My brother has been pining for a woman for a while now, going on four years (a family friend). But, in the classic beta style, he tried to be nice. He never hid his desire for romance and a relationship, but she never let him be any more than "friends".

Last night, he came around upset. He'd been out with her and some friends a couple of nights ago, and she'd gone home with "some brainless idiot". Gentle probing suggested that said idiot had far more muscles that my slender brother.

It had happened before, but what made him upset this time was the text conversation they'd had afterwards. He finally laid out that he wanted a relationship with her, and she replied that she didn't want to ruin their friendship.

We talked for a while, watched a brainless action flick, drank a few beers. I pointed out that she was probably just using him to raise her perceived score; that by him paying her attention in public, it made her seem more attractive to other guys. He grumbled a bit, and I was surprised when he didn't disagree. But as nice as it was to catch up with him, his woe-is-me attitude annoyed me.

His phone rang, and it was his 'friend'. She wanted to know why he hadn't come out with her and 'the girls', as they'd organized a while back. He replied that he didn't feel like it, and was hanging out with me.

Who'd have thought it, but half an hour later, who would be at my door?

She let my brother have it, for abandoning her, for trying to ruin their friendship, for his messages, everything. Fortunately, he actually stood up for himself, and told her flat out that he wanted to be more than friends.

She gave him a shocked look. "But we've always been friends! I don't want to lose that!"

He looked about to break and apologize, so I told him to shut his mouth. I then turned to her.

I asked her when my brother's birthday was. She couldn't tell me. I asked her how old he was. She made a guess, but it was wrong. I asked her where he worked. She answered, but my brother piped in with "That was three years ago!"

She couldn't answer anything about him. Not what his favorite books were, not what dvds he had, not what he liked to do when he wasn't hanging out with her. Nothing. She had no clue.

I stared at her, snorted and said, "Wow."

And with that one word, I swear, it was like a light came on behind my brother's eyes. I could actually see the instant he

TL;DR - My brother discovered just how much his "friendship" with a woman was worth to her.