Right Next to Me by Rachel Ward

Author:Rachel Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cedar Fort Publishing
Published: 2017-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty-three

NOVEMBER 2017

I lay awake in bed the next morning, staring at the ceiling. I slept fitfully, my mind bouncing back and forth from one disconcerting dream to the next. The past three months had been crazy enough. Moving out for the first time, attempting a long distance relationship, and now, this, whatever it was. I was barely able to keep my grades up high enough to hold on to my scholarship and I needed that scholarship. My part time job at Einstein’s barely kept me from starvation, but there is no way it could cover any more of my tuition, which my parents currently split the cost of. I wrinkled my nose at the thought. It was in the divorce agreement that Dad would pay half. I didn’t think he would have agreed to it if he hadn’t been legally bound.

My phone beeped, startling me out of my reverie. A text. Immediately my heart began to pound and I could feel adrenaline start to flow. What if it was James? What would he say to me? What would I say to him? What if it’s Gavin? A gaping hole opened in the pit of my stomach. Should I tell him? I hopped out of bed and grabbed the phone off my desk.

Happy Thanksgiving! I miss you!

I collapsed back onto the bed in a surprising mix of disappointment and nausea. It was from Gavin. I crawled back under the covers and replied.

Miss you too! Can’t wait for Christmas. What are you doing for dinner?

I tried to focus on Gavin, rather than on the fact that I had betrayed him. My shoulder demons were locked in a battle of wills, shouting down the better angels that tried to defend me.

It was James! He kissed you! Echoed the cry of the halo-adorned set.

But you liked it, came the taunting reply. You kissed him back.

My eyes wandered the room while I waited for Gavin’s reply, lingering on the several framed photographs of us together that were hanging on my bedroom walls. There was one of us on the beach, our California senior trip, him in a wetsuit and me in a swimming suit, the ocean behind us and a surfboard in the sand next to us.

Went home for the weekend with a friend to Hartford.

A photo from the concert that he had taken me to over the summer. The brightly lit stage was tiny in the background, scattered with indecipherable instruments. Our faces were pressed together in the dimly lit amphitheatre.

Glad you’re not alone.

One of us at the airport, just before Gavin flew to Connecticut. His arm was around me, both of us with obviously manufactured smiles and red-rimmed eyes. His duffle bag lay at his feet and the security line was visible in the background.

Yeah. Better if you were my company.

One from our high school graduation last spring, still clad in our huge graduation gowns, his blue, mine white, our arms wrapped around each other, his graduation cap forcing mine off of my head.

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