it wasn’t close enough.
Dante corrected it without thought, and Sid flashed him a grin.
“Fucking psychic.”
“Or I just pay attention,” Dante quipped back.
Anna groaned. “To Sid? God, I’m so sorry. Your life must suck.”
Sid sent a sliced mushroom flying across the kitchen. It hit Anna in the face. She retaliated with the crust of a slice she’d eaten fast enough to give Dante indigestion just watching, but he caught it midair before it could hit Sid. He liked Anna, but not that much. “Wow. You two are like a fucking cartoon.”
Anna claimed another slice of pizza. “You don’t fight with your siblings?”
“I don’t throw food at my brother, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“You should. It’s underrated.”
“Anna,” Sid warned. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t talk about my brother,” Dante supplied. “I don’t see him anymore, so Sid’s probably worried you’ll upset me, but it’s okay. You won’t.”
“Oh.” Anna lowered her pizza slice. “I’m sorry. I’m as good at putting my foot in my mouth as Sid is at taking it out.”
“You didn’t put your foot in your mouth.” Dante dropped into the stool next to Sid and picked up a slice of the nearest pizza. As Sid had promised, it contained nothing green, just enough mushrooms to turn Dante’s stomach.
He ate it anyway and listened to Sid and Anna bicker about everything under the sun. It was... nice, maybe? He couldn’t tell, and eventually, Sid muttered an insult and stomped out to the back garden.