Love is a joke

Chapter 2: Gangly Girl

Two months had gone by since breaking the news to Jeffrey. Maggies eight year old brother. The cold weather was starting to clear and some people were even shedding their winter coats.

The days were getting longer, but for Maggie, everything was getting a little darker all the time.

"But why can't I stay with daddy?!" Said the pudgy little boy with the dark brown curls.

"The problem is that you wouldn't be able to visit me or your sister very often if we did it that way." Maggies mother tried to explain.

"So?! I don't care."

"Come on Jeffrey, you don't mean that. If you and Maggie stay here then you can visit your dad every week. If we split you up it'd only be once a month. Wouldn't you rather we all be together as much as possible?"

The little boy yelled with harsh angry tears "I don't care if I ever see you guys again! I'M GOING WITH DAD!!"

and the boy ran up to his bedroom to cry. 

While Maggies mother went to the kitchen to get some tissues herself.

Leaving Maggie to sit by herself in the living room watching Luan do standup on the laptop.

"Little puke." Maggie thought to herself as she ate a big handful of chips. Not that she could blame him. Truth is this mess was both of their parents fault. The only difference is that Maggie was old enough to recognize this and Jeffrey wasn't.

Before the divorce happened Jeffrey was the kid the rest of the family liked to play with. He was warm, kind hearted, a little temperamental but had a vivid imagination. He was always running around the back yard with his toy dolls playing Action Man or whatever they call it.

Everyone was very fond of Jeffrey. Or "Little Jeffie" as his grandparents called him.

He was a fat little kid though. If you dressed him up in green he'd look like a demonic watermelon come to life. Maggie mentioned more than once that maybe her folks should watch his food intake but Mom had trouble saying no to the little cherub, and her dad was one of those people who thought dieting was a sign that something was wrong with you.

Then Maggie made the mistake of telling Jeffrey he wouldn't be so fat if he ate a little less. (She was nine. She was just trying to help.) Poor kid put himself on a diet and was really gloomy and obvious about it. Asking for half helpings of dinner because he wanted to "be less fat."

And boy did Maggie ever get an earful after her parents found out what put the idea in Jeffrey's head.

From that point on Maggie decided Jeffrey was fine no matter what he looked like. And if he wanted to lose weight later in life well....I mean its not like America has a shortage of weight loss programs and different diets.

And besides, Maggies dad was a big dude. Six foot five and built like a bison. So were her two uncles and her grandpa. The Lacroix family was full of  bigger people so odds were Jeffrey would balance out when he got to high school.

Yes, Maggie and Jeffrey had always gotten along more or less. but Now? Well... Jeffrey took after his dad. He has all the same hobbies and interests. They love watching wrestling together and playing outside, and no matter how out of shape Jeffrey was he was determined to play as hard as he could.

So with the thought of having to choose one or the other, Jeffrey made it very clear who his favourite parent is.

Loud sobs could be heard coming from the kitchen, so Maggie turned up the volume on her computer to drown it out.

"...What's blue and not very heavy?...Light Blue!" Luan said to a audience laugh, "Some people say my routines are boring and kind of childish. That's kind of true. I don't like to diss people. ....especially unemployed people. Those jokes never WORK."