Chapter 172: Birthday Party
I stepped back from my artful hanging of a handful of balloons and eyed what I'd done. "This okay?"
Alison came running over, ribbon ends stuck in her mouth and an armload of some kind of sparkly fabric in her arms. "Mumph mumph!"
Um, what? I liberated the ribbons so she could talk.
"Looks great!" She beamed at me, flustered but clearly in her happy place. "Almost done. Can you help with the bunting?"
So that was what bunting looked like. I followed her to the doorway, hopping up on what was surely an expensive chair to support the weight of the fabric while Alison tacked it to the wall. I winced a few times as she hammered the tacks into the trim with the heel of her shoe, wondering what her mother would say when she discovered her perfect home wasn't so perfect anymore.
Half of me was proud of Alison. She'd initially asked me to host, switched her suggestion Johnny's, the local hangout, before deciding to have the party at her place.
"It's time I stopped hiding who I am," she said. "And my mother. Maybe she'll go out, do you think, if I ask her?"
The other half of me felt terrible for her. Angela insisted on being home, which meant our friends would be exposed to the woman. But to her credit she'd drifted through a short time before, her heels tapping on the polished marble floor, and made some nice comments to Alison and I before moving off again.
Sober, nice and all-together. Hopefully she'd stay that way. I wasn't sure if Alison would survive Angela embarrassing her in front of everyone.
I tried to stay upbeat, but I had my own problems. I sighed as Alison worked, the sound escaping me before I could stop it. She looked down, instant concern lighting her eyes.
"Mumph?"
Sigh. Again. "What?"
She slid the ribbons from between her lips. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, sorry. Just bummed, you know?" Good excuse as any. And I was sad Blood was leaving.
Alison nodded. "I know," she said. "It sucks. Hand me the rest of that, would you?"
I let her take the remainder of the fabric, watching with a continual wince as she leaned far over her present safety zone to finish the job. No, it wasn't Blood that had me bummed.
It was my dad. I ran into him that morning in the kitchen, on his way downstairs. From the guilty twitch to his expression I knew he was doing so without Mom's permission. Instead of giving him a hard time, I hugged him.
"I'm coming with you," I said. "Time to send you home."
He smiled at me, but I knew he didn't believe. And just as well he didn't get his hopes up. I tried everything to open a portal to the other side, but without someone to latch onto, Demonicon might as well have been on the moon.
I left him, disheartened but trying to hide it, and dragged myself to help Alison prep for the party.
Thus the sighs. And really, it was just the bunch of us. Simon and Beth would be amazed just by Alison's house and Pain would be a wreck, no doubt, knowing Blood was leaving. No one cared if the place looked like an emo den or whatever Alison's goal was in the whole décor thing.
Still, it made her happy. And if that was all it took, okay, good then. Decorating it was.
I had to admit, she did a great job. The bunting, as she called it, cascaded like shimmering silver curtains over the doorway, tied back with ribbons of navy blue and black in keeping with the whole Goth theme. The black balloons she'd allowed me to blow up and place floated overhead like a cloud of doom. Blood would love it.
Alison set out black and silver napkins while I tried to help and only got in the way. We'd totally taken over the library, though with a large table now in the middle ready to receive finger foods and drinks, it seemed more like a dining room.
"There." Alison stood back, turning slowly as she observed her handiwork. She adjusted the position of a few balloons by the dangling ribbons and smiled. "Perfect."
"You're really good at this." I batted at one of the slips of fabric as a balloon drifted overhead, tickling my face.
Alison beamed, vibrating with excitement and need. "You really think so?" She glanced around again, bouncing on her toes. "It looks great, doesn't it? Just the perfect amount of angst." She laughed, a silvery sound. "Thanks, Syd."
I wished I could muster more enthusiasm. When she saw my gloom, she came over and hugged me. "I know you must miss Quaid," she said.
Now where did that come from? And why all of a sudden did I want to bawl like a baby?
Instead of letting her see me break down over something that hadn't crossed my mind, I swear, I forced a smile. "I better run home and change."
"Oh! Great idea." She beamed again, dimples showing. "Don't forget-wear black."
I showed myself out, climbing behind the wheel of Minnie, so choked up I had to swallow several times and breathe deeply for a moment before I trusted myself to drive.
The argument I conducted with myself during that drive home went as follows:
I don't miss him.
That's not why I'm sad.
I'm worried about Dad, that's all.
Blood's leaving, that's it.
This has nothing to do with Quaid.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Where is he? Why hasn't he contacted me? He could call or Skype or...
Oh. My. Swearword. This is about Quaid.
I pulled into my driveway a freaking mess. Lucky for me no one was around to see my near meltdown. One sympathetic face and I knew I would crumble. Even Galleytrot was out. I felt him outside and when I reached my room, double-checked to be sure. Yup, there he was, sprawled in the grass, soaking up the sun, a dog the size of a baby elephant.
And our neighbors didn't think we were weird.
I took a moment, seated at my computer, to cry myself out over a guy I shouldn't love as much as I did. I went through a handful of tissues, a bucket of tears and a whole lot of misery before shaking myself out of it.
Quaid would be back. He loved me, I knew he did. He hadn't contacted me because he couldn't. No, don't go there. Couldn't mean he was in danger or hurt or... I felt my chest hitching in panic, breath gasping in and out. No. So, he forgot me. Which was worse than being hurt or dead or whatever. That made me want to hit him and bawl all over again. Um, had no news. That seemed okay. All right then. Quaid hadn't contacted me because he was news (clue) less. And until he had news (a clue, the jerk) I wouldn't hear anything.
I reached out to him, felt the connection between us, but that was all I felt. He was either too far away or-damn it, Syd, stop that. Stop. That. Right. Now.
The shower was hot and immediate and helped with some of the redness and puffies I always got from crying. At least, it made the rest of me pink so I matched. I dressed in black jeans and a T-shirt with a pentagram screen printed in silver. The ideal apparel for Blood's send-off. I even used some of the black eye liner Pain had given me for my birthday. My reflection was kind of badass. Meet Syd, el Gotho.
At least my prep had driven off my gloom. I left for the party in slightly better humor, nowhere near sobbing all over anyone as far as I could tell. Maybe I'd gone and finally cried myself out.
That would be a relief.
Trouble was, the atmosphere at the party wasn't exactly conducive to happy thoughts and giggles. The others were already there when I arrived, sunk into the furniture like it was eating them alive.
Alison smiled painfully when I came in, shooing the glaring Rosetta away. "Syd's here!" She leaned close, fingernails digging into my arm. "Oh my God," she whispered. "Save this party from itself."
I bumped fists with Simon on the way by. He'd done as he was told, dressed in black, down to what looked like polished dress shoes. The whole getup, combined with his dark hair, pale skin and black-rimmed glasses made him look like an anemic baby vampire with no taste in clothing.
"Hey, Syd." His nose wiggled his glasses back up into place.
"Hey, Simon." I spotted Beth next. She perched on the edge of a sofa in the circle of seats Alison had arranged. Her right knee bounced with some anxiety, and I was pretty sure I knew where that tension came from. It had nothing to do with Blood. A guy sat next to her, looking awkward and uncomfortable, but he smiled when I stopped in front of them.
"Syd!" Beth lurched to her feet and hugged me quickly. "This is Tim."
"Hi," he said, standing as well, tall and skinny, his Adam's apple dancing as he spoke. "Beth's told me so much about you."
A boyfriend? I almost laughed. Not because she had a boyfriend, mind you. No, because he was so freaking normal. And yes, I know. She was too. But she fit with us somehow, like Simon did. Normal and yet way more than that.
"Nice to meet you." I turned away as he started to say something else, not out of rudeness, but because I had more people to greet.
Pain was curled up on the couch, her arms threaded through Blood's, hands gripping his bicep as if she never intended to let him go. Her normally flawless black eye makeup tracked down her cheeks.
Why hadn't she told me? Misery shone in her pale blue eyes as her mind reached for me.
It's not true. He's not leaving. A mental snuffle. If I told you... it would mean it was.
Fair enough. Not like I'd talked to her much about losing Quaid. My eyes met Blood's and I instantly felt better and worse all at the same time. He smiled at me, that big, gentle smile of his, black hair hanging in strings around his pale cheeks. He shook it back as he raised one hand. I fist-bumped him, too.
"Syd. Yo." He folded his middle two fingers under and rocked his hand back and forth. "Glad you could make it."
Okay, now he was choking me up. "Wouldn't miss it," I said.
Pain released her hold on him with one hand, using an embroidered handkerchief to delicately blow her nose before hugging him tight again.
Well, this was awkward.
"Who's hungry?" Alison gestured toward the table. I think Simon and Beth were there before I could react, desperate for something to distract from the horrible atmosphere.
I helped myself to some pastry things stuffed with mushrooms and sat to watch my friends. Beth seemed happy, considering, as Tim catered to her, even going back for her favorite treats twice. Simon stuffed his little face, one bite sized bite after another. I'd never seen him so depressed.
"I'm used to it." Blood's words made us all jump. "Happens about every two years or so. Dad gets a new job offer somewhere and off we go." He leaned in and kissed Pain's forehead ever so gently. "I'm usually okay with it. But this time really sucks."
"Wow," Beth said. "I've never lived anywhere but here in Wilding Springs." She blushed, ducking her head.
"Me either." Simon's voice shook. He looked suddenly green.
"We're all home town kids, I guess," Alison said. Even Tim nodded.
So Blood and I were the odd ones out. I stared at Simon who let his plate fall to his lap, looking so very miserable I wanted to hug him.
Before I could come up with something comforting but not embarrassing to say, he blurted, "I have news, too."
Everyone focused on him, even Pain. Simon shifted in his seat, so washed out now I was afraid he'd keel over. His fingers shook as they lifted to push back his glasses, nose wiggle unreliable when he was so upset.
"Mom and Dad made me apply for college," he said. "I start in September."
***
