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Chapter - 15

THINKING MODE

Tossing and turning were the only things I could do that night. Restlessness and uneasiness were all I could feel.

I closed my eyes and told myself repeatedly, "Sleep, Keith, sleep." But, my conscious didn't bother listening to me and after about twenty minutes of chanting the mantra in my head, I still couldn't sleep. Groaning in frustration, I sat up and pulled aside the blanket that was covering me in a messy way.

"I need beer," I muttered, running a hand through my already messy hair. Picking up a pullover from the couch next to my bed, I made my way towards the kitchen as quietly as I could. Waking up any of the members of the Warren family, or Kim at two in the morning, was not something I was planning to do.

The entire house was dark and silent, except for the small light in the living room that Mom always keeps alight. I quickly took out two cans of beer from the fridge and placed them on the counter.

Maybe some alcohol would help in making me sleepy. Beer was my only hope. I grinned when I opened the lid and brought the can to my lips.

"Couldn't sleep?"

I jerked a bit at the sound and snapped my head towards the kitchen door. Brian grinned, looking very pleased with my surprised reaction. I rolled my eyes at him and said sarcastically, "No, I'm planning to do robbery in the neighborhood and beer always helps. Experience speaks!"

Brian chuckled at my response and took steps towards the counter. Smiling, I pushed the other can towards him. He got seated on the chair opposite me and opened the lid of the can. Both of us took a sip together and let out a contended sigh, once the alcohol was down our throats.

"This is exactly what she would have said," Brian muttered, shaking his head in amazement and took a gulp of beer again.

I looked at him questioningly and asked, "What?"

He showed his white teeth as he grinned again and said, "Nothing."

Letting the matter go, I finished my can and but still, I was not feeling good. I stood up and took out one more can from the refrigerator. "Want one more?" I asked Brian over my shoulder.

"No," he said and I went to sit opposite him again.

"Why are you awake at this time?" I asked him, opening the lid of the can.

He took a sip and once it was down his throat, he answered, "I heard some door open, and thought it's some robber, but, tsk... it was you." He made a disappointing noise and shook his head in disapproval.

A chuckle escaped my lips and I asked, "You wanted some robber to be here right now?"

"I'm not saying that, I just wanted some entertainment," he defended himself, keeping his can on the table and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, right." I laughed lightly.

When Hailey started dating him in her first year of college, I was still in sophomore year. Earlier, I tried to act like a protective brother to Hailey and tried to interrogate him like an FBI officer, even though, he was taller and huger than me, back then. I was the one who asked him too many questions, instead of my father. As I grew up and started seeing him around more often, I was sure that he was 'the one' for Hailey, as Hailey always mentioned this 'the one' crap. Brian and I, have been very comfortable with each other since a long time now. I was glad that Hailey found him. They were good together.

"Heard that you went to the mall today with some girls," Brian's voice broke my thoughts and I looked at him.

"With Kim and Adam," I corrected him, frowning a bit. He raised his eyebrows, not believing me and I added, "It's a different matter that we accidentally bumped into some girls in the mall. Completely different matter."

He chuckled at my response and waved his hand dismissing me. "Been there, done that." We both laughed lightly and took a sip of our beers.

"Heard that you paid special attention to one particular girl today," Brian said, again in between the intake of alcohol.

My head snapped towards him and I instantly recalled everything that happened at the mall earlier today. I was trying to teach Hannah, but she just couldn't control her legs and eventually, I taught Kim how to ice skate, who was surprisingly, a very fast learner. We skated for some time and I, undoubtedly, had a nice time. After ice skating, Hannah and Precious were extremely happy to be out of the arena and amidst the designer shops. Kim wanted to return home, so, I accompanied her; while Adam stuck with Precious and Hannah.

"That's not true, I spent some time with Kim as well," I told him, not understanding where he was going with this conversation. I was sure that he was pointing towards the same thing that Mom pointed out earlier today. The same 'not giving time to your guest' crap. And, I, was not at all in the mood to have this conversation at the moment. Not with Brian, not with Adam, not with anyone.

He again chuckled at my response and looked at me with his calculating grey eyes. "Now that's not true, Keith. I heard that you spent all your time with Kim," he said, smirking at me with a look in his eyes, which kind of said that he knew something, a secret or something mischievous.

"From where the hell are you hearing stuff about me?" I asked him ridiculously. Suddenly, his entire sentence registered in my mind and I told him, "That's not true. That's rubbish!" I was undoubtedly offended.

"Yeah, right!" He snorted and got up from the stool. He went towards the refrigerator and took out a beer for himself. He turned a bit to face me and asked over his shoulder, "Want one more?"

His smirk was very clear from where I was seated and I grumbled, "No." He came back to his seat and opened the lid of his can. Slowly, he took a huge sip of his beer and I kept looking at him with narrowed eyes. There was no doubt that he could feel my hardened gaze on him as he looked at me with playful eyes and said casually, "I met Adam today."

Just this sentence was enough to take away all my confused thoughts. I shook my head in disbelief and drank my beer. Adam was going crazy and he was taking everyone with him on that path of craziness.

Looking at my reaction, Brian continued, "Just to make things clear, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing or something. In fact, I appreciate it."

With the way he spoke this, I knew that he was being honest about it and replied with a small smile.

My lack of response made him talk about something entirely different. "You know, four years back, I met this girl and we became friends. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever met. From the first day since I met her, I knew that I felt different whenever I was with her. It was like I was happier and at a better place in life. During our Thanksgiving vacations, she had to go back to her hometown and meet her parents. I went back to my parents' place, but it took me just ten minutes to realize that 'damn, I miss her' and one sleepless night to realize that I had known her for hardly two months and I was hopelessly in love with her already." He was smiling the entire time as he narrated his story to me. I, too, had a smile on my face as I heard the too familiar story again. I knew what happened next, but didn't interrupt him. He was spaced out; looking at the beer can in his hand as if he could see those moments in the can.

Very fondly, he continued, "The very next morning, I went to her parents' home and started banging on the door. I had no idea why I was there, no idea about what I was going to say to her. My mind was completely blank. Luckily, it was her who opened the door and to say that she was shocked to see me at her doorstep just after a day of going to our respective houses would be a huge understatement. But, my dear future brother-in-law, more than shock there was one thing in her eyes that made everything completely worth it." He looked up at me when he said 'brother-in-law' with special attention and I chuckled a bit.

I had sometimes wondered in the last four years that how could my sister just kiss her friend who showed up at our doorstep on the second day of their Thanksgiving vacations. At first, I had thought that maybe, it was some 'friends with benefits' thing and I had gotten into my protective elder brother mode, even though I was younger than her. But Hailey immediately made it clear that she liked the guy. "What was it?" I asked, feeling genuinely curious.

He smiled and answered with just one word, "Love."

A chuckle escaped my lips at his answer and I focused my attention back on my beer can. "You saw that just in eyes? I need much more to see the love from the many girls who claim to love me." I winked in his direction at what I meant and he shook his head in disbelief at my response.

"Let me summarize the entire story in just two points," he said, looking at me in a meaningful way.

I was already feeling like crap due to lack of sleep and here I was getting this lecture about 'love'. This night just couldn't get any better. Kindly, don't miss the sarcasm dripping from my every word.

"First," he started and held up his left hand's thumb, showing 'one', "don't ever let that person go." I nodded my head like a sincere kid sitting in the most boring subject's class and acting like he understood everything, when actually, everything goes way above his head.

He held up another finger, pointing 'two' and continued, "Second and most important, it's all in her eyes. Make sure, you read them carefully."

His second point left me confused, completely confused. 'How the hell am I supposed to read someone's eyes? I'm not some 'Face Reader' or anything. Do I have to take a sh*tty course in this?' I wanted to ask him these questions. In fact, I was pretty sure that my face had all the questions written on it in the form of utter confusion.

He didn't bother clearing up my confusion as he got up from his seat and threw his now empty can in the dustbin and left the kitchen, but not before saying, "Think about it, Keith. Good night."

And that's what I did - Think.

Thoughtfully, I stared at the beer can in my hand and after a lot of deep thought muttered, "Damn! He started his second one after me, and finished it before me."

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"Right! Right! Go to your right, dude. Can't you hear me?" I yelled.

"Apparently, he can't," Kim shouted from the kitchen and I heard my mother and sister laugh with her.

I wanted to roll my eyes and make some kind of comment, but I couldn't roll my eyes as I didn't want to miss even a split second of this football game. So, I simply ignored her comment which was damn true, but emotionless for a football lover.

"No, no, no, no, no. Don't pass the ball, it won't reach him," I shouted and stood up from my couch, taking two steps near the television screen where all my screams were directed to since the last one hour. And, sure the ball didn't reach his desired destination and was easily snatched by the opponent team. "F*ck! I was telling you the same, a**hole!"

"Of course, you know what would happen. I really can't understand that how you can watch the same game five times and still yell the exact same things every time," Hailey mused as she entered the room with Kim.

"Just like you can watch the same crappy romantic movies five times and cry at the exact same scenes every time," I retorted. I was too busy watching the game that I hardly cared about turning towards Hailey and look at her expressions at what I said.

"Those movies show real emotions, Keith. But, what would you know about love?" was her comeback.

"Those are scripted emotions, Hailey. But here in this game, you can witness all real emotions," I replied, not taking off my eyes from the screen. Just on cue, one of the players showed his middle finger to his opponent. "Look! These are emotions. That's what I was talking about!" I smirked victoriously as I pointed towards the gesture made in the game.

"Football sucks!" Hailey declared.

I turned to glare at her for saying that the love of my life sucked, and retorted, "Your crappy romantic movies suck."

"Vanderbilt sucks." She smirked, keeping her hands on her hips.

"The Notebook sucks!" I smirked victoriously at the expressions of anger and disbelief on her face. I could literally see the smoke coming out of my sister's ears and nose.

"You suck," she said with clenched jaw and tightly closed fists.

"You suck!" I grinned at the same expected reactions I was getting from her.

"Will both of you stop this meaningless banter?" Mom shouted from the kitchen.

"She started it."

"He started it."

Hailey and I said at the same time, looking at each other with narrowed eyes. A little chuckle broke away our tensed moment and we snapped our heads towards Kim, who was looking between us with an amused smile on her face.

"What?" I asked her rudely.

"Nothing," she answered, but the smile on her lips didn't leave at all.

Just as I was about to say something to her, I heard shouting noises from the television and I span towards it. "Damn, I missed the winning goal because of you." I blamed Hailey and she laughed evilly. I kept my hand above my head and kicked the couch to show my anger.

"Don't behave like a baby, Keith. Just rewind the stupid game." Hailey laughed.

"Just go and watch crappy romantic movies," I replied, doing exactly what Hailey had suggested; rewinding the game.

"Or," Hailey started saying and I could sense mischief in her voice. "We could go and watch Keith's childhood pictures."

Just this sentence was enough to drain the color off my face.

The television, the football game, the winning goal - everything was forgotten in a second.

Abruptly, I turned to face my 'darling' sister who was smirking at me and gave her my best innocent smile. "You wouldn't," I said, taking slow steps towards her.

"Oh, but I want to see your childhood pictures," Kim chimed in, grinning.

I narrowed my eyes at her and said, "No, you don't want to."

Her grin grew larger and she said, "I just want to see if you've been so ugly since your birth or something terrible happened recently." She roamed her eyes at my face carefully like observing something and clicked her tongue at the end.

My jaw almost dropped at her insult and I said, "I won't let you see my childhood pictures."

"Keith's Childhood pictures?" Our heads snapped towards the kitchen door where my Mom was standing with eyes as wide as saucers and excitement and happiness dripping down from her blue eyes. Her face was a perfect example of a child who got loads of candies on Christmas.

I knew what was about to happen next.

And that's how I knew that this night was not going to be one of my favorites.

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A/N

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14th January 2016 - Edited! :)