Let Her Sleep (Dream Walker Chronicles #1)

Chapter 13

Cordy couldn’t stop peeking out her curtains every few seconds.  Reid’s text had sent her into a flurry of activity as she frantically tried to make herself presentable for their date.  Turning her back on the window, she glanced around the room, frowning.  Effie was going to flip when she saw this.  Clothes hung from every possible surface, dripping off the bed and scattered across her floor, looking more like Noelle’s than hers.  Cordy grimaced as her nearly empty closet seemed to glare at her, accusingly.  Sighing, she began to grab armfuls of the offending fabric and throw it into the closet, finally stuffing it in with her foot and shoving the door shut.  That’ll have to do.  I don’t have time for anything else at the moment.

Her phone chimed and she whipped it from her pocket.  Another text from Reid flashed on her screen.  “Ready?”  She peeked out her window again.  His old Buick idled in her driveway.  Rushing down the stairs she nearly had a heart attack when her foot slid off a stair and her arms waved wildly for a few heart stopping moments, before grabbing the banister.  She took a deep breath, mostly to calm herself from her near accident, but partly because of the boy sitting outside her house.  She managed to make it out without any more mishaps.  At the sight of the maroon car her heart took off again.  Feeling ridiculous at her own reaction to something she saw every day, she took one more deep breath before opening the car door.

Faking confidence she didn’t feel, she pasted a bright smile on her face, Cordy turned towards Reid.  “So what’s the pl—“  The look on his face was almost comical.  A strange half smile, grimaced at her.  “Are you okay?”  He nodded before shifting the car into gear and squealing out of the driveway the moment her door shut.  Cordy hoped none of the neighbors noticed.  She watched Reid carefully, waiting for him to relax.  After all this had been his idea.  Maybe he’s just as nervous as I am.

The silence stretched uncomfortably, his face never smoothing out, though his grip on the steering wheel seemed to loosen once they hit the freeway.  Unable to stand it anymore Cordy, switched the radio on, flipping through the preprogrammed stations till she found one she liked. 

“So…where are we going,” she asked casually.  It was a perfectly logical question and didn’t warrant his reaction.  His hands gripped the steering wheel so hard, she worried he might pull it off.  Backing off the subject, she said, “Okay, so it’s a surprise.”  She spent several minutes staring out the window trying to guess where they might be going.  When they drove past the exit for the city she kept silent.  It wasn’t until Reid took the exit towards Pennsylvania that her stomach began to tighten.

“Where are we going?”  She said it much more forcefully this time, suspicion creeping through her.  When Reid still didn’t answer she began to panic slightly, gripping the door handle.  “Reid, either tell me where you’re taking me or stop the car now!”  The scenery was beginning to look all too familiar as her panic burst into a full-fledged anxiety attack.  The trees whipped by as they swerved around curves, and though it was much lighter than in her nightmares she began to hyperventilate.  Why is he doing this to me?  He of all people knew what she had been through.  He’d been right there in her dreams multiple times.  As she curled in on herself, pressing her face onto her drawn up knees, a hand pulled one of hers away and squeezed it.

“What’s wrong.”  Reid’s voice was thick, like maybe he was upset too.  Well, he should be.

She peeked over at him, giving him a scathing look.  “As if you don’t know.”  She buried her face again as the scenery grew even more familiar.

Reid shook his head, confused for a moment, then recognition widened his eyes.  His face was apologetic as he glanced at her.  “I had no idea this was where you crashed.”  Cordy raised an eyebrow, dubious.  “I swear Cordy!  I would have taken the long way if I’d known that.”   As his words sunk in, she found her voice again.