This Masterpiece Will Fall Apart

Josh was working at his studio one afternoon and I was stuck at home with three stuffed up kids. Finley had been complaining of an ear ache the night before and was running a mild fever, so I stuck him in the bath to cool him down for a little while, and then he fell asleep on the couch watching Monsters Inc., so I ended up putting him to bed. Kodiak I had no problem getting to sleep, but Autumn was always difficult. She cried for about 10 minutes and I nearly had a meltdown. That's when I called Keith over, because he knew what to do in those situations. Finley never really got sick when he was a baby, so I didn't know what to do when it came to the twins having a fever.

Keith came over around 7:00 with a special kind of medicine that Josie used on Brandon when he got really feverish. You'd dab a drop of it on your finger and rubbed it behind the child's ear. I didn't know how it worked, but Autumn calmed down within a few minutes.

“How can I ever repay you?” I asked Keith once we were in the kitchen. “You saved me from one dramatic, tear-filled phone call to my mum.”

Keith smiled. “Eh, it's not a problem.”

“So, what is that stuff?” I asked. Keith took the bottle out of his pocket.

“I'm not really sure. Josie uses it on Brandon all the time. She used to use it for Jake, too.” Keith explained. I had to pause for a moment to remember that Jake was Josie's eldest son, who was about 10 years younger than Keith. Keith then held out a paper bag to me and I sighed at it.

“Is it more tea?” I asked. Keith nodded. “Josie is really enforcing this British stereotype of drinking tea all the time on me.” I said, taking the bag from him. I walked over to the counter and opened the cupboard where the tea was. “Oh, my God. It's normal tea this time.” I said, looking at my cousin in amazement.

“Yeah, we're out of the “Feeling Calm Chamomile.” Keith smiled.

“It's probably because you gave it all to me!” I laughed, putting the boxes of tea away. I put the tea boxes away in silence until Keith spoke up again.

“Josie's pregnant.” Keith said. I dropped the box of blackberry tea that was in my hand on the counter. I turned around and looked at him, my eyes wide.

“What?” I asked him. Keith nodded. “Keith, that's great!” I said, walking over to give him a hug. “You know what causes that, right?” I asked once I let go.

“I think you of all people should know.” Keith raised his eyebrows at me.

“Oh, shut it.” I smacked his arm lightly. I smiled at him, and clapped my hands together. “Oh, this is so exciting!”

“What's exciting?” Josh asked, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water. I started smacking his chest and made my way around to his back saying, 'guess what, guess what!' “Ow. What?” Josh raised an eyebrow at me.

“Guess who's pregnant?” I asked, a big smile on my face. Joshes eyes grew wide in fear.

“Are...are you?” he asked, pointing at me.

“No, I'm not pregnant, you idiot!” I said. Josh paused for a moment.

“Marque?” Josh seemed to drag out the name.

“No, it's not Marque.” Josh began to point at himself, “No!” Josh jumped slightly.

“Okay, Jesus...” Josh frowned. “Who is it?” Josh then noticed that Keith was there. “Wait, is it Keith?”

I tilted my head slightly. “Are you hearing yourself right now?” I shook my head at him. “It's not Keith, but he caused it.” Keith narrowed his eyes at me. Josh finally clued in to what I was getting at.

“Oh, hey, congrats Keith!” Josh said, giving my cousin a hug. “Do you know what it is yet?”

“Not a clue. Josie's only about a month along.” Keith smiled.

“It's like an epidemic all of a sudden!” I said. Both guys looked at me. “I just got an e-mail from Evangeline this morning saying that she's 3 months pregnant.”

“Man, between you and your sister, you're just giving your parents oodles of grandkids.” Keith smirked. I stuck my tongue out at him. Evangeline, who was 4 years older than me, already had 3 kids herself. In total, my parents had 8 grandkids, and would be 9 after Evangeline's fourth was born.

“Well, if they want anymore from me, they're shit out of luck.” I said.

“What if Josh wants another kid?” Keith asked.

“I told him, if he wants more, he'd have to take that up with his second wife, and I'm sticking to that.” I nodded firmly and Keith laughed.

After Keith had left, Finley had woken up, saying that his ear ache was back. I managed to get him back to sleep after putting a warm face cloth over his ear, which actually worked for Josh when he had them. I was sitting on the couch, completely worn out (Josh had left again for a few minutes to get something he forgot at his studio). When he came back, he plopped right next to me on the couch, and I automatically curled up in a ball next to him.

“So, I got an interesting phone call from Zack today.” Josh said.

“Yeah? What was it about?” I asked.

“Oh, he wanted to know if I would be willing to produce some tracks for him.” Josh said, and I sat upright and stared at him.

“Produce some tracks for him?” I repeated.

“Yeah, he was thinking of recording a few things and releasing an EP or something.” Josh said. I stood up from the couch and grabbed the cordless phone off the coffee table and dialed Zack's number. Before Zack was even able to answer, I started talking.

“Why didn't you tell me that you wanted to record an EP?” I asked.

“Wha...Josline?” Zack sounded extremely tired. “You do know it's 12, right?”

“I know, but that doesn't mean jack shit.” I said.

“Come on, I'm tired.” Zack whined.

“Why didn't you tell me about that?” I repeated.

“Because I don't know if I actually do want to release an EP or not.” Zack yawned at me.

“The least you could of done was tell me you were considering it.” I told him.

“I would of eventually.” Zack mumbled. “Josline, I really have to go...” I heard someone else in the background; a female voice. I suddenly felt embarrassed.

“Oh...oh, I'm sorry Zack!” I apologized. “But this isn't over Angelo.”

“It never is with you.”