by Tijan
of thiss."
"Me neither," I whispered against my own volition.
Viola waved a hand in the air. "You're saying this because I'm making you. Listen to me, whatever beef you have with my granddaughter, you bury it. You make nice with her. You make genuine with her. You do that from now on. You keep away from those girls who are only going to backstab you."
"I don't gibe those bithes the time of day." Clarissa hiccupped again and pressed a hand to her forehead. "How many did I have? I'm tho drunk. I can't beliebe you did this do me."
I could. My grandmother was ruthless at times. Deputy Doug had professed it enough.
Then Clarissa slapped the table and leaned forward. "She had thex. Did you know that? You need do know that. If I'm being right with Rna, I habe to tell you that. She had thex, but I won't tell you wib who. That's for Rayna to thay."
Viola patted Clarissa on the arm. "I know who she had sex with. Honey, there'd only be one boy she'd be foolish about."
"Oh, good. Thaths good. I really think Brady luvs her. I didnna realize it until when he starded bringing her around. She neber came outh before and Brady was always mine, sorta. You can see why I got so jealous, right? I'm jud human. I'm jud…I liked him so much…" She paused and I heard the tear in her throat. When she wiped at her eyes, I felt my own starting to tear up.
Viola cursed and quickly hid the bottle of bourbon. She grasped Clarissa's arm and stood her upright. Clarissa 'wooed' as she stumbled to the side, but grabbed my grandmother's arm for better balance. Then I heard the front door open and slam shut. It opened again to slam shut a second time and then a third time. No voices were heard, but I could hear my grandpa unsnap one of the clips on his coveralls. His boots were shed next. Then Kid and Brady traipsed inside still in their swimming trunks. They had shirts on now and all three males stopped in the doorway to study us.
No one said a word for a moment.
"What are you all looking at?" Viola barked. She shoved Clarissa towards Kid.
"She's drunk." Brady stared. "She wasn't that drunk when we went to the barn."
Kid kept silent.
Grandpa Neil shook his head with a resigned expression and turned for the basement. I was in awe at his smarts.
"We had a little heart to heart," Viola replied curtly and nodded at her. "Get her home. Don't kill each other on the way out. Me and my granddaughter have a doctor's appointment to be getting to."
Brady glanced from the two empty glasses to Clarissa and Viola. He cleared his throat a second later and offered, "I can take her…"
"Like hell you will!" Viola barked, but blanched a second later. "I mean, this is something for the girls to be doing. I'm her grandmother. I should be there for her." She gestured to Kid again. "Go on. Take her out of here. Brady, you go home."
Kid swept intelligent eyes over Viola, me, and Brady. Then he tightened his hold and pulled her after him. Once the door had closed behind them, Brady hesitated for a second, "All due respect, Viola, you've been drinking. I'll take Rayna to the doctor. I'm a part of this anyway."
"You ain't a part of this!" Viola cried out and then paled. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Brady. I know you've got a good heart. I know you care for her. I know you're not like him—maybe I have had too much."
My mouth fell open as Viola wiped her eyes and stumbled past Brady up the stairs.
I watched as she left again. A tear pricked at the corner of my eyes and I let out a sob. As I fell to the chair behind me, I tucked my forehead into my knees. Everything was coming down on me. The storm had been held off, but now I couldn't deny what I'd done to my grandmother. She'd gone a little crazy and I couldn't help to wonder if I was the cause of it. Did she push Clarissa because of me? Maybe she was trying to save me a different way? I felt like such a disappointment.
"Hey, hey," Brady soothed as I felt him grasp my knee. He patted it and then combed his fingers through my hair. After a moment, he sat beside me and hugged me against him. "What's wrong?"
I lifted my head and the tears slid down my cheeks. "I think I'm just like my mother. How could I do that? How could I be like her?"
Brady drew back. "Um…"
When I felt another tear come, I sighed and closed my eyes. I'd fought all my life not to be like my mother, but it'd been useless. I was her.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
We took Brady's car since he'd gotten a ride to the river and my car was still at school. When I checked in at the front desk, I could feel the clerk's disapproval. She was ready to damn me to hell, but I clung to the desk with white knuckles. As she typed in my insurance information, I felt like she could read my plight to the world, like it was branded on my forehead. Devirginized forever.
"You can have a seat and someone will come and get you." Her eyes gave me a bored look, but her voice was cold.
I stiffened and turned to the waiting room. Brady had already taken a seat by the magazines with a pile in the empty chair beside him. When I approached, he gestured to them. "I got all these for you. You know how these doctor places are. We'll probably be here for three hours."
Just as soon as the words left his mouth, the bell rang and we looked over. Frank Stephens walked in with a bleeding Kidrick behind him. As Papa Stephens, stiff in his gray suit, went to the front desk, Kid scanned the lounge and zeroed in on us. Surprise crossed over his face before he made his way towards us.
"You're not going to hit me if I sit within a couple feet of her?"
Brady growled, but ignored him and buried his face inside of a magazine.
"What are you doing here?" I asked Kid when he moved closer.
He glanced over his shoulder. When he saw that his father was still at the front desk, he replied, "Clarissa was so drunk that when I took her home, she fell getting out of the car. I tried to help her and ended up banging my head so hard I was knocked out."
Brady's shoulders jerked. I ignored his muffled laughter. "How is she? Is she okay?"
"Oh, yeah. She's fine. She's zonked to the world. Me, on the other hand, had to stay put because Clarissa's parents wouldn't let me leave until Daddy dearest showed up. They didn't trust me driving. Said I might have a concussion." He cringed again. "I hate this. I feel like an imbecile."
"Because you are." Brady shot him a dark glare, but couldn't contain his smile. "For a tool, you got what you deserved. Drunk Clary knocked you out? Anybody can knock you out."
"Shut up."
"I bet Rayna could knock you out."
"Shut up," Kid growled louder this time. His fist clenched around the wet towel on his forehead.
I flicked the magazine. "Why don't you continue reading? Let the adults talk."
Kid laughed and Brady glared at me briefly, but hunkered back over his magazine. I eyed his father at the counter. "Why are you sitting over here?"
"Because I know he won't come over here. I can't handle too much time with my dad if you hadn't noticed by now."
"He terrifies me." I shuddered.
"He terrifies everyone." Kid grinned from the side of his mouth and then grimaced.
"Not me." Brady looked up and stared at Frank Stephens long and hard. There was no fear, no caution or regret. Nothing.
Watching Brady as he watched Frank Stephens, a shiver passed through my body. This wasn't the comedic or fiery Brady. I was staring at someone who looked like he'd aged thirty years in that moment. He was older, wiser, and stronger. When I glanced at Kid, I was surprised to see a sudden wonderment in his dark eyes. Then he looked at his father and I looked too. Frank Stephens sensed our scrutiny and turned to our direction. I squawked, but he didn't flinch or look away. He stood there, straightened away from the counter, and narrowed his eyes. Cold.
Finally, Brady broke the tension and murmured, thumbing through his magazine, "He doesn't scare me. Not one bit."
"That's not what you said the first night I bailed you out of jail."
Brady shrugged. "I wasn't scared of him."
"You were scared of someone els
e?"
Brady reflexively looked at Kid, but didn't reply. When I looked over, I knew Kid wasn't going to say anything either. His fierce frown seemed permanently etched into his face and I couldn't handle it anymore. "You guys are driving me crazy! Grow up. You had a fight. Deal with it. You were best friends and then Kid comes back and now you're enemies? Yeah, right."
Brady looked over. "What bee is stinging you in the ass?"
"I am pissed off." I folded my arms and leaned back in my chair.
Brady and Kid both fought off grins, but neither said what I knew they were thinking. I looked like a little kid having a temper tantrum, but I didn't care.
"I'm really mad about this. You guys were so close and now nothing makes sense. It should be a great thing that Kid came back. Instead, you're going gorilla crazy on him and my grandmother doesn't want me to have anything to do with Kid. I don't know why this is all happening and it's making me go crazy."
"That's the only reason you're crazy?"
It took a second before his statement registered with me and I reacted in the next instant. My fist balled up and I swung wide. My punch was perfectly aimed with my whole body behind it. When I made contact, Brady fell back against the magazine rack, more from shock. Kid gasped and then started laughing so hard he groaned from the pain. As he scrambled for the garbage pail to vomit, Brady reared back and held a hand to his cheek. He watched me cautiously now. "Don't hit me again."
"Don't patronize me again," I retorted. I wasn't stupid. I knew I wouldn't get another punch in. Brady was too fast, but it didn't matter. I didn't want to punch him again. I just wanted to wake him up. This was serious to me and it was wreaking havoc in my life.
"Sir, Miss."
We looked up at the approaching nurse dressed in pink scrubs with elephants on them. She was tall, but just as round. However, it was her eyes that caught our attention. She meant business when she added, "There will be no violence in the waiting lobby. There will be no violence at all and if it happens again the police are usually in the emergency room. It won't take long to get them here."
"No, no. We're good. I made her hit me, thought she would hit like a girl and all." Brady saved the day.
The nurse looked from my stormy face to his passive one and arched a waxed eyebrow. "Really?"
"Really."
"Does she hit like a girl?"
"Hell, no." Brady laughed. "It'll be the last time I ask for it again."
"Mmm mmm," she harrumphed. "Don't do it again."
"We won't. Promise." Brady smiled. That was all it took. Sometimes I found it disgusting. The nurse melted, but I caught the awareness in her eyes. She knew he was putting on the charm and she tried to not heed it, but she failed. She plundered. "Well okay, but remember my words."
"We will. No problem there." Brady caught my hand and pulled it into his lap. As he massaged my knuckles, he chuckled again when she left. "Man, Rayray. I can't take you anywhere."
"Says the guy who's been arrested how many times?"
"What are you saying?"
"I've never been arrested. I've never hit anyone except you and you don't count."
Brady nudged me. "There's always a first time, Rayna. You could hit someone someday. I'd enjoy it."
I was about to roll my eyes, but sat up straight when a nurse entered the waiting room. "Rayna Janke?"
"Right here."
"Kidrick Stephens," another nurse called out. She stood right next to mine.
Kid stood hesitantly and wiped one of his hands down the front of his swimming trunks. He glanced from his father to Brady and back to me. Reluctantly he followed me as I led the way with my nurse. Just before we moved into the back area, I turned and looked. So did Kid. We both watched as Frank Stephens slowly sat where Kid had vacated, smack dab across from Brady. Both watched the other. It looked like they wanted to stare each other down.
Kid sighed beside me and touched the back of my arm. "Come on."
"Are you sure…?"
"Yeah. I think they'll be fine." But he didn't sound it.
"Rayna Janke?" My nurse tapped her foot impatiently. She was standing outside a small room.
"Okay. Good luck," I whispered to Kid just as he squeezed my arm in reassurance and then ducked into his own room.
Once inside the nurse took my weight, asked a couple of questions, and ignored my blush when I admitted to being sexually active. "Honey, having sex ain't my business, but let me tell you that it's almost refreshing to see a young girl blushing about it."
I was a little relieved. Then the doctor swooshed in and took a seat underneath me, smack dab in the middle of my legs.
He announced, "So you're here for birth control?"
"Yes," I whispered. Was I being stupid? But I wasn't. Brady and I were best friends, if not…more…and I wasn't going to ignore that we'd had sex twice. We'd probably do it again.
"I see that you are menstruating right now."
I nodded, mute.
He didn't care. "What are you thinking?"
"Uh…"
"A lot of girls your age use a monthly cycle of pills. Would you like that? Any particular brand?"
"One that…works?"
He nodded to himself and made a few notes in his chart. "I see that you were in here for a physical not long ago. Everything checked out then and you've been sexually active since?"
I nodded again.
"Did you want to be checked for sexually transmitted diseases?"
Uh…
"Listen, this is what I'll do. You need to wait a few more weeks before we should check you for STDs. Right now here's a prescription for a birth control pill that I commonly prescribe. It should work out. If you wish to change or have concerns, come back for another visit. Until then, anything else, Rayna?'
I was surprised he didn't need to check the chart for my name.
"Uh…"
He stood, smiled politely, and extended his hand. "Anything else, if your parents or guardians have any questions, just call me. Okay?"
"Okay," I whispered and held onto the prescription paper he'd given me.
When I left, I glanced towards Kid's, but it was still closed. Brady's head was stuffed in some magazine while Frank Stephens watched him. I would've assumed that he'd look at Brady with loathing or hatred, but it wasn't there. I didn't understand it. Instead, the older man watched him with a guarded look.
I bypassed both and went into the pharmacy where no one else waited. When I gave my information and handed over the prescription, the pharmacist barely glanced at me before he started filling it.
"Hey." A hand clamped on my arm.
I screamed.
"It's just me," Kid soothed. He patted my arm again and frowned. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Just…I thought I was the only one in here." Brady hadn't heard me so I relaxed. No further fight was to be had. "You scared me, that's all."
"Oh." Kid frowned again, itched his head absentmindedly, and then handed over his own prescription.
"You're okay?" I was embarrassed at how raspy my voice sounded. Why couldn't I be normal once in my lifetime?
"Huh?"
"I mean, you were bleeding. You don't have a concussion or anything? What meds are you getting?"
"Personal much?" Kid mused, half grinning. "I'm just kidding, Rayna. I'm fine. Doc cleaned up some cuts I got from my car and then I was smart enough to ask for a refill of my allergy stuff. You?"
"Same. Allergies."