The Plus Side of Negative Thinking

Chapter Fifteen

Jeisson waited until his father was out of sight before ducking into his study with Kelly. Then went to Bruce's desk and started looking through his drawers.

"Um... whatcha doing?" Kelly asked, hovering on the other side of the desk.

"Looking for something," Jeisson said. "Yes!" There it was, in the third drawer, underneath a stack of papers. A pill bottle. He gave it a shake, it seemed about a quarter full. He read the label - Valium. "Wishes do come true," he said as he opened it and shook out two pills.

"Jeisson," Kelly said. "Seriously?"

"What, you want one?"

"That is not the tone of voice I'm using, and you know it. What about your brothers? Remember, that's why you're here. That's what it's about."

"Yeah, exactly. For the sake of my brothers, I have to make it through this fucking party. And there's no way I'm getting through this living hell sober. I'm doing this for them."

Kelly rolled her eyes, but didn't object any further. Jeisson pocketed the pills and closed the drawer. But before they could leave, Nicole appeared, Elliot and Daniel on either side of her, holding her hands.

Jeisson couldn't tell who was who, which made him feel kind of terrible.

"There you are!" Nicole said. "Okay, Elliot, Daniel, this is your brother, Jeisson. And this is his friend, Kelly."

Jeisson bit back his knee-jerk response of "half-brother," and instead attempted his friendliest smile, trying to put all thoughts of his father aside. "Hey, guys," he said.

One of them, wearing a blue flannel shirt and gray slacks, rushed up to Jeisson and wrapped his arms around his waist. He really had to reach up to do it, he was quite short. "Hi," he said in his little four-year-old voice. Jeisson wasn't sure how to respond to this sudden affection. He patted the kid's head, his hair crunchy underneath Jeisson's hand. It seemed like a lot of gel was needed to keep their hair down in those perfect side parts they both had going.

"You're tall," the kid said.

"Thank you," Jeisson said. "You're not, but I'm sure you will be someday."

This made the kid laugh. "I'm taller than Elliot!"

Okay, so the one currently still hugging him was Daniel. The other one, wearing a green flannel shirt, clung to Nicole's leg, halfway hiding behind it. "We're the same," Elliot said quietly, almost too quiet to hear.

"Are you guys having fun at your party?" Kelly asked, kneeling down to their level.

Daniel immediately dove into a story about how much bouncing they'd done. By the time he was finished, Elliot had let go of Nicole's leg and taken a step toward Kelly. "I like your hair," Jeisson heard him whisper to her.

"Why, thank you," she whispered back, leaning forward so her hair fell in front of her. Elliot reached out a tentative hand and touched one curl, then pulled away, smiling shyly.

Daniel ran back to his mother, tugging on her hand. "Let's bounce again!"

"You can't bounce the whole party away!" she said, laughing.

"Please?"

"Okay, go get Aunt Marie to take you. Just a few minutes. Then we're doing cake."

"Okay!" Daniel darted away, and a moment later, Elliot followed.

"They're great," Kelly said with a friendly smile.

"Thanks! I was a bit nervous when I first found out I was having twins."