"What joke?"
Darn it! What do I say? What joke? Think Mahira think! Should I say I forgot it? Nah then why would I be smiling at something I already forgot.
One minute I know what to do. I take my cheap Huawei 2017 model in my hand and scroll through it. I go through my Instagram feed and slide into our school friend's group. Found it! I hold my phone to my Mom's face and show her a meme that one of our friends shared. It read, "Brown parents leaving one light on when the house is empty so the robbers think people are home and don't barge in" and had a picture of a man with a funny expression saying "can't take the risk". Literally, this is so relatable. My mom does it every time. She would always leave a light on mainly the living room because the main door opens to our living room, so even if we're gone on vacation or just for a day people still think we're home.
I give a fake, horrendous laugh and the creased skin between my mom's eyebrows relaxes. She believed it. Thank God! And thanks to Ridwan, my memer friend who never forgets to share a meme in our group chat.
"What's funny is it honestly? it works every time. And girls don't laugh like that. You laugh like a demon, loud and un-lady like. See how girls laugh", my mom says and gives a fake laugh with her hand covering her mouth while laughing with breaks between and her teeth flashing through the gap between her fingers. Sometimes she seems creepy and right now it seems that way.
"Freshen up and get ready for bed in ten minutes, you foolish girl," Papa says pointing at the clock. I salute him and then as I'm leaving I hear him saying, "Honestly she laughs at everything".
"Well that was funny, you did not get it", I complain and march straight into my room. Narrow escape!
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I brush my teeth listening to "Sweet Melody" by Little Mix and I wonder why is it that this song reminds me of Tazwar. Every time I listen to it, it reminds me of his handsome smirk that I never saw, our conversations as if he were a playboy, fake personality, and ex. Wait a minute, he is all of that! Except for the ex part or we can always go by the term "ex-crush", the song is perfect for him.
"Yo Potato, stupid girl, what you're doing? Get out of the washroom, I need to change my clothes", my brother says walking towards me with his hoodie and shorts in his hands.
"There are three more washrooms, you could use all of those and for your kind information we have a changing room just beside the washroom", I point at the changing room beside and he just shrugs his shoulders off. The attitude this scrawny scrag has!
"No Potato, you get out, I need to brush my teeth and do my skin care routine", he runs his fingers through his face as if it were as smooth as silk. It is though. Clear, smooth and soft like a girl unlike mine.
"Yeah right with my skin care products. And what's with this Potato that you call me these days. I'm older than you and smarter, you scrag", I taunt him before I gargle and spit the water in the basin. I wash my face thoroughly and then I apply my favorite tree tea oil toner and apply the night cream.
"Yea, just in academics, my IQ is higher than yours. Do you know what's common between Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates?"
"That they're billionaires and in the technological field", I say smile-taunting him.
"Everybody knows that, anything else?"
What more could there be? They're all humans? Why do I always have to look like the less smart sibling, just like all those typical older siblings in the memes?
"Uhm...I don't know, what's more there?", I say finally giving up and inflating his already balloon-inflated ego.
"Thought so, let me enlighten you then. They belonged from poor financial backgrounds, they were all college drop-outs and they began with a small garage", he says proudly.
"Makes sense, I guess". Where does he find these weird things from? I would always try to pretend like I know everything in front of him but we both know, in fact all of us know he's the smarter one. Because he wastes his 24 hours on youtube lame facts videos.
This boy, my brother Olive as he is called with his Olive complexion is just 22 months and four days younger than me. But his brain cells developed before me. He is shrewd, smart, outspoken, brave, and well is the boss around here and is basically everything I want to be but I can't. Except he never studies, so he never passes with good grades, he just barely gets promoted to upper grades. If he used twentieth percent of his focus and knowledge in his studies he would have surpassed me and excelled every subject long before. But he would not. Now it seems as if his anger and grudge for my dad have made him like that. They are never on good terms and both of them have anger issues and no matter how many hundreds of times I insist they go for psychiatric therapy, they would simply always disagree. Apparently, psychiatric therapy has no importance in the Brown life.
By the time we go to bed it's already 12 a.m. and after a solid half an hour of my brother and I ranting over political, social, daily gossips and him later explaining me more scientific things he found watching YouTube and whatnot for another solid half an hour, my eyes go heavy with sleep and my ears heavy with scientific shits, although being a pure science student myself, I finally resort to sleep. A very calm and peaceful layer of happiness evolves through my soul lightning it as those silvery eyes bear into mine.