Chapter 21 #2
“I kissed him. Summer before high school, in Carson’s batting cage.”
I nearly choke, “You?”
“It wasn’t just a kiss, though, and it wasn’t to get to Jovie. I don’t know what it was, but it changed me. I thought about him, Lainey. For weeks, months even.”
“She saw you,” I whisper. “She saw you and lost her damn mind. She fucked up mine and Nash’s entire families, Cori!”
“I…I didn’t know.” She stutters, “You have to believe me, Lainey. I didn’t know about any of that.”
I groan, “Neither did I. Not until the Nash we all thought we knew and loved went psycho. He’s not been the same since then. Something died inside of him.”
She stills, “I had no idea. I was blindsided by him that day. Back home, I couldn’t be anyone other than Corinne Clark, the dance prodigy, and when I was alone with Nash in that batting cage, I was someone else.
Someone I liked better. He hates me, Lainey.
That’s all it is. I can see it every time he looks at me. ”
“So you think it’s about revenge?” I ask.
It’s like the culmination of it punched her in the stomach. I try for just a split second to place my hatred for him aside, knowing that she’s upset.
“He wasn’t always bad,” I add.
“I can see it,” she pleads. “I see it little by little when I have to force the layers back.”
“He wants to destroy you, Corinne. Don’t be fooled by his charm that you see every few days. It’s not gonna outweigh his need to make you suffer in the end.”
“He wants to ruin me, and I want nothing more than to fix everything that’s broken inside of him. I think all the rage is just a mask to hide that he’s hurt.”
“What happened,” I exhale. “It wasn’t your fault. Jovie did this.”
“Maybe not, but I want to save him, anyway.”
“You’re asking for trouble,” I huff. “He’s going to drag you kicking and screaming to the roof of LHS and drop you straight on your ass.”
“Lucky for me, I left home dealing with the same type of thing. I’m already picking the broken pieces of myself up from rock bottom. You can’t break someone when there’s nothing left. Maybe the only people who can heal us are the ones who broke us to begin with.”
I feel that.
As much as I hated Nash for how he’s treated me and how much hell he’s put me through these past couple of years, I know his pain, and I feel it the same as him. The same hurt.
After talking about Nash, my entire evening shifts into something else, something I can’t quite place my finger on.
I feel this urge to reach out to everyone I need in my life.
I start with Madden. I type up a quick text, letting him know we need to talk.
I have to get past whatever is driving a wedge between us because I feel a little less like myself without him.
Cori and I have become close over the past couple of weeks, and it feels nice to have a girl to confide in when all I’ve ever known is Madden.
It is refreshing to share how I feel with someone who understands my hormones.
I told her how Drayton makes me feel, how he almost reminds me of Madden.
How similar they are but in different ways, if that makes sense.
Like they have the same type of heart. It is almost like getting to date my best friend without the mess of actually dating my best friend.
Cori is also a little more experienced than me, so I talk to her about how I’m not sure if I am ready to take that next big step. If I ever will be ready. Not that I think Drayton will try to pressure me into anything, but I don’t know if I will be ready when the time comes. How would I even know?
It surprises me when she says she wished she would’ve waited.
How sex seems so unimportant when everyone you know is doing it, but it’s much more than that in reality.
Did she wish she would’ve waited for Nash?
Could he even mean that much to her? Or is it Carson?
I haven’t missed the looks those two are throwing at each other.
That can get really messy, really quick.
Especially if she has feelings for both of them.
Talk about destroying the precious Sharks.
I feel brand new after the girl-talk and getting all of my feelings out about Drayton and Madden, and I really needed it. Cori’s phone vibrates in her hand right as she picks it up, “Nash said he’s going to go home and get ready before picking me up. So we have a few minutes.”
“Yeah, Dray had some kind of family meeting but said he’d stop by after, if everything went well. I’m sure it has to do with everything that happened last week.”
She glances down at her arm, remembering. Or trying to forget, I’m not entirely sure.
“You gonna wear that outfit on your date?” I question, raising my eyebrow.
“It’s not a date.” she snaps. “He said it’s not a date.”
“French Fries are still potatoes,” I laugh. “Here, let’s shop my closet.”
She rolls her eyes and slips her ripped jeans off. I toss her a red long-sleeved bodysuit and a black leather skirt. “Maybe it will be harder for him to destroy you when you look hot as hell.”
She giggles, putting the clothes on, “I’m gonna wear this, and he’s going to have me crawling through a cemetery.”
I raise my brow, “Your first thought was that he’d take you to a graveyard?”
She rolls her eyes, “Well, it definitely wasn’t some romantic picnic.”
She’s right. Nash hasn’t ever put in any kind of effort before.
He will probably load her up in his Jeep and take her to a drive-thru.
I check my snap, hoping for an update from Dray.
I can’t believe I’m already totally obsessed with him.
I’ve known him for five whole minutes, and I can’t stand being away from him.
“Am I crazy for already being stupid over Drayton?” I ask.
“Um…” she snickers. “Have you seen him? He’s totally hot, and half of the teenage female population is falling at his feet.”
“You’re right. You’re totally right,” I agree, reading Drayton’s message that just came through.“Uh, I think something is wrong.”.
“Something is definitely wrong,” Cori agrees. “It’s been an hour since Nash said he was taking a shower. I think he’s standing me up for our not-date.”
I pass Cori my phone. The Snapchat picture still pulled up, “Was Drayton at Nash’s house?”
“I… I don’t know. Something is going on, though,” I snap him back a picture of us, asking if he needs a pretend emergency to bail him out of the family meeting. Not sure what I could make up, but I’d definitely send out a 911 call to save him.
Cori and I wait for another thirty minutes with nothing but silence from both guys. By now, she’s had time to put on a full face of makeup at my vanity and talk to her mom on the phone, and I’ve done absolutely nothing but sit here and wonder if Drayton is ever going to show up.
“I think I’m gonna head home.” she says “It’s pretty obvious Nash isn’t coming.”
I nod, watching her start to pull out her phone, right as mine rings. Drayton’s voice is rushed through the speaker, and I rush out to his Jeep to see what the hell is going on. Cori is on my heels, but Drayton is halfway to my front door when I close it behind me.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, rushing to him. The obvious hurt in his eyes, blood dried around his busted lip. “What the hell happened Dray?”
He wraps me into a hug while Cori hangs back a little, nothing but a bundle of nerves and worry.
“It’s bad, Lainey. Things are about to get really, really bad.”
“Who did this to you?” I ask, rubbing the pad of my thumb gently over the cut on his lip.
“My new roommate,” he sneers, frantically rubbing his hands back through his floppy light brown hair.
“Roommate?”
“Lainey, I’m moving to Legacy.”
Cori rushes up, “Moving? Like in with Nash?”
Drayton nods, “Nathan is sending his mom to a rehab program. She agreed to go, and we’re moving into that house because Nash can’t live there alone. I can’t… I can’t live with him. I hate him!” He rushes out, making his way back to his Jeep.
“Dray, wait!” I yell, grabbing the Jeep door before he goes to close it. “Just let me go with you. Let’s go talk.”
I look back at Cori. I don’t want to leave her, but I also need to go with Drayton right now. I have to be with him.
“Go,” she whispers. “Someone is on the way to pick me up.”
“It’s not Nash,” Drayton huffs. “He’s probably halfway to another state by now.”
Her eyes turn sad as she pulls her phone out, and I remember our talk from earlier. I don’t want her to get hurt, and I don’t want to upset Drayton, so I decide to put my feelings aside and whisper, “Cori, you wanted to save him. Go find him.”