A Second Chance (10 page)

Tate runs off to the garage as Brent and I walk out to his car.

“I’m sorry about him.”

“I get he is your friend, but does he always have to be around here? It’s like we get no time together.”

I stand on my tippy toes and kiss him, “Don’t worry about him. He is nothing more than a friend.”

Brent pulls me close to him and kisses me back; as I pull away I see his real smile come across his face. I tell him good night and wait for him to leave before I head back inside.

Brent and I have now been dating for a few weeks. Tate is finally not always crashing our dates or making comments about me being with him. We’ve seem too gone back to the friendship we had before we dated. And it’s nice. Something is going on with Lily and Ben but neither one wants to tell me what’s going on. And Courtney seems more off than usual.

I’m walking down the hallway of school when Tate comes up to me looking pissed.

“I need to talk to you.” He demands

I frown. “Ok?”

“It’s about Brent and Courtney.”

“Um, what about them?”

Tate looks around, and looks as if he’s struggling. “They’ve been seeing each other, Ray. For a few weeks now.”

I stare at him before answering. “Right. I’m sure.” He’s been doing so well with not trying to get between Brent and me. This is a new low.

“Ray, I’m not lying. Courtney finally spilled it to me over the weekend. She was drunk and it just came out.”

“You mean the same Courtney that tried to say you and she was still together while you and I were dating? Yeah, no. Don’t believe it.”

I turn to leave Tate standing in the hallway. I want to believe him, but at the same time Courtney has done nothing but try to take anything good away from me since I’ve moved here.

I go though out the day ignoring everyone, just wanting to get home and be by myself for a little bit. I haven’t had me time since I started dating Brent. It was either I was with Brent or Tate was round my house, trying to spy on me and keep tabs.

I
get home and change into my sports bra and shorts. I grab my IPod and go to the garage. It’s been a few weeks since I even did some exercise. 

As I get good and tired, I turn to grab a bottle of water from the mini fridge. I start to drink some as I see a shadow move; I scream and drop the water. Tate comes out of the corner, laughing at me.

“Tate. You have got to stop sneaking up on me!” I say as I bend down to pick up the bottle. “What are you doing here this time?”

He shrugs. “Just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out?”

“Sorry, no. Unlike you, when I am in a relationship, I don’t hang out with an ex when my boyfriend isn’t around. That’s how rumors get started.” I say, and then take a sip of my water. “Now, if you don’t mind, please leave.”

I start to head out of the garage when I notice he’s not moving. “Um hello, did you not hear what I said?”

He rubs his hands over his face and looks at me. “Did you think about what I told you today? About Courtney and Brent?”

“No, I haven’t. Why would I even think about that?”

“May be because it’s true, she wasn’t lying to me, Ray. And I’m not lying to you.”

“Tate, Stop. If this is some kind of ploy to get me back, it’s not working. It’s actually pushing me away from you.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just watching out for you.”

I walk out of the garage and head to the stairs as I hear him behind me. I stop half way up the stairs and turn around. “I don’t need you or anyone watching out for me. I have been watching out for myself for very long time now. Go home. And don’t you even think about following me up to my room or just showing up at my balcony doors tonight. I swear if you do either of those things, I WILL kick you in the balls!”

I get to my room and take a hot bath; I hate how Tate had gotten me so worked up. I get out and dress in my jammies, as I brush out my hair my phone rings. I don’t even look at the caller ID.

“What?” I command.

“Should I just call back?” I hear Brent’s voice on the other side of the phone.

“No, Sorry. Tate and I kind of had words tonight and he pissed me off more the usual.” Brent went silent. “You there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. What did he do?”

“Trying to tell me some stupid rumor, I don’t even want to talk about it. Just hearing your voice has calmed me down.”

“Yeah, listen the reason I called is because I can’t pick you up in the morning. I have something to do before school.”

“Oh okay. That’s fine. I will call Lil and see if she can.”

“Okay, well I’ll see you tomorrow, later Ray.”

I hang up the phone confused. Did he just call me Ray? He never calls me Ray and he sounded a little distracted. I hope everything is okay.  I call Lily before going to bed, just to get her voicemail, leaving a message asking her to pick me up. Hopefully she will show up, if not. I guess I have to ride with Tate.

Lily did get my message. Thank god. I didn’t want to ride with Tate today. Not after yesterday. She showed up early so we could go to her parents’ place to breakfast. 

As we pull into the parking lot, Lily goes quiet. “Isn’t that Brent’s car?” Lily asks. I look over and note that it does look like his.

“It couldn’t be, he said he was busy this morning so he couldn’t pick me up.” I say as I unbuckle and get out of her car.

We go into the restaurant, but me not paying attention, walks into lily’s back. “What the hell Lil?”

She whips around to face me, her face carefully blank. “Let’s just go, we can grab breakfast from the place up the street.” She says, trying to push me back out the door.

“Would you stop shoving me?” I push past her, not sure what is up with her. I freeze when I take a look into the dining area. Brent is indeed here, and he’s not alone. His arms are around a blonde. He looks down at her with love in his eyes and when she looks up at him, I finally see who she is. Courtney. What the hell!? This must have been what she meant when she said I would hate her more. Then I see them kiss passionately.

“Are you kidding me?” I screech out as I march over to their table. Both Courtney and Brent break apart.

“Rayleigh, it’s not what you think, we’re just having breakfast.” Brent says, trying to get me to calm down.

“Right, so you weren’t just holding her? You weren’t kissing her? You didn’t look at her like you were in love?” I yell.

Courtney doesn’t say anything. Just keeps her head down. “What is your problem with me Courtney? First Tate and now Brent?”

“I’m sorry, Rayleigh. This wasn’t supposed to be how you found out. You were supposed to just go back to Tate. I tried to tell you to go back to him.” She says quietly.

I look at Brent. “So what was this, Brent? Trying to get at Tate or something? Why even talk to me, if you have a girlfriend already?”

Brent stands up and stops just in front of me. Head down, staring at his boots. “You wouldn’t understand. Courtney and I have been together for a few weeks now. I mean, we, never meant to hurt you.”

“Right.” I say sarcastically. “I was starting to have real feelings for you. Thought you were this great guy, I guess not.” I look over at Courtney, then back to Brent. “Tate was right when he told me yesterday.” I shake my head. “You two deserve each other.” I storm out of the restaurant, not looking back.

“Lily, let’s just go to school. I’m not hungry.”

Lily takes me straight to school like I ask, as we pull up I see Tate’s car already there. I really don’t want to face him and hear an “I told you so speech”, not just from him but from any one.

I get out of Lil’s car and head straight into school, praying that Tate didn’t see me. I just want to get through this day and not speak to any one unless I have to. I go to my locker and change out books fast as I can, knowing if Tate seen Lily then he knows I’m already here.

As I slam my locker shut and turn to get to class, I run into a hard chest, as they reach out to steady me. I don’t dare to look up knowing it’s probably Tate. I take a deep breath and look up though my lashes, it’s only Ben. He looks down at me with concerned eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Fine.” I snap at him. I storm off to class.

I try to stay focused most of the morning, but all I can think about is Brent and Courtney kissing and holding each other. I hate them both, Courtney even more than before. Here is it 1 week exactly to my birthday, silly me thought it was going to be great. Having a boyfriend and some friends to have over, but now I can tell it’s going to be crap.

I walk into the cafeteria after I tried to find Lily to see if she wanted to go off campus, but I couldn’t find her.  I walk around to see who I can find after I grab a bag of Salt and Vinegar chips out of the vending machine. I didn’t find anyone but Brent, and as soon as I spotted him, I went the opposite way to the court yard.

I walk out to the court yard and spot Tate. Great, another person I don’t even want to see right now. He was sitting with two people kissing each other and laughing. I didn’t even want to find out who the happy couple even were, all these couples are making me sick. I just want to go home right now.

As the bell rung to go to class, I decided to walk to the nurse’s office and play sick. I would rather just be by myself and not around anyone.

Lying in bed, thinking about all that took place the last couple of days, with Tate, Brent and Courtney. I know I need to talk to Brent and find out why the hell he played me. But at the same time, I think I would smack the shit out of him if I saw him right now. I know I need to talk to Tate and apologize. But I’m stubborn, and I hate apologizing.

I’ve been thinking all afternoon about everything. Was I a moron for not taking Tate back sooner? Should I give him another chance? But then I would go into thoughts of Brent. I was really starting to fall for him. He seemed like such a great guy. But was I only with him to piss off Tate? Ugh, I hate my thoughts. I wish I could just be blank.

I’m snapped out of my head when my balcony doors open. I don’t even bother to turn towards them. “Hi Tate.”

“Hey.” He says hesitantly. “Lily told me about this morning. You ok?” Of course she did. What the heck is going on with her? Oh yeah, she wants me with Tate.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He doesn’t say anything, but I feel his weight on the bed and his arm comes around me.

“Want to go out and get some ice cream?” he says into my hair.

I sigh, “Sure.” I start to turn over to get up, but his hold on me doesn’t loosen, it gets tighter. He rolls me to face him. His hand moving my hair out of my face, and before I can ask him what he’s doing, his lips are on mine. 

He pulls away as we are both breathless; I look into his green eyes. “You’re not mad at me?” I ask him.

“No, why would I be?”

“Because I didn’t believe you, or trust you.” I say the last part quietly.

“I understand the reason why you didn’t believe me, but I did not give you a reason to not trust me. “

I didn’t say anything else; I didn’t want to say anything else. We lie in my bed and look at the ceiling, as we drift off to sleep together.

I
wake up the next morning rolling over and hitting something hard. Oh, crap. “Tate, get up.” I shake him, he doesn’t even stir. “Seriously, you need to get out. My parents find you in here and we both will be in deep shit.” His arm wraps around me.

“Relax; you are about to be 18 in less than a week.”

I know we have today, and then we are out of school for 2 weeks.

“Wait, how did you know when my birthday is?” I prop up and look at him with a confused look.

“I talk to your parents, remember?”

“Right.” I start to push him again, “Now, Go! I need to get ready for school and so do you.”

Tate stands up and heads for the balcony. “Am I taking you today?” He turns to flash a smile at me.

I groan. “I guess.” With that answer, Tate walked out of my balcony. I lay back touching my lips, kissing Tate again felt right. But I have no idea where we stand at now.

T
ate and I have gone back to normal this past week. Just hanging out, talking, just being friends again. And it’s been nice. I want to talk to him about us. I want to give it another go.  But also, before I do that, I need to talk to Brent. I want to know what the heck was going on. I’m not mad anymore, just need information. 

“Hey Tate.” I say, as I make my way out to mom’s car. I notice him outside with the basketball in his hands.

“Hey, Ray. Where you off to?” He yells over.

“I’m going to finally talk to Brent. I want answers.” Tate nods.

“Want me to come with?”

“No, I need to go alone. He might not even open the door if you are there.” I say laughing.

“Alright, well later.”

It takes me about ten minutes to get to Brent’s house; I pull up to the curb in front of a blue ranch style home. I spot Brent’s car in the drive way.

I knock on the front door and within a few seconds it’s opened and there stands Brent. He shifts uncomfortably, but lets me in. I take notice of Courtney sitting on the couch in Brent’s shirt. When she sees me she sits up straight and looks hesitant.

“I’m not here to cause a fight or anything. I just want answers.” I say, as I sit on the chair across from the couch. Brent sits by Courtney and both stare at me.

“I admit, I was pissed. But I’m not now. I don’t even care. But I do want to know why you played me like that Brent.”

Brent rakes a hand through his hair and looks at Courtney before talking. “Can you promise not to hit me?” I nod.

“Why?” Was the only thing that came out of my mouth.

“First off, I didn’t use you, or try to keep you away from Tate.  I do care about you, but I never once wanted to hurt you. When we got together I was not seeing Courtney, she goes though these phases when she pushes people away and the only person she wants around is Tate. I can’t tell you the reason why.” Brent looks at Courtney and grabs her hand. “But that morning you saw us, we only had just got back together a couple of weeks before. That’s why Courtney kept telling you to go back to Tate. She wanted us to break up, so you didn’t hate her even more.”