Chapter 16 Rae
RAE
My best friend was sprawled out on a flannel blanket under our maple tree.
Her brown curls fanned out behind her like a river of chocolate spirals, and her hand was dramatically thrown over her face, shielding her from the sun.
A speaker softly played our favorite playlist from the porch, and between the two of us, we had a few notebooks scattered.
“Did you keep any journals or physical evidence of any of your crushes?”
Nora let out a small grunt, then slightly sat up. “No.” Her dark brows caved as she considered something, and then she slapped her forehead. “Wait…that’s not true.”
Smiling, I cut into the notebook, seeing the confessions of love and obsession begin to fall to the blanket in tiny pieces. “I knew I wasn’t the only messed up person on the planet who documented her obsession.”
“No”—Nora pointed a finger at me— “you’re definitely on your own with all this, but I did create a Pinterest board.”
My notebook dropped into my lap and plopped to the blanket. “What?”
Nora stared off to the side, while nodding. “A wedding board.”
“I have to see it!” I dove for her phone.
“Noooooo.” She batted my hand away, but I was already gripping it.
“Rae, let it go! Oh my gosh, you can’t!”
“You saw my humiliation, it’s only fair!” I stood, holding the phone up in the air like I couldn’t get service.
Nora settled in, folding her legs together, criss cross applesauce style, while tucking her arms in tight. She looked like a toddler throwing a tantrum. “You don’t even know my password.”
“You’ve had the same one since middle school,” I muttered in response, navigating to her Pinterest app.
I heard Nora mutter a curse word from her pursed lips.
“Oh my God.” I froze in place, my mouth dropping at the images before me.
Nora jumped to her feet. “You have to understand that I put most of it together when I was drunk!”
“Nora-Bora, you were stone cold sober when you did this, don’t lie.” I slid my finger along her screen, staring at the lavender colored gowns she had selected for her bridesmaids, and relishing the dog carrying the ring down the aisle.
“You don’t even have a dog!” I continued swiping and flipping while Nora let out heavy sighs from the blanket.
“In my alternate reality, where my crush adores me and wants to marry me, we have a cute little dog who’s like a son to us and would be our ring bearer.”
It was cute, her wedding idea. Stringed lights, outdoor, small, lots of green ivy and potted plants. I could envision all of it, and the more photos I looked at, the more wistful I felt, until…
“Is this…wait a second, is this what he looks like?”
Nora squealed, jumping to her feet and throwing herself on my back. “You weren’t supposed to scroll down that far!” She reached for the phone, but my arms were longer.
“Rae, give it back!”
I was laughing so hard, half crouched with her on my back, that I couldn’t breathe.
“Two things: first…I have to know who this crush is, and second, where did you find that photo?” I sputtered, my eyes watering while I stared at the man in question.
He had blond hair, long enough to be pushed under his backward hat.
He had striking blue eyes and a drool-worthy jawline that was firm and pronounced. He reminded me of a surfer.
“It’s on his website. I found it when I was working with my dad. So yeah, I sort of saved the image, and then created the pin, but the board is private. He’ll never see it.”
“Okay, so there’s a real actual person who—"
“What are you two doing?” my mom suddenly called from the kitchen window, interrupting us.
We both spun, chiming in unison, “Nothing.”
It was difficult to see my mother through the screen, but she waited a beat before saying, “Come on in, Carl is here for dinner.”
Giggling, we huddled together to grab our things and then headed inside.
Carl was already seated at the table, his hulking form folded into one of our small kitchen chairs.
“Hey, Car-Car, how are you?” I sat down next to him and expected him to lean over and hug me, but he just sat still as stone, staring off toward the living room.
“I’m headed home. See you later, Rae!” Nora called before exiting the house, her face still crimson from my discovery of her secret wedding board. I smiled, thinking of what I’d seen.
“What’s that smile for?” Carl suddenly asked, brisk and cold.
Put off by his tone, I almost didn’t answer, but his eyes were warm and his body language relaxed.
“Just an inside joke.”
He nodded, while his brows crowded his forehead. Mom and Dad were still talking by the sink about the diner, unaware of our conversation.
Carl hesitated, eyeing them like I had, then he leaned closer. “I just thought maybe it was from that Davis kid…he was in today asking questions.” Carl shook his head, like he was banishing the memory, but now my blood was heated.
“What was he asking?” My voice was raspier than I intended, but all things Davis related still felt like a cord pulled taut in my belly. It felt familiar, like I owned a piece of him.
Carl glanced over toward the sink briefly then back at the empty plate in front of him.
“Just about some girl…” His gray eyes bounced up and landed on me hard. “Just stay away from him, kiddo. He’s bad news.”
I nodded absently, mentally grappling with the words he’d said.
Some girl.
He was asking about a girl?
That cut deeper than I wanted to admit. I was purely anti Davis, especially after going through my boxes, but there was still a poisoned well inside my heart where Davis existed, and hearing that he was asking about another girl seemed to be as painful as taking a pull from those waters.
My stomach tilted.
Images of that night in the library played over and over in my head, forcing me to remember how frivolous Davis was with women. I was nothing to him—always had been, always would be.
When chicken pot pie hit my plate, I nearly doubled over. I ended up pushing the food around my plate for twenty minutes before excusing myself. Which did nothing but remind me that I was a fool, and there would never be anything attached to Davis Brenton but pain.