Scenes from a (sibling) marriage

After a full day at work and a refresher at the gym, George was exhausted. Dropping the mail onto the coffee table, she surveyed the apartment. Everything was as she had left it twelve hours ago. Dirty dishes in the sink, four half-empty coffee cups waiting to be thrown out, her house guest/pest splayed out on the couch. Sighing, she pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and started to do the dishes. The sound of running water and clinking glasses woke Jon up. He sleepily called out, "George?"

"Thanks for doing the dishes," she said.

"Leave'em, I'll do it later."

Whatever, she thought. "I'm almost done. Wake up so we can go eat. I got the mail. A Fast Company came and a check for you." On top of the mail was a partially opened envelope, a royalty check. Jon's blogging book was apparently still moving copies, a few units at a time.

"Okay, let me get ready." Jon dragged himself off the couch and changed from his sleep uniform into outside clothes. Unfashionably baggy jeans, plain gray sweatshirt, and a baseball cap to hide his bed head.

Before leaving the house, they split a leftover slice of pizza and a piece of multi-grain toast. This served as the pre-meal to their anticipated excitement for the night: side salads from Pluto's. Their orders turned out to be virtually identical. Steak, medium rare; balsamic dressing; six out of seven matching build-it-yourself items. The only difference was beets for her and oranges for him. At the cashier, Jon hastily added a large chocolate cupcake to their order. As they exited Pluto's, George revealed that she had been eyeing that exact item but was determined to avoid it. "I'll just have a bite," she said.

Dinner in hand, they walked five short blocks back to the apartment as Jon gave his unsolicited review of George's upcoming Netflix cue. "Frost/Nixon, forget it. Just read the Wikipedia entry, it'll be more informative. The Stranger, pass, it's terrible."

While waiting for the elevator to take them up a floor, George paused a moment before announcing, "This is what's wrong. You take the fun out of things." Jon asked for clarification. "You always have something negative to say about everything. Jason says I do the same thing."

"Wait so you do it too? Is that a bad or good thing then?" Jon asked.

"Well, it's probably good for us but bad for everyone else." This was true as both George and Jon's exes had often griped about how they weren't easily motivated out of the house. Their reluctance to leave the comforts of home (except for short excursions) contributed mightily to their failed relationships. Now they sat, both single, both content, both focused on Sandra Bullock's Golden Globe nominated turn in The Proposal.

Somewhere in Europe, a vacationing mother cried.