Rogue Wave (The Water Keepers, Book 2) (6 page)

“At Rayne?” I snapped. “No, you can’t—”

Emily raised one eyebrow.

“I mean, whatever,” I said. “I don’t know. Sorry, I…I have to go. I’m late.”

As soon as I made it to the frozen yogurt shop down the street, I grabbed the metal door handle and flung it open. The chime rang at my entry, announcing my arrival, and I rushed through the opening. Nicole was sitting on a stool behind the counter, spinning herself aimlessly in a circle and playing with a strand of her honey colored hair. She whirled around at my noisy entrance.

Her glazed expression turned to a smile. “Sadie…yay! I’m so glad you came. It’s totally dead in here today. I thought I was gonna be bored out of my mind.”

I finished tying the apron around my back and started to fix the lime green visor under my ponytail. “What do you mean?” I said. “Of course I came. Wasn’t I scheduled to work today?”

Nicole hopped off the stool. “You were, but I thought maybe you weren’t gonna show…” She bit her lip, hesitating. Then spoke in a sympathetic tone. “Heather told me what happened. You know, with…
Rayne
.” She finished his name practically in a whisper, like it was taboo to even mention him anymore. Suddenly, I was being smothered by her arms with an energetic hug. “Oh my gosh. Are you gonna be okay? I’m totally here for you if you need to talk. We have a ton of tissues in the back room if you think you’re gonna cry or something.”

My gaze fell briefly as Rayne’s image flashed through my head. I didn’t even have time to stop and see him after school. It felt like an eternity since I last felt the warmth of his presence.

I stepped back and tried to look at Nicole with confidence. “Thanks, but I’m totally fine. And we’re still friends. It’s not the end of the world.”

“Wow,” she said. “You’re handling this
way
better than I did when things ended with Brandon.”

I shrugged. “Well, I still miss him and stuff. I’m just not much of a crier I guess.”

At least, I wasn’t a crier as long as I had my regular dose of Healing Water; which of course I didn’t today. When Nicole wandered back to the yogurt counter, I pulled down on the strap of my watch to peek at my wrist. My Watermark was a little on the dark side, but it still had some blue to it, and I didn’t feel weak or sick or anything. I was sure it would be fine to wait until later to go get my dose of Healing Water from Rayne. I decided I would stop by his house on my way home from work.

Business finally picked up around six o’clock. Nicole and I both had finished all of our homework between customers by then. It kind of felt like I had to be Nicole’s tutor half the time, but it was fun to have a friend to hang out with when things were slow. We were just hitting a break in customers around eight when Nicole stopped next to me abruptly by the fruit tray.

She picked up a rag and casually wiped the counter, even though I just finished cleaning it. Her face remained facing forward as she spoke in a hushed tone, close to my ear. “Sadie…Oh my gosh, major
hottie
alert.”

I followed Nicole’s gaze to a brown-haired boy with a strong jawline who stood alone in the doorway. He paused for a moment with an air of confidence, glancing around the room. Nicole was practically drooling all over herself.

“Do I look okay?” she whispered.

I examined her once over and gave a nod of approval. The boy strode past a table full of kids wearing soccer uniforms, moving swiftly toward us with a direct look in his eye.

Nicole bounced forward when he approached, voice bubbly. “Hi! Can I get something for you?”

The boy smiled. “You must be Nicole.”

“That’s me,” she said with a hopeful grin. “How did you know my name? Have we met before?” She turned to me and lifted both eyebrows.

I laughed and pointed at my nametag. “Maybe he knows how to read.”

She turned back to him and laughed. “Oh, right. I’m wearing a nametag. I can’t believe I almost fell for that.”

“Actually, we do know each other,” he said plainly. “I’m your cousin.”

“We do?” Nicole said happily. But then it sunk in. “Wait. Did you say you were…”

“Your cousin,” the boy finished. “Derrick.”

Nicole looked bewildered. “My cousin?”

I didn’t have any cousins personally, but it seemed a little odd to me that Nicole didn’t even know who hers were.

“Oh,” Nicole said, sounding disappointed. “I didn’t know I had any cousins, at least around here. I mean, I think I met some cousins once when I was like four years old. But that was up somewhere far away, like Sacramento or something.”

“It was Fresno, actually,” he said. “I don’t really remember it either. I was only five. But ever since I moved down here, my mother’s been pestering me to come visit you. So I figured, why not?”

Nicole’s demeanor settled back to normal. “That’s cool I guess. So what are you doing down here?”

“Just hanging out, having a little fun. And taking some classes over at UCLA.”

I immediately perked up. “You go to UCLA?”I asked him. “I just got accepted there for fall.”

“Really?” he said. He moved away from Nicole and leaned toward me on his elbows from across the counter. His smile was beyond charming. “And who might you be?”

“I’m Sadie. I go to school with Nicole.”

“Well, Sadie, who goes to school with Nicole, it’s nice to meet you.”

The way he spoke was a little too sweet, like everything he said could be construed as a pick-up line. But it would be great to talk to someone who was going to the same college that I was planning to go to.

“Um, you too,” I said. “So, what do you think of UCLA? Do you like it?”

He nodded. “Sure. What’s not to like? There’s always some kind of party going on. Speaking of parties…I was thinking about coming back down this way over the weekend. Do you girls know of any good ones I should check out?”

Nicole’s face brightened. “A group of us are planning a big bonfire this Saturday at Huntington Beach. You should totally come.”

He grinned. “That sounds like a good time. Count me in.” Then he turned back towards me, leaning closer to my face, voice lowered. “You’ll be there, right?”

I laughed once. “Uh, yep. I was planning on it.”

The ding from the opening door made me flinch and look away. Rayne stood at the front of the shop, staring right at me with a blank look on his face. I felt myself take a step back nervously, like somehow I’d been caught doing something I wasn’t supposed to.

Nicole’s cousin didn’t seem to notice. He glanced vaguely at the doorway then smiled back at me. “It was Sadie, right?”

I nodded, heat filling my cheeks, knowing I had an audience across the room. “That’s me,” I said lamely. “Sadie…”

“Well, then I’ll look forward to Saturday, Sadie. It was really nice to meet you.”

Rayne started walking towards us. I stumbled over my words, trying to remember the guy’s name. “Um, yeah…you too…”

“Derrick,” he finished for me. “Don’t forget.”

Before I could reply, Derrick turned to say goodbye to Nicole. At the same time, Rayne moved towards him with a stern glare. Derrick passed by Rayne, glaring right back at him without hesitation. The only difference was the obvious smirk on Derrick’s face. As soon as Derrick was out the door, Rayne hurried over to the counter.

“Hey,” I said to him, almost like a question.

Nicole made a funny face at me and pretended not to listen.

Rayne’s tone was rigid. “Who was that?”

“No one,” I said through a forced grin. “Just Nicole’s cousin, visiting from L.A.”

Rayne looked perplexed. “Does he come down here a lot?”

“I don’t think so. Nicole didn’t even recognize him at first. Why do you ask?”

He mumbled under his breath, almost like he was talking to himself. “He…just looked familiar for some reason…” Rayne looked out through the glass walls at the front of the shop for a moment.

“So, what are you doing here?” I asked, interrupting his stare.

Rayne glanced at Nicole then back at me. “Do you think maybe we could talk outside for a minute?”

I was at work, so I didn’t know if it was appropriate, but when I looked over at Nicole, she gave me a look that said,
hello, of course you can go talk to your barely ex of a boyfriend who just caught you already flirting with some new guy after just one day.

“Sure,” I told him. “Of course. Just give me a minute and I’ll meet you out there.” Rayne nodded and left to wait for me outside.

Nicole immediately ran to my side. “Oh my gosh. That was so…
awkward..
. Did you see Rayne’s face? And that guy Derrick was so totally
in
to you. I swear…if he wasn’t my cousin, I would be completely jealous right now. Well, maybe I’m still a little jealous. So, what are you going to say to Rayne?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, it’s definitely weird of him to show up at my work like this after everything that’s happened, but he’s still a part of my life.” I moved towards the door and said, “Wish me luck, I guess.”

6. OPTIONS

I passed a young family with two children sitting at the table outside the yogurt shop, glancing around the dark parking lot until I found Rayne leaning his back against his Range Rover a few stalls away. We made eye contact and he released his arms, which had been firmly folded to his chest. Despite the strange tension he was exuding, I was kind of relieved to see him.

I pulled open the car door and slid inside the passenger seat. Rayne met my gaze as he took his place on the driver’s side, but he didn’t speak right away.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“You didn’t show up,” he finally said. “I was worried about you. I only asked you to promise me one thing, to come for your Healing Water. But you didn’t come.”

“I was going to,” I protested. “But I had to stay late after school and I didn’t have time. I was going to be late for work.”

“Well, you have my number, don’t you? You could have called. Or even a text would have sufficed. You always come to my house before work, Sadie. Always. For the last five months you haven’t missed a single day. You didn’t think that would make me worry?”

I suddenly felt defensive. “Well,” I said, a little sharper than I’d meant to. “I guess things are different now. You’re just going to have to get used to it. We have to go back to the way it was before, when you were just my Keeper. I mean, our relationship was never even real to begin with. We can’t pretend anymore.”

Pain etched through his face for only a second, but then his calm returned. “Yes, that’s true. You’re right.”

We both went quiet; awkwardly quiet.

With each silent second that passed, I felt my guilt deepen. I didn’t like hurting him. I was just trying to make the best of our impossible situation.

“Listen,” I said, “I’m really sorry. That came out wrong. I didn’t mean it like that. I guess I just wasn’t thinking earlier. I felt fine, so I figured I would just stop by your place on my way home. I should have realized.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s okay. Not like any of this is your fault.” A genuine smile replaced his sullen expression. “But maybe next time you could give me a little heads up?”

“Of course. Sorry.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out one of his many silver flasks. This one was round like a large metal marble with a swirling pattern carved around the middle. “I guess now is as good a time as any,” he said, motioning for my hand.

A single drop of iridescent liquid was all it took, each day, to keep my body functioning properly, to keep my mind from dwindling to insanity. Maybe I needed it more today than I thought I did. When the drop touched my skin, I felt a noticeable difference. The peaceful energy spread through my body, leaving warmth and life in its wake. As Rayne put the small bottle of Healing Water back in his pocket, I left my hand leaning towards him. I wasn’t supposed to want to hold his hand anymore, but I knew that if he reached out to hold mine, even if it wasn’t the right thing to do, I knew I wouldn’t pull my hand away.

I looked over and examined his face. It truly was torture to sit right next to him and yet feel a thousand miles apart.

“You may not believe me,” I said. “But I missed you today.”

He paused and looked at me thoughtfully. “I missed you too.” Then he smirked. “But…I’m a pretty miss-able person, so who could really blame you?”

I laughed. “Oh, for sure. You’re like, the
king
of miss-ability.”

He pointed at the yogurt shop. “See, look. Even Nicole misses me right now.”

I followed his gaze and had to laugh. Nicole was skillfully pretending to mop the floor with one hand while pressing her face up to the window to spy on us with the other.

“Oh, you think it’s
you
she’s missing,” I joked. “How sweet. Well, you just keep on believing that, if it makes you feel special. But we all know the truth. I’m the real miss-able one in this re…” The word
relationship
caught in my throat just before I said it. I quickly corrected. “R…Range Rover.”

If Rayne noticed the word slip, he didn’t let on. “Well, I guess we could agree to call it a tie,” he offered.

I lifted the leather armrest and scooted closer, holding out my hand to shake on it. “Deal,” I said. We shook hands and laughed, but feeling the warmth of his skin sent a small tingle up my arm. I paused for a moment as his palm lingered on mine.

“Would it be weird if I wanted to give you a hug?” I said.

His hand suddenly released from mine and wrapped around my body, pulling me effortlessly to his lap. I gasped slightly in surprise. It wasn’t like Rayne to be so nonchalant about close physical contact. He was always so careful not to give-in to the temptation.

“No,” he said. “That wouldn’t be weird. I love your hugs.”

He drew me closer, and I melted into his chest. His intoxicating scent clouded my brain. More than ever, I wanted to hold onto him and never let go. It was almost as if trying to distance myself had made me want him even more. Why oh why was it so dang hard to let him go?

I pulled my head back just far enough to face him. His eyes burned, so close to mine, searching me for answers. I spoke, unsure how I managed to form cohesive thoughts. “I wasn’t joking,” I said. “I really did miss you.” Each word flowed out of my mouth as if in slow motion, like a crimson ribbon floating in the air and luring me towards his hypnotic eyes. My hand slid behind his neck and I gave in. I conceded like a slave to my emotions.