Brady Remington Landed Me in Jail(36)

I heard the bed creak in protest as he stood up. "Are you sure? I wanted to make sure you're okay."

"I don't think I am, Brady. I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Rayna…come on…"

He wanted me to say that everything was alright, but I couldn't. I could still see the look on my grandmother's face. She looked at me like I was a stranger. I couldn't get that out of my mind. My throat choked up again. I shook my head and rasped out, "Brady, just go. I'll talk to you later."

He waited another few seconds, which seemed like minutes, before he crawled out of the window. As soon as I felt him go, I breathed in relief. I didn't know why I felt like Brady's presence was so oppressive, but it was. I shook my head and tried to clear my thoughts. I couldn't think like that. It was no good.

"Rayna, are you awake?"

I opened the door to my grandpa dressed in flannel pajamas, ready for bed. He extended a plate of steaming mashed potatoes with grilled chicken toward me. "I heard voices and thought you might be hungry."

"Sorry, Grandpa. I'm not hungry." My stomach growled. "Is she…?"

"She went to bed again, same damn migraine."

I saw the lie and chose to ignore it. "What about you, Grandpa? Are you disappointed in me, too? How come you'll talk to me and she won't?"

"It ain't like that, Rayray. It's not you that she's avoiding."

"Then what is it? Why couldn't she talk to me last night? Why couldn't she wake me up to talk today? Why'd she go to bed early?" My voice hitched on a sobbing note.

I searched his eyes, looking to see some answer that gave me hope, but he gave me a sad smile. "Your situation just sits real close to something else that happened. It ain't even about you, not really."

"But what? What do you mean?"

"You should eat your food and maybe take something to help you sleep. You have a busy week ahead. It's your graduation and you have lots to finish up with school."

As he left, I felt a small balloon of hope had been burst with a sharp needle. I'd been given a brief reprieve that maybe I hadn't disappointed my grandma so much that she couldn't bear the sight of me, but then with his abrupt departure I knew it wasn't so. It really was me that she couldn't see.

When I shut the door and stood there with the steaming plate, I thought over the coming week. I had one paper to finish. It wouldn't keep my attention and it was almost done.

I left the plate of food on my desk and went to the bathroom. I wouldn't need anything to help me sleep. I felt almost numb from lack of energy. When I finished getting ready for bed, I curled under my blanket and closed my eyes to fall asleep again.

When I woke the next time, it wasn't to darkness. I saw the familiar peeking of light through my windows and even heard the birds again. Unlike the last time, I wasn't disoriented at all; I knew immediately what had happened over the last few days. I quickly rolled over and smothered my face with a pillow. After I screamed into it, I didn't feel any cathartic release, only more agitation. I knew the day was not going to be a fun one.

Later, as I got to school and walked through the parking lot doors, I was right. Instead of everyone not noticing me, everyone noticed me. I felt my face get hot and ducked to shove it into the bag that I was clutching.

"If you take one more step, I'm going to flatten you."

Clarissa stood an inch from me holding a huge cake covered in clear plastic. Her eyebrows were arched in a warning.

"Are you getting married?" The cake was covered in white icing with pink flowers around the foundation. A figurine of a kissing couple was on top with a giant pink bow at the bottom.

"Hell no!" Clarissa scoffed and rolled her eyes. "This is the final project in my home economics class."

"I thought we had to sew our own bag. Wasn't that in seventh grade?"

"I'm in the advanced class. I wanted to get a jumpstart for college next year."

My eyebrows shot up. "We have home economics in college?"

"No, but it's going to be my degree. I'm doing a self-declared major. I want to be a wedding coordinator."

"Really?"

"Really." Her eyebrows went flat. "And before you make some smartass comment, it's not because I want to get married or anything. I just really enjoy weddings. I've never dreamed about my own wedding. I don't even know if I want to get married, but I really like them. I helped plan my sister's and then my other sister's. It stuck for some reason."

"Okay."

"Sorry. I get heated when I think people are making fun of me." Clarissa blew out a breath to cool herself off. Some strands of her hair billowed upwards for a moment before they landed gently and perfectly back into place.

"You'd be great at that job."

Clarissa raked a shrewd eye up and down me, but didn't comment. I thought I heard a slight "huh," but wasn't sure when she turned and went down the hallway. After awhile I followed and saw she was at my locker. The cake was gone.

"How'd you know this was my locker?"

She snorted in laughter. "Are you serious? Brady might've been done with school for a year, but he comes around. Trust me. When Brady Remington hangs out around a locker, everyone notices. He liked to wait at your locker."