The Kiss: An Anthology About Love and Other Close Encounters(101)

“Obvious much?” Melinda sneered.

“I think it’s about love and life,” Luci, ever the peacemaker, said.

“It’s about being a cry baby, which Colby totally was. Who kills himself? Only a baby loser!” Trina snarled. She hated not being able to tweet.

John elbowed his girlfriend a second time. He went through girlfriends really quickly. It didn’t help that he was the captain of the basketball team and handsome in a completely well-fed, clean-cut way. He was Colby’s opposite, actually. It also didn’t help that he was Luci’s best friend. Not many girls measured up to Luci, who was — and always had been — strictly off limits. Friendship came first for both of them.

“What?” Trina asked. “Everybody’s thinking it.”

“He really was an *,” Melinda said. They all continued to watch people clump together, then walk up the sidewalk to the house. “Offing himself when supposedly he loved Luci so much ... well, you know.”

Luci finally managed to wrap her hand around the door latch, open the door, and step out of the car. The others piled out of the back seat in a jumble of limbs and curses behind her.

“Okay,” Melinda called through Luci’s open door. “I’ll just park up the street.”

Luci, her eyes still on Colby’s window, closed the car door and walked toward the house.





*


Inside, the wake was in full swing. People were eating and drinking, wandering around the main floor and conversing in hushed tones. The traditional floor plan of the Craftsman — with the living room situated across from the dining area — was perfectly designed for formal occasions such as this.

Luci attempted to slip in through the open front door and dart up the stairs. However, the moment she entered, Candace spotted her. Colby’s mother swooped over to grab her by the shoulders and fake-kiss her on each cheek.

“Luci!” Candace cried for the benefit of her mournful guests. “Ah, Luci. Colby’s little love. Thank you for coming.”

John, Trina, and Zoe stood waiting behind Luci. A solid guard at her back. Candace impatiently waved them farther into the house. They ignored her by casting their gazes in the direction she indicated but not moving.

More guests arrived.

“You come see me before you go,” Candace said. “I have something … Colby, my boy, would want you to have …”

Luci nodded as she delicately disengaged herself from Candace’s grip. Colby’s mother now seemed to be actually choking on actual remorse that had finally cracked through her veneer. Luci pushed away the reciprocal emotion that she felt rise underneath her own facade. She needed to hold on just a few hours longer. Just until sunset. Then, one way or the other, it would all be definitively over for her.

Vanessa appeared out of the dining room crowd to rub Candace’s back and greet the guests waiting behind Luci’s wall of friends.

Luci, thwarted from her upstairs trajectory, crossed in the opposite direction, through the living room toward the kitchen.

Abram, who was sharing a bottle of expensive single-malt scotch with a group of dads huddled around the TV — including Luci’s stepfather — impeded her passage. “Luci! You hanging in there, kiddo?”

“Yes, Mr. ... Abram.”

“Good, good. You see the Canucks beat Philly 2—0 last night?” Though he clapped Luci on the shoulder as he asked the question, he was already turning back to the other men. “Luci’s brother, Pete, is on the farm team —”

“What is wrong with you?” Candace shrieked from the entranceway.

Luci — along with Abram and the entire room — turned to see Candace swoop down on Colby’s father.

“Your son is dead. Dead! Dead! And you’re talking about hockey! All you do is drink and watch TV. You haven’t even cried!”

People shuffled uncomfortably and quickly distanced themselves from the couple. Luci took the opportunity to slip back the way she came, behind her wide-eyed friends — John was actually frozen with a cucumber tea sandwich an inch from his open mouth — and upstairs. She’d already seen Colby’s parents in action, even before her boyfriend’s suicide, and she had no interest in seeing it again.

Also, time was short. The sun set early this time of year.





*


The echoes of their fight followed Luci up the stairs. More voices rose to join the fray as other adults tried to intercede, but no one really knew what to say or do. Pictures of Colby and Cicely lined the stairwell, so Luci chose to stare at the carpet runner that protected the hardwood of the treads.

She had to pass by the — thankfully — closed doors of Colby’s and Cicely’s rooms as well as the main bathroom to get to Colby’s parents’ room, which was at the end of the long hall. The house boasted four bedrooms upstairs and a guest suite downstairs — but then, all the homes of Luci and her friends did. The neighborhood might not be cookie-cutter identical, but its affluence was obvious all the same.

The door was slightly ajar, which was good, because Luci didn’t want to feel as if she was breaking in and stealing any more than she already was. The stealing was justified. The room, its decor gender neutral and recently tidied by the house cleaner, was so large that the king-sized bed looked stupidly small.