"Hey, RJ!" I called. My youngest sibling was four years younger than Kimmy and me. He mostly resembled my dad making him slightly darker than Kimmy, but he had Mom’s eyes. He’d also grown a beard since the last time I’d seen him.
We clasped hands and pulled away, snapping our fingers before bumping fists and splaying our fingers and making an explosion sound. We've been greeting each other this way since he was five, and I was nine.
“This is Lisa.”
“Hi, RJ. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Ah, yes, Lisa—the nanny and fake fiancée.” He waved at Lisa. She waved back.
“How’s school?” I asked.
“Well, calling it school is an oversimplification. I’ve been awarded a research grant to develop robotics that could revolutionize modern medicine.”
“RJ is trying to turn people into the Terminator,” I said to Lisa.
RJ's brow furrowed, and he gave me a condescending look. "I know you meant that as a joke, but I could tell you about a dozen reasons why that would never work. First of all…"
I looked at Lisa, expecting to see her eyes glaze over with boredom, but she seemed to be hanging on RJ's every word.
"I always wondered about that," she said. "They said no dead tissue could time travel, which is why they arrived naked, but technically would the robotic material in the Terminator not be able to time travel as well? I mean, I know the robotic stuff was covered in living tissue, but a robot isn't really alive, is it?"
“Exactly!” he exclaimed and smiled at Lisa.
Something small and green stirred in the pit of my stomach. I leaned closer to her and cleared my throat. "Hey, how's your lab partner? What was her name, Claudia?" I asked quickly.
Lisa gave me a knowing look, and I ignored it.
“Oh, yeah.” RJ was suddenly wearing a dopey grin. “She’s actually my research partner, but she’s fine, I guess. I don’t know exactly how she is because she’s in China visiting her family for the next two months.”
This explained RJ’s sudden interest in China.
“Reggie Jr.?” Aunt Patrice called from the back of the plane. “Are you gonna talk about the robots all day or come say hello to your auntie?”
“And your sister,” Kimberly yelled.
“And your mother?” Mom chimed in.
“And your old man,” Dad added.
RJ sighed, clearly frustrated that a conversation about his two favorite subjects, robots and his research partner, was being interrupted.
“I shall return,” he said to Lisa, and Lisa only, before retreating to the back of the plane.
“What was that?” she turned to me and asked.
"I'm not sure what you mean." Smirking, I strapped CJ into his car seat as the plane prepared for take-off.
Five hours later,we landed in Barbados. It was hot and humid, but we took turns using the bedroom in the plane to change out of our fall clothes into more weather-appropriate attire.
Lisa and CJ were the last to change, and she emerged from the plane wearing a tight pink tank top and cutoff jean shorts that hugged her every curve, and my mind began to stray. I tried to refocus on more suitable employee/employer thoughts and was having trouble until I noticed CJ wearing a pair of baby aviators.
“Where did he get those?”
"I saw them in a store last week, and I couldn't resist. They're exactly like yours."
“I know.” I pulled my glasses out of the collar of my shirt and put them on.
“We should take a selfie. Hold on.”
