"Thank you so much for coming, Case," I hug my brother as he comes into the apartment on Saturday afternoon. I haven't seen him in a week and I've missed him but I mostly just have to catch him up on a lot of things that are going on now without actually telling him everything. "How is school going?"

"It's actually really great. The guys on my floor are really cool," He says, returning my hug but I can tell that he's already noticed Josie sitting on the couch, watching us but trying her best not to be creepy about it. "Who's that?"

"This is Josie," I inform him. I'm still not entirely sure how I'm going to explain this all to him but I think that I can figure it out. "And Josie, this is my brother, Casey. Josie has been staying with me, they're having some problems at the foster home so I volunteered to let her stay here for a little while."

"What kind of problems?" Casey asks me curiously.

"Apparently, Davis relapsed with drugs," I say, deciding to just go with the story that I had told the social worker so that it's easier to explain everything. I don't like lying to my brother but it's better than telling him the truth. "Anyway, Josie is a bit on edge about Davis. He got arrested but she just doesn't want to be left alone and I have a date tonight. We went grocery shopping today so that you guys can make dinner and just hang out."

"Oh. Alright. Davis got arrested?" Casey is slowly trying to process everything. "And you have a date? With that guy that I forced you to go out with last week?"

"Yeah. And that brings me to my next point," I add. "With all of this going on with the fosters, I decided to go for legal custody of you. Not really going to affect us much just that we will be totally disconnected from Davis and Cynthia for good."

"That's cool," He says. "Are you coming home tonight?"

"I don't know," I admit and he wrinkles his face in disgust. "But if I don't, Josie gets my bed and you guys will be fine, right?"

"Sure, I guess," Casey answers. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Just hang out," I suggest with a shrug. "Get to know each other, I guess. Josie and I have been binge watching The Office lately so maybe she can get you into that."

"We don't have to watch The Office," Josie tells him quickly. "I'm very flexible in my Netflix preferences."

"Great. So you two start talking, I have to go get ready for tonight. Thanks again, Case, for coming back for the night. I know that your first weekend away is kind of a big deal."

"It's fine," He assures me, going to the couch and he sits down near Josie. The TV is already on but it's on cable and right now, it's just commercials. "So you've taken over my room then?"

I know that I should tell Casey that I had talked to our dad because he would want to know but it wouldn't do anybody any good and so I just keep that to myself.

"Oh, well, I haven't messed it up or anything," Josie insists and I slowly back out of the living room to head into the bathroom so that I can get ready for this dinner thing that Micah invited me to and for some reason, I said yes. I shouldn't have said yes. He's going to introduce me to his parents, to his parents' coworkers. Politicians and senators. The thought that my father could be there is in the back of my head but I keep telling myself that it's unlikely. My father is a republican, Micah's dad is a democrat. I can't imagine that the two parties have social gatherings together so I think that I'll be safe but I'm still aware of the possibility.

So I get dressed in a nice floral dress and it looks classy but it might be a bit too short. It's above my knees but there's no cleavage and it's not a tight dress, it flows around my thighs so I think that it will be fine. I put on a pair of black strappy wedge heels that are comfortable to be walking in for a while and I make sure that my makeup is done. I use nude colors, making sure that the makeup is soft and natural-looking.

My shoulder-length brown hair is kept inits natural waves and down but I use a small clip to keep it out of my face. Micah is going to pick me up soon and as time goes by, I'm getting even more nervous about going to this event. I'm not even totally sure what it is. Micah just said that there would be dinner but was it at a restaurant or is it going to be like a dinner party or something? I have no idea.

When I go into the living room, Casey and Josie are talking about something but they stop their conversation when they hear me walking in. They seem comfortable with each other which is good. They're the same age so I'm hoping that they will get along while I'm gone.

"Whoa, Ellie, who are you trying to impress?" Casey asks me with an amused laugh.

"Micah," Josie informs him. "He's very cute so she has to really bring it."

"She met him?" Casey looks at me for an explanation. "I haven't even gotten to meet him yet."

"He's coming to pick me up so you can meet him now if you want," I assure my brother with a small laugh. "Just don't embarrass me or say anything stupid."

"What? Me? Embarrass you?" He acts shocked just as I'm getting a text from Micah telling me that he'll be here soon. "I would never."

I'm not laughing but Josie sure did think that my brother's sarcasm was funny.

"Alright, well just keep in mind that whatever you say to Micah, I will remember and make it so much worse when you start dating," I warn him. "And we've been over this before, I have more dirt on you than you have on me so this will go nuclear."

"I don't think that you have that much on me, I haven't done very many stupid things," He gloats. I am double checking that I have everything that I need for the night in my purse. Basic stuff like my keys and wallet and then also a few condoms, deodorant, and breath mints. Just in case.

I know that we haven't known each other very long but I know that if Micah didn't have class the next day the last time that we were together, we probably would have had sex. This time, it's a Saturday so there's nothing stopping it from happening. And sure, I've only hung out with him a total of two times but we've texted a lot too and knowing a guy for about a week and a half before sleeping with him is actually pretty long for me, in my line of work.

"Whatever you say, Case," I appease him just as there's a knock on the door and Casey eagerly jumps from the couch and hurries to the door to answer it before I can get to it. I've had boyfriends before but it's been a while. I stopped dating when I started working as an escort two years ago. Casey was young then and not as teenager-y but now, he's a full-fledged teenager and sometimes likes to act like a jerk.

He swings the door open and greets Micah. "You must be Micah," He says and then shakes his hand. "I'm Casey, we spoke on the phone last week. It's nice to meet you. Where are you taking my sister?"

"Hey, Casey. Um, we're just going to this dinner thing," He answers quickly, glancing over Casey's shoulder to me but I just shrug back at him. I'm amused so I'll just let Casey do whatever it is that he's going to do.

"Ellie, if you're just going to dinner then why did you say that you weren't coming home tonight?" Casey turns around to look at me and I can't tell if he's doing this on purpose or if he actually doesn't understand how embarrassing he is being right now.

"Is that what you said?" Micah asks me with an amused smile. "These senate dinners don't usually go all night, Eleanor."

"Wait, a senate dinner?" Casey wonders, looking at Micah for an answer.

"His dad is a senator, Case," I inform him and I know that he's thinking that our father is also a senator so I try to reassure him that Silas won't be there. "A democratic senator. So it'll probably just be a bunch of democrats."

"Well, it's the environmental committee so it'll be pretty mixed. You guys really hate republicans that much?"

"The environmental committee is made up of twenty senators," Casey ignores Micah's question and starts talking to me instead. "That's a 20% chance that he could be there."

"Those are really tiny chances, Case. Don't worry about it," I assure him as I lean over and kiss his forehead so that I can quickly get out of here before Casey starts panicking about me being in the same room as our estranged father. I know that I told Micah on the first night that we met that I'm a love child with a senator but he laughed like he didn't believe me and I think I prefer it like that. "You guys have a good night. I'll call you later to make sure everything is going well."

"Have fun," Josie calls from the couch and Casey is still looking unsettled but he doesn't say anything. As I'm shutting the door, I see Casey returning to the couch.

"Who was he talking about?"

We get into his car and I get my seatbelt on. "Isn't one of the reasons that you like me so much is because of how mysterious I am? If I tell you all of my secrets, what do I have to keep you around anymore?"

"I'm not just into you because you're mysterious," He disagrees with me. "I'm not going to leave when I know everything about you."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure," I mutter. "Anyway, is this dress too short? Be honest because I don't want to look like a whore when I meet your family."

"You look great," Micah promises me. "Your brother seems nice."

"Yeah, he's a sweetheart. A pain in my ass but it's expected. He's going through his teen years so he's being a bit rebellious. Not very much, he's mostly just a little nerd," I say to him.

"And what was that about you not going home tonight?" Of course, he has to bring that up.

"I told Casey that I might not be home. It was a maybe, just in case. I wasn't sure, with how we left things," I try to explain to him without completely humiliating myself.

"Well, my parents are headed back to Oregon after the event tonight," Micah informs me as he's driving. "So if you want to spend the night, you can. If you want to."

"How long do you usually wait with a girl before you sleep with her?" I ask him curiously. When I was in the relationship scene, it was right after I got out of the foster home so I was a huge prude and for understandable reasons but my relationship perspective isn't great so I'm not sure what the normal amount of time is to wait. I'm sure it's not the third date though. Well, I guess this is just the second if we don't count the night that we met.

"I don't know, I guess it depends," He shrugs. "There's no right amount of time to wait, it's just if you're ready and you want to."

"Do you want to?"

"Is that even a question?" He asks me with a short incredulous laugh. "Have you looked at yourself lately? Of course I want to. You're fucking gorgeous and amazing."

"Well, you're gorgeous and amazing too—as far as I can tell," I say slowly. "I'll text Casey and let him know that I'm not coming home. Taking this conversation in a total 180, what's your dad like?"

"What do you mean?" He asks me.

"I mean that whenever I think of politicians, I think of corporate suits with a stick so far up their ass they can taste the rust as they destroy the economy with an old, wrinkly smile on their face. But you seem to like your dad, you haven't said anything negative about him at all so I'm just trying to figure out what to expect."

"He's not like that at all," Micah laughs. "He's really cool and he's not corporate or wrinkly. He's just a normal guy. He used to be an accountant but he got tired of how our government is being ran and one day, he was complaining about it and my mom just said 'well then do something about it' and so he did. He really, genuinely cares about people. He's great. My mom too, you'll really like them."

"Alright. That's good to hear."

"He's excited to meet you," He adds. "I haven't dated since we moved here, he thought that by forcing me across the country, he'd upset me so much that I would just lock myself in my room for four years, graduate, and then get the hell out of here."

"You don't like the city?"

"I mean, it's a nice city I guess but I'm always around the worst people. The corporate politicians that you described and their families, they're all so fake. They always want something from you, they can never just talk to you. I mean, I've made a few friends but I do miss Oregon. And I have a study group at Georgetown which is nice. I didn't mind moving out here though, it made my dad happy."

"I've been here for 14 years and I still miss Virginia. I mean, I know that we're practically in Virginia right now but I'm from the south west part of the state and life was way easier there."

"Why'd you move? Or is that one of your mysteries?"

"My mom moved us," I answer him but then he parks at the hotel that we're eating at and that ends our conversation. We walk into the building together and then into the ballroom. There are many round tables set up around the room with people mingling around. The dinner is technically supposed to start in fifteen minutes so we're a bit early.

With twenty members in the environmental committee of the senate, if they all bring their families, that's about a hundred people here and that's not considering some journalists that probably got some passes to come as well.

"This is purely a social event," Micah informs me. To make sure that we don't get separated in the throngs of politicians and others, he quickly puts my hand in hi. "So hopefully there won't be too much politics talk. There are my parents over there."

I just follow his lead. I've heard of his dad, Harrison Williams, because of how much he's getting noticed here in Washington for his liberal and slightly socialist views but I haven't actually seen what he looks like so I'm not sure who he is in the room. Until Micah stops walking in front of a group of four other people, two men and two women.

"Micah," One of the men who I assume to be Harrison smiles at Micah and then glances over at me. He really isn't very wrinkly, which is the first thing that I notice, and that his eyes look exactly like Micah's. "I was worried that you would get stuck in traffic. And this is Eleanor?"

"Yeah. Eleanor, this is my dad, Harrison and this is my mom, Erin," He introduces me to his parents. The woman standing beside Harrison is gorgeous, her stiff hair sprayed hair looks like it would break if you touched it but she has a radiant smile and rosy cheeks.

"It's really nice to meet you, Senator," I shake the man's hand and then the woman's. "And thank you for letting me tag along tonight, this place is really beautiful."

"We were happy to squeeze in another seat," He smiles at me and I can tell how he got elected with barely any name recognition at all. He has a bright smile that just makes you like him. "I hope you don't get too bored with all of our politics talk."

"Eleanor is actually pretty up to date on politics," Micah speaks up. "So she'll be able to keep up."

"Yeah, I'll do my best," I add.

"I know that I shouldn't ask but is my son dating a republican?" His father asked me.

"I don't really have any positions, I just watch the news a lot," I say with a small shrug. Although that's an obvious lie because if you know about what's going on in the country, you have to have an opinion on it. I'm not republican but I don't want to go into my policy positions because I'm afraid of Micah's family disagreeing with me and then we'd get into a political debate and I don't want to do that.

"I'm going to go introduce her to some friends, we'll see you at the table," Micah changes the conversation and then wraps his arm around my waist. I tell his parents that it was nice to meet them as Micah is quickly pulling me away from them and through the fancily dressed people in the ballroom, maneuvering around the tables too.

"Okay, they do seem really nice," I admit with a long sigh. "I was kind of nervous."

"I told you," He says with a small laugh. "You didn't seem nervous at all either, you were great. One of my friends is here so I'm going to introduce you to him too because we're not going to sit at the same table. His name is Jay, he's really awesome."

"What?" I demand in a voice that's louder than necessary. I know that he's talking about my 'brother' but there's a little part of me denying that by telling myself that it could be another Jay. It's a common name... right?

Before Micah can address my loud burst, Jay seems to find us because Micah had found him and waved him in our direction.

"Hey, man," Jay greets Micah without looking at me at all for a moment. I know that it's futile but I find myself trying to hide my face behind my hair. When he recognizes me as the escort that he tried to sleep with almost two weeks ago, I'm out of here. He'll tell Micah and then Micah will be pissed and repulsed and whatever we have will vanish.

"Hey, so this is the girl that I was talking to you about. Eleanor, this is Jay," And that's when Jay turns to me and despite my efforts to hide my face, I can tell that he immediately recognizes me. Well, I guess I had a nice time with Micah. Glad that it happened but sad that it's over, all of that junk. Already planning my goodbye speech in my head.

"Your date?" Jay looks at Micah in confusion. I'm putting some dots together in my head because when I'd met Micah, he had told me that he was supposed to meet a friend at the hotel. Maybe after Jay had made the appointment for an escort, he had chickened out and asked Micah to go to the hotel but then decided to go through with it which left Micah alone in the hotel bar. "Like... a real date?"

And it also sets in that if Jay is here, that probably means that his entire family is probably here. His mother, his sister and her family, and his father. Our father. He's here. Fuck. I really thought that 20% probability was enough that he wouldn't be here.

"Um. Yeah? What other kind of date is there?" Micah asks him with a confused laugh.

"I need some air," I say quickly. Everything is suddenly wildly overwhelming. I also don't want to be here when Jay tells Micah about my work. "It was nice meeting you, Jay," And then I start turning toward the entrance to the ballroom.

Micah quickly grabs my wrist as I leave his arms though and asks me, "Everything alright?"

"Yeah. It's just hot in here, isn't it? I'll be back before dinner," I promise him but I'm not so sure that I will be back before dinner. Maybe I should just leave now, take the train back home and have dinner with Casey and Josie.

He lets go of me but still looks concerned. I turn away from him and speed walk to the exit of the ballroom. In the lobby of the hotel, I take a seat on the stiff couch to figure out my next move. I've dug myself a pretty deep hole that I need to start climbing out of.

Jay knows that I'm an escort and that I'm dating Micah (or was?) but he doesn't know that I'm his half-sister.