Page 28 of Lost
Natalia was a supermodel with her perfect make-up and neatly done-up hair. Weren’t mothers of babies supposed to look exhausted? She looked more like she’d just stepped off the front cover of a magazine.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Harmon.”
“Nat,” she corrected him with a smile. “Please. We’re all family here. And this is Melody,” she added, gesturing to the child in Georgia’s arms. “My pride and joy.”
Lysander looked to the tot just in time to see her attempt to shove her entire fist into her mouth.
“Takes after her father,” Zack chuckled.
She did, though for different reasons than what Zack was implying. Melody had the same hazel eyes that he remembered Brendan having, and the same rounded nose. Those golden ringlets were all her mother’s doing, though. He smiled at her. She giggled right back.
Zack led Lysander to the back of the house, leaving Georgia and Nat to gossip. A set of French doors led to a wide timber deck where Pat, Brendan and a woman who could only be Pat’s wife were already seated. He had to take a second look when he caught sight of the brunette — she looked so much like Natalia that for a moment he almost believed that the two women were one, despite their differing hair colours.
Sisters, Dakota’s voice rang through his mind. He recalled her telling him that the singer and the lead guitarist had married siblings.
He fixed his eyes on Mrs. O'Sullivan as she did the same to him. The two sisters had the same piercing brown eyes, the same full lips, but their differences were more easily noticed when Natalia took a seat beside her sister: she had the narrower face; her sister smiled wider. Even without the obvious difference in hair colour, there wouldn’t have been an issue telling them apart.
Pat and Brendan both smiled and greeted Lysander warmly, the former going as far as to add, “It’s nice to see you again.” He smiled back. Pat’s wife stood to greet him before his father had the chance to introduce them, taking his hand in much the same way that her husband had the first time Lysander had faced him. Her shake was steady, her smile friendly.
“Vicky,” she introduced herself. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
“Lysander,” he replied. He was getting sick of hearing his own name.
He took the vacant seat beside Brendan, leaving the two on the other side of the deck to be occupied by his father and Georgia. Zack let him go with a proud sort of smile that Lysander didn’t feel he deserved.
He listened to the adults chatter away with each other, only speaking when it was necessary or he was needed for another introduction. The day became a steady stream of names that he was supposed to remember: the band’s bassist Jackson Kristovski (“Chris, please.”) and his wife Juliet; their drummer Aaron and his new girlfriend Amber. They all blurred together until Lysander found himself forgetting the names almost the second he learned them.
The last people to arrive were Brendan’s family. It was easy to remember his father’s name, as it was something that the two shared, but the step-mother and the younger brother’s names were lost on Lysander immediately after they introduced themselves and wandered off to say hello to everybody else. The party was spread out all around the backyard now, but Lysander found himself still seated in the same place he’d begun. Only now, he was alone.
“Hey.”
He looked up, preparing himself for yet another introduction. He hoped it would be the last.
The girl smiled down at him, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. In one arm she held little Melody, and with the other she held out her fist to him. For a moment he stared at it curiously, but then he realised it was her form of greeting. He bumped his own fist against hers lightly, feeling like an idiot. It must have shown on his face, because she chuckled.
“It’s Lysander, right?” she asked, a smile tugging at her lips. He nodded. “Awesome. I’m Marina.”
“Marina.” The name struck a chord within him; he knew of her. “Brendan’s sister, right?”
“That I am. It seems our reputations precede us both.”
Now that he’d had it confirmed, he recognised her. He’d been familiar with her face three or so years ago, when Dakota had tried in vain to contact her in an attempt to get in touch with their father, but she had changed quite a bit since then. She was maybe eighteen now, and the purple hair she had once sported had returned to a natural light brown, though it still had a blue streak or two.
“Any particular reason you’re sitting all the way over here when the party’s obviously moved over there?”
“Not my sort of crowd.”
“Come with us, then,” Marina said, nodding toward the house. “Mel and I are going to watch a movie. Aren’t we, munchkin?”
Melody grabbed a fistful of Marina’s hair in response.
Continue sitting alone in the yard, or hang out with someone his own age. Lysander didn’t need to think about it. He followed Marina back into the house, into the pristine living room that was both brighter and messier than Zack’s but still boasted the same fantastic entertainment set-up. Marina set her niece down on the floor before grabbing the remote to put on a movie. Lysander chuckled as Melody scooted closer to the widescreen and squealed with delight as the title screen forThe Little Mermaidpopped up.
“One of her favourites,” Marina said apologetically as she pressed play and dropped down onto one of the couches. “You can sit, y'know?”
He did, taking a seat at the opposite end of the couch so that Marina had room to kick her shoes off and stretch her legs out between them. Despite being three years his senior, she was a few inches shorter than his five foot seven — only just tall enough for her toes to scrape his knees if she tried hard enough.
And she was about as interested in watching a fish-girl as he was. “So how do you like the family so far?”
