I'll Hum Along

“Josline, you need to get up.” Josh said, pushing on my shoulders. I groaned at him and rolled over. “Josline, come on.”
“No.” I whined at him.
“You have to go on tour today.”
“I don't want to!” I mumbled into my pillow.

I heard Josh sigh, and then he shifted on the bed. Soon, my blanket was ripped off of me. “Come on. Get up.” I groaned at him. “Oh, don’t make this difficult. You’re being just like Finley.” Josh said.

“At least you know where he got it from.” I mumbled. Josh chuckled slightly. He grabbed my ankles and tried to pull me off the bed, but I gripped onto the headboard.

“Josline Marie.” Josh said.

“Joshua Keeler.” I retorted. He sighed again. Josh then promptly sat on the curve of my back. “You’re heavy!” I whined at him. “Get off.”

“I will, as soon as you get up.” Josh said.

“You know I can’t do that.” I said, “I don’t have a penis.” Josh sighed at me. He poked me in the side, causing me to make a jerky movement. “Stop that!”

“Get out of bed!” Josh began to tickle me. I squealed and tried to wiggle Josh off of me. “Are you going to get up?”

“Y-yes, just get off!” I said through laughs. Josh finally stopped, but he didn’t get off of me. Instead, he lay on top of me. “This isn’t exactly getting off of me and letting me get ready.”

“I know.” He said. “I just really don’t want you to leave.”

“Look, we had enough sex in Rome to last you for a while.” I said. Josh laughed and got off me, sitting on the edge of the bed. I sat up.

“That’s not why I don’t want you to go.” Josh said.

“Yeah, you have two hands. What was I thinking?” I stood up, finding a pair of shorts to put on. Josh shook his head at me. I pulled on a pair of shorts and turned around. “Why don’t you want me to go?”

“Because I never want you to leave.” Josh told me. I smiled. “When you leave, I have to deal with the kids.”

I then frowned. “You really ruined that sweet moment.” I said.

“You do that to me all the time.” Josh said.

“Yes, but you’re rarely ever romantic. When you say sweet things, you can’t wreck them.” I put my hands on my hips.

“Oh, come on. I dedicated an entire album to you.” Josh said.

“That was very sweet. But the other ninety percent of the time it’s stupid jokes.” I said.

“I like your stupid jokes.” Josh mumbled.

“Yeah, but I’m fucking hilarious.” Josh looked at me with a slight frown, but his smile was more prominent.

I finally got properly dressed and made something to eat. It was about 6:45 when there was a knock at the front door. Josh got up to answer it, and appeared a moment later with Keith. He walked behind me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, resting his head on the top of my head. “Morning.” He said.

“Good morning. Let me eat.” I said, wiggling my arms. Keith laughed and let go of me, sitting down in the chair Josh had abandoned momentarily to grab a glass of orange juice. When Josh turned around, he saw that Keith had stolen his chair, and pouted.

“You have three other chairs. Stop that.” Keith told him. Josh bowed his head and drug himself towards a different chair. “Why was I expecting him to sit on me?” Keith asked.

“Because it’s what he does, and he probably would have.” I said, shovelling a spoonful of fruit loops into my mouth. Josh thought for a moment, and then nodded.

“It’s too early in the morning for cousin-in-law-cest.” Josh said, sipping his glass. Both Keith and I cocked an eyebrow at him. “It doesn’t make sense now, but it will.”

Keith turned to me, “Why did you have to marry into a weird family?

“I was born into a weird family, what are you talking about?” I waved my spoon at him. “I think you and mum are the most normal ones in the family.”

“That’s on the Perkinson side, though. The Jaulby side is a completely different story.” Keith noted. I nodded slightly in agreement.

“Well, my dad’s side of the family is more theatrical and dramatic.” I said.

“It’s also stemmed a long line of divas.” Josh told me. I looked at him for a moment before sticking my spoon in my mouth and snapped my fingers in a “Z” formation. Josh slapped his forehead and laughed. Keith shook his and smiled at me. “And people wonder where our child gets his personality from.”

“The best parent, obviously.” I said. Josh gave me a look, but smiled after.

“Oh, how I love these marital spats.” Keith said, leaning back in the chair.

About half an hour later, we had packed all of my things into the back of Keith’s car and drove back to his place. Our van lived in Keith and Josie’s garage most of the year, because no one else had room to keep it. My house didn’t have a garage, and both mine and Joshes cars took up what little driveway we had. Zack said he would have kept it, but he would have to apply for a second parking pass at his apartment complex, and there were only a few places for people to park anyways. Airin, Marque and Zack were already there, loading things into the van. Well, Marque was paying more attention to Keith’s son, Brandon. Josie was outside as well, looking like she was mostly observing the boys, making sure at least some work was getting done. She was also holding a very tired infant, her daughter Carys, in her arms.

Zack looked up at me after he finished piling a crate into the trailer, “Took you long enough.” Zack said.

I opened the back of Keith’s car and started to grab my guitars. “Sorry. Dealing with temper tantrums.”

“Which one of the kids?” Airin asked.

“The husband.” Keith said. Airin stopped what he was doing, opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it, like he knew better.

“Oh, okay then. That’s understandable that a 28 year old man would be having a temper tantrum.” Zack said. I shook my head at him and shoved my guitar cases into the trailer.

Josie kind of chuckled. She walked up next to Keith, Carys reaching her small hands towards him. “I’m going to go feed her. Be safe, stay in school, and don’t do drugs.” Josie said, pecking Keith on the lips. Keith kissed Carys’s forehead while Josie told Brandon to come inside. Brandon scurried up to Keith and Keith hugged his son. The three of them went inside, leaving us to finish packing.

We all packed in silence, aside from a few grunts and heaves here and there, until Zack stopped half-way through closing the trailer door, “Holy shit, I’m the only one that’s not married.” Everyone stopped and laughed at him.

“Jason’s not married.” Marque said.

“Oh, he doesn’t count. He’s the help.” Zack said.

“I wasn’t aware he was an African-American maid from the 50’s.” Marque said. Zack looked at him for a moment and then smacked his forehead.

I couldn’t wait to get back on the road.