“For the two of us, home isn’t a place. It is a person. And we are finally home.”

- Anna and the French Kiss

I walk into the living room and see Jason sprawled over the couch, chugging diet coke while watching basketball. He crashed here yesterday night after coming back from the carnival and hasn’t moved yet.

Jason is going through his post-break-up routine. This used to happen every other month. It goes like this—he tries to get a girl, the girl dumps him, he comes over, makes his home on the couch in our living room, and spends the next three days in one spot.

After three days pass, he starts to move, like sloth, and goes back to his house where he spends a week moping about it. A week later he has his “glow up” and then gets ready for “the market”—his words, not mine.

So ever since we got back from the carnival, and he realized he doesn’t have any chance with the girl Valerie, he has started following his post-break-up routine.

Honestly, break-up happens if you are in a relationship. For Jason, things don’t go that far. He gets dumped before he gets in a relationship.

I stand by the couch, rest my elbow on the head of it and ask, “Need another coke?”

Jason rubs his eyes and yawns. “Yep.”

I open the fridge and pass him the coke. He opens the can and takes a sip. I get cookies for me and start eating. There goes lunch.

“Wanna have a match like old times?” I say as I stand by the couch with a moping Jason whose drinking coke like it’s alcohol.

“Those still work?” Jason says.

“Of course they do.” I get a little offended.

I head towards my room. Surprisingly, Jason stands up and follows me.

I don’t have to go through my closet doors today. In case I want to avoid certain people, I do that. Instead, I use the door in the hallway and open up my room. “The Not So Secret Room,” in other words.

As I walk in, the little robot falling on the side lights up the room with LED lights. It’s sound sensitive, so when I opened the door, it received the wave signal and turned on.

“Hey, Lighty,” Jason says in a voice like he is petting a dog.

I roll my eyes over the ridiculous nickname and almost stumble over the pliers I left on the floor. My toolbox is open in one corner with wires, circuit boards, LEDs, and some nuts and bolts around.

I look at my table. The humanoids should be here somewhere. I made them last year. It took a whole year to make them. I won’t say it’s my best work.

The controllers are here. I also see the book I have been reading for the last month, or trying to read—Artificial Intelligence and Robotics—but it’s impossible when you have “someone” always looking at your face and trying to guess what you’re reading.

She thought I was reading smut.

“What’s going on now?” Jason says, sitting down on the floor, turning on other little robots, which senses an object within a certain distance and turns away from it. I added an infrared sensor. Jason also takes pride in naming it “bumpy,” though it’s main purpose is not to bump into anything.

She thought I had been secretly painting her picture here. Nobody should ever let her play guessing games. I shake my head thinking about it.

“I asked what the new project is,” I hear Jason saying.

“Huh?” I rummage through my supplies and finally find the two humanoids I have been looking for. I take the controllers and sit down on the floor as well.

Jason turns on the line follower. These robots were the first thing I made. They can walk in a straight line. That’s all.

It’s stupid but I remember being so happy when I made them first.

Jason is the only person who knows about the robots. Although my brother and I live in the same house, he doesn’t know anything about this. Well, if he was a real brother he would have.

He is suspicious about how I spend the huge allowance that I get for pocket money and on the holidays. But he never asks about it since his own money goes into parties and booze.

“A robot with AI which will be able to deliver things,” I say. “Like, it will be able to follow through GPS, if you provide a starting point and end point.”

Jason shrugs. He has known about this for a long time, so he doesn’t get surprised anymore.

“I have been trying to write the program and it’s not working,” I say, frowning. I turn the fighter robots on.

Jason takes the controller from me and I set the robots up facing each other. We start fighting.

“Well, if your brain is somewhere else, how would you?” Jason says, smirking a little bit as he hits my robot.

“What do you mean, my brain is somewhere else?” I kick Jason’s.

Jason’s humanoid dodges my kick and punches. My robot almost loses its balance but manages to stay up.

“A certain someone has been taking up a lot of space in your brain, hasn’t she?” Jason looks up at me and winks.

“My brain is fine,” I reply.

“Oh yeah,” Jason says. He seems to be out of his post-break-up routine already.

Robots and talking about a certain someone does wonders.

“Like you think I didn’t see you while you fled holding her hand,” Jason says and his robots again kicks mine.

“I didn’t flee anywhere.”

“I am really surprised that you grew the balls to hold her hand at last. I thought that it would take you at least a year more.”

This time, I, not the robot, hit Jason on the head as he chuckles.

“Honestly, she has no idea how you get all tongue tied whenever you see her. She probably thinks you are this brooding guy,” Jason says shaking his head.

I look at him. “What do you mean, I don’t talk?”

“Really?” Jason laughs. “If Gwen heard you speaking all these sentences you just spoke in one day, she would faint, no kidding.”

I furrow my brows and pay attention to the match.

“You don’t even realize it. How would you when you’re too busy staring at her?” Jason chuckles.

This time I hit him harder. And his robot.

“When are you gonna tell her?” Jason says.

My robot kicks Jason’s robot. It’s the final kick. I mastered it after a lot of practice. His robot falls on the floor. The match is over.

“Tell what?” I say. My robot leans over his and starts beating it up.

“Hey, we agreed on this. No after match violence!” Jason protests.

“I changed the rules,” I say.

“Bleh, it’s your robot, not my headache.” Jason shrugs. “So, when are you gonna tell her, or are you gonna tell her at all?”

I take the robots and toss them on the bed. Then I sit in front of my computer.

“I don’t get what you’re trying to say.”

I fire up the computer and go through the files, taking a look at the program again. I think I got the functions right, but sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.

Jason throws himself on the single bed I have in the corner of the room. I don’t sleep in here unless there’s some emergency, like my bed smelling like girl shampoo and strawberries.

Not to mention I was having a hard time with another thing.

Never in a million years did I think while working on my robots here on a loud party night I would hear a thud in my room and then find a girl puking in my toilet.

Not just a girl.

Her.

“At least try to ask her out before I get married and have kids,” Jason says.

I turn to him. “I can promise you it won’t take 50 years.”

Jason glares at me.

“No, seriously, what are you guys? Gwen and you, what exactly are you? Friends, no. In a relationship, no. What the hell are two actually?”

I contemplate his question for a long moment.

“Humans.” I reply.

“What?”

“Humans as in human beings. Homo sapiens.”

Jason narrows his eyes and glares at me. “Yeah right, humans.”

“Did I say anything wrong?”

“I don’t really understand what Gwen sees in you,” Jason comments.

I shrug.

Jason rolls his eyes. “Sometimes I don’t believe your luck.”

I shrug again.

“Whatever, die here. I’m gonna go downstairs and get a coke,” Jason stands up.

“It’s diet coke, not alcohol,” I say, giving him a look.

Jason’s eyes light up. “Hey, can you open up Owen’s cellar-”

“No,” I snap. “Go drink coke.”

“Fine, Dad,” Jason rolls his eyes, “Honestly, we could have had more fun if we just take a bottle from-”

“I said no,” I warn him. “The amount of booze you drink during parties is enough for you.”

Jason sits down on the edge of the bed. “It’s weird though.”

“What?”

“We haven’t had a party here after Halloween, which is so unlike Owen.”

I am grateful that we didn’t.

“Don’t make that face,” Jason accuses. “If not for a party, Gwen would have never known of your existence and you’ll still be-”

“Weren’t you going to get coke?” I remind him.

Jason doesn’t appreciate my change of topic. He rolls his eyes and leaves me alone.

I finally get the peace of solitude and go through my programs again. My brain, as Jason said, does have a shortage of space.

One certain part of it starts displaying the events from yesterday. Big, warm brown eyes crinkled from a smile, looking up at me.

I blink and shake my head. I am usually really focused while I do my work.

Arms around my body holding me tight and it felt so warm, almost like coming home.

I blink and clear my throat and start working. But somehow I end up doing particularly nothing and staring at the line follower that’s lying on the floor.

“Hey, Oli!” I hear Jason’s voice. It sounds urgent so I shoot up from my seat and hurry out of my room.

“What-”

I don’t finish my sentence after I see my brother.

“Give me a hand here,” Jason says.

Neither did I hear the calling bell ringing, nor did I hear the thud that was caused by my brother, who is currently laying on the floor, sprawled out in a weird angle.

I cross the stairs two at a time, while Jason tries to push him up.

I take Owen’s other side, sliding my hand around his back and pushing him up. Together Jason and I make him stand.

Owen sways on his feet and his head hits my shoulder.

“Why the heck would you get drunk at 11 in the morning?!” Jason yells. “You didn’t get dumped like me, did you?”

Owen, hearing this, starts to laugh, then hiccups.

I clench my jaw as we support him and reach the stairs.

“I wish I was,” Owen slurs and hiccups again.

“I could punch you in the face right now,” Jason says.

There are some reasons why he is my best friend.

“Please do,” Owen laughs, and his head lolls on my shoulder again.

We climb the stairs together, with me on Owen’s left side and Jason on his right.

“Oh, look at this face,” Owen says. He reeks of alcohol.

“It’s my dear baby brother,” Owen says then closes his eyes while laughing.

Even drunk, he doesn’t forget to carry out his duties, which involve making fun of me.

“Hey, brother,” Owen pokes my stomach. “You’re helping me out. What a day, huh?”

I don’t reply. I pay attention to the steps instead.

We reach his room. Jason kicks open the door, and we drop him on the bed.

Owen starts laughing uncontrollably. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Then I lean down to take off his shoes.

“Do you know what I just remembered?” Owen falls back laughing as I untie his shoes.

“I remembered you peeing on the pool. You peed on the pool!”

My brother can remind me of my embarrassing moments even when he’s asleep. Sometimes, I wish I was older.

“Dad was trying to teach you how to swim. You were so afraid. You didn’t want to get in the water, but when you did, you peed your pants.”

Jason starts laughing with him. I glare at him. He laughs even harder.

“That was the day that I learned if the water suddenly starts to smell like chlorine, it’s because someone peed in it,” Owen says like a genius.

Jason stops laughing and asks, “Are you serious? Have I been swimming on people’s pee my whole life?”

Here’s my brother, drunk out of his mind, and here’s my best friend, concerned about swimming in people’s urine.

I live in a circus.

I take off both of Owen’s shoes and push his foot inside of the bed. “Yes, because the smell isn’t actually chlorine. It’s chloramine. Amine which comes from urine.”

Jason scrunches up his nose.

Owen sees him and chuckles again.

I turn for the door, ready to leave his room now that I have done my part. Jason follows me.

“Hey, Oli.” I stop in my tracks.

“Thanks,” Owen mumbles and passes out.

*****