My Brother's Band

chapter five: i need to pee

There was absolutely no way, no way, that this whole 'living-on-an-island' thing was safe.

Noway.

None.

It just was not possible.

This was my second trip across the bay, in this giant boat thing, and the water, nor the wind, had let up on me one bit.  Rob and Francais? Oh, they were sitting about ten feet away, perfectly dry.

Me, you ask?

My blonde curls were not curls anymore. 

They were hay clumps.  Wet ones.

I was very lucky I wore a rain coat today, having a brilliant moment when I saw the bright yellow rubber-duck resembling peice of clothing. Okay, in actuality, I just liked how it was so neon-y and reminded me of a baby duckling.Not the ones you see in real life; no, the ones in cartoons.  Those are the cool ones.

Either way, Iwas beginning to accept the fact that I was just not made for this whole 'water' thing.  I mean, if it didn't make up more than seventy percent of my body, I would totally live just fine without it.

"What are you thinking about, Hales?" Rob called, shouting over the wind, from the pointy end of the boat.  I think it Francais had called it a curtsey, or a ribbon, or something. Whatever.

Moving on from that, have you ever had that moment when you've been left alone to your thoughts for so long that your mind just starts to wander, and you end up on some freakishly random topic that no one needs to hear about? And then, suddenly, just as you realize how disturbng your thought process is, someone decides to ask you about it?

So, then you rush to cover yourself, making up some story about how you just zoned out, or weren't thinking of anything, or, if you're me, you end up with the grand old response of;

"I was sleeping with my eyes open." Oh yes, I am brilliant.

"Um, okay..." Rob trailed off, and turned back to the steering, but not before I saw the look of disbelief on his face.  Oh yeah, that's right, look away you motha-honker.  I scrunched up my face and did one of those sassy head bobs at his back.  When Francais caught my eye with an incredolous stare, I crossed my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him.

Serves him right for letting me fall into the boat.

"Uh, Haley?"

"Yes Rob?" I answered, semi-sweetly. If I got any sweeter, I'd be bashing my eyelashes, up and down, and up and down...

"You do realize there are mirrors on this boat... right?"

Oooooh.

That's awkward.

****

I was now absolutely certain that the boys went out of their way to be clueless.

I was in a grocery store, the same grocery store that I had been in for approximately fourty five minutes, simply because, and I quote, Rob "had to pee."

And that, my dear friends, was thirty three minutes ago.

I was seriously considering ditching him and going back home; however, I knew that Francais would probably think I'd offed Rob, and call the cops on me or try to drown me or something.  Oh, and I had no money to get out of here.  That was another reason I hadn't been able to leave.  Because Rob had to pee, and he had to pee with the money in his back pocket.

Unfortunately, I had never truly mastered the art of pick-pocketry, and I didn't want to risk the chance of him thinking I was touching his bum. That would just be so wrong, on so many levels. Plus, the whole point of this 'ignoring' thing, is to ignore him.  Reaching for his back pocket in a crowded store would probably not help.