by Amelia Stone
Gods.
“Wow, Krista, you look totally different.” Ward gave me what was probably supposed to be a charming smile. “Looks like the ugly duckling turned into a swan after all.”
Yeah, he definitely hadn’t changed.
Kelly shook her head. “You are such a douche, Ward Hopkins,” she muttered.
“Well, you have to admit,” he replied as he waved a hand up and down, gesturing to my body. “This is a big change. Tell us the truth, Krista,” he said, a mischievous grin on his face. “Plastic surgery?”
The urge to roll my eyes was strong, but I overcame it, somehow. “Nope. One hundred percent organic produce here.”
Ward raised his eyebrows like he still didn’t believe me. “That’s one hell of a growth spurt.”
I shrugged, feeling my cheeks heat up. “Guess I went a little crazy with the mega mushrooms.”
“Oh, Krista.” Kelly laughed, patting me on the arm. “I definitely missed your jokes.”
She appeared to be the only one. In the couple of minutes we’d been standing here, Seth hadn’t spoken a single word. He was still just staring at me. I didn’t miss the way his eyes had turned hard, too. Whatever was going on in that beautiful head of his, it probably wasn’t good.
“Well,” Ward drawled. “I sure won’t argue with the results.” His eyes were riveted to my breasts. “Though I wouldn’t mind verifying for myself whether those are real.”
Finally, Seth pulled his eyes from me. He glared at Ward, and I could have sworn I heard a noise like a growl.
“Relax, dude.” Ward took a step back. “I was joking.”
“We should grab a table!” Kelly sounded a little too enthusiastic, probably to smooth over the awkwardness. “It would be so great to catch up.” She smiled tentatively at each of us in turn.
“Great idea, babe,” Ty Jennings said as he sidled up to his wife. He nodded to the guys, then gave me a bright smile. “Nice to see you again, Krista. We didn’t get a chance to talk when I saw you last year. Let’s fix that.”
Well, that sounded like a lot of pressure. But Ty was smiling in a friendly way, and I couldn’t really think straight right at that moment. No one came to my rescue, either, so I followed behind the group as they found a table and settled in. Seth chose a seat as far from me as he could, and I tried not to panic at how badly this was going so far.
I supposed I could console myself with the fact that he was still here. He could have bolted at the first sight of me, like I’d feared. But he hadn’t. That had to be a good sign, right?
It was hard to look on the bright side when he hadn’t even acknowledged my presence, though.
I tried to set aside my uneasy thoughts as I settled next to Kelly, and a moment later my cousin Sage and his wife Jenny sat down, both giving me tired nods. Then we were joined a moment later by Hunter Gilchrist, who I couldn’t remember anything about, other than the fact that he and Jess had dated for about five minutes in our sophomore year.
Seth was sitting no more than five feet from me. We were in the same room. We were breathing the same air. Gods. Who could possibly think about Hunter Gilchrist at a time like that?
The other ladies started to talk baby stuff, since Jenny had just given birth to her second child, a boy named Flint, last month. I listened as they discussed mesh panties and some kind of squirt bottle thing, but I didn’t contribute much to the conversation. I was distracted. I could hear the guys talking across the table, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying over the ladies’ conversation and the general noise of the party.
I did notice that Seth still hadn’t said a single word, though. And he wasn’t looking at me – or anyone else, for that matter. He’d spent the last five minutes staring at his shoes.
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any more awkward, we were joined by Melody, who seemed to have had enough of reunion committee chairperson duties for the time being. She took the only open seat at the table, which of course was right next to me. Judging by the look on her face, she would rather have sat next to Hades himself.
The feeling was mutual.
“So, Krista. You disappeared off the face of the Earth for a decade. What have you been up to?” Her sneering voice cut into the conversation, and I turned to her with a frown.
And because I was just lucky like that, the whole table went quiet as all eyes turned to me. I shifted in my seat, trying to straighten my shoulders.
Never let them see you sweat. That was Ellie’s motto. Too bad I was basically nothing but a stress-y, sweaty ball of nerves in situations like these. My upper lip was damp, and I was suddenly grateful I’d had the foresight to apply an extra layer of deodorant.
“Um, you know. I went to college. Moved to the city. Now I work a lot.”
I had always hated these kinds of ‘tell me about yourself’ questions. First dates, business meetings, visits to Mrs. Shwartz’s deli down the block from my office. Any time someone asked me to describe the current state of my life, I came up short. Something like ‘um, you know, taking the gaming industry by storm and making money by the barrelful’ would be accurate, sure. But I would sooner take a leisurely stroll through Tartarus than say that, so I always ended up sounding like a socially inept sloth as I mumbled something boring and uninformative.
But apparently it didn’t matter what my answer was. Melody’s disdainful expression told me she wouldn’t have been surprised to hear I actually was Hades. I was pretty sure she hadn’t taken in a single word I’d just said, in fact – which meant she was probably working some other angle.
“Still playing your little video games?” she asked.
And there it was.
For some reason, Melody had always mercilessly mocked my favorite hobby, and me by extension. Once, when we were in the tenth grade, we had a career fair, with companies from all over the New York metro area coming in to talk to our little Catholic school. I was especially interested in the companies specializing in computer technologies, of course. When Melody had overheard me telling a representative from MorTech Industries that I wanted to make video games for a living, she said it was the perfect job for me.
Because nobody could see what I looked like through a game controller.
So now, I merely nodded in reply to her question, hunching my shoulders as I waited for the claws to come out.
“Krista.” She adopted a concerned tone, but I wasn’t fooled. “Don’t you think you’re a bit old to still be doing that?”
“I still play video games,” Ty offered, before I could reply.
“Me too,” Ward said, giving me another oily smile. Obviously, the fact that he’d whiffed earlier had somehow managed to escape him.
“Me three,” Hunter added, while Sage grunted in agreement.
Seth remained silent. In fact, if I hadn’t obsessively hunted down every interview he’d given in the past decade, I might have wondered if he’d been struck mute since I’d last spoken to him.
“Yes, but you’re all guys,” Melody replied, like that explained everything.
“Girls play video games, too,” Kelly argued. She gave my knee a sympathetic squeeze. “Ty and I play together all the time.”
“It’s pretty hot when she beats me,” her husband admitted, giving us a cheeky grin.
“Violet likes games, too,” Jenny said, smiling as she talked about her oldest daughter. “She even has one that’s helping her learn to read lips.” She winked at me. “And she loves that Lego Harry Potter one you got her, too.”
I smiled shyly. “I should come over and show her some of the cheat codes.”
Across the table, Sage glared at me. “You trying to make my kid a criminal, Summers?”
Kelly laughed. “I hardly think turning wands into carrots makes your seven-year-old a criminal.”
My cousin pointed a stern finger at me. “It’s a slippery slope from carrot wands to cooking meth in the tool shed. Remember that.”
The whole table erupted in laughter,
but I hardly heard it, because one laugh rose above the rest.
I hadn’t heard Seth’s deep, dry chuckle in more than ten years. Gods, I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it until that very moment. I inhaled deeply, just savoring the sound. But when I caught his eye, his smile faded.
“See? Video games are bad for you,” Melody insisted.
“About as bad for you as watching TV,” Jenny argued.
Melody opened her mouth again, no doubt to further illustrate why I was no better than a drug dealer, but Kelly cut in before she could speak.
“You know, Krista, I’ve been meaning to ask you all night, what lipstick are you wearing? It’s so pretty on you.” She gave me a gentle smile, but her eyes were gleaming in a conspiratorial kind of way.
“Oh. Um. I’m not sure.”
See? This was why fashion was dangerous. People wanted to know things like what you were wearing, who made it, and where you got it. Ask me who the lead designer was on Super Smash Bros. Melee, and I could answer in a second. (It’s Masahiro Sakurai, in case you were wondering). But ask me who designed my dress? Instant sweat mustache.
“You don’t know what lipstick you’re wearing?” Melody sounded horrified, as though I’d just admitted to running a secret underground puppy-drowning club.
“Did you bring it with you?” Kelly quickly asked, as though she was determined to keep the attention away from Melody.
“Um. I think so.” I popped open my clutch, running my fingers through the items in there. Keys, cash, phone, driver’s license, mints, tampon, ATM card, dumb nametag… no lipstick.
“That’s what I forgot,” I mumbled. “Sorry. I’ll take a look when I get home,” I added, giving Kelly an apologetic look.
To my surprise, she pulled her phone from her purse and handed it to me. “Put your number in there so you can text it to me. And this way, we can keep in touch.” She shook a mom-like finger at me. “No disappearing on me again.”
I chuckled softly as I programmed my contact info into her phone, then texted myself a waving emoji and Kelly’s name. I supposed I wouldn’t mind seeing her again. She’d saved my butt a few times tonight, so I kind of owed her at least a coffee date.
“I never leave home without my lipstick,” Melody sniffed. “And I never forget which one I’m wearing.”
“Good for you,” Jenny drawled, and I remembered that I’d always liked my cousin-in-law. She hated hugging, and she suffered no fools. Both invaluable qualities, to me.
I decided to take my cue from Kelly and continue to ignore Melody.
“My friend Ellie is kind of like my personal shopper. She picked everything out for me,” I explained, gesturing to my outfit. “I remember we went to Sephora. Then I’m pretty sure I blacked out.”
Kelly laughed. “I love Sephora, but I can’t afford to shop there as often as I’d like.”
“Aw, shucks.” Ty winked at me.
“I dragged him with me just once, at Christmas,” she continued. “I don’t think he’s ever forgiven me.”
“That credit card bill was painful.” He grimaced as he took a sip of his drink. “I wish I had blacked out.”
“They have men’s stuff, too,” Jenny put in. “Cologne and whatnot. I got Sage a really nice shaving set for his birthday last year.”
My cousin’s expression told us he was just thrilled to receive it, too.
“Exactly.” Ty grinned, shooting Ward a look as if to say, ‘see?’ “That’s what my wife is for,” he added. “She just buys it all for me. I’m clean and well-dressed and I smell nice, all with very little effort on my part.”
“Then I guess that makes Ellie my wife?” I joked, and Ty laughed.
“Oh my God, you’re a lesbian?” Melody said, loudly enough that people from neighboring tables looked over to see what the fuss was about.
I closed my eyes briefly, just to give myself a breath to calm down. When I opened them again, my eyes caught Seth’s. Once I got over the shock of him voluntarily looking at me, I noticed his expression was kind of weird. His expression was distant, but his eyes were shining like he was listening intently. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it, so I looked away.
“That explains so much,” Melody added.
“I’m not a lesbian,” I replied, turning to frown at her. “I just made a joke that no one got.”
As usual.
“I got it,” Ty replied. “And this is my third beer on an empty stomach,” he added. “So what’s your excuse?”
Kelly smiled at me. “I thought it was funny, too.”
Melody gave me a deceptively friendly smile. “Well, how was I supposed to know? It’s not like you dated anyone when we were kids. Well, except…” She glanced at Ward, giggling in an evil kind of way.
Right. This night hadn’t sucked hard enough. Let’s throw in a reminder of that one time I thought I had a date to the Spring Fling, and ended up getting humiliated in front of the entire class – and several nuns, for good measure.
Now I really needed that calming breath.
“But I guess it’s not surprising no one wanted to slum it,” Melody added, because it wasn’t clear by now that she still unequivocally hated me.
I stared at her, unsure what to say in reply. I mean, I knew I was no prize as a teen. But was it really necessary to remind me of that fact at the first available opportunity? Was it too much to ask to get through one lousy night without being made to feel like the chubby, friendless loser I’d been for so many years?
“What the fuck?” Sage started to get up, but his wife put a hand on his arm. He settled back into his seat with a glare that seemed even angrier than usual.
“Tell us how you really feel.” Jenny was giving Melody the stink eye, too.
“Not cool,” Ty muttered, and Kelly and Hunter nodded in agreement.
Ward, not surprisingly, said nothing. Though if I wasn’t mistaken, he did look a little embarrassed as he smoothed a hand down his tie.
Okay, so he had changed a bit since middle school. The old Ward would have offered an insincere apology, then gone right back to ignoring me.
Little victories. Microscopic, really. But victories nonetheless.
My gaze bounced to Seth, and of course he wasn’t looking at me. He was still staring at his shoes, though he was now frowning.
His silence almost hurt more than Melody’s cruel reminder of my bottom-of-the-rung social status. Growing up, Seth had been my champion. He’d always defended me against bullies, making sure Melody and anyone else who hurt me was put in their place.
Now, I might as well have been a stranger, for all the consideration he gave me.
I’d had no idea what to expect when I walked in here tonight. I wasn’t naïve enough to think Ellie was right when she predicted Seth would take one look at me, grab my hand, and run off into the sunset with me. But I guess I’d held out a sliver of hope that he could at least forgive me for being a terrible friend, even though I didn’t deserve it. Now that I’d finally realized just how foolish that hope was, the river of disappointment ran as deep as the Acheron.
I just had to believe I’d get over it.
Someday.
Maybe.
I could try, anyway.
I blinked rapidly, trying really freaking hard not to cry in front of a group of people who were not – who had never been – my friends. That would just be the icing on this moldy cake of an evening.
“You had to bring it there, didn’t you?” Kelly scowled at Melody.
My not-so-former nemesis shrugged, unrepentant. “I’m just telling it like it is,” she said.
“No.” Kelly leaned forward. “You’re just being a bitch.”
Melody reeled like she’d been slapped, but around the table, there was a chorus of ‘damns,’ a ‘you go girl,’ and even a low whistle. Apparently Kelly had said what everyone else was thinking.
I raised my eyebrows, surprised at this turn of events. Kelly had always been the sweet one, the one who got along with
everyone, the one who tried to believe the best about everyone, even Melody. But that Kelly was nowhere to be seen now, as she scowled across the table.
“You’ve always hated Krista,” she added. “But come on, Melody. We’re not kids anymore. It’s time to stop being a mean girl and grow up.”
“What is your problem with her, anyway?” Jenny added. “What did she ever do to you?”
“I don’t have a problem with her,” Melody shot back. “I just don’t like sharing my toys.” Her eyes trailed across the table to where Ward and Seth were sitting.
I frowned. Ward, I understood. After she’d snaked her way into my Spring Fling date, she’d been with him on and off all through high school. But Seth had always disliked her, thanks to her treatment of me, and his contempt had only deepened after the whole Spring Fling debacle. I was pretty sure she was barking up the wrong tree there.
Then again, Seth used to be my best friend, and now he could barely even meet my eye. So who could say what his current feelings were for someone he used to hate?
Jenny opened her mouth to say something to Melody, but a cold voice behind me cut in before she could speak.
“People aren’t toys.”
I turned around to see Kit standing there, holding a glass of whiskey in one hand. He gave me a quick nod before turning to Melody, and his eyes hardened in a way I’d never seen from him as he looked her over.
“And if you still don’t understand that, then I pity you.”
Melody swallowed as she looked up at him, looking almost sad for a second. But then she exhaled sharply, her face hardening as she got to her feet.
“I don’t need your pity, Christopher,” she spat. “I don’t need a goddamn thing from you.”
She tossed a venomous look to everyone at the table, including me. Then she turned to Kit, giving him an expression I knew like the back of my hand, because I’d seen it a million times growing up.
She looked at my sweet, smiley cousin like she hated his guts.
Huh?
I had no idea what was going on there. But as I watched Melody walk away, I was absolutely certain I’d had enough reminiscing for one night. All the awkward reunions with people I’d (mostly) never liked anyway, the continued silence from Seth, and the blow-up just now – it was all too much. I wanted nothing more than to go back to my parents’ house and curl up with a game controller. I needed the repetition of hitting the same buttons over and over, the mindlessness of losing myself in a story.