Juliet lined up her shot carefully…carefully…then, barely glancing at it, sent the ball spinning off the sides of the billiard table, putting other balls plunking into the pockets. She grinned at her brother, who groaned.
"I should know better," he complained.
"Yes, you should," Juliet laughed, teasing him. A beeping sound interrupted them, and Oliver pulled his cell phone from his pocket, looking apologetically at his baby sister, who smiled insincerely and shooed him away to upstairs for him to have privacy.
Once he was gone, her grin faded. With Oli's new fiancée and his already demanding police job, he had no time for his one-time close sister. But she couldn't complain; he was so happy, and Sierra was so nice. She sighed, and wished, not for the first time, that she was able to hold a relationship longer than a few weeks. She winced, thinking of Tom, from last year. She'd literally put him to sleep talking about her work. Speaking of which, her friend Sasha wanted her to go over some equations, just checking her work, mostly, and call back when she was done. Stifling another sigh, Juliet climbed upstairs, to her desk and her homework.
Charlie dodged his brother, spun around, and shot, the ball leaving his hands in a graceful arc. The net swished.
"Yes!" he cheered, thrusting a fist in the air, grinning over his shoulder at Don, both men panting. The older brother rolled his eyes, unable to suppress his grin at Charlie's antics.
"I can still get past you with my Doninator every time," Don taunted, catching the bouncing basketball. Charlie paused, looking off into space.
"Well, actually, I been doing some calculations, and I think-"
Don took the irresistible opportunity to make his move on Charlie, who had been surreptitiously waiting for the sly move out of the corner of his eye. Charlie moved quickly, jumping up to block the basket- almost stopping the shot, but the ball went in. Don slung an arm over his shoulders.
"And that, my brilliant baby brother, is the Donina-"
"-Briiing," a cell phone rang. Don quickly turned serious, pulling it out of his pocket. "Don Eppes," he spoke into the phone. He spared Charlie a quick apology, and promise of a rain check, before heading inside to get his stuff. Charlie sighed. He knew that they each had their own world; Don's revolving around the FBI, Charlie's around math, but Charlie still missed him sometimes. Then again, he did have some stuff he needed to do for Larry…but for once Charlie didn't feel like doing math. Don's leaving felt like all of a sudden there was a void in his life. Not because of Don, but rather by his leave, the absence of others was noticed. Others like a female…he thought of Amita, but they'd fallen apart, and he'd heard through the grapevine that she'd found a guy. Charlie thought of all the girlfriends he'd ever had; not that many, really, since he usually managed to scare off any non-mathematical girls, and with the professional women he met he generally couldn't seem to manage to generate romantic feelings towards. His father's last 'grandkids' speech still reverberated in his mind. "You need someone to be there for you…someone who can comfort you like no one else, because she knows you better than anyone else. Someone to hold and walk with and kiss. A light in your life…Charlie, all too soon you'll realize that you can't live on your work, that it will destroy you without someone who makes it all worth it." Then he kind of spoiled the passionate, heart wrenching speech. "And I want grandkids! Kids, kids, kids! Go out woman hunting, boy. Get yourself a girlfriend, get married, and make me some grandkids!" Charlie sighed. He hadn't had the heart to say that he'd been trying but that his faith in the theory about there being a One for him was fading fast. He reluctantly trudged into the house, and back to his equations. Sometimes, it felt like they were all he had.