Rayne and Alex

Chapter 26

Alex

Rayne's acting strange. Every time I speak, all she does is nod her head and if I ask her something, she mumbles the answer so low I have to strain to hear. Whenever she speaks to me she doesn't even make eye contact.

Right now, she's listening to Eli's dad as he explains to her how directing works. She won't look at him either. I know he's noticed because he keeps sending me worried glances. He places a hand on her shoulder and tells her something that she nods to. Then he makes his way over to me.

"Boy, did you two fight or something?" Jeff asks me the second he knows Rayne won't be able to hear us.

Eli, at my side, adds, "I don't even think she's said anything other than hello to me."

I shake my head and shove my hands into my jacket pockets. "No," I answer. "I think maybe something happened with her mom over Christmas, but she hasn't even looked at me long enough for me to ask."

"If your girl's upset, you ask her about it," Jeff tells me. Someone calls him from somewhere in the building. "Fix it, boy," he tells me before he rushes away.

"Dad's right, Alex," Eli says to me. "I don't know what's happening, but you need to fix it. You may be ready to break up with her, but I'm not. She's become like family to me. I don't want to lose her."

I scowl at him. "Don't be ridiculous. No one's breaking up."

"Good," he nods his head over to where Rayne is now looking at costumes. "Do your thing. Make her normal again. She's worrying me."

I nod and walk over to Rayne. When I reach her, I resist the urge to touch her and keep my hands where they are in my jacket. I clear my throat and she looks up at me for a second before turning back to the costumes.

"Hey," I say softly. I remove my hand from my jacket and rug on her elbow softly. I turn her so that she's facing me.

"Hey," she replies, her eyes cast toward my chin instead of my eyes. I place one hand on her shoulder over her soft, black sweater and use my other hand to lift up her chin. For the first time today, I make real contact with her gorgeous blue-green eyes.

I take a deep breath, "Just so you know, I don't want this at all, but just promise you won't stop hanging out with Eli. He really likes you."

Her eyes widen and glass over slightly, "You're breaking up with me?"

I blink and remove my hands from her, "No. I thought that's what you were doing." She shakes her frantically and I use her shock as a moment to keep speaking. "This is the first time today you've even looked at me. You won't even look at Jeff or Eli. I thought you were trying to soften the blow in some weird way."

"No," Rayne says, traces of distress hidden in her voice. She places her hands on on her cheeks and sighs, "I'm sorry."

I reach over and pull her over to me. I hug her and keep my chin on her head as she wraps her arms around my waist, "Don't be." I kiss her head and take a step back so I can look at her face. "Wanna tell me what's going on?"

She closes her eyes tightly and a tear slips out of one of them. I grab her face in my hands and wipe the tear away.

"Rayne, you can talk to me," I whisper.

She nods and opens her eyes. After taking a deep breath, she says, "I'm sorry. I just... I..." she pauses as if to gather her thoughts and then continues. "My mom came home drunk Christmas Eve. We spent yesterday nursing her hangover. I guess I'm just upset because our plans didn't work out the way I thought they would. I'm overreacting."

I give her a sad smile, "You should've told me when we talked. I could've come over."

"No, Alex. You have your... your family," her voice cracks and she gives a soft laugh. "I'm really sorry. I guess seeing the way your family is compared to mine is just screwing with me. I usually don't make a big deal out of these things."

I try to hide to judgement from my face. I don't see how someone could do that to their own child.

I kiss Rayne softly on the lips, "Next time something like that happens, you call me. You shouldn't've spent your Christmas like that."

Rayne gives me a thankful smile, "I will."

I look carefully into her eyes to make sure she's telling me the truth. I nod and kiss her again when I'm sure she is. She pulls away first and smirks at me.

"So Eli likes me a lot, huh?"

I laugh and wrap an arm around her. I snuggle her into me and we walk over to where Eli and Jeff are speaking.

She laughs loudly and begins speaking to Eli. Jeff raises an eyebrow at me and cocks his head to the side, asking me if everything was okay with Rayne. I nod and try to ignore the uneasy feeling that's telling me Rayne didn't tell me what was really on her mind.