Green Light Means Go

"Doesn't sound good Kels."

"Tell me about it!" I groaned into the phone. "I thought Danny was going to kill him last night!"

"I was not going to kill anyone!" Danny argued his case from the kitchen. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't lie Danny." I yelled back to my brother then turned my attention back to my conversation with my friend. "I mean it was nice to see Craig again, but he's practically not my brother any more - he is that different!"

"I'm sure it won’t last long." Jennie reassured me. I smiled at her attempts at making me feel better, but she didn't know my eldest brother half as well as I did. "He'll be back to normal before you know it!"

"Something tells me that probably won’t be the case." I replied. "Look Jen, I have to go. I've been roped into taking Jake out today. I'll talk to you later."

After my friend had said her goodbyes I hung up the phone. As if he had been listening in on my conversation, which would not surprise me, my youngest brother came bounding into the living room - a huge ball of energy as usual.

"Kelsey!" He squealed and jumped onto the couch next to me. "Mum said we're going to do something fun today! Are we going to the park?"

"Give me some time to wake up properly Jake!" I said as I glanced down at my attire, there was no way I would be leaving the house in the clothes I was wearing right now - it was way too cold. Plus, I don't think going out in my pyjama's would have been a very good idea.

"Don't take too long!" He whined and then jumped off the couch and ran into the kitchen. Sometimes I found it hard to keep up with my youngest brother, he way too energetic for a person of his size. It both confused and amazed me.

As I reached for the mug of coffee that had been sat on the table next to me when someone knocked on the door. I groaned and set my coffee back down on the table, it was cold now anyway, and got up to get the door. Jake, being his little hyper self, managed to beat me to the door.

"Kelsey, it’s for you!"

Once I saw who stood outside, I couldn't help looking down at what I was wearing once again - this time out of embarrassment. I absentmindedly played with the zip on my zip up hoodie and smiled at my friend.

"Hey Nate." I smiled. Part of me was mental cursing myself for wearing my oldest, scruffiest pair of jogging bottoms for bed the night before. I was also slightly annoyed that I the one time I actually slept in longer than usual, Nate showed up on my front door. But then, I was not entirely sure why it bothered me now, when Nate had seen me looking much worse before.

"Good morning." He smiled. I saw his eyes quickly glance down at my clothing and then he looked back up at me with a grin. "Haven't been up long I take it?"

"Fifteen minutes, at the most." I replied, "I would probably still be asleep if Jennie had not called me."

"You don't usually sleep in." Nate pointed out with a small laugh. "Cured the insomnia I take it?"

"I am not an insomniac! I never was to begin with!" I protested "Just because I seem to lack the ability to sleep in on weekends, you automatically put me in the category with people who don't sleep at all?"

"Possibly." He shot me a playful look before changing the subject. "Now can I just ask something? Is this going to be a habit?"

"What? Sleeping in on weekends?" I asked confused.

"No, keeping me outside when it’s cold." He replied simply. I hadn't even noticed he was still outside, I thought he would have the brains to come in.

"You don't need to wait for me to grant you permission you know." I laughed and held my hand out for him to come into the house. "I think you have been round her enough times in the past for it to be classed as your second home!"

Nate walked past me, not bothering to take off his coat. I couldn't help but wonder if this meant he didn't plan on staying long. I closed the door and followed him back into the living room.

"I wasn't sure if that still counted." He muttered with a shrug.

"Why wouldn't it?" I asked and sat down where I had been sat previously.

“No reason,” Nate replied, a small frown playing on his features. He stared down at the floor for a few moments then looked back up at me with a smile.

“So, the whole reason I came in the first place,” Nate's eyes sparkled as he spoke, as if he were really excited about something. “I wanted to know if you were busy today, I thought you deserved an early birthday present.”

“Well I have been roped into looking after Jake for the day,” I explained and bit my lip, “But I could drag him along, it depends what you had in mind?”

“Well I was going to say it was up to you,” Nate shrugged, "I could help you look after your brother if you wanted?”

“Are you sure about that?” I asked and reached over for my cold cup of coffee. I wasn't going to drink it, but I thought I better clear it up while I still remembered about it. “Do you really want to be stuck with an over energetic child for most of the day?”

“Fine by me.” Nate smiled and followed me into the kitchen. “It will be like having out with a five year old you all over again!”

I glared at him and turned to the sink to pour my un-finished coffee into the sink and rinsed the mug out. Nate was hovering behind me and it was making me slightly uneasy, especially since I was still dressed in my pyjamas.

“Right then, I will go get changed and then we can take the little monster out.” I said before turning round and I couldn't help but gasp in shock. Nate had been standing closer to me then I had expected him to be. He stepped back and ran his hand through his hair in an embarrassed way.

“Right, okay then.” He laughed uneasily and kept his eyes on the floor. “I'll go wait in there for you.” Nate pointed to the living room and quickly walked in the direction he had been pointing. I watched him walk into the living room with a confused expression on my face before running up stairs to change.

Twenty minutes and some styling mouse later and I was once again downstairs. Nate has managed to round up my brother and had gotten him to calmly watch television, which was something I still had not achieved yet. I didn't have a clue what they were watching, but I could tell just from the fact that it was a cartoon that it would have been my brother’s choice of programme. Nate glanced backwards and smiled at me.

“I promised him ice-cream.” He shrugged and reached for the remote to turn the television off.

“Ice-cream?” I asked and folded my arms, “Its almost November, its not exactly the perfect weather for frozen dairy products.” I shook my head but couldn't help but smile. Bribery, why had I not thought of that before?

“Relax, we can eat it inside. You wont get frostbite.” Nate grinned and jumped up off the couch.

- - -

“How boring are you?”

“What do you mean?” I asked and looked up at Nate, squinting in the late autumn sunlight. To say that we had entered the last week in October, it was surprisingly sunny and warmer then I had expected it to be.

“I treat you to an ice-cream, you could have had any flavour you want, and all you wanted was vanilla.” He teased and held the door open for me as we left the ice-cream parlour that was close to the centre of town.

“I had sprinkles.” I defended myself and walked out of the door.

“Woah. I'm sorry. Vanilla ice-cream and sprinkles. Its still boring.” Nate grinned and opened his mouth once again, most likely to fire back another attempted insult at my choice in ice cream flavour, when my annoying little brother interrupted him.

“Take me to the park!” He begged and jumped up and down. I rolled my eyes and looked back over at Nate.

“Do you want to go to the park?” I asked. He just shrugged and nodded.

Once we were at the park, well once my little brother was at the park, Nate and I decided to steer clear of the whole screaming under tens scene and sat on a bench under some trees. We sat watching the children in the park fight for dominance of the climbing frame for a while before I decided to ask a question that had been burning in the back of my mind all morning.

“So how long are you guys staying for?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the war for the climbing frame.

“A week, maybe two.” Nate sighed, “Then we are going to be playing a few promo gigs nearby, so we could be around for longer.”

“So you are definitely going to be up here for my birthday?” I smiled and looked down at my feet. “That's cool.”

“That's the reason we came up here.” Nate replied and kicked a stone across the path. “Its one of the things I told your brother when I was convincing him to come up here.”

“What, you actually had to convince him to drag his sorry but up here to see his family?” I looked up from my shoes and stared up at my friends face.

“Erm... kind of.” Nate's eyebrows scrunched together.

I laughed. “I can't really say I'm surprised. Don't tell Danny that though, Then he will really kick off.”

“So then, seen as though I will be here for your birthday, what do you want?” Nate asked and looked down at me, grinning.

“You don't have to buy me anything.” I shook my head, “Though you could do me one little favour...” Nate looked confused.

“And what would that be?”

“Find out if my brother if planning something for my birthday? Danny I mean.” I asked, “He's been hiding something from me and its driving me insane!”

“Is that really all you were going to ask?” Nate rolled his eyes, “I thought it was going to be some huge task for me to endure.”

“I said a little favour didn't I? I don't lie about these things Nate.”

“I never said you did, but still. You have been known to be a bit over the top in the past.” Nate just shrugged and directed his attention back to where all the little children were playing, and screaming.

“Give me a little credit. I've grown up a little since you last saw me.” I laughed and played with the zipper on my jacket.

“Don't remind me.” Nate mumbled.

We sat in silence for a few moments before I plucked up the courage to ask him another question that had been annoying me. “Can I just ask you what you meant earlier? When you said you weren't sure if things still counted?” I asked.

Nate shrugged. “I wasn't sure if you were mad at me.”

“Why would I be mad at you?” I asked, even more confused then before.

“Well, your brother isn't the only person who hasn't spoken to you in just under two years.”

“Yeah, but he's my brother. Its different.” I sighed. "He cut our whole family out of his life, where as you had no reason to contact me. I'm just your best friend’s kid sister." I frowned, because although Nate and I had become closer as I moved up into high school part of me still felt like that's all I was to him. I had never really questioned why I still thought that, I had just assumed it was because that's the way he had seen me for most of the time we had known each other.

"You think too little of yourself."

I glanced over at him and was about to ask him what that meant when my little brother came running back over to us.

“I'm bored now, can we go home?” He asked trying to look all sweet and innocent. Its quite amusing how small my brother's attention span can be, five minutes earlier he had been playing on the climbing frame.

“Sure whatever.” I replied and stood up from the bench. I looked down at Nate to see if he was coming with us or if he was going to head back to wherever it was he was staying.

“You coming Nate?” I asked. He stared up at me, his big brown eyes looking straight up into mine, and nodded once. Then he got up from the bench and once again towered over me, looking down at me with a smile.

"Sure, lets go, boring ice-cream girl." He winked and put his arm round my shoulders.