Take it All (Blinded by Love) (46 page)

She folded into his car laughing as he turned the volume down, “Are you laughing at me and my mad skills?”

“Yes, I totally am,” she pulled her seatbelt across her lap. “Don’t you hate rap?”

He laughed, “Very much so, but I thought it might give you a laugh,” he shrugged, smirking as he pulled away from her house, “and I was right–”

“Like always,” she interrupted, mocking him as she finished his sentence.

“Anyways,” he said, giving her a pointed look, “I ordered the pizza, so it should be delivered in about fifteen minutes then I thought a night of cheesy ass movies at my place.”

“That sounds perfect,” she began, reaching over and turning the volume up. “You didn’t have to cancel your plans tonight you know.”

Smirking he asked, “What were your plans for tonight?”

“Oh you know, folding laundry and cleaning my room,” she casually said, looking out her window and able to see Raine’s reflection as he shook his head.

“Wow, now that’s reason enough for me to turn around and take you home so you don’t miss out on
that
,” he said sarcastically.

“There’s nothing wrong with the plans I had for my Saturday night.”

“Oh sure, no not at all,” he rolled his eyes, nodding his head along to the song playing on the radio. “So, do I need to go over and lay into Caleb for being a douchebag?”

Lennox cranked her head in his direction, “No,” she said a little too quickly.

“So what happened when you went to see him the other day?”

“Oh, well that turned out to be a wasted trip,” she ran her fingers through her hair, looking out the window. “He called me the following night, and told me not to come this weekend and if he felt better he’d let me know.”

“Do you think he’s using again?” Raine asked as they turned onto his street and drove towards his house.

“I honestly don’t know,” she sighed, her head falling back against her seat and her eyes closing behind her sunglasses. She was exhausted, even though she had crashed early the last couple nights, she tossed and turned and by morning she felt the fatigue from the moment she opened her eyes. As much as she stood by her decision to follow his lead, there was a part of her that wished things were different, that his addiction was something they didn’t have to worry about and could just be a normal couple with normal relationship problems.

“Yo, Cupcake,” she heard Raine call and when she opened her eyes she saw his hand waving up and down in front of her face.

“Yeah?” she said lifting her head to see they were parked in his driveway with the car turned off and his door was wide open.

“Damn, what’d you do, fall asleep from the corner to the house?”

“No, guess I was just in my head and didn’t hear you.”

His head nodded towards the house, “Okay, well let’s go,” he smiled.

Lennox grabbed her purse and followed him inside where as soon as they closed the door and made their way to the living room, the pizza guy rang the door bell. Lennox put her purse at the side of the couch where she always put it and went into the kitchen to get drinks while Raine paid. She rummaged through his fridge, looking for drinks but only came across a case of beer, jug of water, a jug of milk, and a case of regular pop. “Typical guy’s fridge,” she muttered to herself, pulling two beers from the case and then joined Raine in the living room where he was already biting into a piece of pizza.

She handed him a beer as she sat on the floor beside his feet with her feet stretched out and took a piece of pizza from the box, “There’s no mushrooms on it, is there?” she asked, eyeing the piece carefully as she lifted up a loose part of the cheese.

“Like I’d forget you hate mushrooms,” he mumbled through a mouthful of pizza, washing it down with a sip of his beer, “you’re the only one I know who doesn’t like them.”

“Oh, well good work on remembering,” she patted his leg before taking a bite of her piece as she started to wonder and ponder something in her head, something she had never asked Raine before. “Can I ask you a question?”

He nodded as he chewed. “Why are you still single?” She took another bite and rested her head on a cushion behind her and glanced up at him to see he was staring straight ahead, as he put the final bite of pizza in his mouth slowly thinking over her question.

He shrugged as he reached for his beer and took a long pull, before he answered, “Guess I just haven’t found that special girl; I don’t know.”

“Do you want a relationship? Like is it something you’re looking for?” she sat forward and turned her body to face him, grabbing her beer and sipping it.

“If the right girl came along, yeah maybe,” he paused to take a pull from his beer, “I haven’t done serious in a long time, I mean I’ve had girlfriends but nothing super serious in a couple years.”

She eyed him curiously, “How come?”

“Long story short, dated a girl throughout high school, was madly in love with her– thought she was the one– and found her in bed with another guy.” He just shrugged his shoulders like it was whatever and his voice was surprisingly calm. He grabbed his beer and before taking a pull, he said, “Best part is, the guy was my brother.”

Lennox looked at him with sympathy as she watched him drink his beer then hold it in his hands, his head turning slightly to meet her eyes that were full of empathy, “I’m sorry Raine.”

“Don’t be,” he shook his head back and forth, “I’m not– he wasn’t the first one she cheated on me with so good riddance.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother, though I can see why I didn’t.” She tossed her piece of pizza crust back into the box then stretched her arm to the side and grabbed her beer and took a few sips.

“Yeah, Nick and I haven’t talked since I moved here. He tried calling but I didn’t wanna speak to him– still don’t– and may never wanna,” he lifted his feet and rested them on the coffee table in front. “It is what it is.”

“I don’t blame you,” she said, understanding what he was saying, if she had a sister and caught her with Caleb, she’d never speak to her again– after she slapped her back three days or more. “Is he older or younger than you?”

“Younger by two years.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you, Raine.”

“Me too, but I believe things happen for a reason, though, this particular situation just made the whole trust thing harder than it should be.” He stood up and walked over to his television and opened his DVD player, continuing, “but you know what that’s like.”

“Yep, I guess I do.”

“Okay, well that’s enough of that, no more talking about that kinda shit,” he said, closing his DVD player and sitting back on the couch, “time for ultimate cheese fest movies.”

Lennox grinned, as she pulled herself up to her feet and got comfortable on the opposite end of the couch. “Agreed.” She pulled her legs up as she rested her head on the arm, and her eyes on the television as the opening titles started.

Lennox made it through half the movie, or at least until all the good parts passed, before her eyes became too heavy to keep open and she fell asleep at the end of Raine’s couch.

Lennox spent the night on Raine’s couch, curled in the same position as she passed out in. Dreaming she was an actress in the movie they had started, she started to look around aimlessly when a noise that didn’t belong started to sound and her eyes then snapped open. The sound was loud but muffled and it took her a few seconds to realize it was coming from her purse on the floor. Still half asleep she felt around on the floor for it, only to have her hand slap something that felt like a face instead. “Shit,” Raine’s voice grumbled from the ground.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, finally grabbing her purse and digging inside for her cell phone that had stopped ringing.

“What time is it?” his groggy voice sounded as he sat up, running his hand over his hair.

“Just before ten,” she told him, checking the time then going through her messages to see she had one missed call; Caleb. Not being in the mood, she tossed her cell phone back in her purse and sat up and stretched her arms and legs that were tight and stiff.

“Caleb?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not gonna call him back?” Raine asked as he pushed up to his feet and gathered the three empty beer bottles off the table and took them into the kitchen.

“No, he can wait. I’ll call him later,” she waved her hand, “hey why were you on the floor?”

“Because
someone
is a couch hog and a very restless sleeper,” he called from the kitchen as he moved around.

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly as she pulled her hair back into a low pony tail.

“Don’t worry, the floor’s plenty comfortable,” he sarcastically joked. “I was going to go to bed but was in the middle of movie two and wanted to finish it. Guess that didn’t pan out.”

“Guess not.” She stood up and taking her purse, she walked to the kitchen where Raine was moving around and making a pot of coffee.

“I’m gonna head to the gym after, so I’ll drop you off on the way out, cool?”

“Cool.”

Waiting for the coffee to brew, Lennox’s cell phone pinged in her purse and she pulled it out to see it was a text from Caleb telling her he was feeling better and really wanted to see her today. She reread the text a few times before typing back a quick reply telling him she had to go home to shower and change then she’d be out in the early afternoon and she would text when she left her place.

Lennox and Raine had a quick cup of coffee before he got dressed for the gym then grabbing his bag they walked out of the house, jumped in his car, and drove to her place. Pulling up to her place she saw that her mom’s Lexus was gone, as well as her dad’s Benz and her jeep was the only vehicle parked in the driveway. “There ya go, Cupcake,” Raine said, as he put the car in park, letting it idle along the curb.

“Thanks for the cheese filled hang, even though I didn’t make it through a full movie, I had fun,” she smiled as she pushed open her door and folded out.

“Anytime, now go call your man– I know you’re dying too,” he teased, putting the car in drive, “I’ll talk to ya lata sista.”

“Peace out bro,” she laughed as she shut the door and hurried up to the front door and let herself in as she heard Raine speed away down the street.

Lennox threw her keys in her bag then dropped it to the ground by the door and rushed up the stairs, taking off her hoodie as she walked into her room. She tossed it on her bed before she shed the rest of her clothes and hopped into the shower. She felt nervous about seeing Caleb; she wasn’t sure if it was because she hadn’t seen him in days or talked to him much or if it was something else, something that stemmed from how he treated her when she last saw him and their recent phone conversations. She really didn’t know what to expect going over there; whether she was going to be welcomed or froze out.

Hurrying through her shower she left her hair wet and down, letting her natural waves form as she pulled on a purple bra and matching panties before slipping on a pair of jeans and an off the shoulder black top. Once she was done she applied her makeup lightly and finished it off with strawberry lip gloss before she hurried down the stairs, and over to her bag that was sitting where she left it. She grabbed her keys out of her bag, slipped on her flip flops and made her way out the door, digging for her cell phone. She started her jeep before she sent Caleb a text, telling him she was on her way and that she would see him in twenty minutes.

She pulled up to Caleb’s twenty three minutes later and made her way up to the front door. She knocked once then opened the door, letting herself in, calling out, “Hey.”

“In here,” Caleb called back and she noted he sounded fine, like he normally would and her stomach started to settle a bit.

On the way over she started to become nervous; the closer she got to the city the more her stomach twisted and turned making her almost pull over and throw up. She hated that she felt that way, but she couldn’t help it. She had dreamt about him all night, none of it good but dreams filled of him doing lines of coke at Ty’s again, then doing them at his place in bed as she lay next to him and even in the car as she drove them to an empty parking lot by a park. It had felt so real, that gut wrenching agony and terror she felt as she sat next to him knowing she couldn’t do anything to stop, so watching felt like the only thing left to do.