The Uneventful Life of Harvey Mackler

c h a p t e r | t w e n t y - s i x

Harry plays around with one of the animal crackers before gobbling it up.

"Eating crackers makes me happy. When you're sad you should do things that make you happy," Harry replies as he rifles through the bowl for a different animal. He giggles as he finds one he likes, holding it up. "Harvey, look. This one looks like a chicken!"

I'm not sure what's so funny about the chicken, but Harry's laughter is infectious. I find myself laughing along with him as he bites down on the animal cracker, grinning up at me as he nibbles on it.

And after I manage to convince Harry to leave, insisting that Hunter and Hayden would really like to try some as well, his words still stick with me. There's a chance he didn't intend for them to have any deeper meaning. They sounded like something he got from one of his television programmes, and yet...

When you're sad, you should do things that make you happy.

I guess it couldn't hurt.

With a sigh, I pick up my phone to respond to Jay.

Me: yeah, we're good. I think I need a pick me up today

><{{{(•>

Jay arrives at six thirty, parked at the bottom of the driveway as always.

It's weird to be the one Jay is waiting to pick up in place of Hayden, but I try to think nothing of it as I slip into the front seat of Jay's blue sedan. Hayden isn't even at home. He left an hour ago for his date with Gia.

"I can see your mom waving at us from the window," Jay comments, his lips curling into a smile.

My eyes narrow as I follow his gaze to where Mom is grinning at us from the living room window, her fingers curled into eager thumbs-up. My face twists. The con of being antisocial when you have outgoing parents is that they get unnecessarily excited when you announce you've actually made plans that involve you stepping out your room for longer than an hour.

Jay turns his head to me. "It's not too late. I won't hate you if you back out now."

"You know, if you keep saying that, I'm going to start suspecting you don't want to go with me," I retort.

"Sorry," Jay apologises, a hint of worry in his eyes as he scans me up and down. "But is it really okay? I heard from Hayden. Noe and Kaui have been giving you a hard time lately."

I shrug. "Not more than usual. You know how they are."

"I almost wish I didn't." Jay grimaces as he starts up his car, probably recalling the two occasions he's encountered my cousins during their last visit. "No offence."

I laugh. "None taken."

Jay finally pulls away from the curb and begins the drive to the movie theatre. We fall into a comfortable silence where Jay focuses on his driving while I lean my head against the window pane, trying to focus on the view outside rather than the numerous thoughts swimming through my head.

I don't find my voice again until we're inside the theatre, waiting to get our tickets checked.

"The tickets are free but we might as well splurge on snacks," I tell Jay, tugging at his sleeve to stop him from going ahead.