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He was older than Romi by eighteen months. Emily was four years

younger than her. She’d been a bit of a surprise to the family, but a welcome

one. She and Jack had been the only siblings in the family for quite a while

before Emily made her way into the world and they were always closer

growing up, though they tried never to leave their little sister out, even if

she was a pain sometimes. Jack knew her. He knew her well. She’d actually

come out to Jack first, when she was fifteen. He’d kept her secret for almost

a year before she finally decided that she wanted to tell the rest of her

family. It had been Jack who she confided in during a confusing, stressful

time. A time where she feared people might stop loving her. He was the one

who assured her that their parents could never stop loving her. That

everyone in the family would always love her, and if someone had a

problem with her being a lesbian, then they could take a fucking hike. His

exact words.

As usual, Jack was way too perceptive. He stared at her for a few loaded

seconds before he blinked and took a gulp of his drink.

“Yeah. Just other people from the store. Everyone is really nice,” Romi

rushed on. “I really like it there.”

“That’s great, honey.” Deb’s eyes got a little misty. “I’m so glad you

finally found a job you could enjoy. Have you heard anything about any

upcoming productions?”

“Not yet.” Romi sighed. “I did apply to quite a few, but I haven’t heard

anything back.”

“Hang in there,” Jack said with a smug smirk. “You can’t expect to

actually get a job with a useless degree.”

“Jack!” Deb chided.

Jack laughed though, and Romi laughed with him. It was actually a

running, inside kind of joke in their family that she did indeed have a

basically useless degree. Their parents set aside money for their tuitions

from the time they were born, so she had her schooling fully funded. Her