Rayston Point Road || Editing

Chapter Thirty-Two

When I woke in the morning, the first thing I was aware of was the presence of another body pressed against mine, one arm wrapped over my torso, hand over mine, the other slipped underneath my neck in the space between the end of the pillow and the mattress, my own arm extended out beside it, the back of my hand against his palm. I blinked slowly, taking in the contact between us. The thumb of his outstretched hand fell loosely over the edge of mine, his other arm was heavy against my side, his fingers laced between my own. His chest was pressed against my back enough that I could feel when he inhaled deeply, but then the contact was lost with his exhale, a warm, tickling breath against the back of my neck and ear.

After a moment of lying next to him, reveling in the feeling of him holding me and how it felt to be lying next to him, I started to turn slowly, knowing that I needed to break the trance of this morning, but not for the reasons that I had intended to last night, and not for the reasons Isaac would think. Despite Isaac falling asleep beside me quickly, I had been unable to rest. My mind raced for hours, my eyes alternating between the ceiling of Isaac's bedroom and his peaceful face beside me, until I finally convinced myself that I needed to tell him the truth. I owed him that much, and desperately hoped it would make him understand why I was so adamant about us remaining friends for the seven weeks I had left in Georgia.

As I shifted onto my back, turning my head towards Isaac's peaceful, sleeping expression, I reached up to run my fingers over some of the curls falling over his forehead, brushing them back just to smile as they fell back into place.

At my contact, Isaac's interlaced fingers tightened around mine, his arm shifting and lifting underneath me, pressing against my shoulder until I was turned on my other side. Our interlocked fingers separated, freeing me to place both of my hands between us, but allowing him to wrap his other arm around my lower back. We were face to face, mere inches between us.

"Isaac," I whispered, tilting my head back slightly to have a better view of his face. Without opening his eyes, he started to shush me.

"I know what you're going to say," He murmured, his voice still deep and cracked with sleep, "Don't ruin it yet." Thankful that he couldn't see me, I frowned, reaching up to rest my hand against his jaw, running my thumb over his cheekbone. At my touch, Isaac's eyes fluttered, sadness present in them as they opened to my face. It hurt more than I expected to look at him, my chest feeling constricted as I tried to breath, watching as Isaac's eyes closed again as I drew my thumb across his skin again, a heavy sigh breaking through his lips. His arms started to loosen around my body, and I hated the way it made me feel.

"Isaac," I tried to start again, but this time I was interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing somewhere in the sheets and blankets around us. I exhaled heavily at the sound, pulling away as Isaac withdrew his arms, rolling onto his back and opening his eyes to watch me as I sat up, pawing at the comforter until I found my phone. The second I lifted it, I wished I hadn't. My planned out conversation crumpled as my eyes read the name on my caller ID.

"Shit," I hissed, throwing myself forward to scramble out from underneath the blankets towards the end of the bed, cursing to myself. I felt the bed shift as I swung my legs off and reached for my shoes, as Isaac shifted down the mattress to sit beside me, yawning and rubbing at his eyes as he asked me what was wrong.

"My sister's going to kill me," I huffed, haphazardly jamming my feet into my shoes. "You need to bring me home, now." I stood up and turned to face him. He was still sitting on the edge of the mattress leaning forward, a sleepy but bemused expression on his face as he watched me rush to put myself together, straightening the dress I was still wearing.

"Now!" I yelled, waving at him to move, growing more irritated at the amused smile growing on his face.

"Alright, alright," he said lazily, "Let me just get changed." He started to stand up, but he was still moving too slowly. I reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him roughly out of his bedroom, yelling that there was no time for him to change as my phone started to ring again in my hand. I ignored it, not needing to see the screen to know who it was. She had left me a dozen of other text messages and phone calls that I had somehow slept through.

As I yanked Isaac into the hallway, my eyes briefly flashed over the abandoned broom laying over the rest of the shattered glass I hadn't been able to pick up. The broken picture frame still sat exactly where it had been thrown. Isaac must have seen it, too, because I felt him slow behind me, and I had to pull harder to get him to the edge of the stairs. A pang of remorse collided with the panic and frustration I was feeling as Isaac's revelation from last night came flooding back, forcing me to stop at the end of the stairs abruptly. Isaac looked startled as I turned suddenly, staring up at him.

"Look," I started, "I didn't tell my sister I wasn't coming home tonight, and when she finds out it was because I'm with you it's going to cause a whole mess of problems, for a whole mess of reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with you, and absolutely everything to do with me and my own mistakes. As much as I wanted to stay," I stepped closer to him, loosening my grip from pulling him along to gently lacing my fingers around his, "I need to go home and sort shit out with Leighton. But I promise, as soon as this epic fight we're about to have blows over, I will call you and we'll talk, okay? But right now, you really need to take me home." The words spilled out of my mouth so rapidly, I wasn't even sure Isaac caught all of them as he stared down at me with confusion-pinched eyebrows and concern-frowned lips. As I exhaled heavily, Isaac's expression relaxed and he nodded slowly.

Instead of me dragging him down the stairs, he walked next to me, pausing only to grab his keys from one of the metal and granite tables in the foyer. I still raced to his car, pulling myself into the passenger seat before he had even opened the door. As I waited for the car to start moving, I started bouncing my left leg nervously, biting at the non-existent ends of my nails.

My anxiety was palpable in the car, so much so that as we pulled onto Rayston Point Road, Isaac reached over and curved his hand over my thigh, pressing down slightly until I stopped bouncing my leg. When I glanced over at him, my eyes previously occupied with darting across the town as we drove through it, he offered a reassuring smile, but no words, which I found myself thankful for. Nothing he could have said would have made any difference.

Still, the feeling of his fingers against my skin was surprisingly reassuring, and I shifted my hand until it was resting on top of his, curling my fingers lightly over the side of his hand. Our hands stayed like that until we were pulling up in front of Leighton's house, when I pulled my hand away to unbuckle myself before we had even stopped, Isaac's hand falling back onto the steering wheel.

I had pushed the door open and was halfway to the pavement before I stopped and turned around, my eyes landing on Isaac's as he watched me retreat.

"I'm really sorry about your parents," I said softly, reaching over to rest my fingers along his forearm as his eyes darkened, his lips turning into a deep frown. "My dad left us when I was eight," I admitted, watching Isaac's eyes shift slightly with the recognition that I was finally revealing some of what I had tried to desperately to keep hidden from him all summer. "It sucks, I know." I offered him a small smile, in part an attempt of my own to swallow back the catch in my throat and the stinging in my eyes as I thought about the last time I tried to contact him.

"I'll call you later," I said softly, pulling my hand back and finishing my departure from his car. I took a few steps up the driveway before turning and watching him leave. Once he was out of sight, I crossed my arms over my chest and headed for the front door.