Chapter Eight:
The smell of lemon permeated the air of the little office and Claire glanced around, feeling downcast that she was back in the depressing funeral home. The whole building with its butterscotch tiles and toffee walls and one room carpeted with deep blue was the most upsetting place to be. Whether you lost someone you loved or not. Claire silently pitied the people who had to work in this place day in and day out. To her right, Claire heard Lalaine sniff lightly. Absently, Claire took a Kleenex from the desk in front of her and handed it to the girl. She took it without fuss and said in a disgusted tone, "I _hate_ being here."
Claire smiled grimly. "I know what you mean."
Lalique leaned over from the other side and whispered, "Thanks for being here with us. Especially since our loser brother isn't."
"Don't even mention it." Claire told her and shared a side grin with Leila. Lanna and Mrs. Kennedy were agonizing over the obituary, wondering which family members were to be put in and which to be left out.
"Our brother doesn't deserve you, Claire." Leila teased, leaning over to glance at the obituary draft her sister and mother were working on. "Don't forget to put Uncle Greg and Auntie Tonie."
"Oh, God, thanks for reminding us." Lanna said, looking relieved. "You know how offended they'll feel if we don't include them as dad's surviving family."
Shaking her head, Claire laughed, "For the last time, Leila, and everyone in this room for that matter, there is nothing going on between Leon and me."
In perfect unison, so perfect, in fact, that it seemed planned, the girls replied with, "Uh-huh."
"Now, you guys, I'm being serious. Leon and I are just friends. And I think all this pressure you're putting on our relationship is getting on his nerves."
Lanna snickered as she marked down something on a piece of paper. "Oh, but that's what makes it so much fun!" she looked up mischievously at her mother, "So, uh, do we add Uncle Ralph's name to the list?"
Mrs. Kennedy shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Don't be smart now, Lanna."
"I'm just asking." Lanna shrugged, and then glanced quickly at her sisters.
"Wow, I wish Leon was as easy-going as the four of you." Claire remarked.
"Leon's always been so dramatic. Probably some disease he got at birth by being the only boy or something."
"He didn't come home last night." Claire pressed. "Shouldn't we be calling someone to look for him? To see if he's all right?"
Lanna shook her head honestly. "Trust us, Claire. He's stomped off more than enough times when we were kids. Each and every time he's either gone to his friends' houses or to our Uncle Jake's house or the park or some other place God knows where. In any case, he's always safe and sound. I wouldn't worry about him too much." Lanna finished, looking a little worried herself but hiding it very well.
Claire nodded as if she agreed and looked away. The truth was she wished she could push Leon out of her mind as easily as his sisters could. All through the night she had worried where he was and how he was doing. Was he not warm enough? Had gang members attacked him? Was he lying helpless in a narrow valley somewhere? This worrying went on for about an hour before it was replaced by indignation and irritation that Leon could take her so wrong. Every now and then she thought of the kiss they had shared just mere moments before they had been interrupted. But that memory was fleeting at best because it was so brief. In fact, Claire began to doubt it had ever happened because of how short it was and how big the event was that followed it. With all the cogitations going on in her head, it wasn't any surprise when she glanced out her window and saw it was morning and she hadn't gotten one wink of sleep.
But now wasn't the time for pitying herself. She couldn't be depressed about Leon. The reason she had gone with him was to help in any way she could. Chiefly, she wanted to help Leon but if he didn't want her help, she wasn't going to force herself on him. She could only wait to see if he needed to talk to her, she couldn't make him open up about anything. So it was with this thought that carried Claire through the morning and gave her the energy to go with Leon's sisters and mother to finish up the rest of the preparations for the funeral.
It was pretty obvious that the Kennedy girls hadn't gotten much sleep either but the two eldest were so good at looking cheerful and fresh that Claire swore they had just stepped out of a magazine ad. The two younger ones were less gifted at hiding their fatigue and after nearly half an hour of the cold, depressing office, they were half-leaning on Claire's shoulders, their eyelids fluttering rapidly as they battled with sleep.
It felt nice to be needed, Claire realized. Especially by people she hadn't known very long yet welcomed her in their company to aid them in anything they needed. Claire began to think back to the day she and Leon arrived. There had been a few tears that the family shared but for the most part, they held their independence and kept strong. They didn't hang on Leon or any other male figure for their support. Leon had wanted to do what he thought his dad wanted him to but taking care of his sisters and mother. But how could he do that when they were doing just fine and didn't need him to carry them through this time? Claire began to see a little of the frustration Leon felt. It was down right maddening to feel like a third wheel and not be visibly needed. Leon felt that he, as a boy, had to be the paragon of strength and he had to be solid as a rock. He was feeling useless. A lot like how Claire had been feeling. Claire was finally seeing another part of the picture and the cause for Leon's moodiness.
After another hour, they were back in the house, lying around listlessly. Lanna was upstairs in her room sleeping, Leila had gone out to meet with an old friend looking like she would rather be heading to the dentist for a root canal and Mrs. Kennedy was outside on the porch with her sisters talking over a cup of tea. This left Claire with Lalique and Lalaine who had sank into a deep stupor; Lalaine was sprawled on the beige carpet of the living room, picking at little pieces of lint. Lalique, upon entering the house had thrown herself onto a big armchair and had stayed in the same position throughout her occupation of the comfy recliner. The only sound that came out of her was a deep sigh every few minutes.
After what seemed like an eternity, Lalaine snapped her head up. "Could you please stop that irritating noise? God, it's driving me crazy."
"Then don't listen to it." Lalique retorted, rolling her eyes and cleaning her nails.
"I could, if you weren't so loud." Lalaine snapped. Claire had sunk into a trance herself and all she could do for this part of the argument was look back and forth betwixt the two girls.
"What's the matter with you, anyway? You've been irritable all day." Lalique remarked spitefully. "Why don't you pop a Midol or something?"
"Yeah, well you know what you can go and pop." Lalaine spat out at her sister with such hatred that both Claire and Lalique paused and looked at her with concerned features.
Lalique sighed. "I was only joking. God, I thought you were too."
Lalaine's brow wrinkled and she laid her head on her folded arms. "I'm not in a joking mood."
"Is something wrong?" Claire asked, when Lalaine shot her a Look, she added, "I mean, besides the obvious?"
Lalaine licked her lips and nodded stiffly. "But it isn't a big deal."
"Well, then what is it?" Lalique prodded.
For the first time since Claire had met her, Lalaine crumpled up and a look a pure torture warped her smooth features. "It's Nona."
"Your best friend?"
"Best friend my foot." Lalaine replied. "You remember that guy I liked? Seth?"
"Uh-huh?" Lalique urged, with a side look at Claire. "Didn't he have a girlfriend?"
Lalaine scoffed. "Yeah, I found that out the day I told him I liked him. Well, you won't believe who his girlfriend is."
Claire girded her stomach because she knew exactly what was coming.
"Nona?" Lalique replied.
"YES!" Lalaine exclaimed. "Can you believe it? It turns out that they've been seeing each other since that day we all skipped school-"
Both girls looked suspiciously at Claire, who started.
"Oh, don't worry about me," Claire told them, raising her right hand. "I won't tell anyone. I've done that a couple of times myself."
"Right." Lalaine nodded. "Well, they've been seeing each other for that long. I told Nona about how much I liked him and she still never told me about them. She said she didn't want to hurt me."
"Well, that's stupid." Both Lalique and Claire remarked at the same time.
"She hid it from you." Lalique said.
"And she should have been honest from the start, hiding it only makes things worse." Claire added.
"They should have had the guts to at least shoot you from the front instead of stabbing you from behind." Lalique threw in.
Lalaine looked blankly at the two of them for a few long moments. "Um, I wasn't quite finished."
"Oh, sorry. Go ahead."
"Anyway..." Lalaine started then trailed off again. "Never mind. You pretty much covered everything with what you said."
"How are you feeling, though?" Claire asked her.
Lalaine shrugged. "I don't know, bad, I guess, but I'll survive. Worse has happened, ya know."
Claire nodded, worse did happen in life... but still, when your best friend does something like that to you, it was enough to mess you up inside.
"You need to cheer up." Lalique said sprightly after a moments pause. "Come on up to the attic-you too, Claire."
"What are we going to do?" Claire asked, standing hesitantly.
"Exercise!"
Lalaine groaned and buried her head in her hands. "Oh, GOD, I just want to lie around here feeling sorry for myself for a little while, is that too much to ask?"
"Come on, if it will make you feel better, I'll do that interpretive dance to that song you like so much." Lalique encouraged. "The angry one by Eminem."
"Which one is that?" Claire asked.
"Stamp-"
Lalaine blew a loud raspberry. "You dork! That's Stan. God, what is wrong with you?" she paused. "You'll do interpretive for that song? That'll be priceless."
"For my sister, anything." Lalique said. "And then after that, we'll teach Claire ballet."
Claire held back a nervous laugh. That seemed to get the girls out of their slump. And with all the energy pumping through them right now, she had a feeling that by the end of the day, she would have no problem sleeping through the night.
Leon slouched in the passenger's seat of Dan's Hondae and popped the stiff muscles in his neck. The ride home was about as quiet as his night over at his old friend's house. For a few hours, Leon had wandered aimlessly through the streets bubbling with anger and rage. God only knows how he ended up at Dan Mason's house but Dan's live-in girlfriend, Teresa Chapman, welcomed him in. Teresa's presence was a shock to Leon, especially since she used to be his girlfriend in high school; and if he remembered correctly, she and Dan could never stand each other for very long.
Awkward as the situation was, Leon spent the night on the hard, lumpy couch and in the morning listened to Dan and Teresa bicker over some incident the previous day when Teresa had flirted with some guy at the firehouse. Dan insisted she was messing around; Teresa assured him she wasn't. Dan was adamantly positive Teresa was "fucking around behind his back" and Teresa guaranteed him with loving affirmations that she was to the most untainted degree, faithful to him. Dan left and the first thing Teresa did was make her move on Leon.
Well, it may have been the first or second thing; she may have offered him a back rub without her clothes on before or after she spilled orange juice on his pants... Or she may have walked in on Leon in the shower right after she finished outlining the paper, Leon wasn't sure, he was no expert but one thing was for certain: he had to get out of there. He left the house in disgust and walked with his hands in his pockets wondering what on earth possessed people to do such things when they were supposed to be in love. His anger from the previous night had receded and he was now feeling the need to get back home.
Dan had driven past him, claiming he had to pick up something at his house and offered Leon a ride home. And that's how he ended up in Dan Mason's Honda in the middle of the afternoon.
"Seeya, Mason." Leon said as he shut the door behind him.
"Sure thing." Dan said jovially. "Come over anytime you need anything."
Leon turned away and the car started off. The house was quiet but the cars in the driveway told him that his sisters were home. As he opened the door, he could hear light piano music playing from the attic but what caught his attention was the sight of his mother sitting on the armchair his father used to sit on. She was a petite woman and the chair looked big enough to swallow her up but she sat in it, straight backed and looked at Leon firmly.
"We have to talk." Was all she had to say and Leon was immediately sixteen years old again and caught creeping back into the house after sneaking out to hang out with his friends.
Half sure she was going to ground him even though he knew she wouldn't, Leon sat across from his mother and heaved a sigh. Mary Kennedy was quiet for a few moments, gathering her thoughts, before she spoke.
"Leon, I know this is hard for you." She said. "But you have to know that we are all here to help you."
"I know." Leon said, frustrated. "Believe me, I know. That's practically all I've been hearing for the longest time, even from people who I haven't seen since I was fifteen. If I needed help dealing with dad, I'd ask."
"I know you would, my boy. But I'm also talking about dealing with your Uncle Ralph."
Leon groaned. "Mom, do we have to talk about him?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he's a big issue right now. He's always been a big issue with you and I'd like to know why you hate him so much." Her mother looked so intense and so completely naïve to everything Leon had seen over the years. Could it be that she had never once even been suspicious of her brother-in-law's actions?
"Mother, Uncle Ralph is not an issue. I don't give a damn about him."
"For someone who doesn't give a damn, you sure threw a huge fit last night."
Leon snapped up. "Mom, didn't you even hear what he said. He was drunk, he disturbed us when we should have been having some time to ourselves and then he starts saying all this-this shit about how he's going to be our new... God, I can't even say it." Leon threw himself back on the couch and bit his bottom lip. "He doesn't bother me."
His mother was quiet again, trying to reach through all the words he had said and come up with some conclusion, some root of his problems. And just like the mother she was, that she always had been, she hit it right on. All she said was, "Your father was the only man in my life. I loved him. No one will ever replace him." And Leon felt his eyes start to sting and he looked away.
"Leon?"
Leon could speak; he was too choked up to. He had no intention to say anything for fear that the tears would start falling but words started tumbling out anyway.
"He was supposed to dance with my wife at my wedding." Leon mumbled. "He was supposed to take me aside and tell me what a great woman I had been given and not to ever let her go." Tears fell and his mother was there to catch him in her waiting arms. "Then he was supposed to go over to you and sit with you all night, talking and looking so happy."
"I know, sweetheart." She whispered, her voice shaky.
"He was...supposed to see my first borne..." he continued, trembling violently and choking against the words. "He was going to be a grandpa..."
"I know that, but he just couldn't stay any longer."
"Well, why not?!" Leon demanded. "We were all supposed to be together when he left. I wasn't supposed to be three Goddamn states away!"
Mrs. Kennedy didn't answer. It didn't matter because Leon didn't seem to want one.
He only cried in her arms for a long time.
"You have to forgive yourself." She said once he had calmed down and was lying listlessly on his side, his head on her lap.
Leon shook his head. "I don't think I can. Dad was always there for me and the one time he really needed me I was gone."
"Leon, there's nothing you can do. You can't change the past. But I know your father knows that you would have walked through fire to be there with him if it were possible."
Leon couldn't respond but he was feeling much better seeing that at least his mom wasn't holding a grudge against him.
"Mom, I want to go rest. Where's everybody?"
"Oh, they're around." She said, with a light laugh. "This house is too big sometimes."
Leon chuckled and rubbed at his eyes as he headed up the stairs. Once he reached the second story landing he picked up his pace and hurried to his room. He knocked on the door and cleared his throat. "Claire, are you in there." Silence from the other side and Leon slowly opened the door. The bed was neatly made, the shades drawn and the light off. Claire was nowhere in sight. About facing, Leon headed down the hall and knocked on the bathroom. "Claire?" he called. "Claire, we need to talk."
The door opened and Leila came out with a toothbrush and wiping her mouth on a hand towel.
"Where's Claire?" Leon asked.
"Hello to you, too, Leon. I'm fine, thank you. And you?" Leila said brightly.
"Sorry. Hi. How are you?" Leon replied quickly. "Is Claire around?"
"Um...no."
"No?"
"No. She left." Leila replied.
"Left?" Leon repeated, stunned. "Left where?"
Leila shrugged.
"Left where?" Pressed Leon. "Left temporarily, as in left to the store to buy bread or left permanently as in she left the country and is now teaching English in Prague?"
Leila let out a short laugh and frowned. "That's kind of a long leap but, uh, I'm not sure."
"Leila, don't mess with me." Leon warned.
"Oh no, Leon. I think it's you that shouldn't mess with me. I just met with Charles DiMartino."
"So what, Leila? I-Charles DiMartino? Isn't he your old-"
"No. But anyway," Leila went on. "He's still the most annoying, desperately clingy man I have ever-"
"That's great, Leila. Just don't rush onto picking out China patterns with him." Leon said. He swung around and headed down the hall and rapped on Lanna's door.
Grumbling and sputtering, Lanna groaned. "What?"
"Lanna. Open the door. It's important."
A few seconds, and Lanna appeared looking bleary-eyed and very irritable.
"Where's Claire?" he demanded.
"God, Leon, I don't know. In Prague teaching English." She said.
Leon frowned. "Uh, okay. We'll just move on past the irony in that statement as if you never made it. Come on, where is she? I have to talk to her."
Lanna shook her head. "She went back home." She said seriously. "She got so upset at your display last night and blamed herself. She left this morning."
The statement took awhile to sink into his head but once he did, Leon's heart sank.
"W-what?" Leon asked, breathlessly.
"She left this morning-oh, God look at your face. Honestly, kid, you are so gullible lately." Lanna said, letting out a loud giggle.
Leon let her carry on with her laughter for all her cheap hit was worth before he said, "So... she's not in Prague teaching English? She's still here?"
"In this very house. She up in the attic with the girls." Lanna said. "Sorry kid, I couldn't help myself."
"Yeah. Right." Leon turned away, leaving Lanna in her hysterical laughing fit.
The door to the attic was open and Leon could hear the music drifting down the narrow, steep stairway. Leon climbed up quietly and peeked in to see his younger sister coaching Claire in a bunch of steps.
"Now, remember it's step, ball change, pas de boureé, triple pirouette, glissades, and grand jéte, land pretty."
Claire blinked a few times before smiling widely. "You know what? I'm going to just...sit over there and let you do it. It looks much better when you do it."
She looked up. "Oh, look. Leon's here! Carry on, girls."
"You're such a liar." Lalaine said. "We've been up here an hour and you still haven't done your interpretive dance of Stan!"
"What was that all about?" Leon queried as he and Claire headed down the stairs.
"I'm hurting here!" Lalaine added.
Claire sighed. "It's a long story."
They reached the second floor and Leon turned to face her. She looked up at him evenly.
Leon ran his hands through his hair sheepishly. "You know what? I've said 'I'm sorry' about a million times since we've been here but that doesn't mean the word has lost it's meaning."
Claire nodded. "Go on."
"And...I'm sorry."
Claire nodded again. "For...?"
Leon sighed and looked at the ceiling. She really knew how to make things hard for a man. "For being a dumb ass."
Claire smiled. "You weren't being a dumb ass, Leon. In fact, you're actually kind of cute... once the initial desire to stun gun you in the balls wears off at least."
Leon took her hand in his and pulled her closer. "Claire, before we were interrupted..."
"Yes?" she asked.
"I just...I wanted to say that I really meant-"
"I know." Claire interrupted. "I feel the same way."
She stood on tip-toe so that she could plant a kiss on Leon's cheek and Leon pulled her into a firm embrace; and it felt so nice to be that way he didn't know whether he would ever be able to let go.
The smell of lemon permeated the air of the little office and Claire glanced around, feeling downcast that she was back in the depressing funeral home. The whole building with its butterscotch tiles and toffee walls and one room carpeted with deep blue was the most upsetting place to be. Whether you lost someone you loved or not. Claire silently pitied the people who had to work in this place day in and day out. To her right, Claire heard Lalaine sniff lightly. Absently, Claire took a Kleenex from the desk in front of her and handed it to the girl. She took it without fuss and said in a disgusted tone, "I _hate_ being here."
Claire smiled grimly. "I know what you mean."
Lalique leaned over from the other side and whispered, "Thanks for being here with us. Especially since our loser brother isn't."
"Don't even mention it." Claire told her and shared a side grin with Leila. Lanna and Mrs. Kennedy were agonizing over the obituary, wondering which family members were to be put in and which to be left out.
"Our brother doesn't deserve you, Claire." Leila teased, leaning over to glance at the obituary draft her sister and mother were working on. "Don't forget to put Uncle Greg and Auntie Tonie."
"Oh, God, thanks for reminding us." Lanna said, looking relieved. "You know how offended they'll feel if we don't include them as dad's surviving family."
Shaking her head, Claire laughed, "For the last time, Leila, and everyone in this room for that matter, there is nothing going on between Leon and me."
In perfect unison, so perfect, in fact, that it seemed planned, the girls replied with, "Uh-huh."
"Now, you guys, I'm being serious. Leon and I are just friends. And I think all this pressure you're putting on our relationship is getting on his nerves."
Lanna snickered as she marked down something on a piece of paper. "Oh, but that's what makes it so much fun!" she looked up mischievously at her mother, "So, uh, do we add Uncle Ralph's name to the list?"
Mrs. Kennedy shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Don't be smart now, Lanna."
"I'm just asking." Lanna shrugged, and then glanced quickly at her sisters.
"Wow, I wish Leon was as easy-going as the four of you." Claire remarked.
"Leon's always been so dramatic. Probably some disease he got at birth by being the only boy or something."
"He didn't come home last night." Claire pressed. "Shouldn't we be calling someone to look for him? To see if he's all right?"
Lanna shook her head honestly. "Trust us, Claire. He's stomped off more than enough times when we were kids. Each and every time he's either gone to his friends' houses or to our Uncle Jake's house or the park or some other place God knows where. In any case, he's always safe and sound. I wouldn't worry about him too much." Lanna finished, looking a little worried herself but hiding it very well.
Claire nodded as if she agreed and looked away. The truth was she wished she could push Leon out of her mind as easily as his sisters could. All through the night she had worried where he was and how he was doing. Was he not warm enough? Had gang members attacked him? Was he lying helpless in a narrow valley somewhere? This worrying went on for about an hour before it was replaced by indignation and irritation that Leon could take her so wrong. Every now and then she thought of the kiss they had shared just mere moments before they had been interrupted. But that memory was fleeting at best because it was so brief. In fact, Claire began to doubt it had ever happened because of how short it was and how big the event was that followed it. With all the cogitations going on in her head, it wasn't any surprise when she glanced out her window and saw it was morning and she hadn't gotten one wink of sleep.
But now wasn't the time for pitying herself. She couldn't be depressed about Leon. The reason she had gone with him was to help in any way she could. Chiefly, she wanted to help Leon but if he didn't want her help, she wasn't going to force herself on him. She could only wait to see if he needed to talk to her, she couldn't make him open up about anything. So it was with this thought that carried Claire through the morning and gave her the energy to go with Leon's sisters and mother to finish up the rest of the preparations for the funeral.
It was pretty obvious that the Kennedy girls hadn't gotten much sleep either but the two eldest were so good at looking cheerful and fresh that Claire swore they had just stepped out of a magazine ad. The two younger ones were less gifted at hiding their fatigue and after nearly half an hour of the cold, depressing office, they were half-leaning on Claire's shoulders, their eyelids fluttering rapidly as they battled with sleep.
It felt nice to be needed, Claire realized. Especially by people she hadn't known very long yet welcomed her in their company to aid them in anything they needed. Claire began to think back to the day she and Leon arrived. There had been a few tears that the family shared but for the most part, they held their independence and kept strong. They didn't hang on Leon or any other male figure for their support. Leon had wanted to do what he thought his dad wanted him to but taking care of his sisters and mother. But how could he do that when they were doing just fine and didn't need him to carry them through this time? Claire began to see a little of the frustration Leon felt. It was down right maddening to feel like a third wheel and not be visibly needed. Leon felt that he, as a boy, had to be the paragon of strength and he had to be solid as a rock. He was feeling useless. A lot like how Claire had been feeling. Claire was finally seeing another part of the picture and the cause for Leon's moodiness.
After another hour, they were back in the house, lying around listlessly. Lanna was upstairs in her room sleeping, Leila had gone out to meet with an old friend looking like she would rather be heading to the dentist for a root canal and Mrs. Kennedy was outside on the porch with her sisters talking over a cup of tea. This left Claire with Lalique and Lalaine who had sank into a deep stupor; Lalaine was sprawled on the beige carpet of the living room, picking at little pieces of lint. Lalique, upon entering the house had thrown herself onto a big armchair and had stayed in the same position throughout her occupation of the comfy recliner. The only sound that came out of her was a deep sigh every few minutes.
After what seemed like an eternity, Lalaine snapped her head up. "Could you please stop that irritating noise? God, it's driving me crazy."
"Then don't listen to it." Lalique retorted, rolling her eyes and cleaning her nails.
"I could, if you weren't so loud." Lalaine snapped. Claire had sunk into a trance herself and all she could do for this part of the argument was look back and forth betwixt the two girls.
"What's the matter with you, anyway? You've been irritable all day." Lalique remarked spitefully. "Why don't you pop a Midol or something?"
"Yeah, well you know what you can go and pop." Lalaine spat out at her sister with such hatred that both Claire and Lalique paused and looked at her with concerned features.
Lalique sighed. "I was only joking. God, I thought you were too."
Lalaine's brow wrinkled and she laid her head on her folded arms. "I'm not in a joking mood."
"Is something wrong?" Claire asked, when Lalaine shot her a Look, she added, "I mean, besides the obvious?"
Lalaine licked her lips and nodded stiffly. "But it isn't a big deal."
"Well, then what is it?" Lalique prodded.
For the first time since Claire had met her, Lalaine crumpled up and a look a pure torture warped her smooth features. "It's Nona."
"Your best friend?"
"Best friend my foot." Lalaine replied. "You remember that guy I liked? Seth?"
"Uh-huh?" Lalique urged, with a side look at Claire. "Didn't he have a girlfriend?"
Lalaine scoffed. "Yeah, I found that out the day I told him I liked him. Well, you won't believe who his girlfriend is."
Claire girded her stomach because she knew exactly what was coming.
"Nona?" Lalique replied.
"YES!" Lalaine exclaimed. "Can you believe it? It turns out that they've been seeing each other since that day we all skipped school-"
Both girls looked suspiciously at Claire, who started.
"Oh, don't worry about me," Claire told them, raising her right hand. "I won't tell anyone. I've done that a couple of times myself."
"Right." Lalaine nodded. "Well, they've been seeing each other for that long. I told Nona about how much I liked him and she still never told me about them. She said she didn't want to hurt me."
"Well, that's stupid." Both Lalique and Claire remarked at the same time.
"She hid it from you." Lalique said.
"And she should have been honest from the start, hiding it only makes things worse." Claire added.
"They should have had the guts to at least shoot you from the front instead of stabbing you from behind." Lalique threw in.
Lalaine looked blankly at the two of them for a few long moments. "Um, I wasn't quite finished."
"Oh, sorry. Go ahead."
"Anyway..." Lalaine started then trailed off again. "Never mind. You pretty much covered everything with what you said."
"How are you feeling, though?" Claire asked her.
Lalaine shrugged. "I don't know, bad, I guess, but I'll survive. Worse has happened, ya know."
Claire nodded, worse did happen in life... but still, when your best friend does something like that to you, it was enough to mess you up inside.
"You need to cheer up." Lalique said sprightly after a moments pause. "Come on up to the attic-you too, Claire."
"What are we going to do?" Claire asked, standing hesitantly.
"Exercise!"
Lalaine groaned and buried her head in her hands. "Oh, GOD, I just want to lie around here feeling sorry for myself for a little while, is that too much to ask?"
"Come on, if it will make you feel better, I'll do that interpretive dance to that song you like so much." Lalique encouraged. "The angry one by Eminem."
"Which one is that?" Claire asked.
"Stamp-"
Lalaine blew a loud raspberry. "You dork! That's Stan. God, what is wrong with you?" she paused. "You'll do interpretive for that song? That'll be priceless."
"For my sister, anything." Lalique said. "And then after that, we'll teach Claire ballet."
Claire held back a nervous laugh. That seemed to get the girls out of their slump. And with all the energy pumping through them right now, she had a feeling that by the end of the day, she would have no problem sleeping through the night.
Leon slouched in the passenger's seat of Dan's Hondae and popped the stiff muscles in his neck. The ride home was about as quiet as his night over at his old friend's house. For a few hours, Leon had wandered aimlessly through the streets bubbling with anger and rage. God only knows how he ended up at Dan Mason's house but Dan's live-in girlfriend, Teresa Chapman, welcomed him in. Teresa's presence was a shock to Leon, especially since she used to be his girlfriend in high school; and if he remembered correctly, she and Dan could never stand each other for very long.
Awkward as the situation was, Leon spent the night on the hard, lumpy couch and in the morning listened to Dan and Teresa bicker over some incident the previous day when Teresa had flirted with some guy at the firehouse. Dan insisted she was messing around; Teresa assured him she wasn't. Dan was adamantly positive Teresa was "fucking around behind his back" and Teresa guaranteed him with loving affirmations that she was to the most untainted degree, faithful to him. Dan left and the first thing Teresa did was make her move on Leon.
Well, it may have been the first or second thing; she may have offered him a back rub without her clothes on before or after she spilled orange juice on his pants... Or she may have walked in on Leon in the shower right after she finished outlining the paper, Leon wasn't sure, he was no expert but one thing was for certain: he had to get out of there. He left the house in disgust and walked with his hands in his pockets wondering what on earth possessed people to do such things when they were supposed to be in love. His anger from the previous night had receded and he was now feeling the need to get back home.
Dan had driven past him, claiming he had to pick up something at his house and offered Leon a ride home. And that's how he ended up in Dan Mason's Honda in the middle of the afternoon.
"Seeya, Mason." Leon said as he shut the door behind him.
"Sure thing." Dan said jovially. "Come over anytime you need anything."
Leon turned away and the car started off. The house was quiet but the cars in the driveway told him that his sisters were home. As he opened the door, he could hear light piano music playing from the attic but what caught his attention was the sight of his mother sitting on the armchair his father used to sit on. She was a petite woman and the chair looked big enough to swallow her up but she sat in it, straight backed and looked at Leon firmly.
"We have to talk." Was all she had to say and Leon was immediately sixteen years old again and caught creeping back into the house after sneaking out to hang out with his friends.
Half sure she was going to ground him even though he knew she wouldn't, Leon sat across from his mother and heaved a sigh. Mary Kennedy was quiet for a few moments, gathering her thoughts, before she spoke.
"Leon, I know this is hard for you." She said. "But you have to know that we are all here to help you."
"I know." Leon said, frustrated. "Believe me, I know. That's practically all I've been hearing for the longest time, even from people who I haven't seen since I was fifteen. If I needed help dealing with dad, I'd ask."
"I know you would, my boy. But I'm also talking about dealing with your Uncle Ralph."
Leon groaned. "Mom, do we have to talk about him?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he's a big issue right now. He's always been a big issue with you and I'd like to know why you hate him so much." Her mother looked so intense and so completely naïve to everything Leon had seen over the years. Could it be that she had never once even been suspicious of her brother-in-law's actions?
"Mother, Uncle Ralph is not an issue. I don't give a damn about him."
"For someone who doesn't give a damn, you sure threw a huge fit last night."
Leon snapped up. "Mom, didn't you even hear what he said. He was drunk, he disturbed us when we should have been having some time to ourselves and then he starts saying all this-this shit about how he's going to be our new... God, I can't even say it." Leon threw himself back on the couch and bit his bottom lip. "He doesn't bother me."
His mother was quiet again, trying to reach through all the words he had said and come up with some conclusion, some root of his problems. And just like the mother she was, that she always had been, she hit it right on. All she said was, "Your father was the only man in my life. I loved him. No one will ever replace him." And Leon felt his eyes start to sting and he looked away.
"Leon?"
Leon could speak; he was too choked up to. He had no intention to say anything for fear that the tears would start falling but words started tumbling out anyway.
"He was supposed to dance with my wife at my wedding." Leon mumbled. "He was supposed to take me aside and tell me what a great woman I had been given and not to ever let her go." Tears fell and his mother was there to catch him in her waiting arms. "Then he was supposed to go over to you and sit with you all night, talking and looking so happy."
"I know, sweetheart." She whispered, her voice shaky.
"He was...supposed to see my first borne..." he continued, trembling violently and choking against the words. "He was going to be a grandpa..."
"I know that, but he just couldn't stay any longer."
"Well, why not?!" Leon demanded. "We were all supposed to be together when he left. I wasn't supposed to be three Goddamn states away!"
Mrs. Kennedy didn't answer. It didn't matter because Leon didn't seem to want one.
He only cried in her arms for a long time.
"You have to forgive yourself." She said once he had calmed down and was lying listlessly on his side, his head on her lap.
Leon shook his head. "I don't think I can. Dad was always there for me and the one time he really needed me I was gone."
"Leon, there's nothing you can do. You can't change the past. But I know your father knows that you would have walked through fire to be there with him if it were possible."
Leon couldn't respond but he was feeling much better seeing that at least his mom wasn't holding a grudge against him.
"Mom, I want to go rest. Where's everybody?"
"Oh, they're around." She said, with a light laugh. "This house is too big sometimes."
Leon chuckled and rubbed at his eyes as he headed up the stairs. Once he reached the second story landing he picked up his pace and hurried to his room. He knocked on the door and cleared his throat. "Claire, are you in there." Silence from the other side and Leon slowly opened the door. The bed was neatly made, the shades drawn and the light off. Claire was nowhere in sight. About facing, Leon headed down the hall and knocked on the bathroom. "Claire?" he called. "Claire, we need to talk."
The door opened and Leila came out with a toothbrush and wiping her mouth on a hand towel.
"Where's Claire?" Leon asked.
"Hello to you, too, Leon. I'm fine, thank you. And you?" Leila said brightly.
"Sorry. Hi. How are you?" Leon replied quickly. "Is Claire around?"
"Um...no."
"No?"
"No. She left." Leila replied.
"Left?" Leon repeated, stunned. "Left where?"
Leila shrugged.
"Left where?" Pressed Leon. "Left temporarily, as in left to the store to buy bread or left permanently as in she left the country and is now teaching English in Prague?"
Leila let out a short laugh and frowned. "That's kind of a long leap but, uh, I'm not sure."
"Leila, don't mess with me." Leon warned.
"Oh no, Leon. I think it's you that shouldn't mess with me. I just met with Charles DiMartino."
"So what, Leila? I-Charles DiMartino? Isn't he your old-"
"No. But anyway," Leila went on. "He's still the most annoying, desperately clingy man I have ever-"
"That's great, Leila. Just don't rush onto picking out China patterns with him." Leon said. He swung around and headed down the hall and rapped on Lanna's door.
Grumbling and sputtering, Lanna groaned. "What?"
"Lanna. Open the door. It's important."
A few seconds, and Lanna appeared looking bleary-eyed and very irritable.
"Where's Claire?" he demanded.
"God, Leon, I don't know. In Prague teaching English." She said.
Leon frowned. "Uh, okay. We'll just move on past the irony in that statement as if you never made it. Come on, where is she? I have to talk to her."
Lanna shook her head. "She went back home." She said seriously. "She got so upset at your display last night and blamed herself. She left this morning."
The statement took awhile to sink into his head but once he did, Leon's heart sank.
"W-what?" Leon asked, breathlessly.
"She left this morning-oh, God look at your face. Honestly, kid, you are so gullible lately." Lanna said, letting out a loud giggle.
Leon let her carry on with her laughter for all her cheap hit was worth before he said, "So... she's not in Prague teaching English? She's still here?"
"In this very house. She up in the attic with the girls." Lanna said. "Sorry kid, I couldn't help myself."
"Yeah. Right." Leon turned away, leaving Lanna in her hysterical laughing fit.
The door to the attic was open and Leon could hear the music drifting down the narrow, steep stairway. Leon climbed up quietly and peeked in to see his younger sister coaching Claire in a bunch of steps.
"Now, remember it's step, ball change, pas de boureé, triple pirouette, glissades, and grand jéte, land pretty."
Claire blinked a few times before smiling widely. "You know what? I'm going to just...sit over there and let you do it. It looks much better when you do it."
She looked up. "Oh, look. Leon's here! Carry on, girls."
"You're such a liar." Lalaine said. "We've been up here an hour and you still haven't done your interpretive dance of Stan!"
"What was that all about?" Leon queried as he and Claire headed down the stairs.
"I'm hurting here!" Lalaine added.
Claire sighed. "It's a long story."
They reached the second floor and Leon turned to face her. She looked up at him evenly.
Leon ran his hands through his hair sheepishly. "You know what? I've said 'I'm sorry' about a million times since we've been here but that doesn't mean the word has lost it's meaning."
Claire nodded. "Go on."
"And...I'm sorry."
Claire nodded again. "For...?"
Leon sighed and looked at the ceiling. She really knew how to make things hard for a man. "For being a dumb ass."
Claire smiled. "You weren't being a dumb ass, Leon. In fact, you're actually kind of cute... once the initial desire to stun gun you in the balls wears off at least."
Leon took her hand in his and pulled her closer. "Claire, before we were interrupted..."
"Yes?" she asked.
"I just...I wanted to say that I really meant-"
"I know." Claire interrupted. "I feel the same way."
She stood on tip-toe so that she could plant a kiss on Leon's cheek and Leon pulled her into a firm embrace; and it felt so nice to be that way he didn't know whether he would ever be able to let go.