Chapter 18
I silently gasp.
The brush of their lips leaves them both frozen and pressed together. Neither of them turns away, instead letting their lips explore, slowly at first, and then they just continue kissing.
Diana is actually kissing him back. Here it is, the high school romance between Diana and Ty. I’m back for round two, eighties universe edition.
I can’t tell who breaks away first, but the wave of lips part as Diana’s hands glide down from Tyler’s shoulders to his elbows. They both look surprised, but Diana’s trying to hide a smile that’s eager to reveal itself.
“That was unexpected,” I say, shooting up out of my seat. “I’m going to get a drink. You two enjoy yourselves.” I reach for Diana’s purse while her concentration is elsewhere, digging into its contents in search of the Genesis tape. My hands grasp nothing but straw wrappers, lipsticks, and credit cards, so I leave them to continue whatever’s supposed to come after accidental kissing—more kissing, talking, possibly sitting in silence. And find that my plan will likely be unsuccessful in the end.
I head to the living room. As soon as I get there I glance at the clock shaped like a sunflower on the wall. It’s a quarter to seven and a slice of sun still warms the carpet through the stained-glass door windows. After exploring a little, I find myself admiring the steep wood-paneled stairwell on the far side of the living room that leads to the stargazing atrium window of my dreams. I hear the leaves of the aspen tree tapping a dull song onto the ceiling’s french sun window. I’ve wanted to take a look at the sky from their second story atrium since the moment we pulled up to Tyler’s dark and angled wood home.
I’m not sure how long I’ve been wandering when Diana finds me on the stairs. “Can you believe it? Tyler and I kissed. For, like, twenty minutes until he said he had to leave and left with Evan.”
“What? He just left after kissing you?” I ask, mildly surprised.
“He said he needed a break and just kind of ran off.”
“What an idiot.” I shake my head, unsure of what Tyler’s trying to pull by acting like this.
“Yeah. I don’t want to think this way, but what if kissing me was just one of his stupid pranks?” Diana says. The wheels must be turning at supersonic speeds inside that head of hers.
I watch as she paces the length of the living room. She spots the idle stereo where Ben and others stand mingling about and by the determination in her steps I can tell she’s fabricating some sort of angry plan.
“Diana? Doing the dirty work for me?” I mutter to myself, grabbing the wood rail and pressing my back against the fourth stair up to comfortably watch the show from afar. There’s no way she knew what I had planned to do with that Genesis tape, but watching her approach the stereo with multiple cassette player slots, it seems she’s about to do exactly as I had planned.
Ben stands near the speakers with Greg and Erica, completely oblivious to his sister’s presence, while Bennette and Corky cuddle on a couch in the corner. I see right through Diana, she’s planning to bait them with Genesis to see how our earlier car conversation questions will play out in real life. We both want to know, how will Ben and Corky react?
I’m thankful that Diana has chosen this path instead of me. I’m about to relax—comfortably watch Diana confront her brother in a room full of unglued people—when I realize I would have been the one to do this very thing.
An uneasy feeling creeps through me—my quest for answers didn’t take other people’s feelings or lives into consideration. I look over at Bennette snuggled up against Corky. What kind of outburst will this produce? If my enemy was cuddled up against me as I learn of her betrayal it wouldn’t be a small storm, but a full-on blitzkrieg.
Diana opens the cassette slot, clicks the tape into place, and presses play. Genesis rings delicately through the speakers before Diana rolls the volume dial all the way up. The sound of drums and boppy synthesizer hits, punching some energy into the room as the first line of Side A Track 1 begins. A few couples wrap their arms around each other and begin to sway to the music.
Diana turns around, pivoting her slouchy boots to face the couch where Corky slowly lets lyrics fall from her lips. I watch as Diana approaches and asks, “Good song, right?”
Corky adjusts herself so she’s no longer pressed against Bennette’s side and perks up at Diana’s remark.
“I didn’t know you were a Genesis fan,” Corky eagerly replies.
“Yeah, I went to their concert a few weeks ago,” Diana lies.
“You went? Who’d you go with? Why didn’t you go with Ben and I? We…” Corky’s words halt as soon as she realizes she’s said something that might confuse Bennette. Uneasiness pours from her eyes.
I’ve never seen Corky so uncertain. She stays still sitting in an upright position on the couch, careful not to turn her head toward Bennette until she’s able to conceal her worry with a disguised smile—faking peace of mind and innocence.
Bennette’s eyes bounce from Corky to Diana as she comprehends Corky’s words. She sits up promptly from her slouched position, matching Corky’s upright stance then turns her head sideways to face Corky. Corky takes a second too long to face Bennette.
“You went to the Genesis concert with Ben?” she says, a few inches away from Corky’s face, in an accusatory voice. She’s upset and Corky bites her lower lip as it trembles. “Ben said he went with a friend…and you were out of town that week,” Bennette continues, seemingly connecting the dots.
Ben seems to have heard the entire interaction and meets my gaze from across the room looking resentful and huffy. He waits for Corky to respond before stepping in and from the look of his gaze I know his thoughts are targeted toward my betrayal—Diana’s too. But he must think I shared the information with her, and thus it’s my betrayal. I could hide—head upstairs for a while.
“We um…It’s not what you think,” I hear Corky say as I grip the rail harder and turn to face the top stair that leads to the narrow atrium hallway above.
“Why would you keep that from me if there’s nothing going on between you two? She’s my best friend, Ben!” Bennette shouts.
Ben walks toward them and responds with a calm hushed tone and I’m unable to hear what’s said from the stairwell. It looks as if he’s calming the situation with a quiet explanation. I continue watching with my head turned back to see how that tactic plays out, ready to run if I get brought into it. But Ben remains calm amongst a shaky Corky and watery-eyed Bennette.
That is until he turns his head to the stairwell and his sugary brown eyes land on me. He has the face of a man wanting to chase another man and tackle him into a pool. I fly up the steps like a cheetah feeling the threat of a lion. My sprint is light, feeling my arms pump perfectly at ninety degrees at my sides—it’s good to know my training hasn’t been lost on me as I skip every other stair in the process just to evade the coming wrath of Ben.