SIXTEEN

“Oh no! No! No!”

“Yes!!!” Claire shrieked.

“Rematch!” I announced.

“I can't believe you still want to play.”

“Why not?”

“We've played ten games and you've won just one.”

“Well, this next one might be another win for me.”

“Your chances are slim.”

“Just press replay.”

We played the game three more times, all of which I lost. The only compensation I had was the wide smile on Claire's face after each win, and that was enough for me.

“Would you like some juice, you know to wash the pain down?”

“That's just harsh.”

Claire laughed. “How does lemonade sound?”

“It sounds good.”

“Alright, I'll be back.”

My phone chimed. It was text message from Tyler.

“Hey, Claire!”

“Yeah?!” She responded from the kitchen.

“Tyler just texted me.”

“Isn't that supposed to be your business?”

I rolled my eyes. “He says that if we want to make it to the concert, we should be leaving soon.”

“Oh dear, I totally forgot about that. We need to leave. Let me grab my stuff.”

She ran past me. “Hey! What about the lemonade?!” I yelled after her but she had already disappeared up the stairs. I sighed and pulled out my comb from my pocket. Combing my hair was more of a hobby to me than a necessity.

“I thought only girls have combs.”

I turned to Natalie who was observing me intently. I was a bit surprised that those words came from her vocal cords and through her lips. Unlike Claire, she was extremely quiet.

“Uh... boys have combs too.”

“I don't have any combs.” Natalie frowned. “Mum says I don't need any combs since my hair is curly.”

“That is true.” I replied.

“But all the girls in my class have combs and I don't have any, not even a little one.” The sadness in her voice was extremely clear now.

I stared at her sad large eyes for a few seconds before I cracked. “What if I got you a comb?”

Natalie's face lit up. “I would love that.”

“Great. I will get you a comb then.”

The wide smile on Natalie's face brought an even wider one to mine.

“We should leave now, but let me call my mum first.”

I turned and saw Claire standing by the staircase with her cellphone pressed to the side of face.

“It took you more than ten minutes to grab your stuff.” I said.

Claire rolled her eyes and looked away from me. “Hey Mum... I'm good. Why aren't you home yet?... What do you mean?!… But I told you I was going out this evening... I can't just do that!!… If he was home would I be calling you?!… What am I supposed to do with Natalie?!… Figure it out?! Really!!… This is so annoying!” And that was it, the call was over.

For the first time since I met Claire, I was seeing her angry, and believe me it was not a good look. Her arms were folded across her chest, she ceaselessly knit and unknit her eyebrows and her upper lip was twitching.

“Claire.” I called in a low voice.

“Ugh!!” Was the reply I received.

“What's wrong?”

“My mum is not coming home tonight.”

“Why not?” Natalie asked, coming closer to where we stood.

“She has work, Natalie.” Claire replied, patting the head if her little sister. “What am I going to do with her?” She asked me.

“Umm... You could leave her with Tyler's sister.”

“Would she agree to baby sit?”

“Of course, she loves kids. Now that we've handled that, I need you to stop doing that with your eyebrows, it's creepy.”

Claire smiled.

*~*~*~

The ride to Tyler's house was over in like three minutes. Ashley and Tyler were standing near the front door when we arrived.

“What are you going inside for?” Tyler asked. “And who is the little kid?”

“She is my little sister, Natalie.”

“She is really cute.” Ashley remarked.

“Is Clarisse home?” I asked Tyler.

“Yes, but...”

I dragged Claire into the house before Tyler could finish his sentence.

“Wait here, I'll go get Clarisse.” I ran up the stairs yelling “Clarisse! Clarisse!!”

I got to the front of her room door. “Clarisse! Can I come in, it's urgent.” I waited for a few seconds before pushing the door open. To my surprise...it was empty. “Clarisse?!!”

“I'm in the kitchen!”

I groaned in frustration before rushing back down the stairs.

“Why didn't you tell me you were in here before I went up those stairs?” I asked Clarisse immediately I entered the kitchen.

“I yelled, ‘Jason! Jason!! I'm in here!’ but you were too busy yelling my name to hear my own yelling.” She had her back to me and maintained her focus on the plates she was washing, but I could tell by the way she was moving her head from side to side, that she was making faces.

“Whatever. I need you to baby sit.”

Clarisse spun around with wide eyes. “Babysit?! What makes you think I would want to do that?”

“Because you love kids.”

“Whatever gave you that idea?”

“C'mon Clarisse, I really need this.”

“But I'm busy.” She argued gesturing at the plates in the sink.

“Please Clarisse, you're like the sister I never had.”

“But you have a sister.” Clarisse pointed out with a raised brow.

“You know what I mean.” I sighed. I was getting desperate and we were getting late. “So would you?”

“Would I what?” Clarisse asked pulling a convincing confused face.

“Clarisse!”

“Alright, alright, I'll do it, there's no need to whine.”

Whine?!!!

“Whine?!”

“Who's the kid?”

“Claire's little sister, Natalie.”

“If you had told me this at the beginning of this conversation, it would have been over a long time ago.”

I sighed and walked out of the kitchen after Clarisse.

“Hi, you must be Natalie, right?” Clarisse asked, moving closer to where Natalie and Claire stood.

“Yes.” Natalie replied, bringing her pink teddy bear closer to her face.

“I'm Clarisse. Who is this little lady?” She touched the pink teddy bear as she spoke.

“He is a boy.”

A small laugh escaped from my lips. Clarisse turned to me with an expression that screamed a lot of angry words. “Sorry.” I muttered, still smiling.

In a few minutes, we were out of the house and walking towards Claire's Audi.

“What took you guys so long?” Tyler asked. “And where is the little girl?”

“Stop asking questions Tyler, let's just leave.” I retorted.

“Oh no, you will not speak to me in that tone. I don't know why you're upset or who upset you, but you have no right to talk to me that way. I mean, what is the matter with you? You do this all the time, pouring out your anger on someone who is completely innocent and unaware of...”

“How long is this pointless ranting going to last?” Claire whispered.

“As long as I remain quiet, it won't be too long.” I assured her.

*~*~*~

To my surprise, Tyler stopped his ranting sooner than I thought, thanks to Ashley who unlike Claire and I, actually cared about calming him down.

We had arrived at the venue of the concert and it was every bit what I had expected. Numerous cars parked around the venue, people milling around, various snack stands at strategic points and security officials everywhere.

We all stepped out of the car and joined the minimal line at the entrance of the concert hall.

Well the line was only minimal compared to what I had originally expected, in reality, it was long, like really long.

After much waiting, it got to our turn. I stared at the three large men blocking the entrance and surprise, surprise, they stared back. I was too busy thinking about how the large men acquired such large-sized muscles that I didn't hear when one of them asked for my ticket.

“Dude! Ticket please! ”

“Oh.” I handed him my ticket. He observed the ticket for a while before nodding and stepping aside for me to enter.

As I walked to where my friends sat, I still wondered about the source of the muscles of the three men at the entrance. Obviously, they went to the gym, but so did I, three times a week, and all I could boast of was a six-pack and not so obvious toned muscles. I was only a vegetable compared to those three men.