Tears of a Clown

by MB Mulhall

  “I hope they’re edible…”

  “One way to see.” Jazz picked up a still warm brownie off the plate. “Let the intestinal explosion begin!”

  Explosion was an understatement. While it took some time for things to build up, when they did, it was like Old Faithful erupting. The four of them had been sitting watching a movie. They could hear Jazz’s stomach churning and gurgling when she suddenly doubled over. Stumbling to her feet, still in a half bent position; she made a mad dash to the bathroom. As much as they didn’t want to listen, there was no escaping the sounds coming from inside the small powder room.

  Mandy cringed with every grotesque noise while Chaz, typical boy, had to keep himself from laughing again. Darcy grabbed the clicker and turned up the volume to save them all from the moans and splashes that were being emitted.

  After a while, things calmed down and Jazz emerged, looking drained and sweaty.

  “Don’t anyone go near there for a while. I sprayed enough air freshener to choke a horse.” Darcy tossed her a sports drink.

  “So we know they taste decent and they work relatively quickly. Do you want to take some medicine now?” Jazz shook her head.

  “Nope, might as well clean everything out. The bathroom and I will be sharing an intimate evening together. You guys are free to go though. It must be a special kind of torture for you to be within earshot.” Mandy looked relieved and went to the kitchen for her keys and bag. Chaz followed leaving Darcy alone with Jazz.

  “Are you sure you’ll be okay? I can hang out for a while yet.” Jazz shook her head.

  “Judd will probably be back soon and I’m guessing you don’t want to be here when he gets home.” Darcy looked down and gave her head a slight shake.

  “It’s probably for the best if I’m not…”

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Darcy gave Jazz a small forced smile.

  “Nahh it’s fine. Same ole same ole, ya know?” Jazz gave her friend a quick hug.

  “Things will get better.”

  “We shall see.” Darcy looked over her shoulder towards the kitchen. “Do I dare go in there looking for them, or do you think they’re sucking face?”

  “Or sucking something else…”

  “Jazz!”

  “Oh please, you totally set me up for that one. I guess they made up while I left them alone in the kitchen before.” Darcy filled Jazz in on what she thought might have happened between Mandy and Judd. She left out her suspicions of Libby’s involvement, but Jazz was smart enough to put it together.

  “If I find out that skank drugged my brother and caused this awful rift between me and my friends, I’m going to take an electric razor to her head and laugh as it cuts off every strand of over processed hair.” Darcy cringed at the thought.

  “Does my brother know?” Darcy shook her head.

  “We didn’t talk much.”

  Mandy came back into the TV room, her cheeks flushed. Chaz entered on her heels.

  “Ready to go?” Darcy nodded before giving Jazz a hug.

  “Call me if you need company later,” she told her friend.

  “While I’m on the pot?” Darcy wrinkled her nose.

  “If I hearanything…odd or a flushing toilet, I’m hanging up.” Jazz grinned.

  “Fair enough. Now shoo, the lot of you. I need some more quality time with my date, ‘John’. His place is a little small and it smells bad, but he’s the only dude who’s okay with me being shitty to him.”

  The other three groaned loudly before leaving Jazz with her exciting evening plans.

  With the Harvest Festival being at the end of the week, Darcy had a hard time sleeping and therefore focusing in class. Her teachers were constantly calling on her as if they knew she was barely averaging three hours of sleep a night. Chaz and Jazz tried to whisper her answers when they could, but most of the time the teacher scolded them as well. She finally told them thanks, but not to bother. She could suffer the consequences on her own.

  With her friends all busy with committees and practices, Darcy spent a lot of time sitting alone, thinking and playing out the situation to come. Better than sitting around thinking about Judd and that last kiss they shared. Although to be honest, she thought a lot about that as well.

  She often saw him in the halls, but they never spoke to each other. They only ever acknowledged each other’s presence if one caught the other looking at them. It was awkward and emotionally draining for Darcy. The week got even worse when she noticed Judd wandering around in the company of Melody, Liberty’s right hand gal. Mellie, as she liked to be called, was a brunette Libby clone. Just as snotty. Just as bitchy and had helped to shove Darcy’s head in the toilet. It cut her deep that he would be spending time with her.

  At first she thought maybe they just happened to be walking next to each other the times that she saw them, but when she saw Melody’s ‘the cat that just ate the canary’ grin as she walked with her arm linked through his, Darcy thought she might throw up. She had walked by them one afternoon and Melody purposely walked into her, hard enough to make Darcy stumble. Rather than apologize, Melody snarled for Darcy to watch where she was walking. Judd had ignored the whole situation, calmly waiting for Melody to rejoin him. Darcy passed him before Melody had a chance to, calling him an asshole under her breath. From the look on his face, she was sure he had heard her.

  “Good,” she thought. “Let him know I’m still pissed at him.”

  The end of the week rolled around and it was time to make the brownies, again. Because the Marshall parents were still out of town, their house was dubbed the place to bake. The only problem was that Darcy was the only one who didn’t have other commitments that evening. Mandy had cheer practice, Chaz had play rehearsal, and Jazz had to help with the set up for the Festival.

  It was decided that Mandy would drop Darcy off at Jazz and Judd’s place on her way to practice. Jazz had a little bit of time before she had to be back at school, so she’d help Darcy prep everything, go do the set up and then come back. Chaz would join them after rehearsal, if they still had work to do.

  Jazz had done some sleuthing and found out that they were going to be using Mrs. Peaches’ brownies for the competition. She spent some time in the office that week, grilling the silver haired matron on what they would look like and how she would be displaying them. The little old lady was thrilled to discuss the wonders of Betty Crocker, and commented how Jazz should learn to bake so she could be a good wife someday. Jazz bit her tongue and simply smiled. Thankfully for the crew, there would be no special plating. The brownies would simply be cut into squares and stacked on plain white paper plates and the only decorative additive would be some powdered sugar sprinkled on top of each one. Easy enough to replicate.

  They estimated that they would need to make five dozen brownies, just to make sure they had enough. Jazz had eaten five during the taste test. They were sure most of the cheerleaders participating would eat at least that many. Both Chaz and Jazz were involved with the eating competition and would be able to slip the tainted brownies to the correct people. Darcy was adamant that she didn’t want innocent people involved in their scheme. Jazz argued that pretty much all of the people involved in the competition had said or done something nasty to her in the past couple of months, but Darcy was firm in her decision. Revenge was just for those who had taken their “prank” too far. She could look past and often forgot the nasty words that were said to her.

  When Mandy dropped her off, Jazz was alone in the house, lounging around in her underwear painting her nails black. She had told Darcy the door would be open and she should just let herself in, so she did.

  “Hey babe. How goes?” Darcy stood in the hall looking in.

  “Ummm can I assume, since you’re in a bra and undies, that your brother isn’t around?” Jazz made a noise of disgust.

  “No. He’s not here, but even if he was, why do I care if he sees me in my skivvies?”

  “Uhh I don’t know…just seems weird to m
e, I guess.” Jazz shrugged.

  “Let me finish up here and we can get started.”

  “You, uhh, will put on clothes when we’re in the kitchen, no?” Jazz rolled her eyes.

  “If it makes you that uncomfortable sure, but it’s not like we need to worry about contaminating the brownies. A few short and curlies in the batter would be that much more deviously entertaining.” Darcy made a gagging sound.

  “I was more concerned about ya know, maybe burning yourself or something.”

  “Awww you’re worried for my wellbeing. That’s so sweet!” Jazz jumped up and gave Darcy an awkward hug, careful not to mess up her nails.

  “Jazz, I love you and all, but can we restrict hugs to when we’re all fully clothed?”

  “Sure. Sure. I forget how much of a prude you can be.” Darcy smacked her in the arm and plopped herself down on the couch. Jazz followed and finished touching up her nails before running upstairs to throw some clothes on.

  They spent the next hour chopping, measuring and prepping. Pretty much all Darcy would be left to do is put them in and take them out of the oven and then wait around for them to cool. Then she could sift the powder sugar on and cut them up. She brought a book along with her so she could sit in the kitchen and read while waiting for the brownies to cook. They couldn’t risk burning them, because they all knew Mrs. Peaches would never let burnt brownies out of her kitchen.

  Jazz bid her adieu till later, and left Darcy alone with the brownie batter and the book she planned to read while waiting. Checking the clock, she realized one pan at a time would mean she’d be there all night. Adding a little more time, she fit two pans in the oven, adjusting when she checked with a toothpick. Sooner than anticipated, all the pans were lined up on cooling racks awaiting a dusting of sugar.

  As she was killing time while the brownies cooled, she heard the front door open. She figured it was Jazz coming home, or possibly Mandy. so Darcy was surprised when she heard two voices float into the kitchen. One was definitely female, all high pitched and giggly. The other was a deep tenor. Assuming it was Mand and Chaz, she got up to go meet them and stopped short when she saw it was not her friends.

  Judd was in the hallway, his arms slung loosely around Melody’s waist. The cheerleader stood on her tiptoes, her arms locked around his neck. As their heads got closer together, Darcy was paralyzed and unable to look away. Her book slipped through her fingers, making a remarkably loud sound as it hit the floor. Judd’s head immediately swiveled towards the sound. Shock at seeing her filled his face.

  Face flaming with embarrassment, Darcy bent down and grabbed her book. “So-Sorry! I thought you were someone else.” She hauled ass back to the kitchen before Judd or Melody could say anything.

  As she escaped into the kitchen, Darcy heard a loud stream of explicits coming from the hall.

  “Shitshitshitshitshit,” she muttered under her breath. Bad enough she had to bump into Judd at all, but to see him almost sucking face with that wench? He might as well have thrown a spear through her heart.

  She could tell, by the sound of his cursing getting louder, that he was following her into the kitchen. Stupidly, thinking she could avoid it all, she ducked behind the counter and hoped he would think she went out the backdoor or something. Curled up on the floor, her back to the cabinets, her knees to her chest, she hugged herself and shut her eyes in the childish hope that if she couldn’t see him, he couldn’t see her. Of course, that didn’t work.

  “What are you doing down there?” Darcy sighed and reluctantly opened her eyes.

  “Hoping you wouldn’t notice me,” she admitted. Judd crouched down to look at her.

  “There were no cars in the driveway. I didn’t think anyone was here.” Darcy couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

  “This is your house. You don’t need to explain yourself to me. Give me a minute and I’ll grab my shit and be out of your way.” She started to get up and he put a hand on her arm.

  “You don’t need to go. In fact, I’d like it if you stayed. Let me just drop Mellie home and I’ll be back.”

  “Really, don’t go cutting your date short on my account,” she snapped. Darcy heard him take a deep ragged breath.

  “It’s not a date. Please Darcy, just stay so I can explain it all to you when I get back. Okay?”

  Something in his voice tugged at her. Against her better judgment, she agreed to wait. The smile he gave her rivaled any of the smiles Chaz had ever flashed her way. It was amazing enough to almost make her forget what she had just witnessed. He grabbed her small hands in his much bigger ones and got her to her feet with ease.

  “Be back in a few.”

  He left with one last look over his shoulder. She could hear him explaining to Melody that he had to take her home. Her whining rang in Darcy’s ears, making her cringe. How anyone could stand to listen to that voice baffled her.

  After they left, Darcy took a seat back at the kitchen table, her book lay forgotten on the corner. Her head was too full of questions and scenarios for her to be able to concentrate on the story.

  Looking at the clock overhead, she was surprised to see not even five minutes had passed. She had no idea where Melody lived, but she had a feeling it was going to be the longest wait ever.

  Darcy decided she needed to keep herself busy. Testing the brownies, she found that most of them had cooled enough to powder and cut. She got busy; taking her time to make sure the cuts were perfect. Anything less than perfection would be unacceptable. She built little brownie pyramids on paper plates she doubled up for support.

  Eventually she heard the front door open again. Her nerves came back with a vengeance, until she heard a familiar female voice.

  “Hooooney, I’m home! Where’s my martini and kiss?” Jazz bounded into the kitchen, full of energy and smiles. She stopped short when she saw Darcy’s deflated look.

  “What’s up?” Jazz took her energy level down a notch and moved over to the counter to watch Darcy work.

  “Just… thought you were someone else.” Jazz gave her a questioning look.

  “Whoooo could you have been waiting for? Not that douchebag of a brother of mine, right?”

  “Thanks Jazzy, love you too,” Judd said. He had come into the kitchen unnoticed. Jazz narrowed her eyes and hissed at him. He grabbed her from behind in a tight bear hug.

  “You’re almost my favorite sister. Don’t be mean to me.” He planted a big wet noisy kiss on her cheek. Jazz flailed and kicked back at him.

  “Put me down you stupid gorilla. I’m still mad at you.” Judd released his sister, who promptly turned and pushed him away.

  “I have my reasons Jazz.” She continued to glare at him. Darcy looked on in confusion. She had no idea what the siblings were arguing about.

  “I don’t care what your reasons are. It’s wrong and I can’t believe you would stoop to that level.” Jazz put her hands on her hips and stared down her twin. Judd sighed and ran a hand over his face.

  “Well I’m sorry you feel that way….” He turned to Darcy and held out a hand. “Come talk with me for a few minutes?” Darcy looked from Judd to Jazz, unsure what to do.

  “Oh just go with him. He’ll just hang around and pester us until you do,” Jazz said.

  Darcy reached out a hand and placed it in his. His hand was warm and comforting. A different kind of heat travelled from her hand down to her stomach. How could such an innocent thing as hand holding get her so worked up? She guessed he just had that kind of effect on her.

  He led her up the stairs and to his closed door. Darcy wasn’t sure she wanted to go in. Who knows what had ever gone on in that room, on that bed. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to hide her green eyed monster in there. He noticed her hesitation. Opening the door, he let go of her arm and leaned against the doorframe.

  “Come in?” he asked. “I promise you’re safe with me.” She shook her head once.

  “I have no doubt about that…” He tilted his head to the side.

>   “What’s the problem then?” he asked, concern in his voice.

  Darcy flushed. Did she admit to him the real reason she didn’t want to go in? Would he take it the wrong way? She wasn’t sure.

  “I… umm…” she looked down, unable to meet her penetrating gaze.

  “Darcy.” She kept looking at her feet. “Darcy. Look at me.” He placed his hand under her chin and raised her head so there was no way she could hide from him. She could see in his eyes, he understood what her issue was. He grinned slightly.

  “I promise, the only girls who has been in this room in the past several months, have been my sisters. Even my mom won’t step foot in here.”

  “Really?” Darcy was skeptical.

  “I promise.” Again, something about his tone led her to believe him. Rather than say anything else, Darcy crossed the threshold into his private sanctuary.

  It was a typical guy’s room. Slightly messy with dirty clothes thrown over a desk chair and piles of what she hoped were clean clothes in a basket. The desk was littered with CD cases and magazines about bikes, weight lifting, music, and of course, naked women. Darcy picked up a nudie magazine by the corner, raising her eyebrows as she looked at him. Surprisingly, he blushed and snatched it out of her hand.

  “That, uhh, belongs to Jazz! She left it in here as a joke.” The corner of Darcy’s mouth turned up.

  “Suuuure she did.” Judd tossed it into a nearby trash can.

  “I swear! She is a lesbian, remember?”

  “Of course I remember, but you’re also a typical hormonal teenage boy. I’m not exactly scandalized by the fact that you have looked at pictures of naked chicks.” He got that familiar devilish look on his face as he picked the magazine out of the trash.

  “You, uhh, want to check it out with me?” he asked with a wink. Darcy took a step back, knowing she was entering into dangerous territory.