Page 163 of Before We're More Than Friends
CHAPTER 40
Raina
It wasn’t productive of me to stay lost in my thoughts, but I couldn’t stop myself from staying in bed all of Wednesday. I didn’t have a single meal with Nonno and Arielle, knowing they were still upset with me. Heck, I was upset with myself too. But I was too stubborn to apologize.
It was wild how someone could go through the same thing as you, but you still felt so freaking alone.
Thursday morning, my chest tightened as I tried to breathe through my terrible dreams I’d already forgotten. My eyes fluttered open to see Penrose sitting on me.
“Seriously?” I managed to say. “Why?”
Penrose only looked at me with puppy eyes.Good morning, sunshine.
I sighed and pushed her off me. It was rare that I succeeded the first time, but Penrose clearly wasn’t in the mood to fight today. “Man, you’re hard to love sometimes,” I muttered as I sat up.
Penrose only stuck her tongue out at me.You wish I were.
I glanced at the clock. It was already past eleven, whichbeat my former wake-up time of two in the afternoon. Making progress.
I went into my en suite bathroom to brush my hair and wash the dried tears off my face. As I walked down the stairs, I noticed murmuring coming from the kitchen. I assumed that maybe Nonno was talking to himself while making an early lunch, but I was surprised to see who else was there.
“Mom?” My chest expanded as I saw Mom sitting at the table. She wore her usual around-the-house clothes, her tan skin glowing again. Without a second thought, I ran over to hug her.
“Oh, Raina.” Mom squeezed me in the hug, rubbing my back. “I missed you so much. I wish you had visited me.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t visit.” Tears burned at the back of my eyes as I sat beside her. I’d been too busy being upset at everyone else to even think about seeing her. “I’m a bad daughter.”
“Don’t say that, princess.” Mom broke out of the hug and wiped her eyes. “It was my fault for slipping into my old habits. I was finally doing better, but . . .” She sighed. “Your grandpa and I were just talking about how to move forward from this.”
“I’ll give you girls time to catch up,” Nonno said with a small smile before ducking out of the kitchen.
“Don’t eavesdrop like how I used to do with your private conversations,” Mom called.
Nonno’s laugh came from a distance. “I won’t.”
Mom smiled and faced me again. “Besides missing me, how have the past few days been?”
“Some of the worst days of my life. Everyone is pissed off at me.” My gaze went to the vase of flowers that stood on the kitchen counter. “Did you know that Jenn—er, Mrs. Naysmith came over?”
“Nonno told me what happened.”
Shame coursed through me as I stared at my lap. “Not my best moment.”
“I’m not happy with how you treated her.” She leaned in closer to me as if Nonno were listening to our conversation. “I’m surprised she didn’t rip the flowers to shreds when you called her Jennifer.”
I snorted. “She’s too classy to do that. But her voice rose a few octaves.” I shook my head. “I’m sorry I acted that way.”
“Don’t apologize to me.” Mom straightened her posture. “Apologize to her the next time you see her.”
“I will,” I promised. “Gracelynn’s also pissed off at me for yelling at her mom. So is Arielle. Oh, and Dallas.” I wasn’t sure which one hurt the most, but Dallas’s anger toward me made the butterflies in my stomach wilt.
“I’m sorry about them.” Mom sighed. “But I think Arielle is also mad at me too. She woke up when I got home around an hour ago and barely said two words to me.” She fiddled with her wedding ring. “I’dfinallybeen gaining her trust. But I flushed that progress away.”
“I know,” I said, knowing it would take Mom through hell and back to get Arielle to trust her again. I still didn’t know where my trust lay with her either. “We can deal with her being mad at us together.”
She gave me a sad smile. “So what else has happened with you and your friends? Arielle said something about no longer being in Battle of the Bands.”
My heart pinched. “Everything went to crap with that, too.” I explained what had gone down with Hayden, Caleb, Oliver, and Sienna.
