Cross My Heart

I rolled over in my bed at 2:38 in the morning. I didn't know why I was up. I usually slept all the way through the night. I sat up in my bed, Marque moving slightly when I moved. I looked around, and then I heard a faint ringing. I jumped out of bed and ran to the phone. I picked it up just before the answering machine kicked in. “Hello?” I answered groggily.

“Airin?” My sisters voice rang through my head.

“Jaws, what is it?” I yawned.

“Keith is at my house.” She said, sounding like she was holding back a yawn.

“Why is he at your house?”

“It involves a beer bottle being throw at Keith's head, a drunken wife, the drunken wife yelling, and then Keith yelling as well.” Josline was never any good at retelling stories. She usually picked out details and let me put it together, I was good at that. What I collected was that after Keith left, things went down with Olivia, and Keith left. And Keith yelled at Olivia. Keith was one of the most calm people I had ever met. He never yelled at anyone.

“Well, is he okay?” I asked, leaning against the wall.

“He seems fine. He showed up at about 10, and we talked for a few minutes, then he went to sleep. I went to check on Finley not too long ago, and I'm pretty sure I heard Keith crying.” I could hear the concern and worry in Josline's voice. As long as I had known Keith, he was always a fairly positive person, and never let anything get to him. He was the peace-keeper between people, especially me and Josline when Ellaries Dollhouse was on tour. He was the person you could always count on for anything. He was honestly my best friend, excluding Marque, or Josline. Even Josh was making his way up on my list.

“Aw man...I feel bad for the poor guy. Is there anything I can do?” I asked, trying to be helpful.

“Maybe you could swing by tomorrow? I have to go to the doctor, and Josh is going to be out of the house. Keith is looking after Finley.” Josline said. Keith absolutely adored Finley.

“Yeah, yeah, I'll do that. “ I said. We both said goodbye and I hung up the phone.

“Airin? Who was that?” Marque's groggy voice said. I turned around and looked at Marque. His hair was sticking up every where. I retold what Josline told me, and Marque didn't seem all that shocked. Maybe because he was tired. Marque had always said that Olivia and Keith were doomed to fail. He often kept that to himself. “Wow...” was all he could say.

“I'm going to just go hang out with him tomorrow.” I said. “Maybe talk to him about what happened.” I said.

“Just be there for him. Even if he doesn't want to talk.” Marque smiled. I smiled back and flicked off the light in the living room. I went right back to bed. I didn't sleep well the rest of the night.

11 o'clock rolled around and I finally managed to get out of bed to go over and see Keith. He honestly looked very surprised I was there. We were both sitting in the living room, and Keith looked terrible when I finally got a good look at him. He looked like he had been up all night. There were dark circles under his eyes, old bruises were showing more visibly on his arms, his hair was a mess. Keith was very unkempt at that moment. He was OCD about how he looked, so I knew something had to be seriously wrong. He mentioned a few things, but we wouldn't go into much detail. I didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

I was sitting on the floor, one of Finley's hands was clutching my shirt, the other was trying to pull my sunglasses off the top of my head. I kept moving my head back, which made Finley more determined to grab them. I finally had to sit him on the ground. Keith was holding back a laugh. “What? What is it?”

“Fin doesn't look too happy.” Keith said. I leaned over to look at my nephew. He started whining, then made the weird hiccough noises babies made before they cried.

“Okay! Fine, take my glasses!” I took my glasses off the top of my head and put them on Finley's face. He looked like a bug. Finley took the glasses off and starting “chewing” on the lens. “I'm never getting those back, am I?” I said to Keith, kissing the top of Finley's head.

“Probably not.” Keith laughed.

“God damn, he's a cute baby.” I laughed, looking up at Keith.

“Well, look at his parents. Well, Josline more-over, but still. Who ever thought that Josline and Josh would make cute babies.” Keith smiled. Finley threw my glasses against the floor, they skidded towards Keith. I frowned, but laughed at the same time. Keith smiled. Soon after, he huffed and leaned back in his chair. “Man, I need to go on a vacation.” Keith said.

“Where to?” I questioned.

“I don't know. I was planning a trip to Mexico...I don't think that's going to happen.” He said.

“Go anyways.” Keith looked at me a little strange.

“I was planning that for O...” He stopped himself and frowned. I put my hands over Finley's ears. Even though he was only about 3 months old, I was still scared my foul language was going to wear off on him.

“You know what? Fuck Olivia. You deserve so much better. You deserve to have fun in your life!” I said, uncovering Finley's ears. Keith looked at me for a long time, contemplation spread across his face.

“You're right.”

“Aren't I always?” I joked. Keith just smiled at me.

“No, seriously, you are. I'm going to take that vacation. There's nothing else going on in my life.”

“Can I come with you?” I asked.

“No.” Keith said bluntly.

“Fine. You're not allowed to be part of my royal guard on Candy Mountain.” I said, sticking my tongue out at Keith.

“What? Are you the King?” I nodded. “Who's part of your guard?”

“This little dude!” I picked Finley up off the ground and walked towards Keith. I set Finley on his lap and made Finley make little punching motions towards Keith. “Ha-ha! Take that!” Finley starting laughing. He sounded like he was highly amused with “beating up” his second-cousin. And to be honest, Keith was laughing too.

The first real laugh he had in months.