The A-Word by Joy Preble

avocado. My lips tingled from the kissing and the wasabi.
    The waiters got together and sang “Happy Birthday” and put a candle in a bowl of edamame. Nice touch, Mom.
    Ryan texted while we were eating. I had my phone on silent on my lap. He wanted to meet me at break time Monday in the Commons area.
    Hope you like the last cupcake. ~R
    I did let slip that Ryan was taking me to Homecoming. Mom allowed that maybe we should buy me a dress, and did Forever 21 have something that would work since that’s where my gift card was from? I said I would look into it. Casey was texting through this discussion. I wondered if it was to Lanie.
    After that we went home. Or rather, Casey dropped usoff and said he had something to do. He did not elaborate. If it was angel business he couldn’t say it in front of Mom. Of course, Mom didn’t blink about this, which pissed me off even though I should have just let it go. So I stood on the driveway after she’d gone inside, thinking that my birthday was almost over and that all told it had been a good one. Also, my lips were remembering Ryan’s.
    Mrs. Gilroy was out front, perusing her fake graveyard. Her paint cans and brushes were stacked against a pine tree.
    “Looking spooky,” I told her.
    “Having trouble finishing,” she said. “MJ’s been under the weather, and my arthritis is acting up. The rest of those gravestones will have to wait till tomorrow.”
    I nodded, not knowing what else to say. A thought fluttered: Mrs. Gilroy was old. Bo Shivers was older. This disturbed me in more ways than my brain could handle.
    Eventually, I went inside.
    I showered. I got in bed. I texted Maggie. She called and I told her everything about Ryan’s kissing. It made me feel less bad about not telling her all the other stuff.
    Here is what I did not do: fall asleep. My brain was whirring with Ryan and his lips and the fact that I had a BOYFRIEND now.
    By midnight I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to sleep.
    By 2 A . M . I was positive.
    I got up. I peeked into Casey’s room. He was still gone.
    This is how I decided that I would sneak outside and surprise Mrs. Gilroy by painting the rest of those tombstones. She’d left the Halloween lights on, so it was pretty damn bright out there.
    I was putting the finishing touches on BELOVED AUNT MATILDA, FELLED BY AN OAK TREE (which I thought was anice addition, to add the cause of fake Aunt Matilda’s demise) when Amber Velasco trotted out of the darkness. I tried not to jump.
    “What are you doing?” she asked.
    “Painting gravestones,” I said.
Wasn’t it obvious?
“It’s two in the morning. So now I’ll ask you the same question.”
    Amber glanced at Mrs. Gilroy’s yard, then back at me. She didn’t answer.
    “Where’s Casey?” I demanded.
    She didn’t know. At least that’s what she said. Suddenly, I suspected that he might be at Bo’s. There was more to Bo’s role in things, I knew, and so did Casey, and there was only so much he could take before he went and did something dumb. Since there was nothing I could do about it, I decided not to obsess over it.
    Amber chewed on her lip for a bit, then said, “Sorry I left … like that.” She stopped there. Apologies weren’t Amber’s strong suit. “I hope it went well with Ryan.”
    “He brought cupcakes,” I said. “We’re going out now,” I added. I left out the kissing. She hadn’t apologized enough for that.
    “Oh,” said Amber. “Well, good.” She looked at her boots.
    “Want to do one?” I held out the second paintbrush. Terry’s necklace was framed on her chest in the V from the open buttons of her shirt.
    We painted in silence for awhile. Amber came up with: SULLY ANDERSON: GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN .
    I did one that said: FIDO. BEST DOG IN HEAVEN .
    Every now and then, Amber would reach up and touch that silver and turquoise cross, as if to make sure it was still there.
    “You know,” I said, dipping my brush in the paint to startanother stone. “Just