Chapter Six:
As we walked in silence my mind began to wonder. Should I call him back and apologize, or maybe I should wait and see if he calls back. I was so confused; I didn’t know what was right or what was wrong. What was left or right, up or down, my mind is such a tangled mess right now and I have no one to blame but myself.
"Hello! Earth to Gabby!" Kyrie waved her hand in front of my face. "You ok girl?"
Blinking rapidly, I shook myself out of my thoughts, once I focused I turned to look at her, "What?"
"You ok?" She put a hand on my shoulder, concern evident in her tone and in her eyes.
As I stopped walking to answer her it seemed as if everything that was running through my mind overwhelmed me all at once and I just fell to the ground sobbing, it was like déjà vu because I did the same thing when I found out Cayden was gone. "No I'm not ok Ky, I just don't know what to think, or what to do! I'm so confused."
"Well Hun why don't you start from the beginning, about what happened back at the house before I came over. Maybe I can help you figure out whatever it is you’re trying to figure out."
"Well Cayden called me when I got home. We had a very long discussion that included a lot of yelling. I said some rude things to him that I shouldn't have said, but he said some mean things to!" I sobbed as I picked myself up from where I had fallen on the sidewalk and moved over to the curb to sit down.
Kyrie sat herself down beside me, "I'm pretty sure you didn't mean to say those mean things and neither did he. I don't know from personal experience but I'm sure it's extremely hard to talk to each other again after leaving things on unhappy terms and the fact that it's been a long time since you two have spoken to each other is a big part of it too.
Still crying I jumped up and started to pace. Not paying attention to where I was pacing I looked up and noticed I was in the middle of the road just as a ugly green SUV came barreling down the road towards me.
"Gabriella! Watch out!" Kyrie yelled as she started to run towards me. Her voice shook as she yelled. I’m sure she was as scared as I was right now. I couldn’t bring myself to move as I watched the car come closer to me. The car skidded to a stop just as I finally unfroze and was trying to jump out of the way. The driver jumped out after throwing it into park. I had to do a double take; it really was Bradin standing there in front of me. Well that's just great, I thought. I really need him to see me like this. It will just give him something else to make fun of me for.
His face was plastered with shock and rage as he ran over to me. "What the hell were you thinking Gabriella?" He grabbed my arms and started shaking me. "Are you that stupid? You could have been hurt! You’re lucky I saw you and slammed on the brakes."
“Well you shouldn’t have been speeding through the neighborhood to begin with!” I snapped back.
“You shouldn’t be standing in the middle of the road like an idiot either!” He snapped back just as angry as I was.
All I wanted was for him to stop shaking me and get away from me. I am not in the mood to deal with him yelling at me too. I was hit with a brilliant idea to get him away from me…Hopefully it works. Here goes nothing. Staring into his eyes I slowly shook my right arm out of his grasp and ran my finger along his jaw, "I need you..." I sighed as I trailed my finger down along his neck, "And I want you..." I continued as I put my hands on his hard chest, "To get out of my face!" I finished, pushing him as hard as I could, "I'm not in the mood for you to yell at me or shake the hell out of me right now. I wasn't paying attention, my bad. End of story."
Stumbling backwards he seemed to be in a daze and within seconds once he realized what I just did his expression went from shock to confusion then to rage instantly, it was almost as if he was bi polar. "What the hell Gabriella?”
Raising my eyebrow at his reaction and multiple expressions, I wondered, why on earth his face had shown confusion for a second. Oh well, I'm not going to waste my energy wondering about how his mind works. It's probably too weird for me to even understand anyways. "You were shaking me and yelling in my face Bradin. So I decided to distract you so I could get you to out of my face!"
He rolled his eyes, "Well that wasn't a very nice way to get me to stop shaking you, maybe if you wouldn't stand in the street trying to get killed like an idiot I wouldn't have been screaming at you in the first place. What's wrong with you anyways? Is it your time of the month or something cause you sure are bitchy today."
Trying to refrain myself from hitting him right then and there I slowly replied, "No you jerk it's not 'my time' for your information. I just have a lot on my mind right now and you and your best friends have been really pissing me off today and I would appreciate it if you would just disappear and go back to wherever you were doing and leave me in peace."
"Whatever Gabriella, It's not like I'm your friend who just wants to know what’s wrong huh? Cause that's how you’re acting, what did Jace and Riley do to you today? I'm pretty sure it's not as bad as what you say. No need to be a freaking...Ugh!" He tugged his shaggy hair and let out a frustrated sigh.
"It doesn't matter what they did. They just made me mad today acting like jerks as always. I am not acting like that. You were the one who is acting like an ass. I know you’re my friend Bradin but I really don't want to talk about what's going on with you of all people, you wouldn't understand, you’re a guy."
"Ok fine, I won't bother then since you seem to underestimate my ability to actually care for someone other than myself, like you assume. See you around Gabriella." His eyes flashed with hurt for half a second and then he plastered his usual smirk on and walked off getting into his car resuming the direction he was heading before the incident.
Looking over at Kyrie I let out a big sigh, "Is it me or am I just saying really mean things to just about every guy I've talked to today?"
"Ah Gabs, its ok. I think they both know you don't mean to snap at them. You’re just having one of those days today. They aren't going to hold it against you." She replied smiling as she threw an arm over my shoulder and started to steer me in the direction of our houses.
Stopping her I mumbled, "Let’s walk down to the park. I have an urge to go swing. Its fun and I need to do something fun before I go crazy with all this stuff going on."
"Alrighty then, let's go! I love swinging. It's so nice out today too, even better since its late afternoon and it's cooling down. Feels nice!"
We started heading in the opposite direction and walked the two blocks to the park. We found the swings and both sat down starting to swing. "I bet I can go higher than you!"
Kyrie rolled her eyes, "Yea yea whatever. We make this bet every time we come here and I always win! You’re afraid of heights remember?"
"Oh whatever! One of these days I will win this bet!" I laughed starting to slow my swing because I was getting a little too high for my comfort.
She looked at me with disbelief and laughed, "Yeah sure you will..."
We continued swinging for a while. It helped me clear my thoughts a little but all came back when Kyrie asked, "So, what are you going to do about Cayden?"
"I don't really know. I think I will just let him be the one wondering if I am going to talk to him again for once. I went through that already now it’s his turn. I'm just so hurt because I thought he was my best friend." I was on the verge of tears again.
"Oh goodness I'm sorry sweetie. I didn't mean to upset you again. We don't have to talk about it right now." She said sympathetically stopping her swing to come over and give me a hug. "It will be ok. Things will work out. He has realized what he has been missing all these years. If he didn't he wouldn't have called you. You have the right thought though. Let him squirm for a few days."
I thought for a moment. Should I even waste my time and energy on him anymore? I looked back at Kyrie who had gone back to her swing. "Ready to go home? I'm getting tired. I think I want to eat dinner and go to bed."
"Sure," She jumped off the swing.
We started to walk back in silence, once we got to the curb in front of our houses we waved goodbye to each other with promises to text or call each other tomorrow and figure out how to spend our day before doing our dreaded homework.
Walking in the door I smelled my favorite chili. It's our own family recipe and it tastes so amazing!
"Mmm it smells so good mom! Is it almost done?" I walked into the kitchen where my mother was busy stirring the chili.
"Calm down sweetheart. It's almost done, would you mind slicing and buttering the French bread for me? Your father should be home soon."
Gathering the French bread off the counter and grabbing the butter from the fridge I set to work. When I finished I set it on the dining room table along with bowls and silverware. My mother brought the chili over and set it down also. Just as soon as I turned to grab cups and a pitcher of water my father walked in.
"Good evening my girls, it sure does smell good in here." He smiled as he set his things down on the counter.
"Yes daddy and I bet it tastes as good as it smells! Mom always makes the best chili!" I exclaimed giving my mom an appraising look.
We sat down and ate dinner talking here and there about how our days were. Dad talked about his latest intern and how the guy is dumber than a box of rocks and can’t follow simple instructions. Dad owes a small company that he built from the ground up with my Uncle Todd before he passed away. He finally got around to hiring someone to train to help him run it and of course he had to find someone who wasn’t as smart as he looked.
My mother let out a small chuckle after Dad finished ranting and turned to look at me, "So what did you and Kyrie do today? When I came home from the store you were still gone. Did you come home for lunch?"
"Yea we went for a jog and we ended up at the strip cause we were supposed to go shoe shopping. We ended up running into the boys. I saw Bradin working at the soup kitchen. He said he was working because he was on probation but a woman he worked with said he was doing it because he wanted to and he works every weekend!" I replied, "After talking to him and having ice cream with the other boys Kyrie and I came back for lunch. Oh and Cayden called me this afternoon."
My father raised his eyebrows, "Cayden? As in Cayden McDaniel, the boy who use to be permanently attached to your hip when you two were younger?"
"Oh honey, how did that go? Hasn't it been a few years since you have talked to him?" My mother asked softly while glaring at my father. She always hated bringing up Cayden in conversations because she knew how hurt I was over losing our friendship.
I sighed as I started to clean up after dinner, "Well we both said a lot of mean things to each other. Definitely not how I expected our conversation to go but then again I didn't know what to expect." Tears started to form and I tried my best not to let them fall as I continued, "Mommy I don't know what to do. I've finally gotten use to the fact he was gone and no longer apart of my life and now he decides to come back in. I don't know whether to let him back in or to just tell him to forget me and not bother to try and talk to me again. A part of me wants to have him back in my life but the other part hates him for leaving me all alone. I feel as if his passion for singing means more to him than our friendship. I'm not trying to be selfish but I want to mean just as much to him as being a singer does." I sobbed as I finished.
"But honey how do you know if you don't mean as much to him if not maybe more than singing does? Has he told you that?"
"No..." I trailed off as I sat back down after putting the dishes in the sink. “But he made it pretty clear when he left without a word to sing and never looked back.”
"I'm sure once you two talk more things will start to get better. It's not going to happen overnight sweetheart. You two have a lot to talk about and a lot to learn again about each other. Give it a few days and try talking to him again. For now just wait to contact him and sort through your feelings. You kids were best friends Gabby, that's not something easily forgotten. He was there for you through a lot of tough times just like you were there for him at his low points too." My father responded as he stood up and place a hand on my shoulder, "I have faith you two will work it out, his father has told me a few times that he is just as torn up over what happened as you."
That’s my Dad, always the wise one who always knows what to say and how to give the best advice. I gave him a hug, "Thanks daddy. I think I'm going to head to bed early. I am exhausted for some reason."
"Goodnight sweetheart," Both my mom and dad replied.
As I got into my room I changed into my pajamas and turned on my stereo, flipped off the light switch and climbed into bed.