“You must be Dana,” Ellie responded with a bright smile.  Ignoring Dana’s proffered hand, she pulled her into a hug similar to the one she had attacked Alice with at the door.  “I’ve heard so much about you, I feel like we’re practically family,” she said after she had released Dana from her grip.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, too,” Dana said with a grin.  She looked more closely at Ellie.  “But you look different from the pictures I’ve seen.”

“Yeah, I barely recognised you at the door,” Alice agreed, looking over her sister carefully.  “You look great!”

“Har-har,” Ellie replied sarcastically.  “I decided to go for a different look,” she explained, striking a mock-serious modelling pose as she showed off her short stylish auburn hair.  “I needed a change after Dave and I broke up.”

“What?” Alice asked in shock.  “You broke up?  But you’ve been together for like–”

“Two years,” Ellie interrupted, nodding her head firmly.  “Too long.”

“But, I always thought things were going great between you two,” Alice said.  “You never said anything was wrong.”

“Well, we haven’t exactly been good at keeping in touch over the past year, Al,” Ellie answered, giving her sister a knowing look.  

“What are you talking about?” Alice protested.  “We talk on the phone every week.”

“Yeah, for like six minutes on your way to work,” Ellie answered.  “That doesn’t exactly leave a lot of time for deep and personal conversations, you know?”

Alice’s face fell as she realised Ellie was right.  “God, I’m sorry, El,” she said genuinely.  “I’ve really been a horrible sister lately.”

“Well, I haven’t exactly been a model sibling myself,” Ellie said with a light-hearted laugh, wrapping her arm companionably around Alice’s shoulders.  “That’s kind of why I’m here.  Dave kicked me out of our flat in San Diego, so I decided to take advantage of being homeless to go on vacation.”

“Oh,” Alice answered, her face suddenly registering trepidation as she noticed the overstuffed backpack Ellie had dumped on the floor just before she had tackled her in the entryway.  “You want to stay here?  With me?”

“Your enthusiasm is really overwhelming, Al,” Ellie deadpanned.  “I thought it would give us a chance to spend some quality sister time together, and in the meantime maybe I could start looking for work around here.  I think I’ll have better luck finding acting jobs in L.A. than I did in San Diego.”