The Kiss Off (6 page)

“Becka-”

“Yeah, we could! He could be our dog!”

“Rory-”

The phone started ringing and Dad headed back to the kitchen as Mom started dishing out the vegetables. She gave Rory an extra big helping of broccoli.

“Poppy, can you go and get the chicken while your dad’s on the phone?”

I pushed out my chair and followed Dad into the kitchen where I could hear him talking as he walked toward the study for some quiet. But that was all I could hear. I mean, sure, I could hear Mom talking to Rory and telling him how we couldn’t keep the dog, but I couldn’t hear the dog. There was no barking, no howling, no nothing. When I walked into the kitchen, I saw the roast chicken sitting on a serving platter, ready for the dining table. On the bench behind the platter, were two big shaggy paws, and a head leaning forward, eyeing off our dinner. His black nose was shiny and wet and twitching as he sniffed it all up, took in the scent of our dinner.

What was supposed to be our dinner.

What I hoped was still our dinner.

I pointed my finger at the dog, and stood perfectly still. “No!” I said. He opened his mouth and stuck half the chicken inside, closing his jaws around it.

“No, stop it!” I yelled as we both ran forward. “Let go, let go you mongrel!” The mutt pushed off the bench and as I ran around to the left, the dog ran around to the right. I heard chairs in the dining room scrape back and I chased the dog around and around the kitchen counter. The next thing I knew, Mom, Rory and Bex were crowding in the doorway, yelling.

“Our dinner!” Bex said. Rory’s mouth dropped open, his eyes wide with wonder. He didn’t say anything, just grinned at the whole debacle in delight.

“Jesus!” Mom yelled. “Sit! Drop. Down. Roll over. Stop!”

“My chicken!” Dad said as he walked back into the kitchen, confronted with the chaos. The dog zoomed past me toward the back door. The door that was ajar which he had clearly come through in the first place. Using the half of the chicken that was sticking out of his mouth and his nose, the dog nudged the door open enough to scurry through and he was gone, away into the dark backyard.

We all stood there in silence. In disbelieving silence.

“First thing in the morning, people,” Mom said. “First thing in the morning that thing is going to the pound.”

Dad stared at the windows at the darkness where his chicken was no doubt being devoured or buried for later. His shoulders slumped in disappointment and with a sigh, he walked over to the oven and turned it off. I hoped our dinner burnt the stupid dog’s tongue.

Dad pulled his car keys from his pocket. “So how does pizza sound?”

After pulling Dad’s blue soccer-mom-mobile into a space in front of Luigi’s Pizza, he handed me a couple of notes and I climbed out, heading toward the red neon signage which hung over the plate glass windows and door. It looked pretty busy in there tonight and I joined the short queue at the counter, perusing Soccer memorabilia on the walls, the framed red and black shirt and team logo for AC Milan.

I stepped up to the counter and was greeted by a man with curly black hair and flour on his cheek. “
Buonasera bella signorina
,” he said with a smile. Not that I knew Italian, but I knew what ‘bella’ meant.

I smiled back. “Hi, I’m here to pick up pizzas for Douglas.”

“
Si. Una momento.
”

As I stepped out of the way of the next customer, I bumped straight into someone.

“Sorry!” I said. I spun around, cringing, hoping I hadn’t just spilled spaghetti Bolognese down someone’s shirt. “Sorry, I didn’t mean-”

Whoa, it was him, it was that guy, from the bus and with the dog.

“Hey, it’s you,” he said.

“Yeah, and it’s you,” I said. “The laugher-and-bailer.”

He grimaced. “Yeah, that sounds like me. I
am
sorry about that.”

“Which bit?” I said. “The laughing or the bailing?”

“Both? Though I did pull him off you, right? Eventually.” He grinned and even though he was like, the worst rescuer on the planet, there was something totally forgivable about him.

I smiled.

“Poppy, wasn’t it?” he said.

“Yeah, hi,” I pushed a random twisted lock of hair out of my face. I couldn’t remember what I was wearing. What was I wearing, was I in sweat pants, looking like a dork? Oh my God was I wearing my pink fluffy slippers? I subtly glanced down at myself. It was okay, I was in my jeans and a grey hooded sweater with a Care Bear on the front, and my kicks. Not fantastic, but could have been worse. I had to believe it could have been worse. In case he hadn’t noticed it, I crossed my arms over my chest, hiding the embarrassment that was a Care Bear sweatshirt. Ty, however, looked great. His previously brushed hair was now a little scruffy, like he’d run his hands through it a couple of times, and some of it was hanging in his face while other bits stuck up straight in the air. He was wearing a biker jacket, green low V tee shirt and dark jeans and just…he looked good. Different to how he looked in his Mount Martha’s Uniform. And not a speck of Bolognese to be seen.

“How did things go with the dog? You get him to the pound?” He glanced toward a table where a bunch of other boys sat, watching us. One of them had straight orange hair to his shoulders. He gave me a little wave. One of the others squinted at me for a moment, and then his eyes lit up and he leaned forward and started talking to the boys at the table. Weird.

“That was so funny today, I told my boys all about it,” he said.

“You did?”

His smile disappeared as he caught the mortification on my face. I didn’t look back at the table. There was no way I was looking back at that table. That’s what the guy had been talking about, they all knew me as the victim of some mighty determined leg-humping.

“Yeah…sorry, it was just so funny and…I didn’t…sorry,” he said.

I nodded.

“You have to admit, it
was
pretty funny,” he said, testing a smile on his face before wiping it off again. I tried a tentative smile too and he smiled a little wider.

“It probably was,” I said. “For
you
.”

“Yeah. Freaking A.” He all-out grinned now. “So the dog, did you-”

I flinched as one of the boys from the table watching us came over and punched Ty hard on the shoulder. Then he grinned at me.

O-kay…

“How come you didn’t tell me you know PoppyLongStocking?” he said to Ty.

“I don’t,” Ty said. He frowned at us and then his eyes lit up. “Whoa, hey, yeah. You’re her.”

“What?”

“You’re her! You’re PoppyLongStocking.” Ty’s friend said.

“You watch my channel?”

“Dude, I’m a subscriber - SeBESTian.”

“Oh,” I said, recognizing the name from comments on my videos over the year. “Yeah, hey.” I stuck out my hand for him to shake but he swatted it away and pulled me in for a hug, my arms pinned to my sides.

“You are a genius writer,” Seb said, nodding at me. “
Genius
.”

“Wow,” I said, crossing my arms in front of the Care Bears again. I didn’t know what to say. “Thanks.”

“Pizzas for Douglas?” the guy at the counter said, smiling at me and holding up two pizza boxes.

“That’s me,” I said, walking over and taking the boxes. “See you later.”

“So long, PoppyLongStocking!” Seb said, waving. I smiled back at them and Ty had an amused smile on his face, watching me go. He didn’t say goodbye, but for some strange reason he saluted me. I walked back out to Dad and the car.

“Who were they?” he asked as I handed him the boxes and climbed in. I slammed the door and he handed them back to me, starting the engine.

“Just some guys I know,” I said.

“Oh.” Dad didn’t ask any questions. We drove home to the tune of Billy Holiday, heading home to eat Pepperoni and Supreme pizza. And cold vegetables.

***

Chapter Six

I stood at the collection counter at Coffee Buzz with Vanya and Mads the next morning, squirting caramel around and around into my coffee.

“So mystery boy has a name!” Mads said. She took a sip of her latte and then licked the foam from her lip. “Ty. I like it.”

“Obviously I can’t ever talk to him again though,” I said. “I mean, it was pretty much the most embarrassing moment of my life. Yes he got the dog off me and then he walked me home, which was nice.” They both smiled. “But it was awkward as hell and I think we should just leave it alone.”

Mads’ body seemed to sag as I nipped any potential match-making in the bud. He’d been nice and all, and okay, he was kind of hot, but I didn’t need Mads getting any ideas in her head. Hopefully that would be the end of it.

I changed the subject. “As we speak, my mom is probably dropping the dog off at the pound,” I said. “It’s a complete menace.”

“Really?” Mads said. “A
complete
one?”

I ignored her. “Did I tell you how it got onto the kitchen table and put the whole chicken in its mouth?”

“Poppy-” Mads said.

“And it was practically devouring Bex, slobbering all over her face.”

“
Poppy.
”

“And it smells like something feral, I can’t actually be sure it’s not a zombie-dog because it sure smells like it’s dead.”

Mads whacked me. “Poppy.”

“What? What is it?”

“Don’t look now, but Am to the Cay is here and totally coming over,” Mads muttered under her breath. Vanya looked behind me, and then back at me.

It was way too early for cryptic conversation. “Am to the…what are you talking about?”

Mads looked appalled. “Do you seriously not know Pig Latin?”

Vanya gave her head a quarter inch nod behind me. “Cam’s coming over and he looks
pissed
.” I turned around and saw Cam striding toward us, staring at me. Van was right. That was not a happy face over there. I turned my back to him again and sighed.

“Poppy!” A voice called from across the street. We all looked over, everyone that was waiting at the bus stop looked across the street, it had been so loud. Mads’ mouth fell open, as Ty, in his Mount Martha’s suit waved at me with a big smile. He stepped into the street, a horn blasted and I shrieked as he jumped back onto the sidewalk, having nearly been collected by a delivery truck. He looked both ways and crossed more carefully this time, jogging over to me.

“Hi PoppyLongStocking,” he said.

“Hi.”

“I can’t believe it’s really you. Seb nearly started squealing like a little girl after you left, he was so excited.”

“Last night?” I heard Mads mumble to Van, nudging her with her hip. Clearly I had skipped a part of the story.

I ignored them. “He was?” I said. “Because of me?”

“As he said already, he loves your channel. Big time. And he showed us all your new one, The Kiss Off – it rocks hard, by the way. We all think it pounds, you know?”

Um, no, I didn’t know.

“But Seb loves it most,” he continued. “I mean, he wants-it-to-have-his-babies kind of loves it.”

“Oh,” I said. Babies… “You’re talking about the song, right?”

Ty laughed. “Yeah the song. We learned it, played it a couple of times, just jamming and stuff last night.”

“You’ve played it?” I said. “Jamming? My song?” My brain wasn’t functioning, I was probably going into shock, this had all been…well,
unexpected
was one word for it.

“Yeah, so listen, if we can get your okay, we’d love to play it at a gig sometime. I think what we’ve done with it could be really something, it’s such a rockin’ track.”

Gig?

“So are you in a band or something?” Vanya asked.

Ty turned his attention to my girls for the first time, blinked a couple of times and shifted his backpack on his shoulder.

“Sorry, yeah,” he said. “I have a band called Academy of Lies, we play around town a bit, sometimes we get spots in the city,” he said. “I’m Ty, by the way.”

“Shut up,” Mads said. “You’re in Academy of Lies? I love that band!” She shook her head in disbelief and then gave me a big smile. “Seven-oh-one FM play you guys all the time.”

“Yeah, my cousin Blake’s one of the DJs, he puts our demo on sometimes,” he said with a shrug, like it was no big deal. No big deal – what a faker.

“You have a demo?” Vanya said. “Impressive.”

“That. Is so.
Cool
,” Mads said and then looked at me. “You’d love them, Pops. For realz.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I was fully aware of Cam standing back, pretending he wasn’t listening. But he was. He was listening to this older boy, probably a senior and a rock star with actual gigs tell me how awesome my song about Cam my cheating ex was. I tried to think of horrible things, of dying babies so I wouldn’t smile too widely.