Compulsion

Compulsion 6

"What was that about?" Caitlin asked as the café door swung shut behind them and the two sisters automatically glanced overhead to see if the weather had changed since they had first entered the café. It was drizzling slightly when they left the cinema and headed for the café earlier and it looked like it was about to start raining again.

"I wanted to go home." Georgia tugged at her jacket but didn't bother to zip it up.

"Not that!" Caitlin rolled her eyes at her sister's obvious attempt to misread the question. "You and Elias. What was that about? You hardly said a word to him."

"So?" Georgia shrugged and upped her pace as they headed for the car. "Anyway, you seemed to be doing the talking for the both of us!"

"Cheek!" Caitlin chuckled without taking any umbrage. "If it wasn't for me we'd have been sitting there in deadly silence. You being a mute this evening!"

"I didn't have anything to say!" Georgia replied flatly.

"Didn't have anything to say or didn't want to talk to Elias?"

"What does it matter?" Georgia asked on a huff, sensing that her sister was not about to let this topic go. "I just didn't have anything to say! Can we talk about something else? And can we get a move on before we get caught in a downpour?"

"Nope." Caitlin replied blithely and threw her sister a broad grin. "He's making an effort and you are making none!"

"An effort? What effort!" Snorted Georgia. She tugged her jacket closer and started to do up the zip as the breeze picked up and they were still a fair distance from the car. She glanced overhead and noted that the dark storm clouds above appeared to be following them. A bit like the ones in her life she thought.

"An effort with you. He likes you!"

"Yeah!" Snorted Georgia again and added drolly. "That's why Carmen was there! Remember her? The woman on a date with Elias?"

Ok, conceded Caitlin she couldn't bat that statement of fact away. But that didn't change things. From what she could see, Elias was interested. It was just that her sister was deliberately and steadfastly holding him at a distance. Caitlin pursed her lips and decided to take another shot at getting her sister to see that Elias was genuinely interested. "He tried to talk to you. Get you to talk to him. He made an effort and..."

Again Georgia snorted. "Yeah, that's why when you were in the ladies he asked me if I thought my conversation was too high brow for them to understand!" That still rankled, she realised. The fact that he had attempted to make her out to be an academic snob.

Caitlin stopped walking and scowled. "He what?"

Georgia glanced over her shoulder and looked smugly at her sister. "Puts your theory to bed, doesn't it!" She turned and kept walking, expecting Caitlin to catch up. "Come on. I think any second now the skies are going to open and we are going to get soaked! Get a move on. Anyway, if he was interested he wouldn't be taking pot shots!"

"Maybe he did out of sheer frustration with you. You are exasperating." Caitlin told her older sister as she trotted to catch up. She glanced overhead as raindrops began to fall.

"Thanks." Came the droll response. "Come on. Run! Or risk getting soaked."

"It's true. You are so pig headed sometimes Georgia." Caitlin said as she jogged alongside her sister as they covered the last few meters to the car. They reached the car just as the heavens really opened up. Both women clambered in fast. Caitlin was driving, so Georgia got into the passenger seat. But if Georgia hoped the scramble into the car had put paid to the recent topic of conversation she was mistaken. Caitlin hauled her door shut and automatically reached for her seat belt before she resumed her conversation. "I don't get why you are being so difficult. He likes you. But instead of taking it from there, you keep holding him at arm's length. Why? I know you like him. Have done for years!"