Absolutely, Positively, 100% Normal

Chapter Three

"How was your day, honey?" my mom asked as I walked into the kitchen that evening. I approached her and kissed her cheek before going to lean against the island.

"It was okay. Not sure about that Bio test, though..." I shrugged. Nothing I could do about it now, right? I shifted my Bio textbook to my left arm. 

"I'm sure you did your best, Ray." Mom smiled at me. My mother was beautiful - and I'm not just saying this because she's my mom, either.  She really was. Mom had long brown hair and brown eyes like I did, but her hair was only slightly wavy whereas mine was a mass of curls, and her eyes were a lighter shade of brown than mine. Her eyes were soulful, like she felt emotions at an intensity that others could only imagine. To me, my mother's eyes were her best feature. There were similarities in our mouth and  our face shapes, but there our physical similarities ended. She had creamy, fair skin, with a straight nose and a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She was tall, with a willowy frame, and effortlessly graceful.

What everyone took to instantly about her was her general easygoing and friendly nature. She was well liked by pretty much everyone she came in contact with. Despite this, though, we did, of course have our occasional argument. She was still a mom, after all.

"I could've done better, Mom", I said, turning to go up to my room. "I didn't focus." Pausing at the doorway, I looked back at her. "Is Dad here yet?" My dad was an architect and sometimes worked long hours designing projects with whomever he was working with at the time.

"Not yet. He called and said he would be here in time for dinner." 

"Okay." I nodded, then left the room. Walking up the stairs to my bedroom, I dropped my bag on the floor and set my textbook onto my desk. Heaving a sigh, I flopped back onto my bed.

My wayward thoughts kept replaying that coffeehouse encounter. 

"I want you", he'd said. I rolled my eyes. Clearly a joke was being played on me. What did that even mean? Did he want sex? Or did he want to date me? He probably wasn't even serious. Perhaps he was the devil and he wanted my soul. Gray Immens certainly looked capable of it. His aura reeked sex appeal and danger, a combination I hadn't tried hard enough to stay away from.

Just then, someone knocked lightly on my door.

"Open!" I called out from my sprawled position. The door was opened to reveal Shay, a ready smile on his lips.

"Hey, Ray-ray", he greeted, using my childhood nickname. He came over to my bed and folded his frame to sit Indian style on the blue and purple fuzzy carpet that was on the floor next to my bed, leaning his head back against the mattress to look at me. 

"No one home yet, Shay?" Because of his mother working shifts, she often came home at late hours. Whenever Shay was alone at home, he would eventually find his way to my house. 

"No, not yet. Your mom said I can stay for dinner." He seemed, as always, ecstatic about this. Shay's love for food was no secret.

"You know you're always welcome, but you still ask. I don't get that."

"It's good manners, right?" He shrugged. I grinned. Shay was just what I'd needed to brighten up my day. He was the total opposite of that delusional Gray Immens.

"You're so strange, Shay Mcallister." I reached out and tugged on his ear lightly. He frowned slightly up at me.

"Is that a good thing?"

"Of course it is, silly!" Shay merely blinked, cocking his head to one side and reminding me just then of a golden retriever. We lapsed into a comfortable silence.

"Something's on your mind", he stated, no longer looking at me but at my overstuffed bookshelf. Shay, for all his absentmindedness, had this weird ability to accurately read me. He's always been able to, though I had never been able to discern anything he didn't wish me to see in his expressions. It was both great and inconvenient to have someone who knew me better than I knew myself around - inconvenient because I couldn't hide anything from him if I wanted to; great because he'd understand me without a word when I couldn't properly explain myself.

"Yeah", I replied with yet another sigh. It felt like I'd been doing a lot of sighing lately. 

"Want to talk about it?"

"I don't know." Shay said nothing, simply waiting. I knew he wouldn't force me to talk about something if I didn't want to, but he would if he felt I needed to. I contemplated whether I should tell him about my encounter with Gray or not. Suppose I was just overanalysing things? As if sensing my inner confusion, Shay looked back at me, unknowingly unleashing the full force of his emerald-green eyes, and reached out to lightly pat my arm. 

"You don''t have to, you know." 

"I know", was my reply, my decision already made. "I want to, though. Maybe you can give me a better perspective." I told him about meeting Gray in the coffeehouse and everything I'd learned. I told him what had happened, and that, in the end I had gotten annoyed with his enigmatic ways.

"So I demanded he tell me what he wanted. His answer was totally unbelievable!"

"What did he say?"

"He said he wanted me." A puzzled frown crossed my face. Shay's head jerked up, his body tensing. An uneasy expression replaced his usual calm countenance. Worried, I rolled over onto my stomach, bringing my face closer to him.

"Shay?" Tentatively, I reached out to lightly touch his arm. "You okay?" He blinked, jolting at my touch. All at once, he relaxed, an easy, familiar smile removing all traces of his previous state.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm okay. I was just thinking about something." I stared at him, trying to read him like he did me - and failing. Oh, well, if he didn't want to share, who was I to force him?

"What do you think it means? You think I should've stayed and heard him out?"

"I don't know... It could mean many things. Do you want to ask him about it? I'll come with you, if you want."

"Yeah...I'll do that."

*****

Two days later, Gray Immens appeared at my location once again. Anticipating that he would, I had done my best to stay close to Shay when possible. This time, Shay and I were getting lunch at a fast food restaurant when Gray had sauntered in, wearing, as usual, all black.

This time he hadn't even made an effort to conceal that he was looking for me, instead making a beeline for our table straight from the restaurant's entrance.

"Raina. Nice to see you're out of hiding", he drawled. He indicated Shay with a tilt of his head. "And you brought your little pet with you too." Without even asking, he took the empty seat next to Shay, who hadn't been paying attention all this while and so had missed the remark about him being my pet.

"He's my best friend", I retorted, already annoyed. "Not a pet!"

"Could've fooled me", Gray replied without missing a beat. Shay only blinked blankly at us, lost, as usual. 

"Why do you keep appearing? You never answered my questions properly." I glared at him, only to find another of those irritating smirks on his face.

"Are you willing to hear me out now?"

"Shay and I have about two hours left to kill. We don't have anywhere to go, do we, Shay?" Shay, who had finally come back to earth, shook his head.

"Nope." He gulped down some of his soda and patiently waited for the explanation Gray was about to hopefully provide. There was silence for a few seconds. Clearing my throat, I waved my palm in front of Gray's face.

"Helloooo. We're waiting. Go on and explain." I leaned back in my seat.

"It's really simple", he began, leaning forward. "I want you to work for us. Or rather, you don't have much of a choice." He reached out and nonchalantly took my last chocolate chip cookie. "It's because you've interfered too many times." I exchanged a glance with Shay, only one detail sticking in my mind.

He'd taken my last chocolate chip cookie.