Page 71 of Beautiful Life
“Did you bring Gorbachev?” Vic smiles big.
Frustrated with every fucking thing right now, I repeat, “Have you seen Leigh or not?”
“I think she’s in the kitchen,” Charlotte says.
Vic continues to laugh, puts his arm around his wife and looking down at her. “Okay, I gotta hand it to you baby, ET is way better than Ronald Reagan.”
“Fuck,” I mutter as I turn to head toward the kitchen.
I see Jude with his back to me standing next to Lanny and my cousin Grant. Jude is wearing a Joe Montana 49ers jersey and a pair of jeans. Lanny and Grant look like twins with coveralls and some kind of packs on their backs.
I move in next to Jude, but ask Grant, “What’s with the jetpack?”
“Dude.” Grant steps back holding his arms out looking at me like I’m an idiot. “We’re Ghostbusters. I was a baby in the eighties and even I know Ghostbusters.”
But I can’t focus on Grant because I hear her voice, but it’s much louder and higher pitched than normal. I look toward the kitchen table and see the back of Leigh’s head. Her golden blonde hair which is normally sleek is crimped and out to there, pulled up in a big, black, crooked bow on the side of her head. Her arms, covered in lace gloves with the fingers cut out, are thrown up in the air and she yells, “Bulls eye!” Then she points across the table to someone. “You drink!”
“Man.” Jude shakes his head as he watches the show. “They’re trashed.”
I look over at Jude. “No shit?”
I hear Gabby clapping where she’s sitting next to Leigh at the kitchen table as Jude goes on. “They’ve been playing quarters for an hour. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get Gabby outta here. If she goes on much longer she’ll be sick and that won’t be any fun.”
Before I can answer or think about how to remove Leigh from the quarters game myself, I’m hit full on from the side.
“Hey brotha! Have a beer,” Paige says.
I turn my head to look down at my little sister, way taller than her normal short self as she’s shoving a red plastic cup of beer in my chest. I take the beer, brace as she pushes off me and I realize she’s rolling.
She does a three-sixty informing me in a very tipsy voice, “You missed the crab stuffed mushrooms. They’re all gone, but I think there are some spicy meatballs left. You love those.”
Paige is on roller skates with tall white socks up to her knees with red stripes around the top. Her top is smaller than small, tied in a knot halfway up her torso barely covering her and she’s wearing tight red short-shorts piped in white stripes around the edges. She frizzed out her normally wavy hair into a white girl afro and she looks to be as drunk as everyone else.
Ignoring the food, I frown at my little sister. “What the hell, Paige? Your ass is hanging out of those shorts.”
She frowns and twists, looking down, as if she can see her own ass as she spins in another circle. “My ass is not hanging out. Why do people keep saying that?”
“The hell it’s not,” I say.
Before Paige has a chance to argue, I hear, “Hey, Tone.”
I look away from my little sister’s over the top slutty roller skater costume, not liking the way she’s dressed, back to the kitchen table to see Leigh twisted around in her chair. Her makeup is heavy but her face is bright and hell if she doesn’t have a look on her face like she’s fucking happy to see me. I feel my gut tighten, forget about my sister, and make my way to Leigh.
Her eyes follow me as I get closer, her head tipping back so as not to lose our contact and she smiles big.
I lean down, cup the back of her head, and kiss her. “You having fun?”
“Yes, but I missed you.”
“Missed you too, gem.”
“Holy shit, my cousin can be sweet.” I look over to Gabby, who’s smiling big.
“Hey, Gabba.”
“Hey, Ronnie.” She grins drunkenly.
I shake my head as Leigh informs me, slurring her words, “I rock at quarters. But somehow, I’m still really drunk. You wanna play?”
