Free The Lighter Side of Life and Death by C. K. Kelly Martin Page B

weeks ago. That was you, right? The guy with the dead brother.”
    “That was me.” It’s weird but just the fact of her mentioning it makes me feel like I know her.
    “That was a pretty cool play. You were good.” She sounds surprised but I thank her anyway. Then I go back inside because I can’t concentrate on watching Frisbee with her staring at me and I’m not in the mood to talk. The feeling reminds me of yesterday with Colette and as soon as I start thinking about that I begin to feel likea different person. I don’t have to let myself get dragged into this stupid romantic triangle drama with Kat and Jamie. They can play it out without me if they want to that bad, but I want something else. The possibility gives me a rush of adrenaline that I feel all the way down to my kneecaps.
    It’s the kind of secret you want to be alone with, and after school I head straight home. The TV’s on in the basement and I jog downstairs to say hi to Brianna and Burke. Brianna’s watching that talk show
The Doctors
and Burke’s balancing a book on his knees while he munches away on a potato chip sandwich.
    “Hey, guys,” I say. “What’s up?”
    “Hi, Mason,” Burke says, grinning up at me. Orange crumbs are wedged up between his teeth. The chips must be barbecue or ketchup.
    Brianna doesn’t answer. Her eyes barely leave the screen.
    “Can he watch this?” I ask her. Isn’t
The Doctors
all breast cancer discussions, sex advice and plastic surgery?
    “We watch
Yu-Gi-Oh!
in the commercials,” Burke offers.
Like that sounds fair
.
    “He’s not watching it anyway,” Brianna says dryly, pointing to Burke’s book.
    “Yeah, I get it.” My eyebrows pull together.
    Brianna gives me this lethal look and yanks her feet up onto the couch with her. “Do you want to watch something?” she asks. “Is that what it is?”
    This time it’s me who doesn’t answer. I scratch at my knuckles and tap Burke on the shoulder. “Can I try that?”
    A single chip falls onto the couch as he hands over the sandwich. I take a bite, chewing noisily. “Ketchup,” I announce. “That’s not bad.”
    “Pickle is good too,” Burke tells me, and all the while Brianna’ssitting there, fuming like her head’s going to burst. It’s almost funny. I can’t even be mad at her; she’s just too obvious.
    “Don’t worry,” I say to her. “I’ll let you know when I want to watch something, Brianna.” She nods absently, refusing to tear her gaze away from the TV. “I’m going out,” I add. “Tell Nina for me.”
    Brianna nods again and I retrace my steps through the house and into the street. It’s a spur-of-the-moment thing, but now that I’m going it seems preordained. Colette’s been on my mind all day long. She feels like a compulsion. A day-old compulsion that’s already gaining strength. I don’t even care if it’s crazy; I just want to catch another glimpse of her. I need something to counteract my shitty afternoon.
    I keep walking until I hit downtown Glenashton. Colette’s travel agency is just on the other side of the traffic lights but that’s not an option. She’d be surrounded by coworkers and I’d come off looking like some kind of weirdo. Instead I nip into JB, order a latte, sit by the window and hope Christopher isn’t working today.
    The latte’s cold and all but gone by five o’clock and maybe Colette doesn’t stop in every day after work like I’m counting on. The good news is that Chris isn’t around either. At ten after, I decide to stick around for another twenty minutes, and five minutes later Colette slips through the front door and walks straight past me, her high-heel shoes making a sticky, clicking noise on the tile floor.
    I could take off now and she’d never know I was here. No, she’s spotted me. She stares at me from her spot at the counter and she doesn’t like what she sees. I flash her a wave but she turns swiftly back towards the counter like she can’t make me disappear