Kiss (18 page)

‘Did he kiss you?’ I asked suddenly.

Mum went bright red. ‘No!’ she said.

‘Then why are you blushing?’

‘Well, because I feel silly. OK, we
did
kiss, just when we said goodnight.’

‘Did he kiss you first or did you kiss him first?’ I asked.

‘Look, I’m not spelling out all the details! And I don’t honestly know. It just happened out of the blue. First we were saying goodbye, and then I think I leaned forward, maybe to kiss him on the cheek, but somehow we ended up
kissing
kissing.’

All right, I thought. That’s the way to do it.

JULES DROVE US
to Kew on Friday evening, Carl, Paul, Miranda and me. We stopped at Pizza Express on the way. I was so keyed up I could barely eat. I was sitting next to Carl but he was busy chatting to Paul about some stupid production of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
they were doing at their school. They started talking in cod Shakespeare.

‘Oh, methinks ’tis a pizza! Marry, I love the dish.’

‘Aye, my good fellow, let us nosh this excellent fare.’

They wouldn’t stop, even when Jules begged them.

Miranda yawned. ‘Canst ye not give it a
rest
, you guys?’ she said, breaking off a piece of Carl’s pizza, an extra cheesy bit.

‘Get off! ’Tis
my
morsel!’ said Carl. He prodded her gently with his fork.

‘Thinkst thou I am frightened of thy weapon?’ said Miranda.

Paul snorted with laughter and Carl joined in.

Miranda sighed heavily. ‘Give us a break, guys, you’re being so
boring
. Are you
in
this play?’

‘We’re rude yokels,’ said Paul.

‘That figures,’ said Miranda. ‘So which ones? Are you Bottom?’

‘I’m Snout the Tinker, so I also play Pyramus’s father. Carl’s Flute, so he’s got to play Thisbe, this bird that Pyramus is in love with, and he has to kiss her.’

‘Shut up,’ said Carl.

‘Yeah, yeah, and it’s Michael Farmer who plays Pyramus. Imagine snogging
him
! We’re going to have to watch you, Carl, you might turn gay on us,’ said Paul.

‘Shut
up
,’ said Carl.

‘
Oooh
,’ Paul said in a silly camp voice. ‘
My love! Thou art my love, I think. Kiss me, kiss me – oooh, Mikey, kissy kissy kissy
.’

Carl stabbed at Paul with his fork. Paul raised his own and they started up a silly fork fight.

‘You boys and your forking fights,’ said Miranda. ‘Stop it!’

‘Yes, stop.
Now
,’ said Jules.

‘I’ll divert them,’ said Miranda. She opened her big shoulder bag and brought out a small
purple-velvet parcel. ‘It’s present time,’ she said.

‘Oh God, I forgot. I was going to give you that glass pig, wasn’t I?’ said Paul.

‘It doesn’t matter. I don’t want presents,’ Carl said quickly.

‘I think you’ll want mine!’ said Miranda. ‘Come on, open it up.
Carefully
.’

Carl cupped the purple present in his hands. It looked as if it might contain a piece of glass. My chest went tight. Carl opened the parcel slowly, stroking the velvet, then finding the black tissue paper inside. He slid a finger delicately under the sellotape, unwrapping until he held the present in his hand.

‘Oh!’ he said.

‘Let’s see. What is it?’ said Paul. He peered. ‘An old paperweight?’ he said, sounding disappointed. ‘That’s a duff present.’

‘No it’s not!’ said Miranda. ‘Is it, Carl?’

He was too stunned to answer. The paperweight wasn’t pretty with little glass rod patterns like a mosaic. It was plain and big and round, with
Remember Me
in white, and a laurel wreath and a tiny rose with green leaves. Carl was holding it as if real roses were flowering in his palms.

‘It’s a Millville paperweight,’ he said hoarsely. ‘American.’

‘Yeah, the guy in the antique arcade said it was American,’ said Miranda.

‘Millville made Jersey Rose paperweights,’ said Carl.

‘Have you got some then?’ Miranda asked.

‘No, no. They’re way too expensive,’ said Carl.

‘Oh, Miranda, it’s incredibly kind of you, but I hope you haven’t spent
too
much,’ said Jules anxiously. ‘There, Carl! Aren’t you lucky? You’ve got your beautiful champagne flute from Sylvie and now your lovely paperweight from Miranda.’

‘Mm,’ said Carl, holding the paperweight up and examining it from all angles.

I knew Jules was trying to be tactful, mentioning my glass too. I’d tried so hard but Miranda had effortlessly trumped me.

‘It’s fine, Jules. I’m glad Carl likes it,’ said Miranda. ‘
I
think it’s a bit weird and clunky. OK, Birthday Boy, am I going to get a thank-you kiss, then?’

She leaned towards him, her mouth pursed. Carl didn’t push her away. He didn’t kiss her nose. He kissed her full on the lips right in front of me.

‘Hey, stop snogging, she’s
my
girl!’ said Paul.

‘I’m not anybody’s girl, I’m my own woman,’ said Miranda.

She was wearing dark lipstick. Some of it was smeared on Carl’s lips, making him look astonishingly beautiful.

‘
Oooh, Thisbe, thou art a luscious wanton-lipped wench
’, Paul scoffed.

Carl quickly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘Thank you, Miranda,’ he said.

‘So will you?’ she said.

‘Will I what?’

‘Remember me!’

‘Yeah, yeah. How could I forget?’ said Carl. He looked at her, then he looked at me, then he looked at Paul. ‘I think this is definitely going to be a night to remember.’

Dear Jules paid for the pizzas and then dropped us off at the Victoria Gate of Kew Gardens. It was pitch dark in the street, but the paths in the gardens were lit by little lamps and the big glasshouses were ablaze. There were two amazing swirly glass towers at the entrance to the vast Palm House, one yellow, one orange, both extending great glass tentacles at every angle. Carl peered up at them, noting every bubble and twirl, his eyes following each extraordinary spiral.

‘Boy transfixed,’ said Miranda. ‘So how does Chihuly do it, Carl? Why don’t all the woggly feelers break off the pole?’

‘He does them one at a time and then slots them in so they stay fixed for ever,’ said Carl.

He went on explaining to her as they wandered round the Palm House pond, their heads close together, Miranda’s hand tucked into his elbow, slotting in so it seemed fixed for ever too. Paul and I mooched after them, disgruntled.

‘Do you like Chihuly’s glass?’ I asked desperately.

‘’S OK,’ said Paul.

‘I believe you saw Carl’s collection in the Glass Hut,’ I said.

‘Yeah, yeah, it’s kind of weird. I mean, like, obsessive.’

‘Well, that’s Carl. Totally weird,’ I said. I meant it as a compliment but Paul frowned at me in the gloom.

‘In what way?’

‘In every way,’ I said.

‘You and Carl, you’re, like, an item?’ said Paul.

‘Well … yes,’ I said. ‘We’ve known each other ever since we were tiny. We go w-a-y back, Carl and me.’

‘So why is your mate Miranda making eyes at him and giving him flash presents?’

‘That’s just Miranda. She’s so warm and generous. She’s like that with everyone,’ I said.

‘I wish she’d warm up a bit with me,’ Paul muttered. ‘Has she said anything to you about me, Sylvia?’

‘Sylvie. Well. She’s said some stuff, you know, girl talk.’

‘Do you think she reckons me then? More than Carl?’

‘Definitely,’ I lied.

‘Well, tell you what, let’s try separating them, because they’re just going to rabbit on about
glass
all evening.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Hey, Miranda, wait for us!’

‘Come over here. Come and look at the boat on the lake,’ she shouted from the darkness.

‘A boating lake –
great
idea!’ said Paul, hurrying towards her.

I was left stumbling after them in the dark,
lonely and left out. Then Carl bobbed out of a bush and seized hold of me.

‘Doesn’t the glass in the boat look wonderful! And see all those round floating ornaments like giant glass figs? Chihuly calls them
walla wallas
– mad name, but don’t you think they’re brilliant!’ Carl felt in the dark for my face, putting his lips to my ear. ‘We’ll float them up and down the rivers in Glassworld, thousands of them, then all the children can paddle their boats and collect them in a Glassworld walla-walla water race.’

‘Carl?
There
you are!’ Miranda said. ‘Oh my, look at the lovebirds!’

‘We can be lovebirds too,’ said Paul. ‘I wish there were more boats. I’m ace at rowing. Feel my pecs!’ He raised his arms.

‘You keep your pecs to yourself,’ said Miranda. She consulted her map of the gardens. ‘Let’s go and find this sun piece that’s meant to be even more fantastic.’

We walked along to the Princess of Wales Conservatory, jostling each other in the dark, darting forward and swapping places as if we were performing a complicated dance. We stood still when we glimpsed the enormous glass sun, the thousand yellow spirals shining. Carl clutched my hand in excitement, the way he used to when we were children.

‘We’ll have a huge party at the palace and the glass sun will shine over us,’ I whispered.

He didn’t say anything because Paul and
Miranda were pressed up close within earshot, but he squeezed my hand. We made our way all round the floodlit conservatory, spotting the tall glass reeds amongst the real cactuses, blue bird shapes stretching their necks out of the water, green glass grass everywhere. It wasn’t just Carl who was enraptured. There were large crowds going
Oooh
and
Aaah
, and flashes from cameras.

‘Let’s go outside in the dark for a bit – this is doing my head in,’ said Paul.

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, Paul, can’t you see how much this means to Carl?’ I said.

‘OK, OK, you stay with him. Miranda and I will go and get a breath of fresh air,’ said Paul, grinning.

Carl turned away from the sun. ‘OK, I’m ready, let’s go.’

‘No, we’ll stay, Carl!’ I said.

‘No, it’s fine, really. I’ve had a good look,’ said Carl. ‘Come on then, you guys.’

I could have shaken him. He followed Paul out of the conservatory with a craven look on his face. Paul turned momentarily and raised his eyebrows at me in exasperation. Miranda also looked irritated. She strode forward in her black buckled boots, Paul in pursuit, Carl keeping close and me stumbling after them as Sylvie-tag-along.

‘Miranda? Wait! Look, let’s explore a bit,’ Paul said, taking hold of her arm and trying to steer her into the trees.

‘No, it’s
this
way,’ said Miranda.

‘But we’ve just
seen
the whirly things and the boat,’ said Paul.

‘Past them. We’ve got to see the Temperate House. Come on, the gates close in an hour.’

‘Oh, flipping heck,’ said Paul – or words to that effect.

‘Hey, mate, we can go off exploring if you like,’ said Carl. ‘Maybe we’ve seen enough glass.’

I stared at him. He never used the word
mate
and mocked anyone who did. And I knew he was desperate to see and marvel at each Chihuly piece.

‘No we haven’t!’ said Miranda, seizing him by the arm. ‘For God’s sake, you moron, it’s the best bit! They’ve got the Cherry Walk all lit up!’

It was like walking into a carnival dream-world. The trees were lit with coloured lamps so they glowed royal blue and emerald green. There were strings of fairy lights and fire-eaters swallowing flame and men on stilts striding ten foot tall through the undergrowth. It was so strange and magical that Paul stopped moaning and Miranda stopped being bossy. We walked together, all four of us, in the midst of the crowd drifting down towards the Temperate House.

We stepped inside and gasped. Gigantic glass flowers bloomed everywhere amongst the real plants and trees. A great green chandelier hung from the ceiling like a gigantic bunch of grapes. A tangle of gilded glass balloons spiralled almost down to the ground. Strange glass vegetation drifted in the little stream.

‘Look at the floats,’ Carl whispered, bending down and staring at the huge blue spheres, like the biggest glass bubbles in the world. ‘How can he make them this big?’

‘I like the ones like real flowers, the pink one and the turquoise one. Let
us
have flowers like this,’ I said.

I meant in Glassworld, but Miranda took me literally.

‘They’d be way way too expensive, silly. Even the simplest Chihuly piece costs thousands.’

‘Especially the
Macchia
flowers,’ said Carl. ‘They’ve got contrasting colours on the outside and the inside. I think they use opaque glass in between, but I can’t quite work out
how
.’

‘It doesn’t matter
how
. Let’s just enjoy them,’ said Miranda. ‘They’re so beautiful! Even you have to admit they’re beautiful, Paul.’

‘
You’re
beautiful, Miranda,’ said Paul, batting his eyelashes in a ridiculous fashion.

‘You are such an idiot,’ said Miranda, but she blew him a kiss all the same.

Then she blew one to Carl and he blew one back to her and then blew one to me until there was a flurry of kisses flying through the air and we were all mouthing madly, people staring at us.