Sing to Me (9 page)

I
gnoring the money in her hand, I
shook my hea
d and said thickly, “No thanks.
”

I
walked past Colby and
ran
across the dark lawn,
straight to my car. As I went, I heard the front door shut coldly behind me, and the tears of anger and embarrassment I’d been holding back flooded over.

Luckily, I hadn’t brought anything with me except my phone and keys, which were both in my pocket.
Somehow, I managed to get in my car and get the key in the ignition even though I was almost blind from the tears in my eyes.

“
Rylie
, wait.”

Colby
opened my door again and I
pause
d, about to turn the car on
. “
What?
”

“I’m so sorry, about all that.”

“Me too. I’m sorry I caused a fight between you and Marcy.”

Colby snorted in disgust. “It’s not the first and it won’t be the last. She drives me crazy. She
’s
sweet as honey one day, and mean as a snake the next. Her moods are wacko.”

“Yeah. I
knew she was kind of – unstable, but I didn’t think she’d ever blow up like that.”

“I did. I shouldn’t
have come home
, but I wanted to see you too bad to worry about it much. Her moods are violent, but they blow over pretty quickly.
She’ll probably regret it tomorrow.”

“Well, hopefully she isn’t too angry with you. It doesn’t matter so much
about
me.” A thought
hit me, and I began to tear up again
. “But I’m going to miss Abby and I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

Colby squatted next to my seat, my car door still open, and put his arm around me. “Don’t worry. You’ll see her again. She’s my sister, remember
?
Marcy’s
going to have to get used
to having you around
.
I mean, I’m hoping you’re going to be a big part of my life from no
w
on.”

That reminded me of something she’d said. “So, was she right?
Are there other girls.”

Surprise flashed across his face. “No. I know her and my dad assume I’m out on dates most Friday nights, but I’m not. I’m always with the band.”

“Even that first time I babysat and your dad asked if I was your date?”

“Yeah.
No girl. No date.”

“Oh. You said you weren’t having a good time and that’s why you were home early.”

“Well, I let you th
ink that. Micah had
been bugging the crap out of me, and I
was already going crazy because
you were at my house and I wasn’t. So I came home.

I turned in my seat and threw my arms around him, nearly knocking him off balance. “Oh, Colby, I
’m so glad. I was jealous that whole night.”

“Of who?”

“Whoever you were out with.”

“
Rylie
, there hasn’t been anybody for me but you – not for months now. I can’t tell you what it means to me to finally be here with you like this.”

“Yeah, but m
aybe we should give it
a rest until Marcy calms down.
”

“No way
. Now that I have you
, I’m not letting go
.”

“Except for Friday night.”

I felt him tense, and I realized how stupid it was to remind him of that just then. His eyes were fierce as he looked at me. “
Rylie
Butcher,
l
isten to me. You might be going to prom with
Brian
, but you’d better tell him that you have a boyfriend. If you don’t, I’ll make sure he knows in no uncertain terms.”

“Look, Brian hasn’t done anything
.
Don’t be so mad at him
.”

“No, you’re right. He didn’t do anything for months while you batted
your eyelashes at him. Then, all of a sudden
, you get a little popular and he decides he can ask you to prom. Shoot, he’s so vain, he probably asked you because your hair’s the same color
as his
and you’ll coordinate with him.”

I paused and stared at him
.
I wanted to ague, but i
t wouldn’t surprise me if that’s
exactly
why Brian had asked me to be his date
. It still hurt to
hear Colby say it
though
.
“That’s what you think, huh? Clearly, he couldn’t have asked me because he thought I was pretty or nice or whatever
. I guess I’m a lo
ser that nobody wants to go to prom with just because I’m me.”

C
olby’s face lost a little of its
color. “
Rylie
, that’s not what I meant. I’d give anything to go to prom with you.”

“Really? Well, that’s not going to happen, is it
?
Now, can you please move so I can shut the door and get out of here?
”

“No,
Rylie
, wait.
This conversation went really wrong
somehow
, but I
...
”

I’d been swept through too many strong emotions to
o
quickly to deal with anymore right then.
There was a knot at the back of my throat, but I took a deep breath and
quietly interrupted him,
“Please, Colby, let me go home.”

“Yes, but can I just…”

“Please?” I asked again, even more quietly.

He
sighed a
nd nodded before standing and
quietly back
ing
away. I pulled the door shut,
started the car, and pulled out onto the road
–
relieved to be gone
, hurt that he let me go, and sure that I’d never been so miserable my whole life.

*****

“Honey, I’m not sure you haven’t gotten this all a little mixed up,” my mom told me as she concentrated on the manicure she was giving me. The money I’d handed back to Marcy had been the last bit I’d needed to go get my nails done with my friends, and my Mom was determined to make it up to me. Funny enough, I didn’t even really care that much anymore. Not about my nails, my hair, my dress – anything.

The worst part was
,
I was pretty sure I’d thoroughly screwed up
the one thing I did care about – my relationship with Colby. So, of course,
I was yacking my mom’s ear off about it. “What have I gotten mixed up about?”

“You seem to think Colby won’t like you anymore. But why
wouldn’t he
?”

“B
ecause I got all emotional and mad and drove off when he was trying to talk to me.”

“So? If he
stopped caring because of a little thing like that, he didn’t like you that much anyway.”

“But he hasn’t called me or anything.”

“You h
aven’t called him either
.”

She had a point, but I hated to admit it. In my misery, I was determined to think the worst. “He thinks Brian only asked me to prom because I got more popular and because
our hair is the same color
.” It was a sore point for me, so I kept focusing on it.

I don’t know if she
was thinking or concentrating on my nail
s
, but she didn’t say anything for a minute
.
When she did speak, there was a note of hesitation in her voice. “You know, I thought it was kind of weird when you told me Brian had asked you to prom because it was only like the day before when you were saying he still didn’t know you were alive. And since then you guys haven’t gone out or talked about anything but what you’re wearing to prom.”

“So you don’t think Brian asked me to prom just because he thought it would be fun to go with me?”

“I’m just saying that as someone who cares about you and knows how great you are,
I’ve noticed that
Brian
has
n’t seem
ed
interested
in getting to know you. It
seems a little suspicious. If Colby does care about you, he probably
picked up on the same thing. Tha
t’s a good thing. It means he knows you deserve better.”

A jolt of hope shot through me, but a moment later I sighed as my shoulders sagged. “But how do I fix this
? 
I mean, I’m going to show up with another guy that I’ll have to dance with
, that he’s already jealous of,
while he’s up on stage making all the other girls in the place fall in love with him.”

“I have a feeling
he won’t see
anyone but you. Now, sit there and let me work some magic on your hair while your nails dry. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to pla
y with your hair, but I studied
some really pretty styles
on a blog I found
. Trust me, you’re going to look stunning tonight.”

Laughter bubbled up inside me, and I giggled even as a tear st
reaked down my cheek. “Thanks, M
om. And thanks for making me earn money for prom.”

“Despite all the bugs you had to deal with?” she teased me as she reached for the curling iron.

I nodded my head
. “I never would have had a chance to get to know Colby if you hadn’t.”

“Well, I have to admit that I really intended for you to learn the value of money, but I’m glad it worked out in other ways too.”

An hour and a half later, I stood in front of the full length mirror in my mom’s bedroom, amazed at how I looked. My dress was an aqua blue silk gown with little chiffon cap sleeves and
a filmy chiffon skirt overlay
that floated and swirled as I moved. It was a very romantic dress, but a slit in the skirt and a beaded crystal belt gave it a little bit of an edge. I absolutely loved it, especially since it brought out the color of my eyes and set off my fair skin. I would probably be one of the only girls at prom
who
wasn’t bronzed to death, but I liked it that way.

And who knew my mom
was such a genius with hair? Since
my hair would never hold curl all night long
,
she’d pinned the curls into a gorgeous knot at the nape of my neck with a few curls loose to
frame my face. I’d been practicing
what to do with my make up for weeks, and I was very happy with the results, soft pink and pearly silver that complimented my pale blond hair. I’d
only been able to afford some
crystal drop earrings for my jewelry, but at least they looked nice.

I was turning to the side for the tenth time, straightening and tweaking things when the doorbell rang. I didn’t feel the fluttering excitement that most girls did, however
– just a lead weight in my stomach.
The wrong guy was coming to pick me up.

As I went downstairs, however, I was surprised to hear a woman’s voice instead of Brian’s at the door. When I saw Marcy on the other side of the doorway, talking to my mom, I stopped in surprise.

She looked past my mom’s shoulder and saw me. “Oh,
Rylie
– you look beautiful. No wonder Colby’s breaking his heart over you.”

  As if I hadn’t felt awkward enough, this made me blush to the roots of my hair. “Um, thank you.
I think?
” I didn’t know where to look, so my eyes settled on a wrapped gift she was holding in front of her. She looked down at it too.

“Colby asked me to bring you this, and
,
well, I wanted to apologize for the other night. There’s no excuse for how I acted, but I want you to know I’m sorry. Sometimes I react without thinking things through. I know you are a responsible and sweet girl, and we were lucky to have you stay with Abby. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“Of course,” I responded automatically, though I wasn’t too sure that I would be able to forget it very easily.
It had been pretty traumatic for me.

“Well,” she said, “I’ll give this to you and get out of your way. Colby would have liked to give it to you, but he’s been up at the school for hours gettin
g ready for tonight. Plus, he didn’t know if he’d be welcome
.”

Not knowing what to say to this, I took the gift she handed me and remained silent, though I attempted a smile.

After an awkward moment she said, “Ok, um, I hope to see you again soon,
Rylie
. And I’ll see you at work, Emily?”

My mom nodded and said goodbye as Marcy turned and left.