GRAY

CHAPTER 4: CO-ORDINATION

We are silently having breakfast, with me completing my pancake and Jason, sitting across from me sips on his coffee, lost into some deep thought.

Then as if he's suddenly made his mind, he chugs down his coffee in one go and rests his cup on the table. I look at him, baffled. He smiles at me and says, "You free today?"

"Yeah..." I trail off, thinking about what his devil mind would be up to.

"I was thinking if you could help me with the Christmas party we've got a day after tomorrow. It's actually a fundraiser Christmas party thing but usually there's a lot of business too. Kind of a big deal. This year, dad wants me to organize it the way I like, so I've got a lot of work. Would be nice, if you could, ummm, help." He explains.

"Sure."

"Cool, so first I've gotta make a list of all the people, we're gonna invite. Till then, it would be great if you could make the list of all the items we need to decorate the house." He plans it out. I like the way he says 'we', like he's already made me a part of his family. I smile to myself and nod to him, as a reply.

"Thanks. So, once you're done, we'll go to my room," he says, looking at my unfinished cup of coffee. I quickly force it down my throat, not wanting him to wait for me. Once I'm done, he leads me to his room.

His room, unlike mine, is on the ground floor itself. It's almost the same size, however much more decorated. It's got a lot of frames, homing pictures, and paintings. One section of his room is separated from the rest making it a mini study. He gets his stuff, while I patiently wait in his study, curiously looking at his neat and organized work. We're polar opposites. You never get to see the interior of my room. Why? Because it's hidden behind the mess I create. And this is Jason's room, where I can't see a single thing out. It's almost as if he just comes here to sleep.

He arrives with some notebooks and some papers. Handing me one of the books, he settles himself on the chair and says, "Here."

"You can even sketch out how you want the house to look, both from inside and out. Then, we'll make a list of all materials needed to execute that plan. Till then, I'll make an invitation card and send it out, ok?"

"Mmhh..hmm" I nod.

Parties have never been mine thing, and organizing one? Never in a million years! And yet, here am I, trying to figure out where the Christmas tree would be, how are the lights going to be, and what type of decorations would make the house look prettiest! Keller's place is huge, which is both an advantage as well as a disadvantage. Advantage - because I have a lot of space to do whatever I want to and disadvantage - because I have to do a lot. However, I'll survive. Once my plan is ready, I tug at Jason's elbow, gesturing him to see my work. He too turns his laptop in my direction and gestures me to see it. We both exchange our work for rectification.

He has made a fine invitation card. I like the template as well as the content.

"It's good," I say at the same time when he says, "I like it!"

We smile.

"Okay then, I'll just send these cards as an email and then we'll go shopping to get all these materials," he states.

While he's done with his work, I go up to my room and change. I make sure I've included everything in the list and I'm back to Jason's room.

"Ready?" I ask.

He grabs the car keys and we head back to the evergreen, or rather everred Maserati.

***

The malls are quite far from here. At least a 30 minutes drive. So currently, we're driving at a turtle's speed! Why? Oh, because all the traffic in the world has decided to come our way!