What's a brother for

Ash got in a fight with Courtney on New Year's eve. They'd evidently had a falling out. Actually, he didn't know what had gotten in to his brother. It was just weird.

"Maybe it was me." Lola said on the flight home. He'd never had a black eye until now.

"He must be clinically depressed. Just isn't right in the head." Ash winced not wanting Lola to close to his black eye.

"Its because we weren't there for Christmas." She sounded so sure.

"That can't be it." He winced more. Soon he'd be asleep. He just wanted to forget about how his brother punched him so hard in the arm. "He's just lost plot, that's all."

"No, I shouldn't have gone to Ian's wedding. That was selfish of me." She swelled a frown as her warm hand touched his.

"It was lovely. I'm glad we went. I hope that friend of his found her daughter." He remembered the excitement.

"They found her. She ran away. She'd just broken up with her boyfriend, or something like that." Lola looked at him once more wanting to touch his bruised face, but he only grinned with a wince and pulled away, thinking the time Court ran away. They thought he'd become a drug dealer. Ash still wasn't sure if it could be true.

"I'm really sorry about Court. Really, I am. He's such a wanker. Wouldn't say anything to you. He must be jealous." He looked at Lola as he pushed his head back into the cushy seat on the plane. She smiled and kissed him on the corner of his lip that didn't get busted. He really did look sick.

Ash wasn't sure if he ever wanted to hear from his brother again.