"Thank you so much for coming today," Mandy said, smiling at me as I slipped my shoes on. "Gabby's been gabbing up a storm asking when she'd be able to see you again."
I returned her smile tiredly. I felt exhausted, and my migraine wasn't completely gone. But I had still texted Mandy that day asking if we could do Gabby's makeup tutoring session this afternoon. I needed to get out of the house. The previous couple of days had been suffocating with Clay and I tiptoeing around each other, but stuck in the same house because of the rain. Leaving the tension seemed to lift a weight off of my shoulders.
"No problem, I'm glad I came to see her. She's kept up well. She's been practicing and studying."
Mandy beamed, her warm eyes shining with pride for her daughter. "She's been studying so hard. Sometimes I have to make her stop."
I chuckled. I opened my mouth to respond, but I heard a door upstairs slam shut, and my eyes glanced to the stairs, my heartbeat skipping in anticipation.
Sure enough, Greyson tromped down, his shaggy coffee-colored hair covering his eyes. But he lifted his head, stopping abruptly as he saw me.
"I thought you left," he stated simply.
I grit my teeth. His door had been shut the entire time I was tutoring Gabby, I wasn't even sure he was in the house. But no, it looks like he'd just been waiting for me to leave.
He actually was avoiding me.
"Sorry to disappoint," I responded dryly.
"Grey," Mandy interjected, looking curiously between him and me, "where are you going?"
He met his Aunt's eyes, and I saw his jaw tense. "To the garage." With that he continued walking, brushing past me without another look. I felt annoyance swim through me. Looks like he was making good on his promise.
Mandy frowned after him. "Um, is something going on?" Her question was low, and directed toward me.
"No."
My response was short, and left no room for expansion. She watched me carefully, then nodded, withholding the question that was clearly showing in her eyes.
"Okay, well, Grey!" she called out, and I heard Greyson take a deep breath as he paused, his hand on the doorknob. "Walk Cory to her car with an umbrella."
"No, it's fine, I'll be okay," I protested.
"Nonsense, it's pouring. There's one hanging in the mudroom, but make sure you bring it back, Greyson, that's my nice umbrella."
Greyson paused, and I opened my mouth, but let the words die out. Just as my short response before left no room for expansion, her command left no room for contestation. Greyson let his hand fall off the doorknob and it clenched into a fist as he turned to go into what I assumed was the mudroom, a small doorway just next to the bright kitchen.
"I'm assuming you won't have your usual tutoring session tomorrow," Mandy said, bringing her gaze back to me.
"Probably not, we'll let her work on what I've assigned so far and meet again next week."
She smiled at me, then looked up as Greyson approached. He had a deep purple umbrella in his hand as he stepped back to the door without a look toward me, but obviously waiting. I took a deep breath and shouldered my backpack, offering one more tight smile toward Mandy and trudging to the door.
Greyson shoved it open, and we stepped outside. It was damp, and the wind carried the smell of rain against my face coolly. Champ picked his head up from where he laid on the porch, but apparently his nap took precedence over coming to greet us, and he laid back down, his curved brown eyes watching us for a moment before he rolled over.
Greyson unlatched the Velcro strip holding the umbrella together, letting it spring open. It was obviously a one-person umbrella. We exchanged quick glances, then I stepped forward under the umbrella that he raised to go over his head also, and we started down the steps.
Rain was pouring down in sheets, and I unintentionally shrunk closer to Greyson as the breeze pushed the droplets onto my side. He shifted his hold to his left hand, his right coming up and around my back to make more room for us both to fit, but he just touched my backpack. He was careful not to touch me.
But I still had to lean toward him to avoid the rain. The warmth of his body against my shoulder and arm contrasted with the chilly rain.
So much for trying to leave the house to escape tension, I thought. It was just as suffocating here.
We dodged puddles and eventually reached my car. Greyson withdrew his hand from around me and grabbed the handle, pulling it open. I quickly slid in, looking back toward Greyson as he stood right over me, the thin canvas covering us both.
"Thanks," I muttered. His green eyes, dark in the cloudiness, met mine, but he said nothing, just took a step back. I hurriedly shut my door with a slam, leaving me in quiet with the rain pounding the roof of the car.
He turned around, jogging back to the house. The rain sliding down the window distorted his tall figure. When he got to the porch, he stepped in the door without a look back.
I huffed, starting my engine.
Just a couple of days ago, I had thought maybe it would be easier, more peaceful, were Greyson to make good on his word that he was going to take a step back.
Lies. My emotions seemed to knot themselves even more as he avoided me.
I watched as he reappeared in the doorway of the house, without the umbrella. He looked to where Champ was, then he pulled his hood up around his head and came down the steps, running lightly around the house to his Garage.
Champ then appeared, trotting down the stairs and jumping after his owner.
I bit the inside of my cheek. It was moments like this that I regretted Clay being my best friend. I could sure use a girlfriend to talk to.
A thought struck me. I fished out my phone, scrolling through my contacts. Stopping on one, I messaged them, hearing the slight whooshing sound as it was delivered.
— - — @ — - —
A half hour later, I was sitting in Coffee and Crumpets, an old cafe on a street corner in our town, Rally, with a hot vanilla latte steaming in front of me.
"If there's one thing about this small town, it's that they know how to make their pastries."
I grinned across the table at Audrey, who was looking down at the little strawberry scone she had like she wanted to marry it.
"Thanks for coming and meeting me."
She made a dismissive hand motion. "Not like I had anything else to do on this dismal Sunday afternoon." She smiled back at me, her hazel eyes were as warm as the mug in my hand. Her long dark hair was thrown up in a messy bun, and a hoodie that I had seen in my brother's closet before hung loosely against her small frame.
I wouldn't have said she and I were close friends. But I had found myself talking to her more at the track, and she'd been spending more time at Clay's trailer. I was grateful she was free this afternoon.
"So what's going on with you and Clay?"
I let out a humorless chuckle. "I was hoping you could tell me. I think you've been around him more than me this summer."
She shrugged, breaking off the edge of her scone. "He's not said much about it—he mostly just mumbles it's something to do with Greyson."
"Well, I know that much."
"They seem to be each other's least liked acquaintance."
"You can say that again."
"So do you like Greyson?"
I almost choked on a sip of frothed milk, my eyes widening and looking up at her. "What?"
Audrey smiled sneakily, taking an interest in tearing apart her scone. "I see."
"Why do you ask that?"
"Well, for one," Audrey said between bites with an amused and soft tone, "you've been just as sulky recently as your brother, makes it seem like something might be going on." She brushed some crumbs off her lap, her voice casual. "Two, I can see how you look at him, I'm not blind."
"I don't," I responded quickly. But then something welled up in my chest and made me feel like a liar. "I don't—I don't think so. I don't know." My turn to take an interest in my treat, swirling around the coffee and shifting uncomfortably in my seat.
"I think you do."
I glanced up at her, meeting her grassy-colored eyes. Maybe I could talk to her about everything that was going on with Greyson. As I thought on it, though, I realized I didn't even know if I knew what was going on, and right now, recalling it all wasn't really going to lift my mood. Anxious to change the subject, I said, "What about you and my brother, huh? Is that official yet?"
She chuckled. "He seems a little preoccupied this summer to make anything crazy official. But... I may have heard him call me his 'girlfriend' when Phil was questioning him about the girl Clay'd been hanging with at the track."
My turn to smile at her. Racing had always been Clay's "baby", and he didn't have much free time for something serious with significant other. But it seemed different with Audrey—and that made me happy, truly. I liked her. Plus, she was better than ninety percent of the girls he could have picked up at the track.
"Hey, I, uh..." Audrey's voice trailed off. I frowned at the change in her tone. She glanced at me, then back at her pastry. "I don't really know if this is my place to say this, but what with you and Clay not talking too much, I do think it's important you know, if he hasn't told you." Her words were rushed, I could tell she was nervous. A dreaded feeling started swirling in my stomach. Audrey took a deep breath. "As you know, I live up north, not too far from UC Davis actually. And, uh, Clay's been asking me the past couple weeks if I know anybody who would be needing a roommate next year, if he wins the competition and moves up there."
The dreaded feeling was now a brick in my stomach.
Audrey hesitated. "I had, um—I asked him about you moving up there and him living with you, because I remember you guys had talked about that. He told me he wasn't quite sure it was going to work out. I didn't really know what that meant, thought maybe you weren't moving up at the same time or if things changed and you didn't have room and..." she drew out that last word, studying me, "judging by the look on your face, none of those are the case."
I felt like curling into a ball in a corner of a room and crying. What a great way to continue this already sucky day.
Just like that, he was going to find somewhere else to live? He and I always talked about living together at college. It's been our dream since we learned it was a possibility, with the timing lining up of the competition and me starting school. He was my best friend. And because of all the drama that had been going on this summer, he was just going to find a different place?
My first thought was to get annoyed, thinking that it was a financially dumb decision. We'd still be living probably within twenty minutes of each other. He'd have to pay for his own apartment alone, and it's not like he had much time for a day job if he's in the semifinals. I doubted my parents would be inclined to pay for it, considering their opinion on the track of Clay's life.
But the annoyance melted quickly and turned into a painfully tight grip on my stomach. I couldn't believe he was actually considering it. More than considering, apparently.
I inhaled shakily, feeling my face grow hot with emotion.
First Greyson avoiding me like I had the plague, and now my brother deserting me. And I had over a month to continue to live like this before moving away for college, and now I'd supposedly be doing that alone too.
"I'm sorry, Cory," Audrey said gently. "I thought you should know, or would want to know. But I'm sorry."
"No—no, I'm glad you told me." I was. I shook off the pity-party I was wallowing in, and forced a tight rueful smile. "Knowing how stubborn Clay is, and how things are going between us this summer, he probably wouldn't have told me until the day I moved."
She returned the small smile, but her expression was cautious and sad. I hurriedly jumped into another topic, and Audrey graciously followed, leaving the past subject around the corner.
We spent the afternoon talking, it got more light-hearted, and it truly was a relief to just hang out with Audrey for that time.
But the entire time, I couldn't help but feel as dismal as the grey storm outside that battered rain against the window, relentlessly and harshly.