Was that a joke? It was hard to tell, but there was a strange note in her voice, and one of her blond brows was rising in a high arch.
“Yes,” I responded sarcastically. “It’s only the finest people for me now. Preferably Europeans, I find they understand me better. I’ve even begun drinking cog-nac…” I deliberately mispronounced this last word.
“I’m sorry,” Vivian interrupted us, “is this supposed to be funny?”
Lana turned to her with her hand to her heart. “Funny? What do you mean? I’m simply saying it’s unusual for a woman of your status to bless us with her presence.”
Vivian rolled her eyes and walked off. The crowd watched her. She pretended they didn’t exist. Lana was proud of herself, and said to me, “See how easy it is? You can’t let a person like that insult you to your face.”
“Thanks for the lesson in evil, professor.”
“No worries, you can pay me later.” Lana winked. “What are you doing here by yourself? Where is everyone?”
“I kind of lost them on the way. Will and Naya are fighting, Curtis and Chris are, too, but they’re in a spat of some kind. Sue and Jack did the smart thing and stayed home.”
“Did you say Chris? Like, Naya’s brother Chris? Because I think I just saw him, and I’m pretty sure he was crying. I would have said something, but I figured there was no way it could be him, I’ve never seen him at a party before.”
“Where is he?” I asked, feeling worried.
“He was on his way into the bathroom.”
The poor thing. We worked our way through the crowd, which was more complicated than I might have guessed and took the better part of five minutes. When we reached the door, Will was already therepounding on it, and Naya was standing next to him, looking nervous and biting her nails.
“Open up!” she ordered her brother.
“Leave me alone!” he said.
“Chris, I’m serious!” Naya shouted.
Lana asked them what was going on.
“Nobody knows,” Will said. “He was walking around crying and when I tried to come after him, I found Naya here knocking. He says he wants to be alone.”
“I think it’s because of Curtis,” I explained. “He just saw him with another guy.”
“I thought that was old news,” Naya replied.
I shrugged as Lana finished the drink in her hand, looking bored by all the drama.
Naya struck the door again, commanding Chris to answer her, and that made Will flip out. He asked how she expected anyone to talk to her when she was screaming like a banshee, and she accused him of being insensitive when her brother was clearly so upset. He told her to calm down, and she told him to calm down; he told her she was overreacting, and she told him there was no such thing as overreacting when a person you loved needed you. It was obvious that they were really arguing about themselves and their situation, and I worried it would get really ugly, but then Chris appeared, cheeks streaked with tears, a big ball of toilet paper in his hand. He was panting as he looked around at us.
Sounding strangely calm, he said, “Nobody tell Curtis about this.”
I don’t think anybody was planning to. He went on: “It’s not him anyway. I don’t even really like him that much. If we really gave it a chance, I’m sure we wouldn’t last five minutes. It’s just…” He sniffled. “Look at you, Will, you found the person you wanted to be with when you were basically a kid. And Jenna found Ross. Lana doesn’t even need to worry about it,because she could get anyone she wanted, and Curtis is the same… I’m the only one who’s always left behind. I’ll never find anyone to be with…”
“Chris, don’t say that,” Naya told him, hugging him. “Of course you’ll find someone.”
“And plus, buddy,” Will added, “it’s not like you just meet a person and all of a sudden you’re happy. Nobody’s perfect, and relationships are a lot of work.”
“It’s not that, though,” Chris said, “it’s me. There’s nothing special about me. I’m not funny, I don’t have an interesting job, I’m not good at sports, I don’t know how to talk to people, I don’t have a good body, I’m not handsome. I’m nothing.”
“That’s not true,” Will interrupted him. “You’re…uh…you’re really organized.”
“What Will means is, you’ve got your life in order. You’re solid, a guy people know they can count on. And that’s one of the rarest traits there is,” Naya corrected him.
Will nodded and said, “Yeah, and you’re sharp as a tack. Even when we were little, Naya always said there was no puzzle you couldn’t solve, no riddle you didn’t get.”
It was clear none of this was helping. Chris’s head was hanging as he told his sister, “I sure never impressed Mom and Dad.”
