Pursuit of the Whole

XLVIII. Peeing in a Bottle

After the initial shock, dad hugs me in return. "You must think I'm a horrible man."

"No." I look up, "In fact, I think you're the best dad in the universe."

He smiles, "I would've taken the world."

"This world doesn't deserve you."

His smile strained, and his eyes tear up, "I must have saved the universe or something to get you."

"You're okay with a child who has zero ambition and wastes her life rolling on the couch?"

"I'm grateful to have a child who has so much potential, and if she chooses to stay with her parents for the rest of her life because she loves them so much, then I'll support her."

I couldn't help it, the smile that surfaces because of his tacky words. "You better not regret it."

He hugs me, "Oh. I'll definitely regret it."

For the next hour, dad and I talked. We talked. We laughed. We snorted like pigs.

"Hello, my little piglets," mom sang. She poked her head through the door with Kai, "We can hear you guys snorting downstairs. What's so funny?"

"Do you know why we don't need to weigh dragons?" Dad question.

"Why?" I ask.

"Because they already come with scales."

The room went quiet.

"I don't get it," Kai broke the silence.

"You don't have to get it," mom replies. "It's stupid."

Dad grinned, "Really? Because those stupid jokes help me caught you."

Mom glanced at him, "Trust me. It wasn't your humor that caught me."

Dad gasps, "Is it because-" he places his hands on his cheeks, "I'm good looking?"

I groaned, "Please tell me you two aren't flirting," I said. "That's so disgusting."

"What's flirting?" Kai question.

"It's something old people aren't allowed to do," I replied.

"Why?"

"Because it's gross."

"Is it gross like boogers?"

Everyone went quiet for a moment before we broke out laughing. "Yes." I hugged him. "It's so gross like boogers."

"Stop teaching him unnecessary things." Mom squeezed Kai's cheeks. "You know how your dad and I are married?"

Kai nods.

"Well, sometimes after marriage, couples drift apart." Mom laid on dad's lap and smiled, "But, when couples do things like flirting, it means we're still happy together."

Kai took a few blinks before he looked at me. Then, together, we stuck out our tongues and said: "Blah! Yucky!"

The four of us spend most of the night talking about weird, questionable topics until Kai falls asleep.

When the doors are all closed, and the street lights are brightly lit, I found myself in bed with my eyes wide open. At 2 am, I got out of bed in my pajamas and lit a candle. I grab the edge and pull the string to the attic.

One step after another, I walk up until I spot a body in the corner of the room.

Marcelo was awake.

"Hey," he said softly.

I stop halfway in between the stairs and him.

"Can't sleep?" He questions.

I nod.