Hearing the front door crash open, Frank levered himself to a sitting position on the settee, making sure the remote control for the T.V was firmly in his grasp.  

“How was the film?” he called out. “There’s pizza here for you!”  

Receiving no answer and then hearing Joe’s bedroom door slam shut, Frank settled back down on the settee. “Not too good, then,” he answered himself, leaning over to the coffee table to pick up the last slice of pizza.  

                                               *    *   *    *    *  

The next morning saw Frank sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper, and drinking a cup of coffee, when his blond headed younger brother slumped downstairs, wearing the crumpled T-shirt and shorts he had worn to bed. Going to the fridge, he poured himself some juice and then dropped heavily onto a chair, ripping the paper out of Frank’s hands as he did so.  

“Oi! Give me that back!”  

Grabbing the sports pages, Joe tossed the rest of the newspaper back to Frank and then buried his head behind them, slurping loudly on his juice.  

“Good film, last night?” asked Frank in a feeble attempt at conversation.  

“Crap.”  

“Oh.”  

The silence wore on. Eventually, Frank got up, taking his cup over to the sink and washing it out.  

“Are you and Iola coming to the mall with me and Callie this morning?”  

“I doubt that very much.”  

“Oh. Okay. I had better go and get ready. Callie’s expecting me in half an hour. Sure you don’t want to come? We’re going to that new music shop that’s opened.”  

“No. No thanks. I’ve got homework to do.”  

“On a Saturday?! You feeling okay?” Frank asked incredulously.  

“Why don’t you just go, Frank. You don’t want to keep your girlfriend waiting.” Behind the paper, Joe’s voice sounded both irritated and terribly sad.

 *     *     *   *    *  

Having heard Frank eventually leave the house with only minutes to spare before he had to meet Callie, Joe finally removed his face from inside the sports pages and hunted around the kitchen for something to eat. Settling on a bowl of cereal, Joe chewed mechanically, each spoonful plummeting into his stomach like lead, the ensuing waves of nausea threatening to send each mouthful back the way it had come.  

Why was I such an idiot? Joe wondered to himself miserably. I have just so blown everything now. And she wasn’t even pretty…  

Giving up on his breakfast, Joe dumped the bowl in the sink and then sighing loudly, he heavily climbed the stairs to his bedroom. Once in his room he flung himself on his bed, leaned over to his bedside table to switch on his cd player and began to blast out the neighbourhood.  

                                  *        *        *        *        *  

As he got out of his car, Frank couldn’t actually see the frown on his girlfriend’s face but he could certainly feel it. The air seemed to be freezing between them, and, as he got nearer to where she was waiting by the mall entrance Frank involuntarily shivered.  

“What is it with people today?” he muttered to himself, “I wish I’d gone to help Mom at the supermarket.”  

“You’re late!” the young woman snapped.  

“Only by five minutes!” Frank protested weakly.  

“I’ve been here ages.”  

“Well you shouldn’t have got here so early, should you? That’s not my fault.”  

The pair of them scowled at each other like two squabbling children.  

“Fine.”  

Frank took hold of Callie’s hand and, half dragging her, began to walk into the mall.  

“Come on, Cal . What’s the matter? Five minutes isn’t that big a deal. You keep me waiting much longer than that sometimes. Well, most times really. There’s something else bugging you. Now are you going to tell me or do I have to buy a bar of chocolate and eat it all in front of you?”  

Callie smiled at that, even though her recently begun diet was half killing her. All in the name of a pair of jeans, she thought ruefully.  

Frank’s handsome face grinned back, his brown eyes twinkling and Callie felt her insides melt into mush. Slipping her arm around his waist she hugged him close to her, feeling very glad that she was going out with this Hardy boy.  

Entering the mall they headed to the café. Sitting at a table with two cups of coffee in front of them, Frank tried again.  

“So, go on then, tell me. What’s got you so mad this lovely, sunny morning?”  

“You really don’t know?”  

“Know what?”  

“About Joe?”  

“What’s he done now?” Frank asked wearily, well used to bailing his impulsive, hot-headed brother out of trouble.  

“Have you talked to him today?”  

Frank’s head was beginning to pound and he dropped two sugar lumps into his coffee.  

“Come on, Cal . Just tell me. I haven’t talked to Joe since tea-time yesterday. He went straight to bed when he came home last night and this morning he was being a right pain.”  

“So, he didn’t look too good?” asked Callie, the hint of a vindictive smile on her lips.  

Frank was exasperated now.  

“Fine. If you don’t want to tell me…” He began to stand up.  

“Iola dumped him last night.” Callie broke in.  

Frank stopped in his tracks and stared at Callie.  

“What?”  

“Iola dumped him. They split up.” Callie spoke very deliberately as her boyfriend stood there with his mouth gaping open.  

“Why?”  

“Why? Why??” Callie’s temper was beginning to rise sharply and Frank quickly dropped back into his seat.  

“Maybe, now just maybe, Iola has finally had enough of being humiliated, of being laughed at, of being made to look a fool in front of every eligible female in Bayport.”  

Frank sat stirring the long dissolved sugar lumps in his coffee, glancing in embarrassment at the grinning customers sitting at the nearby tables.  

“So what exactly happened at the cinema last night?”  

“Oh, you know your brother. He can’t see a pretty girl and just leave her alone. He has to hit on her. Even when he knows that the beautiful one he happens to be going steady with is just about to come back with the king size bucket of popcorn he wanted. So when Iola gets back to their seats she finds him with his arm around some blond, whispering sweet nothings into her ear. And all he can say to Iola is that he wanted butter popcorn, not salted!”  

Callie was so incensed by now she had forgotten to actually breathe and Frank, blushing at his brother’s behaviour, waited silently for a few minutes as she got her breath back and her temper under control.  

“How do you know all this?” he asked quietly, well aware of how much entertainment their conversation was providing the small café.  

“I’m her best friend. She rang me when she got home. I’ve been at her house all night listening to her crying. Apparently, in the cinema, she threw the popcorn over Joe and the girl before running out and phoning Chet to pick her up. She and Joe were screaming and yelling at each other in the car park when Chet arrived. I could kill your brother for what he’s done to her. He had better stay out of my way! Why does he think he can go on hurting her all the time like this? He deserves to rot in hell!”  

Frank looked hurt. “ Cal , he’s still my brother, don’t say things like that about him, please.”  

“Trust you to stick up for him! Can never see anything bad in him, can you? Well, believe you me, everyone else can. Forget about shopping, Frank. I’m not in the mood. I’ll see you soon.” Grabbing her jacket, Callie stood up and turned to go, but then she stopped and looked back at Frank, her expression desperately sad.

“Please, Frank, make Joe go and see Iola. They need to talk, they really do. Frank, it’s important. Please.” Callie gazed at him imploringly.  

“Okay, Cal . I’ll try.”  

“No, make sure he does. He needs to talk to her. And soon.”

Callie leaned over and kissed him ever so gently, tears forming in her eyes, before leaving him to carry on stirring his increasingly cold cup of coffee as he wondered at the desperation he had heard in her voice.