Untitled 123 (3) “ No. Some kid named Seth answered. I just hope he tells Ryan I called.” Casey finally sat back in the seat, deciding to try and relax. “ Well don’t let it bother you. I’m sure Jay will come across it tomorrow morning and call you.” Brand didn’t realize what he said, before it was too late. “ He wont really, will he?” Casey asked in a panic at the thought of seeing him again. “ Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. I can get it for you if you would like.” Brand offered. “ No. You’ve done enough already. I will find some way to get it back. Thank you anyways.” Casey turned again to look back out the window at the houses as they passed by. When Brand pulled into her driveway, Casey hoped that he would just drop her off and leave, but to her disappointment he did not. “ I think we should talk.” Brand said hesitantly. “ About what? We did nothing wrong. It was consensual and after, we went our separate ways. It’s done, over with. So, why don’t you just drop it?” Casey said, irritated. “ God Dammit it’s not over, and I’m getting sick of you trying to brush me off. Will you please, just talk to me?” Brand demanded. “ NO! Thanks for the ride. Good night.” With that said, Casey flung open the door and got out. Slamming the door behind her, she started stomping towards the house. “ Where are you going?” Brand shouted from the car. “ I thought that was obvious, home.” Casey threw over her shoulder. “ Oh no you don’t! I’m not done talking to you! Come back!” Brand opened the door and got out to run after her. “ It’s over Brand! Now leave! I’m done talking to you and I never want to see you again. What we did is over with, behind us! I’m moving on with my life, I suggest you do the same!” She yelled over her shoulder. “ NO!” He said, catching up to her and grasping her arm. He spun her around to face him, bringing her closer to him. “ It’s not over, at least not yet! Face it Casey, what we did, it happened! You can’t run away and act as if it didn’t!” Brand was seething with anger, but he couldn’t put a finger on it as to why. “ Who’s running? Let me remind you, you just found out the truth several hours ago. But me? I’ve been living with this for almost over a year now. I’ve been facing it for awhile now, but you haven’t! So you may wanna take a good look at yourself, before you accuse me of what you yourself are doing! You hurt me! You ditched me! I did nothing to you!” Casey could feel the burning of tears at the edges of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall in front of him. “ Casey, please. I’m sorry!” Brand didn’t have a chance to say more. Casey had gone limp in his arms as if she were a rag doll. “ Please just go.” Casey whispered painfully. She was exerting so much effort to hold the tears back, but he was taxing her so much. She needed to get away from him, before they both did something they would regret. “ Please. I can’t stand the sight of you right now.” Casey’s quiet announcement ripped right through Brand. “ Fine. But this doesn’t end tonight!” Brand stated seriously. Letting go of her, he walked back towards his car. When he got in, he laid his head back and shut his eyes. He never imagined so much could happen in one night. How much it could change, and all because of one girl. Opening his eyes, he stuck the key in the ignition, started the car, and drove out of sight. When he had dropped Casey off, he hadn’t paid much attention to the route they took. Once he was home though, he recalled it. It was etched in his memory of course, because it was the same route he took to school. Just his luck, he laughed. “ Brand, is that you?” A small petite women walked out of the kitchen holding a dish rag. “ Hey mum.” Brand said, hugging his mother. “ Dinner should be ready in about an hour and Jay called. He said he had something for you.” She paused and looked awkwardly at Brand. “ What is it?” He asked, curiously. “ Well, your father called.” She said, twisting the rag between her fingers. “ Did he really? Ha, wow. He finally wants to acknowledge that he has a son? Well good for him, what did he want?” Brand asked. “ Don’t be like that, you know he loves you. Anyways, he wanted to see if you wanted to go over for dinner on Sunday night?” She asked, hopefully. “ I’ll have to think about it.” Brand had never really liked his father, but only saw him to keep his mother happy. “ Ok. Just give him a call.” She hugged him once more before going into the kitchen. Brand shook his head at his dad’s tactics, then headed up the stairs to his room. When he opened his door, his eyes drifted straight to his bed. Seeing the rumbled burgundy sheets conjured up images he had no right imagining. He closed his eyes against the flood of images, and moved over to his dresser. He threw his keys on top of it and changed out of his clothes. Getting into bed, he turned and shut the light off, cloaking the room in complete darkness, forgetting about dinner completely. Chapter 2 When Casey looked at her night stand, she was surprised she had slept through the night. Pushing the covers back, she placed her feet on cold hardwood floor. Walking towards the bathroom, she flipped the light on and looked at herself in the mirror. She wasn’t surprised to see her eyes puffy, red and swollen. She was just about to splash water on her face when the phone rang. “ Hello?” She asked into the receiver. “ Casey? What the hell happened last night?” Bri said in a rush. “ I don’t feel like talking about it.” Casey said, hoping she would drop it. “ Well you might want to talk to Ryan, he’s a little pissed. You did just leave the party without saying anything to him. Ryan thinks you hate him. Jay’s pissed at you as well, but I don’t know why. Hell has broken out and you’re in the middle of it, Casey.” Bri finished. “ I don’t hate Ryan,” Casey said, running her fingers through her hair. “ Why would he think that?” Casey asked. “ Maybe because you left without him, and not to mention the fact that you left with another guy. Casey, I warned you about Brand Kody, what the hell were you thinking? Why would you leave with him? God knows, what the two of you did.” Bri was disgusted. Casey felt beaten and bruised. First Brand, now this; enough was enough. “ First of all, you need to back the hell off! Who do you think you are, talking to me?! Second, you don’t know the whole story! Third, I would rather die, than be back with Brand again!” Casey finished without realizing what she had said. “ Again?” Bri questioned. “ Nothing. I was thinking of someone else.” Casey lied. “ You want to know something. It’s pretty sad when you can’t tell your best friend your secrets. How bout you let me know when the old Casey comes back, because I don’t know the new one.” Bri hung, leaving Casey listening to a dial tone. She threw herself back among the pillows and closed her eyes. She had never imagined that when he did come back into her life, she would cease to exist. Chapter 3 When that Monday came, Casey was dead. She was exhausted from another night of crying herself to sleep. She walked through the halls in a ghostly manner, not seeing anyone or anything. She had no desire to see Ryan, Pat, or Bri, so she walked right by her locker when she saw them all there. In her attempt to pass them, she didn’t see the person directly in her path, causing her to run right into them. “ I’m__,” but when she looked up into eyes of pure emerald, she swallowed her sentence. She couldn’t believe he was standing right in front of her, just like how she had dreamt it. Then she remembered that circumstances were different, and that made her angry. She tried to pass him, but he wouldn’t let her. When Brand had seen Casey walking down the hall, he had thought she would join her friends, but he was wrong. She walked right past them, trying her hardest to ignore Ryan. He decided that he needed to talk to her again, so he moved to her, stepping right in her path. He thought she would look up and see him, but she didn’t and ran right into him. She was about to say sorry, when she saw it was him though, she stopped her words. He watched as several emotions played across her face, finally ending with anger and exasperation. “ What do you want?” she asked, crossing her arms across her chest. “ I thought that was obvious.” Brand said confidently. “ I told you I was done talking.” Casey said. “ Well that’s good. Because now its my turn to talk and I would love it if you would listen.” Brand said with some sarcasm. “ I don’t need to listen to you. You didn’t even know who I was until Saturday. And now, there are so many problems between us! Why don’t you just forget about me?” Casey asked, not really wanting to talk about this, especially in front of all the kids at school. “ Because, you got me into all of this. And besides, its not that easy.” Brand admitted. “ What’s that supposed to mean?” Casey asked skeptically. “ You haven’t forgotten me Casey, and its been almost over a year.” Brand said. “ Oh, but you’re wrong. I have forgotten about you.” Casey lied. “ Is this what you call about forgetting? Casey, I know you were the one looking at me at the party on Friday. And you have been holding a grudge against me for what we did, for awhile. Don’t lie, you know I’m telling you the truth. You can deny it, but you know the truth deep down. Truth be told, I don’t want you to forget. Because now that I know, I don’t think I will be able to forget.” Brand finally admitted. “ Stop saying that. I don’t want to have this conversation right now. I’m late for class and people are starting to stare. Can we have this some other time?” She asked. “ Fine. I will give you a ride home after school today. I’ll meet you at your locker at one.” Brand said, allowing her no argument. They stood glaring at each other before, Casey finally brushed past him to make her way towards class. Turning in the opposite direction, Brand walked away. AP History was probably one of her hardest classes, but seeing as it was her class before she had to meet Brand, it doubled the difficulty. She lost track of time, trying to lose herself in her notes. When she looked up at the clock again, it was 12:59. She panicked, it was time to meet him. When the bell rang, she took her time packing up her stuff, then stood. She looked up though, when a shadow fell over her. “ Hey Casey.” Ryan’s voice sent a jolt through Casey’s whole being. She turned to face him and tried to force a smile. “ Hey Ryan. Look, I am really sorry about Saturday, I called you, but Seth answered your phone. Guess he was too wasted to tell you though. I will understand if you never wanna see me again, I just wanted to let you know that I never meant to hurt you. There were some things that happened, that I’m not sure I can tell you about.” Ryan’s blue eyes, stared intently at Casey before he spoke. “ Casey, I’m the one that should apologize. I shouldn’t have left you, seeing that you didn’t know a lot of people. Don’t worry about Saturday, I understand. Will you at least give me a second chance?” Ryan asked sincerely. “ God Ryan. I don’t deserve you, after what I did. I just… I want to tell you so bad, but I’m afraid that you will be disgusted with me.” Casey was starting to break down. She could feel the tears in the corners’ of her eyes. “ Come on. I’ll take you home, and we can talk.” Ryan slipped his coat off, and around her shoulders. He placed his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. “ Thanks Ryan.” She rested her self against him as they walked side by side out to his car. When he got in, he reached over, and weaved his fingers through hers and smiled. It was almost 1:15 and he hadn’t seen her. He knew she wasn’t coming. He never would have thought she would stand him up, but he guessed he deserved it for making that demand of her. Finally leaving her locker, he walked out to his car and drove home. When Ryan pulled into her drive way, he shut the ignition off and turned towards her. “ Casey, I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I mean, I find myself thinking about you constantly. And I can’t get you outta my head. You know what I mean?” Ryan asked hypothetically. “ Yeah, I do.” Casey felt a strange warming when she heard his words. “ It’s just at the moment, I’m not sure I would make you very happy. There are some things that I need to take care of before I can give you myself fully because I wouldn’t want you to have any less.” Casey squeezed his hand and smiled at him. “ I understand and I respect that. But, just know that I will be waiting for you.” He leaned in and captured her mouth beneath his. Casey leaned into the kiss to get more out of it, and slid her arms around his neck. “ Mm. Now that was nice.” Ryan’s smile was tender and sweet as he pulled away. “ Yeah, it was.” Casey agreed. “ So, does this mean I wont be able to see you at all? Or can we at least hang out as friends?” He asked, stilling holding her hand. “ Sure, we can still hang out. I was just talking about the whole dating thing.” Casey said. “ Ok. Then can I drive you home tomorrow too?” He asked. “ Yeah, I’d love that!” Casey said enthusiastically. “ Ok. Then I will meet you after school at your locker.” He leaned in again to kiss her again then pulled away. “ Thanks for understanding Ryan.” Casey said as she got out of his car. “ No problem.” He smiled again, then waved as he pulled out of her drive way. Around six, her mother yelled up to her. “ Casey, someone’s here to see you!” Casey was confused yet excited, hoping that Ryan had come back. She quickly threw on a pair of jeans and ran down the stairs. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, all she wanted to do was run back up them and slam her door. “ Hey.” Brand said, looking at Casey directly. “ Hi.” Was all Casey said. Turning to her mom, “ Mom, this is Brand. Brand, this is my mom.” After Casey finished introducing them she stood stock still. “ Hello, its very nice to meet you.” Casey’s mother said as she reached out a hand to shake his. “ Casey, dinner will be ready in about an hour. Is your friend going to stay?” She asked, turning towards Casey. “ Do you want to?” Casey asked, even though she wished he would say no. “ It sounds tempting, but I can’t. Thanks for the offer though.” Brand apologized. “ Alright.” Her mom said, before turning and walking back into the kitchen. “ Come on, we’ll have more privacy in my room.” She motioned for him to follow her up the stairs. Once they were in the room, Casey moved as far away from him as possible. He didn’t like that, he wanted her closer. Letting it slide for now, he addressed the problem on his mind.
Copyright © 2007 Devin M McDaniel |