Lip Gloss
by Brandon J. Perkins
Amy slammed the door as she stormed out of the house, on her way to school. She was still furious at her boyfriend. Well, her ex-boyfriend. He'd broken up with her last night for some blond-haired w***e in his sociology class. She'd make him pay, she thought as she got in her car and sped off. She'd get a date with the hottest, most popular guy in school, or something. She'd make sure he saw it. Then he'd be jealous. Of course, she knew in her heart that that would never happen, but she wouldn't allow herself to believe it. She wasn't a bad looking girl, but the hottest guy in school? Come on. Oh well. She'd find somebody.
Amy came home from school depressed. No luck. She'd tried to avoid all of Brian's hangouts in school, afraid she'd see him with that girl. In that respect, she was fortunate. She sat down on the couch, and picked up the phone, brushing aside a strand of her raven colored hair. Maybe she should dye it blonde. Blondes have more fun, after all. She dialed the number of her friend, Nick. "Hey, what's up?" Nick's voice said, as he realized who it was.
"Nothin' really," Amy replied, "I'm just pissed off."
"Ah, Brian still got you down, huh?" Nick said, knowingly.
"Yeah," she replied.
"You wanna hang out?" Nick said.
"Yeah," she replied. He always seemed to know what she was thinking.
"Cool. I'll bring over a couple of movies or something."
Amy smiled. "Thanks Nick," she said.
"No problem," Nick replied, "What are friends for?"
The doorbell rang. Nick was standing there with some movies, and a pint of Rocky Road ice cream. He was so sweet. "I don't need any ice cream," she said, "I'll get fat."
"You're not fat," he said, rolling his eyes good-naturedly.
"Oh, I know you," Amy said, "You're just fattening me up so you can eat me."
"Whatever you say Gretel," Nick said. The two of them laughed, as he stepped in the room, and shut the door behind her. Nick really was a good-looking guy. He had sandy blond hair, and a little brown goatee on his chin. He sort of reminded her of Shaggy, from Scooby-Doo, only Shaggy was a lanky guy, and Nick wasn't. He wasn't what you'd call buff, but he definitely had some muscle.
"Here we go," Nick said, as he popped in a DVD, "Thelma and Louise. My sister says it's a great chick flick, so I figured you'd probably like it."
"Thanks," Amy said.
The house was empty now. The movie was over, Nick had gone home, after asking again and again if she was all right. She'd finally convinced him that she was, and he'd headed home. An empty pint of ice cream lay on the table. But Amy was still thinking about Brian. Damn him. She decided to go for a walk. Maybe that would help her clear her head. She slipped on some shoes, and went outside. It was getting dark, and the warm spring wind was beginning to cool. Amy just let her mind wander, thinking about anything and everything. But in the end, it always came back to Brian. She sat down, on the cold concrete steps of a house, and started to cry. It wasn't long before she heard a voice, next to her?
"What's the matter?" It said. She looked up, startled. A man sat next to her. He was only slightly older than her, around twenty or twenty-one, she guessed.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said.
"Don't worry about it," he replied, "Why don't you come inside and dry your tears? I'll grab you something to drink, too." She looked at him suspiciously.
"Oh, don't worry about it," he said, "I'm not gonna try anything funny."
"Well, ok," she said. He opened the door for her, and she stepped inside. It was a quaint little place, tastefully decorated, but obviously a guy's apartment. Over in the corner, draped over the chair was a windbreaker. On the back was a logo depicting a smiling man with a waxed mustache on it. Above it were the words "Papa Alfredo's Gourmet Pizza". Amy snickered at the name.
"What's-a the matter, you no like-a Papa Alfredo's?" The guy said, in a perfect Italian accent. She laughed, and he grinned at her. "Hang on," he said, "I'll get you something to drink."
She realized something then. He was absolutely gorgeous. He had spiky platinum hair, and a black goatee that traced its way down the middle of his chin. He was wearing a tight black shirt, and tight black leather pants, which showed off his a*s quite nicely, she thought. She kind of wished he would try something funny. He returned, causing her to avert her gaze. He held to glasses of fizzing soda. "I hope Diet Pepsi is ok."
"Yeah that's fine," she said.
"Great," he said, "So, what's going on? You look pretty upset."
"My boyfriend broke up with me for this girl in one of his classes," she said.
"That b*****d," he said, though not angrily.
"Yeah, I'll say," she replied, staring down at the bubbles in her soda. She looked up at him. By the way, I'm Amy, she said, holding out her hand. "Oh, yeah, how rude of me. You can call me Djinn.
"Djinn?" she echoed.
"Yeah, that's sort of my nickname," he replied.
"Interesting nickname," she replied, "how'd you get it?"
"Oh, it's a long story," Djinn laughed.
"Oh," she said. They sat in silence for a while. "I dunno, she said, "I guess I'd give just about anything to have a guy all in love with me again."
"I see," he said. He stood suddenly, and went into his room. "I may have just the thing for you, he said. He returned, and tossed a small object to her, which she caught. She looked down at he small glass tube in her hand.
"Lip-gloss?" Amy said, surprised, "Are you saying my lips are chapped?"
"It's not lip-gloss," he said.
"Well what is it?"
"You'd think I was crazy if I told you," Djinn replied.
"Well, considering you seem to be telling me that I need lip-gloss to get a guy, I already think you're kinda crazy."
Djinn paused. "Good point," he said. "Alright, it goes like this. Put it on your lips, and kiss your victim on the cheek. This will cause them to fall in love with you. It works once per application." Amy stared at him.
"I knew you wouldn't believe me," Djinn lamented.
"No, can't say that I do. But, let's suppose it's true. Suppose it really can do what you say. Why would you give it to me?"
"Because I want to see you happy," Djinn replied.
"Uh-huh," Amy said.
"Why are people always so distrustful of good deeds?" Djinn sighed.
"There's no such thing as a free lunch," Amy shot back. She stood up.
"Well, I'm going to get going." She held out the glass tube.
"Keep it," Djinn said, "maybe you'll find a use for it someday."
"Alright, fine," Amy said, putting it in her pocket.
"Bye," Djinn said, as she walked out the door, "Hope I helped."
Amy forgot about the lipstick for a few days, until one night when she and Nick were watching movies. For some reason she thought of it. She looked over at it, sitting on the end table, next to the lamp, then over at Nick, who was engrossed in the movie. It was, after all, an action flick. One thing she knew, Nick didn't have any feelings for her. She had tried to get his attention when they first met but it hadn't worked. Gradually they had become friends. So Amy decided to do a little test. He wouldn't react too much if she planted a kiss on his cheek. She twisted off the top of the little applicator, and rubbed it across her lips. It was warm, and it kind of tingled. She leaned over and gently kissed him on the cheek. For a moment, nothing happened. Nick looked over at her. Suddenly, his pupils dilated, and his breathing became heavy. Amy put her arm around him, and could feel his heart racing. "Are you ok?" she asked worriedly.
"I'm fine," he said, his voice shaking. He gave her a nervous grin. Then he leaned over, and kissed her quickly on the lips. Amy jumped, startled. "I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to scare you."
"It's ok," she whispered, still shocked.
They sat awkwardly for a moment. "Well, I should go," Nick said suddenly, jumping up and headed for the door. Amy got up, and followed. She opened the door to see him heading out to his car.
"Nick, wait!" she said. He stopped and turned around.
"I'm really sorry," he said again.
"Nick... it's ok," she replied. She smiled at him.
"Ok," he said flashing her a crooked grin. Then he left. Jeez, she thought to herself, men can be such idiots when they fall in love.
The next day at school, Amy stopped by her locker to get her math book. She opened it to find it filled with flowers. There was a little card.
To Amy
Love, A Secret Admirer
Amy looked around, at the other girls, some of whom were practically green with envy. She smiled to herself, as she gathered the flowers up, smelling their perfume. Maybe this wasn't too bad. But it was.
The next day, she got more flowers from Nick. And the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that. Amy was starting to get scared. She got home one night, and called Nick. "I think you should come over, Nick," she said to him. Nick showed up about fifteen minutes later. When Amy opened the door, she was assaulted by a barrage of cologne. And Nick never wore cologne. That's another thing guys do when they're in love, she reflected. They wear too much cologne. She invited him in, and sat down on the couch. "Nick, this has to stop," she said finally. Nick looked hurt.
"What do you mean?" he said.
"I mean the flowers, the little love notes, everything. We're just friends," she replied softly.
"But… when you said it was ok that I kissed you, I thought that…" Nick trailed off.
"It was ok that you kissed me, Nick," she said, "but that doesn't mean that we're an item, or that we ever will be. I'm sorry. I just want to be friends." Nick looked at her, and she thought for a moment that he was going to cry. He looked down at the ground, blinking rapidly, then jumped up, and left. "Nick!" she called after him. But it was too late. He was gone. Amy sat down on the steps and started to cry.
The next day Amy drove to school, hoping everything was ok with her and Nick. God, she didn't want to lose his friendship. She stepped out of the car and headed for her first hour class. As class started, a police officer came into the classroom. He whispered quietly to the teacher. She nodded.
"Amy, could you please follow me to the principal's office?" the officer said. Trembling, Amy got up, and followed him. Mr. Underhill, the principal greeted her as she came in, and offered her a chair.
"What's this about?" Amy said nervously. "I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but Nick Carroll committed suicide last night. I'm sorry. I know what good friends you two were."
"Oh God," Amy said. Then she began crying, huge sobs wracking her body. The officer put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Finally she was too exhausted to cry any longer. The officer presented her with a Styrofoam cup filled with water, and a box of Kleenex.
"I'm really sorry about this, ma'am," he said, "but we just need to know if you had any idea why he might have done this."
"It's my fault," she said sniffling, "He wanted to start dating me, but I didn't want to. I finally confronted him, and told him that I didn't want a relationship. He was really upset when he left my house."
"I see," the officer said, "well, I'm sorry that I had to put you through this."
"It's ok," she said.
"Why don't you take the rest of the day off?" Mr. Underhill offered. She gratefully accepted. The officer escorted her home, and she watched from the window as he drove off.
"This is all my fault she moaned," as she fought back the tears again, "me and that damn lip-gloss…"
That's it! Amy was on her feet and out the door. She ran down the street, took several turns, and finally found what she was looking for. Djinn's house. 776 Parker Ave. She ran up the steps, and pounded on the door. Djinn, wrapped only in a towel opened the door.
"Well, hello Amy!" he said brightly, "How are you doing today?"
"You son of a b***h!" Amy screamed, flying at him. He dodged artfully out of the way only infuriating her. She came at him again, screaming more obscenities. Finally Djinn had had enough.
"Shut up, Amy. I don't want to have to hit you." Amy managed to calm down.
"So you're here about Nick, I'm assuming," he said innocently.
"Of course I am! Why the hell else would I be here?!"
"Well you never know," he replied.
"You killed him, you f****r!" she yelled. He gazed at her intently.
"I did? How did I kill him?"
"That damn lip-gloss!" she yelled.
"Why do you keep calling it lip-gloss?" Djinn said, annoyed, "I told you it's not lip-gloss, but you keep calling it that."
"Look!" Amy shouted, "I didn't come here to get in an argument about what that s**t's called!"
"You came to make me pay for killing Nick?" he finished for her.
"Yes. You knew what that lip-gloss would do," she said, emphasizing the word lip-gloss, which caused Djinn to scowl, "but you gave it to me anyway. You didn't explain that this would happen!"
"Hold on there, killer," Djinn said, "you're getting mad at me because it did what I told you it would do? That doesn't make any sense."
"You killed Nick!"
"No I didn't," Djinn replied, "I've never even met the man. He committed suicide. I didn't touch him. He pulled the trigger."
"You influenced him to commit suicide," Amy replied acidly.
"No I didn't," Djinn said offendedly, "In fact," he continued, "If you want to get into the finger pointing game, YOU were the only one who influenced him. You killed him. Sure, I gave you the lipstick, but I didn't know how you would use it. You have no one to blame but yourself." Amy sank dejectedly in the chair. Then her face lit up.
"Bring him back then!" she said. "You can make people fall in love, you must be able to bring them back!"
"Oh no you don't!" Djinn said, "That is way too much work!"
"So you can do it!" she said.
"Yes, but I'm not going to," was Djinn's reply.
"What? You have to!"
"I don't have to do anything!" Djinn said, "Besides, resurrecting people is not an easy task. I'm not Jesus. I can't just wave my hands over people, cue the angelic chorus, and bring them back. I'd have to give a false memory of today to everyone who knows that he's dead, which is a good quarter of the city. That's a lot of work."
"Please," Amy said, "I'll do anything."
Djinn crossed his arms over his chest. "Nope," he said, "This was your fault. I'm not doing it."
"Please," Amy said again. She moved next to him, and began to unbutton his pants. Djinn looked down, surprised.
"Stop that!" he said. Amy looked up at him.
"Fine," he said, buttoning his pants, "Fine! Since you managed to screw up almost instantly, I'll bring Nick back, and give you another chance. But I am not happy about this." He looked over at her. "I have half a mind to make him gay. That might keep you out of trouble."
Amy's eyes went wide.
"You better not!" she shouted.
"Oh, I'm just kidding!" Djinn yelled, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, sorry," Amy said.
"Now listen," Djinn said, ignoring her, "He'll show up at your house, probably in a couple of days. He'll be kind of disoriented. Oh, and this whole suicide thing will be a nightmare that he had, but he'll forget it. Just so you know."
"Ok," Amy said, "and… thanks."
"Yeah. Well, it's gonna cost you. I'll figure something out, not much, just a little something."
"Ok," Amy said. And then she left.
Sure enough, Nick showed up at her door three days later. "How ya doin?" Amy asked, trying to act casual.
"Ah, I've been sick as hell the past couple of days," he replied, absentmindedly scratching the back of his head. "Had a dream the other night, too. Dreamt that I killed myself."
"That's horrible!" Amy said, looking shocked.
"Ah, it's ok," he said, "it was just a dream, after all." She could practically hear Djinn laughing.
Amy went in to take a shower. She let the warm water loosen up her tired muscles, and let her mind wander. After she'd been in for about twenty minutes she got out, turned the shower off, and began to dry herself off with her favorite towel. It was a huge purple towel that she'd gotten as a kid. She'd always liked it, because it had been big enough to cover her completely, so that she wouldn't get cold when she climbed out of the tub. It was still big, even now, a good ten years later.
She walked over to the mirror, and jumped in surprise. Someone had drawn an evilly grinning smiley-face in the steam on her mirror. Djinn. She wiped away the steam with her hand. Standing behind her was Djinn, grinning like the face he had drawn on her mirror. She whirled around. No one there. She turned back around. No reflection. Why don't you just show yourself?" she yelled. No answer. She started to pick up her hairbrush.
"Ok, if you insist," a voice said. She screamed, and whipped around again. Djinn was standing there.
"You b*****d!" she yelled.
"What?" Djinn said, acting offended, "I did what you told me to!" Amy sighed. Then she noticed Djinn was now sporting a beautiful leather jacket, the hung down to the backs of his knees.
"Where'd you get the jacket?" she asked.
Djinn grinned.
"Used your credit card."
"What?!" Amy shrieked.
"It told you it was gonna cost you to bring Nick back."
"You said it would cost me 'a little something' a leather jacket is NOT a little something! That's a very big something, in fact!" Djinn looked at her.
"Fine," he said, "I'll go return it, and arrange for Nick to be murdered."
"No!" Amy screamed.
"Oh, so you're ok with this little something?"
"You are so goddamn frustrating!" she yelled.
Djinn shrugged. "It's what I do best."
"Couldn't you have just conjured yourself one?" she asked.
"Yes, I could have," Djinn said, "but I'm all worn out from conjuring your secret admirer back to life, and removing your ill-advised kiss of death from his memory. Consider this a $200 dollar idiot fee." Amy rolled her eyes.
"Ok, fine Djinn," she said.
"I knew you'd see it my way," Djinn laughed.
The lipstick sat unused on top of her dresser for a few months. But it began calling to her again. Amy still couldn't get a date to save her life. Brian was still making his rounds with all the girls he could get his hands on. Finally, Amy could stand it no longer. She put on her lip-gloss, and kissed Mark, the captain of the football team. She was the talk of the school for the next week. Who was this girl who had stolen the heart of the captain of the football team, and made him dump his gorgeous cheerleader girlfriend? Once again, it was fun for a while, what with having a man who had ignored Amy now humiliating himself for her, but once again, it got out of hand. He had no will of his own, Amy reflected. If she wanted to go to a movie, he instantly agreed. She could name off any movie, it didn't matter what. Once, when he asked her what she wanted to do, she had said she wanted to head out to the garbage dump, and take a tour of it, just as a joke. He agreed instantly. Then one night they were at home, snuggling in the couch, and things got a little out of hand. Amy told Mark to stop. Mark didn't stop. So Mark got swiftly kicked in the groin, and thrown out of the house.
The next day at school, one of Mark's friends angrily confronted her.
"How could you be so mean?" he said, "He would have done anything for you, and you just dumped him. We had to talk him out of killing himself."
"It's not my fault," Amy said, "He went to far, so I kicked him out. What did he expect?" It occurred to Amy that she sounded like Djinn.
"But you didn't even give him a chance to apologize!" the man said. Amy turned, and started to walk away. "Don't know what he saw in an ugly b***h like you anyway," the guy said. Amy turned, furious. Then an idea entered her head.
"But you don't think I'm ugly, do you Todd?" she said. Todd looked surprised.
"What?" he said.
"Do you think I'm ugly?" Amy said, as she casually applied some lip-gloss. Todd was about to respond when she grabbed him by the shirt, yanked him forward, and kissed him full on the lips. Todd staggered backwards, looking as if she had hit him instead of kissing him. "Well, Todd, do you think I'm ugly?"
"No… no, of course not," Todd stammered, "I-I'm so sorry about all those things I said to you."
"I'll bet you are," Amy said.
"No really, I'm sorry. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?"
"No," Amy said, "now go away." Poor Todd sat down against a wall and started to cry. Jeez, the poor guy, Amy thought, I really hurt his feelings. That didn't seem like as much fun as I thought it would. Panicking, she ran away.
She ran to Djinn's house, and knocked on the door. To her surprise, and old man opened the door.
"May I help you?" he asked.
"Uh, is Djinn there?" she asked, flustered.
"No, I'm sorry," he said, "No one by that name lives here."
"Ok, I must have the wrong address," she mumbled, and ran off.
Eventually the whole ruckus at school died down. When it did, Amy met the most incredible man. His name was Doug. He was in her art class. He always sat quietly by himself. One day she asked to see his drawings. They were beautiful.
"You have a lot of knowledge about the human anatomy," she said to him. "Thanks," he replied. She asked him out to coffee, but he refused. She kept pining away for him, day after day, but he would have nothing to do with her. So, once again, an idea entered her head. So, one day she went to school with her lip-gloss in her pocket. She got a date with him, for that night. Unlike the others, he was polite, and calm, and very romantic. He took her out to dinner at a fancy restaurant, and they had a great conversation. They started seeing each other. He drew her naked, she drew him naked, they made love. And so it went. But it came to pass that Amy found out how he could afford to buy her nice things and take her out to dinner. He was pawning his things. He had stopped drawing altogether. All his attention was focused on her. One night, they were lying together on the couch.
"Doug, we can't keep seeing each other," she finally said. He looked at her, startled.
"Why do you say that?" he said concernedly.
"You've been pawning your things to take me to the movies, you never draw at all anymore… I'm just not good for you. You need your art."
"No, I need you," he said.
"I'm sorry, Doug," she said, "perhaps you'll realize that this is for the best in time." She got up to leave.
"No!" Doug said, "Please don't go Amy! I need you!… I love you!" But she was gone, hurrying out to her car, trying not to cry. This can't be happening, Doug thought. It can't be happening.
"I'm so glad you changed your mind," Doug said to Amy, as he carried her to his couch downstairs.
"Me too," Amy said, as she rested her head on his chest and gazed into his eyes,
"I guess I just overreacted." He sat down on the couch, and kissed her lightly on the cheek.
"Don't worry about it, we all do it," He said, "I'm just glad to have you back."
"I know," Amy said, giving him a peck on the cheek, "I'm glad to have you back too." Of course, Amy wasn't really saying any of this. Amy was dead. But Doug couldn't see the vicious gash across her throat, or see her eyes rolling back in her head. Because to his schizophrenic mind, she was alive. He hugged her tightly. All was right in the world for Doug. Because he was in love.
Epilogue
Nick sat in the computer lab. His eyes were red and puffy from crying. This couldn't be happening. Amy couldn't be dead. His mind was still reeling from the shock.
"Sorry to hear about what happened to Amy," the man next to him said.
"Thanks," he replied, as he gratefully took a Kleenex from the man.
"Oh, I should introduce myself," Nick said. He held out his hand. "I'm Nick."
The man shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Nick," he said, "Hey, you know, maybe I can help you." And then Djinn smiled.
THE END
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