I wait a beat and then deliver this gem, with a straight dork face, “The chicken who crossed the street because he farted.”
A flicker of surprise darts across his features. Fascinated, I watch as emotions play out over his face in rapid succession. His eyebrows lift slightly. His eyes widen. The tight line of his mouth softens, one corner twitching upward. Then a moment of confusion sets in, his brow furrowing as if he’s annoyed. I can hear Liam Neeson and the little boy chatting on-screen in the living room. Ben’s head tilts slightly, then suddenly, he smiles so widely, shaking his head, like a wet golden retriever. His eyes have lit up and his mouth forms an O of surprise and a snort of laughter escapes. His arms fall to his side, his shoulders shake. The laughter bubbles up, like freshly-poured sparkling cider. He punches my arm and snorts again.
“Awesome” is all he says. He punches my arm again. “Awesome.”
And I don’t think I can wait until tomorrow to thank Journal Guy for this moment, because my brother laughs even harder and then something amazing happens.
ELEVEN
Holden
PIPER?! I BARELY KNOW ’ER!
“You want to watch awhatwith me?” Rory is really making a meal out of this, and I already have regrets. “I’m sorry—could you please repeat that? Because I don’t think I heard you correctly. I think I might be dreaming.”
Why am I doing this? I stand in the doorway of her bedroom, grit my teeth, and repeat myself. “If you want to watch a rom-com or something, I will watch it with you. Tonight. Like, right now.”
She closes her iPad, leaps off her bed, grabs my hand, and leads me down the hall to the family room. “Anyrom-com? EvenThe Holiday?”
I grimace at those two words. She made me watch the trailer for that on YouTube once, and I broke out in hives. “Please don’t make me watch that. Why do you have the film taste of a fifty-year-old woman?”
“Why do you have the personality of an old man at the deli?!”
“Have you seenGroundhog Day? That’s a romantic comedy. I think Dad has the DVD. Bill Murray is hilarious and romantic, and Andie MacDowell is adorable—it’s a classic.”
“Yay! We’re watchingThe Holiday!”
“Or alternatively, I’d be willing to watch anything starring Natalie Portman.”
“The Holidayit is!
“Fine. Merry Christmas.”
My dad is eating his third helping of sticky-topping pudding cake while not really watchingA Christmas Storyby himself in the family room. It’s a familiar and comforting sight. I’d feel kind of bad for him if I didn’t know for sure that he wouldn’t want to be doing much else tonight.
“Daddy, can we use the big screen, pleeeaase?!” Rory picks up the remote before my dad answers.
He grunts. “I’ll go read my new book, I guess.” He gets up out of his easy chair and holds his dessert plate out to me. “Finish this for me, will ya?”
“I really can’t,” I tell him, rubbing my abs through my sweater.
“I’ll have it!” Rory says. She is in such a good mood now, and all because I offered to watch a movie with her. PiperThanFiction really understands young girls, I guess.
“Did you lose a bet or something?” Rory asks me, quite seriously, as she findsThe Holidayon a streaming channel.
“No. Actually, someone suggested I watch movies with you tonight.”
“And you just took her suggestion? Who is this amazing witch? Oh no, is it Shay Nicholls?”
“Nope. Just a friend.” As I say it, I pull out my phone and see a chat notification from [email protected]. I downloaded the Google Chat app earlier and signed in with the FoundYourJournal17 account. Which was an interesting choice,given that there is only person I email with from this account, and I’ve listed her in my contacts as Piper ThanFiction.
Piper ThanFiction:Hi! I just told my brother your joke, and he laughed so hard he farted and then he went around squawking like a chicken! It was brilliant. Now the whole family will make fun of him about this for the rest of his life. It’s the gift that will keep on giving. I don’t even know how to thank you.
That’s cute.
Me:That is awesome. My sister is now extremely happy because I just offered to watch a romantic comedy with her. I myself am not joyful, because I have to watch some really wonderful actors waste their talent.
Piper ThanFiction:Love Actually?!