Greg awoke to the sound of a kettle boiling and humming coming from the kitchen, he slowly sat up on the sofa and rubbed his eyes.
"Morning, I hope you slept well, I know that sofa can be quite unpleasant." Caitlyn smiled warmly and handed Greg a cup of tea.
"It's no worse than the bed in my flat." He offered a hazy smile towards Caitlyn and accepted the tea with thanks.
Just then there was the turn of keys in the door.
"Caitlyn? I'm back, I thought i'd pop in to see you before I went home." A robust female voice called out.
"Prepare yourself." Caitlyn muttered to Greg and received a confused look as a response.
"Who the hell are you?!"
"Calm down... Dahlia this is Greg, Greg this is my older sister Dahlia." Caitlyn spoke with a calming yet nervous tone in her voice.
Greg stood, smoothed down his hair and held out a hand to Dahlia with his lopsided grin.
"Nice to meet you Dahlia."
Dahlia raised an eyebrow in disgust and ignored the offered hand in front of her.
"Can I speak to you Caitlyn?" Dahlia stalked off into the kitchen and Caitlyn extended an apologetic look to Greg as she followed her sister.
In a hushed and abrasive tone she asked "What the hell? You didn't think to tell me that you were going to have strange men hanging around your flat?"
"Just get to know him first Dahlia, he's no-"
Dahlia held up a hand to interrupt her. "It's like you don't remember the other guys."
Caitlyn avoided the death stare that her sister was giving her and returned to living room.
"I'd better get off to work, i'll see you when I do."
"I'll walk with you." Caitlyn grabbed her coat and glared at her sister over her shoulder.
Caitlyn quickened her pace to meet Greg's before she spoke, "I'm sorry about her, she's just a bit overprotective is all. She doesn't mean anything by it..." Caitlyn trailed off when she realized it wasn't sounding convincing.
Greg stopped and gave her a lopsided smile before draping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer to kiss her forehead. They shared a quick but warm embrace.
"It's OK." Greg whispered into soft black hair, inhaling and sighing deeply. "You'll explain everything when you're ready, i've got to get to work and you should go talk to your sister." He pulled back, placed a kiss on Caitlyn's lips and said goodbye.
They parted and Caitlyn stormed through her front door.
"Why?"
"Do I have to remind you of Steve? Or Gary? Or James? You know i'm only looking after you little sis." She reached out to rub her sister's arm.
"I know, but Greg actually cares about me, he isn't like the others. He didn't even try anything last night, I offered to sleep on the sofa while he had the bed, he completely refused that idea even though his back is shot to pieces." Caitlyn pulled away from her sister's arm and sat down on the sofa with her head in her hands.
"OK… I'll get to know him first, we can go out to dinner, me, you, Greg and Martin. OK?" She sat down next to her sister and put an arm round her.