LIKE RAIN (9 page)

Chapter
Eighteen

I walked to the mall the next day while Nathan went to his first day of work at the coffee house uptown. I went into every store I thought was worth working in and asked if they were hiring. Most places weren't, or if they were they wanted someone older and more experienced. You can't get a job without experience, but how are you supposed to get experience without a job?

I was about to give up when I saw a sign in the window of Abercrombie that read "Now Hiring." I went in the store and asked a woman at the cash register if I could speak to a manager. I waited patiently until he came.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

"Oh, I just saw the sign that said you were hiring. I thought I'd come see if I had a chance," I said.

"Oh, so you want a job?" I nodded. "Have you ever worked before?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I'm looking for my first."

"How old are you?" he asked.

"I'm sixteen."

"What's your schedule like?"

"Well, school starts the day after tomorrow. I get out at 3:15 and then after that I'm free whenever you need me and on weekends."

"Do you have transportation to get here every day?" he asked.

"Oh, I only live about a mile from here. I can just walk."

"Okay, one more question. When can you start?"

"You mean I got the job?" I asked surprised.

He nodded. "Yep."

"I can start whenever you need me."

"How about tomorrow?" he said. "You'll have the 4 o'clock to 9 o'clock shift, with a twenty minute break whenever you need it, as long as no one else is taking their break at the same time. That okay?"

"That's perfect," I said smiling.

"We'll see you tomorrow then." He smiled and then turned the other way. I thought I owed myself a treat so I got a smoothie at the food court and sat down to drink it.

I looked up and saw Cael and Kyla walking hand in hand. I tried to turn quickly to hide my face, but Kyla had already seen me. They both headed over towards me.

"Hi Nev," Kyla said cheerfully, with a smile on her face.

"Hey guys," I said, keeping my gaze from Cael.

"Mind if we join you?" she asked.

"Sure."

"So what are you doing here all by yourself?" Kyla asked.

"Oh, I was just looking for a job," I replied.

"Oh really? Did you get one?"

I nodded. "Yep, at Abercrombie."

"What's going on?" Cael blurted out.

I gave him a puzzled look. "What?"

"Your dad stopped by my house. I wasn't there, but he asked my mom if she had seen you. He said you ran off with some guy yesterday and haven't been home since."

I hesitated, unsure what to say. "I'm living with Nathan," I said finally. "Jasmine moved in yesterday, and they just kept talking about the wedding and how I was going to be the maid of honor. I just couldn't take it anymore."

"Nev, you can't just move in with some stranger," he said.

"He's not a stranger," I protested. "Besides, where else was I going to stay? I couldn't stay with Halley. I can't even stand being in that house anymore. And well…I can't stay with you now." I glanced at Kyla.

"Oh, no," she said. "I don't want you to feel like you can't see Cael anymore just because of me."

I stared at her for a moment. "Well, that's how I feel." I stood up and tossed my smoothie in the garbage. I left before Cael or Kyla could say anything else. I made the walk to Nathan's last as long as I could. I could hear Maddy's voice in my head. I was throwing away my friendship with Cael, throwing tantrums, and running out of the house to move in with some guy that I still didn't know all that well. I wanted to tell her that everything would turn out okay, but I wasn't sure that it would. Nothing was certain anymore.

"So how'd the job hunt go?" Nathan asked as I walked in the door.

"Good. I got a job," I said.

"Where at?"

"Abercrombie," I replied. "I work from 4 to 9."

"So when am I ever gonna get to see you?" he said sadly, putting his arms around my waist.

"We'll see each other every night," I said. "And I won't be working every day."

"But now I'm working at the Pizza Palace from 5 to 10. By the time I get home you'll be almost going to sleep," he said.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and stood on my tip toes to kiss him. "Don't worry," I said. "I'm not going anywhere."

Chapter
Nineteen

My homeroom and first period class was Physics, and of all people, I got stuck sitting next to Cael. We sat in silence for a while just waiting for class to start.

"Nevaeh, I hate this," Cael said finally.

"Hate what?" I asked, pretending that I didn't know what he was talking about.

"What's going on with us," he said. "We're supposed to be best friends."

"Look, I have a boyfriend and you have a girlfriend. That gets in the way of a co-ed friendship," I replied.

"Why?"

I hesitated. The real reason it mattered was because it hurt me too much to know that Cael and I weren't together. I knew that we'd never actually been together before, but somewhere in the bottom of my heart I believed that someday we would be. I couldn't ignore everything Maddy had said about Cael and I being perfect for each other. But now that I had to see him with Kyla all the time I had lost hope, and it was hard to even be his friend.

"Because it just does," was all I managed to say.

The rest of the day went by pretty much uneventfully. Halley was in most of my classes and I showed her around whenever I could. I got some looks from people and some random people gave me hugs throughout the day. I guess I had forgotten that people weren't able to show their pity for me when Maddy first died because it had been on the last day of school. Apparently they held in their sympathy for me all summer.

Nathan picked me up after school and brought me to his apartment for half an hour before I would have to go to work. We had only been in the apartment a few minutes before Nathan had his hands on me. He led me into his bedroom, and before I knew it he was on top of me pulling at my clothes.

"Wait. Stop," I said, pushing his hands off of me.

"Come on," he said, still kissing my lips and neck. "Don't you love me?" The line went off like a bomb in my head, echoing through my mind.

I bolted upright. "What did you say?" I asked with wide eyes. I was never going to fall for that trick.

"I said, don't you love me?"

"I think the real question is, do you love me?" I said.

"Of course I love you," he said, starting to tug at my jeans. I pushed his hands off me.

"If you really loved me you wouldn't be trying to get me to do something I don't want to do." I stood up and walked towards the door. "I'm going to work." I slipped on my shoes and walked out the door before he could stop me.

I wasn't sure what to do once my shift ended. I was almost afraid to go back to Nathan's, but I knew I couldn't go home. I decided to risk going to Nathan's apartment. When I got there his car wasn't, and then I remembered that he had work until 10 o'clock. A surge of relief swept over me.

I went to the guest room where I was staying and sat down on the bed. I noticed a plastic bag sticking out of the corner of my suitcase. I picked it up and realized it was the bad of stuff I had taken from Maddy's room before her parents moved away.

I picked up the bottle of perfume and brought it to my nose. The scent seemed to fill my whole body, and it almost seemed like she was sitting right next to me. Her charm bracelet jingled and the sound of her foot steps went off in my head. I looked at the picture and saw her beautiful, smiling face. My eyes burned with tears, but I brushed them away.

"How could you do this to me Maddy?" I said aloud. "How could you leave me? My whole world is falling apart. I'm lost without you." I couldn't hold my tears any longer and I collapsed onto my bed in a fit of sobs.

I heard a noise near the door and looked up. Nathan was standing in my doorway. "What are you doing here?" I asked through my tears.

"They let me leave early," he said coming to sit down next to me. "What's wrong babe? Why are you crying?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. Everything is just falling apart."

He put an arm around my shoulders. "Don't cry baby. I hate to see you so sad," he said. "I'm sorry I was such a jerk earlier. You're right, you shouldn't have to do anything you don't want to."

I wasn't sure I believed what he was saying, but I wanted to remain in his arms. I could hear Maddy's voice in my mind. Don't listen to him, she was saying. You're supposed to be with Cael.

Chapter
Twenty

I could never get away from Cael, not with him as my Physics partner. "Your dad came asking for you again, Nev," he said that morning during homeroom. "I couldn't just not tell him where his daughter was."

"What?" I said. "You told him where I was?"

"Well he kind of already knew. He saw you go off with that guy. He just doesn't know how to contact you."

"Well good," I replied. "I don't want him to contact me."

"Nevaeh, you can't just hide from him forever," Cael argued. "You're his daughter. You're only sixteen years old. Besides, what happens when you and Nathan break up?"

I shot him a look. "Who says we're going to break up?" I said defensively.

"Come on," he said. "You really think you're going to be together forever?"

I glared at him. "Oh, like you and Kyla are really going to last," I said sarcastically.

"Hey, what we have is real," he replied. "She likes me for who I am. Can you say that about Nathan? I'm sure he's already tried to get something from you."

My mouth dropped. I didn't know what to say. "Of course he hasn't!" I lied. "Nathan loves me for who I am, not what I can give him. He would never pressure me into doing something I wouldn't want to do."

"Maybe he didn't have to pressure you," he said suspiciously.

I stared at him with widened eyes, amazed at what he said. I could tell by his face that he wished he hadn't said that. He knew instantly that he had went too far.

"Nevaeh," he said with regret in his voice.

I picked up my books and stood up. "I hope you and Kyla have a very nice life." I turned and walked out of the room.

I didn't know where to go, all I knew was that I didn't want to stick around. I got my backpack from out of my locker and left the building. When I got outside I saw a familiar car sitting in the parking lot. I looked at the woman sitting in the driver's seat. It was Jasmine.

She saw me before I could run away. She opened her car door. "Nevaeh!" she called. "Come here!"

I shook my head. "I'm not going with you!" I yelled back.

Despite the distance, I could tell she was crying. "It's your father," she yelled. "He's been in an accident."

It took me a moment to process the information, but once I did my head began to ache. "He's what?" I asked.

"Come on," she said. It didn't matter that I couldn't stand her. I ran to her anyway. "Get in the car." She got in the driver's seat and I ran around to the passenger side door.

"What happened?" I asked.

She wiped her tears. "He was in a car accident on his way home from work last night," she said shakily.

"Is he alright?"

She shook her head. "He fell into a coma early this morning. Even if he wakes up it's possible he could be paralyzed."

"Oh my God," I exclaimed. "Have you been to see him yet?"

"No," she replied. "I was too afraid to go alone." We arrived at the hospital 10 minutes later and were directed to my father's room. We found a nurse and asked if we could go in to see him. She told us it was fine.

"I'll let you go in first by yourself if you want," Jasmine said. It surprised me. It was like she acted normal under pressure, almost likeable.

I went in my father's room and saw him lying on his hospital bed, bandages on his head and arms. It was weird seeing him so helpless. I could hear the steady beeping of the heart monitor, and I watched his chest rise and fall. I had never been very close to my father, which would explain why seeing him that way didn't have as much impact on me as it should have. But I couldn't lose my father.

I suddenly realized that the last time I had seen him was when I knocked him over with my suitcase and ran out the door. I knew that people could sometimes hear you when they were in a coma so I decided to try and free myself from some guilt.

"Dad," I said quietly. "It's me, Nevaeh." His eyes flickered slightly but did not open. "You've probably been wondering where I've been. Well, I've been at Nathan's, but I know you already knew that. I just couldn't handle it anymore. Ever since Maddy died everything has just been changing so fast. I guess I just wasn't ready for such a big change. You know, it's hard for me, never being an important priority to you. I've never even admitted this to myself, but I think one of the reasons I've hated Jasmine so much is because she so easily won your heart when I never could. I guess there's always been a part of me that just wanted to be an important part of your life. I'm sorry."

I turned around to see Jasmine standing behind me. She took a step back. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help overhearing," she said. "Your father does love you a lot. Even though you think you're not important to him, you are. He's been going crazy worrying about you for the last few days."

"I know I shouldn't have left, but it was all just too much for me," I said.

She nodded. "I understand," she said. "We did kind of spring all that stuff on you pretty fast. I wasn't trying to take over. I wasn't trying to take away your father's attention from you."

I shook my head. "You didn't," I said. "Before you it was his work that kept him occupied. Ever since my mom died he just hasn't been around. I was only five when she died, so I don't have very many memories of my dad and I actually being together."

She sat down on the floor next to me. "Maybe he just couldn't stand being around you."

I raised my eyebrows. "That's harsh."

"No, that's not what I meant," she said. "Maybe he just saw so much of your mother in you." I thought about that for a minute. "Maybe it just hurt him too much."

I looked at her. "You think he's going to be okay?"

She stared at me with such intensity in her eyes that I had to look away. "I've learned not to get your hopes up too high in life. Miracles don't often come."

I listened to the steady beep of the heart monitor and watched the rise and fall of my father's chest. "Sometimes they do."