"I'm back~" Mel sing-songs as she steps through her front door, fighting for a moment to take her shoes off with no hands.
"Hi, hi," Vernon calls out from the kitchen. "Took you long enough. Any later and I'd have to hire bodybuilders to drag you out of bed tomorrow."
"C'monn! I'm not that terrible at waking up," Mel retorts, grinning as she pads over to where her older brother sits on the kitchen island, spinning a fork between his fingers over a crumb-dotted plate. "What did you eat without me?"
Vernon cocks his chin toward the stove. "Curry. And some toast."
Mel wrinkles her nose. "Curry and toast? Who are you? Who gave you that idea? Where's the rice —!"
"There is rice in the rice cooker, Miss Princess," Vernon interrupts with mock exasperation, running a hand through his curly black hair while his eyes are glued to his phone. "I'm not a savage."
Mel beams, hopping over to peek into the rice cooker. "Half-full? You really do love me."
"Oh, no. I actually can't wait to be away from you for a whole month." But there's a smile tugging at Vernon's lips now as he finally sets his phone down.
"I'll make fried rice for me and Ash tomorrow with the leftovers," Mel announces, ignoring his teasing and already scooping curry onto her plate.
"Look at you, all responsible." Vernon leans over to ruffle her equally curly hair. "Feels like old times though, you coming home this late. Haven't seen that since your Robin era."
Mel makes a face. "Wow. Not you bringing that up."
"Hey, just saying." Vernon raises his hands in mock surrender. "Don't make it a habit while I'm gone at least, you got a little sheep that needs herding."
"Tch, of course, dude! Don't worry, Ash comes first. This is a one-off thing, I promise."
Vernon hums, satisfied. He gathers his dishes and jerks his head toward the sink. "You gonna do these, or should I play dishwasher before my 7 AM flight?"
"I'll do them. You should go conk out. You're gonna miss me so much, huh?"
Vernon knocks her forehead lightly as he passes by. "Of course I'll miss my annoying sisters. When I get back, I'm treating us all to a nice dinner, how about that?"
Mel only nods happily, her mouth already full of curry.
*★,°*:.☆:*.°★* .
"Melatiii!"
"Just a minute, Ash! I can't find the car keys!" Mel shouts, her voice slightly hoarse for 8:00 in the morning. She hadn't really slept well. In fact, she'd woken up at least five times during the night, paranoid about oversleeping. But when her alarm finally blared its traumatic ringtone half an hour ago, she'd snoozed it anyway. If not for Ash barging into her room like a tiny drill sergeant and shaking her awake, they, in fact, would be late.
Now she's running around the house barefoot, tugging on her jacket with one hand, rifling through drawers with the other.
"You're so stupid, I said I have it right here!" Ash moans dramatically from the hallway.
Mel freezes, whips her head around, and sees her 13-year-old sister standing there in her sneakers, car keys swinging smugly from one finger.
"Ash! You—ugh—" Mel stomps over and snatches the keys. "You could've said that a lot louder the first time, you little troll."
Ash smirks, unbothered. "Maybe if you cleaned your ears like Vernon keeps telling you."
"Don't bring Vernon into this," she huffs, slipping on a pair of flats. "I'm officially your trusted adult for the duration of his prolonged absence."
"Uh-huh, totally. Now let's gooo. I don't wanna be late for my second week of school," Ash intones as if it's a sacred duty.
"Yes, sir. That's the academic spirit." Mel leans over to smooth her sister's windbreaker and flicks a stray crumb from her collar before they step out the door.
As both girls jump into the car and put on their seatbelts, Ash is already yapping whilst reaching over to the console to flip through different radio frequencies.
"I may be the only person my age to actually like school. The other people in my class? They're sooo noisy and disrespectful! Like, hello? We're not five-year-olds anymore!" the younger girl complains as Mel pulls out of the driveway.
"Yeah, kids these days," the older girl mutters.
"Mhm. There's this boy, Emil. He's freaking annoying and rude! He keeps saying I'm the teacher's pet and then other people tease me about it. Like, it's called basic respect? I don't even like every teacher."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm on your side, little sheep. Give teachers their due respect!"
Ash nods furiously in agreement. "Oh, my favorite is my homeroom teacher, Ms. Kate Davino. She's new, and she's, like… really cool."
"Oh yeah? What's so cool about her?" Mel asks, sparing a glance at her sister.
"She plays fun games with us, and she talks to us like we're actual people. You'd like her too, I bet."
"I dunno. She sounds like competition for my title as 'Favorite Adult in Ash's Life.'"
"Pfft. Vernon's still number one."
"Wow. Betrayed," Mel gasps dramatically. "You might as well get out my car and walk your butt to school."
Ash giggles, pulling her backpack into her lap and unzipping it to check her middle school inventory. "I like you too, dummy. Just… you sleep too much."
Mel forces a sheepish laugh, but her sister's innocent words catch her off guard.
Truthfully, Ash has a point. She sleeps, she works, and when she's not doing either, she's scrolling aimlessly in bed, claiming she's too tired to pick up Vernon from work or hang out with Ash. It's been too easy to let the days blur together since switching to remote work.
Maybe this month of being the sole caretaker for her teenage sister can be her chance to turn that around. To actually show up for her family, instead of sleepwalking through the spaces they've left open for her.
"Yeah, yeah. They call me the sleeping beauty for a reason," Mel mutters, reaching over to ruffle her sister's hair.
"Hey, careful! My hair's perfect!"
Ash zips up her backpack just as Mel slows down at the drop-off area of the middle school building. "Okay, little sheep. Here we are. Now, what time do I pick you up?"
"Three!" Ash yowls, already jumping out of the car. "Don't be late!"
"Don't you slam my door—ugh, too late. Don't make trouble, okay? Love you!" Mel calls after her sister's retreating back. Gosh, she hadn't even noticed until now just how tall Ash has gotten.
"Love you toooo!" floats faintly back as the sheep disappears into the building.
Mel sighs, leaning back in her seat as she waits for the stream of schoolkids to cross the road. She makes a mental note to text Robin later to tell her she survived Day 1 as Ash's personal driver. For that alone, she decides she deserves a sweet treat on the way home.