Rising Tide: Dark Innocence (The Maura DeLuca Trilogy Book 1) (20 page)

He hadn’t said anything about when
we would talk again.  Did that mean our next regular date night was the coming
Tuesday, as usual?  The fuse of my quick temper was suddenly lit.  My
pride was hurt, since I seemed to be the only one who’d been left in the dark,
and I would be even now, if not for Merina.  That wounded pride decided,
until he could offer more of an explanation, I’d refuse to text him back. 
I felt another sharp spike of pain in my head, as I decided this.  That
only served to make me angrier, so I took my phone and threw it into a dresser
drawer, burying it beneath a thick pile of clothes.  I forbade myself from
looking at it until it was time for Ron to be playing at his gig tonight. 
That would prevent me from being weak and looking like a fool by breaking down
and sending some whiny, needy text.

It was actually easy to keep
busy.  I cleaned house like a whirlwind, getting everything done in record
time, while Caelyn worked in the corner of her room, serving as a temporary
office.  There was the matter of a boss battle I’d been having a hard time
with to be resolved.  I crossed that off the list…with a few helpful
suggestions from the internet.  Caelyn had picked me up the final dvd of
Vampire
Knight
—an anime I’d fallen in love with—so I finished watching that. 
Later in the afternoon, I even managed to talk Caelyn into a game of Monopoly. 
I’d only had one moment of weakness, when I’d opened the drawer, but I hadn’t
reached in to retrieve the phone.  I was actually impressed with my
strength of will, because Ron had been in my thoughts all day.

When 8:00 pm came around, and Caelyn
was popping corn for our movie night, I finally allowed myself a peek at the
phone.  Ron hadn’t texted once…there were six texts spread throughout
various parts of the day.

Maura
did u get my text?

Are
you mad at me?

Is
something wrong, why aren’t you answering?

Hey
I wanted to ask you if you want to do date night tomorrow night?  I don’t
want to wait til Tuesday.

Maura,
are you getting these???

Ok,
it’s almost gig time.  I don’t know if something is wrong with your phone.
I hope you’re not ignoring me. I need to know if you got the text about
tomorrow night. If you get this let me know.  Wish us luck!  I love
you.        

I immediately felt wicked for not
answering.  I reasoned that if Ron said he loved me, there couldn’t
possibly be another girl he was going out with.  Before going to join my
mother, I texted him back.

Sorry
too! Busy cleaning, gaming and watching anime. Trying to get mom to take care
of some stuff. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow, it’s a date! Love you too J
& hope the gig is going great!

My giddiness after receiving that
last text from him, persisted all night, causing me to miss much of the movie
and inspiring Ron-filled dreams…this time of the non-scary variety…all
night.  The next day, I made myself get caught up on homework, which I
found to be a weak, unsatisfying attempt at distraction.  But, I buckled
down and got it done.  I still wanted to get into college.  I was
hoping to go back to Pennsylvania and take classes with Ron, if he didn’t get
to transfer up here.

We’d agreed to ‘meet’ at 3:00,
allowing my late-night rock star plenty of time to sleep in.  Caelyn
ignored me completely when I started bouncing off the walls, changing clothes
and doing my makeup in preparation.  After finally learning we’d missed
each other Friday night—I’d blamed a long running rehearsal—she wasn’t about to
deny me.  She had no desire to suffer my waiting until Tuesday to see Ron.

He did show this time…but he didn’t
get to stay.

For fifteen minutes I bit back the
question about who the girl at Tom’s Pizza had been.  We talked mostly
about the gig.  It’d gone very well.  Everyone had loved the music,
and the frat was even interested in recruiting Ron.  That seemed to make
him excited, so despite the stories I’d heard about hazing and out-of-control
parties, I trusted Ron to make the right choices and was happy for him.

I was gathering the nerve to
casually ask him what he’d been doing Friday night when he’d postponed our
date.     

He must have read my mind because
he said, “I wanted to talk to you about Friday.” 

Before he could explain, a loud
crash sounded from somewhere in his house.  “Mom?!” he called out,
alarmed.

“Ron, what’s wrong?”  I could
feel butterflies in my stomach, like my body knew something wasn’t right before
my mind could get confirmation.

“Hold on, Maura!”  Ron got up
so fast, his chair fell over.  I could hear his footsteps pound down the
stairs at a run.  Then I heard shouting, but I couldn’t make out the
words. 

The next couple of minutes
stretched and dragged, lasting much longer than they should.  Ron came
tearing into the room.  He leaned over to put his face too close to his
laptop’s webcam.  “Maura, it’s Mom! She collapsed!  I have to get her
to the hospital!”  The mix of panic and fear on his face broke my heart.

“Go, Ron!”  When he didn’t
move I screamed, “Go!”  He didn’t bother to turn off the Skype
connection.  I watched him disappear, not even aware of the tears
streaming down my cheeks.

I walked numbly to the bathroom to
wash my face.  I tried to stifle my sobs, but Caelyn must have heard me
yell, because she stopped me in my tracks.

“Maura!  What’s wrong? 
What’s happened?”  She had both hands on my shoulders, trying gently to
shake an answer out of me.  She did a double-take when she looked at my
face.

“Ron’s mom.  He had to take
her to the hospital.  She’s really sick.”  I looked into her
concerned eyes, her troubled face.  I knew how I would feel if the same
thing were happening to Caelyn.  It doubled the pain I was feeling for
Ron, but at the same time I was selfishly happy it wasn’t my mother.  I
wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close.  My crying intensified.

“Oh Maura, it’s ok.  I’m sure
she’ll be ok.  Ron will take good care of her, you know that.  Come
here and let me clean your face off.” 

“I can do it, Mom.”  I pulled
back, but she wrapped her hand tightly around my wrist and dragged me towards
the linen closet.  “I have a washcloth in the bathroom,” I protested.

“Just come here,” she cooed at me
in her most soothing tone.  I watched her dig through the shelf, bypassing
the stack of white cloths, until she came to a black one folded up near the
bottom. 

“Mom…”

“
Shhhh
,
just come here.”  She pulled me toward the bathroom door, but stood right
in front of me, blocking my entrance.  I felt dizzy, and the world seemed
tinged in red.  I worried momentarily about that, but it passed as Ron and
his mother filled my thoughts again.  We could take care of me
later. 

Caelyn
ran the water until it was warm, so the cloth felt good…comforting on my
cheeks.  She dabbed and rubbed down my face and under my chin.  I
wondered briefly why she was rubbing at my shirt too, but was too worried to
think very much of it. 

“Let’s get you into some comfy
pajamas ok?”  She was already pulling my shirt up over my head.  She
tossed it into the hamper and guided me into my room.  “Try to stop crying
ok?  It won’t help anyone, and you’re thinking the worst before you need
to, don’t you think?”  She pulled out a fleecy top with matching bottoms
and laid them on the bed.

“Yes, I guess so.  But she has
cancer, what if…”  I almost started crying anew.

“Don’t think the worst,
Maura.  The best thing you can do is think positive thoughts, and send
them their way.  Do you think Ron would want you crying like this?”

“No, I guess not…”  I pulled
on the top, leaving my bra on since Caelyn was in the room.  I stood
waiting with the pants in my hands, letting her know I needed my privacy.

“Are you ok now?” she asked,
retreating.

“I think so.”  I almost told
her about the bad things I’d been thinking about Ron and how horrible I felt
about that now.  But I didn’t.  When she was out of the room, I
picked up my phone and texted.

Please let me know how she is as
soon as you can!

I didn’t hear anything the rest of
Sunday.  I slept very little, and the small amount I managed to get was
wracked with tossing, turning and lots of blanket kicking.  Going to
school didn’t even seem like a possibility—how could I concentrate on anything
today?  But, I went through the mechanical motions of getting ready,
knowing Caelyn wouldn’t approve of my staying home until I could hear word from
Ron about his mom.  I texted before I went to school, asking how she was,
hoping I wasn’t being too much of a pain, while he had so much going on. 
I wondered if he would go to class.

I didn’t dare pull my phone out to
check it during class.  Caelyn had threatened service cancellation, if I
was caught using it during classes.  Between periods, though, my eyes were
glued to its screen, as if I could magically make words from him light up the
screen. 

Finally, between second and third
periods, a text came through.

Sorry,
was up almost all night. Mom is ok, but she is too weak to go home. Going for a
shower now, but staying at the hospital this afternoon. Talk later.

She was so ill, he was skipping
class.  I wished, for the thousandth time, I could fly to Pennsylvania to
help him through it all.  It was a horrible day.  I was miserable,
being apart from Ron and, because I let my misery distract me, I stammered I
didn’t know the answer to my history teacher’s question…a first for me.  I
blushed as at least half the class laughed at my blunder.  I wished the
floor would open up and swallow me, banishing me to some dark, quiet place away
from everyone, so I could wallow in my troubles without interruption. 

I slithered off to lunch, dragging
my feet while imagining Ron all alone if his mother didn’t pull through. 
Would Caelyn let me fly back to at least help him through the funeral?

“Maura!”  I was yanked,
violently, out of the construction of an elaborate and desperate argument for
my mother, by the far too cheerful greeting.

“Oh!  Susie!”  I’d
completely forgotten I had someone to eat lunch with today.

“Did you forget?”  She looked
a little hurt when she asked that, so I quickly lied to spare her feelings.

“Oh no, you just caught me in a
moment of deep thought.”  At least part of that was true.  I forced a
smile for my first—possible—Canadian friend.  I was overly cautious of
people after the swimming hole incident, which had only been four months ago. 

There was something inviting about
Susie, though.  Her oversized eyes had an innocuous openness to
them.  Her smile was sincere in a way Katie’s had never been. 

“Are you ok?”  Concern. 
Real concern.  I could see the difference, now that someone authentic was
standing before me.

“I guess, just worried and
distracted…I might not be great company.”  I said this, although, I might
have gotten down on my knees and begged for a distraction from my disquiet, at
this point.

“Come on,” she persuaded, “I guess
I’ll just have to cheer you up!” 

Susie had packed her lunch, but I
knew the cafeteria was serving pizza today, so I bought.  The slices were
lacking enough meat, in my opinion, but I couldn’t imagine ever turning down
pizza.  My new friend even insisted I take her vanilla pudding cup, as a
cheer-up offering.  I loved vanilla pudding almost as much as pizza….or
beef.  She must have been psychic.  The smooth, sweet texture was
comforting, sliding into my empty stomach.  Susie watched me eat it
quietly.

Waiting politely until I’d
finished, she didn’t try to talk to me until after I’d followed dessert with
the main course.  “So…you having a hard time living in a new place?” she
queried.

“You could say that,” I answered,
as I wiped the pizza grease from the corner of my mouth.  I looked into
her eyes for a moment.  The interest was heartfelt; there was no lurking,
hidden agenda that had always been present with my false friends back home. 
I realized now, I’d lied to myself so I could overlook the obvious.  Her
brows lifted in anticipation of my answer, inviting me to spill my guts.

And that was just what I did. 
I told this stranger everything, for some strange reason.  Wasn’t being
able to trust her, no more than a hunch?  Nevertheless, Ron, his sick
mother, my increasingly busy mother…even a few tiny details about my health
worries…all came spilling out.  After I was finally done, it was pretty
much time for classes to start again, and I was in complete shock at my
revelation to this girl I barely knew.  Somehow she didn’t feel like a
stranger, though.

She’d listened carefully, nodding
from time to time, but never interrupting.  “Wow, you really needed that
pudding,” she said, putting her hand on mine.  Her eyes grew even wider.
 “You’re so cold!  I hope you
aren’t
getting sick.”  I
could hear the compassion in her voice, but I automatically withdrew my arm
from the tabletop.  I ran my other hand over the one she’d touched. 
It felt to be a perfectly normal temperature to me…warm even.  I only had
time to say, “I hope not either,” before the bell rang, calling us away from
the present conversation.

“Maybe you’d like to join more of
us tomorrow?”  She pointed toward a small group of students leaving a
table nearby.  None were wearing football or cheerleading attire, to my
relief.  The awareness sunk in that she’d abandoned her own friends to
have lunch with me.  I knew she’d probably done that because she saw I was
still settling in and didn’t want me to be overwhelmed by a large group. 
I was in awe of her thoughtfulness.  It left me speechless.