Deceiving Looks

Chapter 4

Deceiving Looks

Chapter 4

--

"Thanks again, Tom", I waved at JD's dad as I walked out of their and towards mine.

I had stayed long enough to have dinner with JD and his parents. I must've thanked them 100 times for the tickets to London.

I jogged across the street and turned the corner to my house. I smiled as I approached the welcoming structure. My parents loved the house, which was labeled as a cottage on the brochure. Something about it being a classical structure with a modern twist. I liked the house very well, too. It was one of my safe havens.

I unlocked the door and set my bag down, heading for the living room. I saw my little sister Kat plopped down on the sofa, eating popcorn.

"Hey, squirt", I greeted and I ruffled her hair and stole some popcorn. She scowled at me playfully.

"I'm not seven anymore, Andy. Stop calling me that", she threw a kernel at me.

I caught the kernel and smiled, "Hey! You can't call me Andy if I can't call you squirt. Plus, I told you only JD calls me that."

She thought about it for a second and grinned.

"Nah, you can call me squirt then."

I rolled my eyes at her. She just loved pushing my buttons. We sat in silence for a few minutes, eating popcorn, watching tv.

"Hey, guess what", I turned to her.

"Wha", she answered with a mouthful of buttery goodness.

"I'm going to London", I smiled widely.

She blinked at me a few times, chewing her popcorn. No emotion on her face, then she squinted at me.

"Bull", she declared confidently.

"Nope. Completely true, my friend. I'm afraid you'll have to do without for about 2 weeks", I put my arm around her shoulders, "It's okay squirt, you don't have to cry. I'll be back in no time".She shrugged my arm off her shoulders and swallowed her popcorn.

"Just so you know, I'm totally claiming all your belongings for those 2 weeks then", she smiled, "Oh and you have to bring me something back from London".

"FIne with me", I smiled back.

A few minutes passed with no words between us. Just the occasional laugh caused by the movie playing on tv, and the sound of chewing popcorn. I had realized that I had never even asked Kat about her day at school. Despite popular belief, I actually cared about how her days went.

I shifted my weight so I could face her. I watched her silently, trying to see any clues as to how she was feeling, but it was quite hard since she wasn't looking at and she was chewing food.