Chapter Twelve
Reagan was trying topretend that she wasn't expecting a text at any minute, but she was failing. Luna invited her to breakfast at a local diner, and though she tried to focus on what her friend was saying, Reagan kept glancing at the phone by her elbow. There was no message.Still.
“Ray? You’re not even listening to me.”
“I’m sorry. Really.” She ignored the blank phone screen, turning it over and focusing on Luna. She’d gotten an internship and she’d been telling Reagan how the past week had gone for her. It was clear how much she enjoyed it by the way her face lit up as she talked about the kids. Davis had sent flowers for her first day, though he was smart enough to send them to her apartment at the end of the day and not to the middle school. Otherwise, Luna would have been too embarrassed by the attention to appreciate them. He knew her in some ways, it seemed.
Reagan’s mind was wandering again. Hudson promised he would send her his address on Friday night or Saturday morning, but they hadn't agreed on a time or anything. Reagan figured she had plenty of time to have breakfast and still go back to her dorm and shower and shave—again. She’d shaved the night before, but she knew she'd do it again. Her body was practically throbbing with the anticipation coursing through her veins. She was in a state of perpetual need ever since she’d let Hudson get in her pants months ago. She realized that what she'd been missing from high school boys was their general lack of knowledge and maturity. She needed a man that could match her strengths and desires, and she’d been surrounded by weak boys all along.
“I’m so happy for you, Luna. It sounds like exactly what you needed. I hope I get as lucky when I get that far.”
Luna grinned, and Reagan knew she’d said the right thing. “It was tiring, especially squeezing in classes and the last soccer game of the season, but it’s been the best week.”
“It was a great game, too,” Reagan said. She and Davis had been in the front row of the bleachers to watch Luna win the last home game.
“It feels good to be done with it, though. All the practices and strength training taking up so much time. Now I might have a minute to relax.” She laughed. “Or maybe not, now that I have an internship to keep me busy.”
“Still, it’s the type of real-world experience you need, and you’ll enjoy it.”
Luna smiled and let out a little sigh. “You’re right.”
“Oh! Grant wanted to know if you’d come home with me for Thanksgiving. I don’t know what you normally do.” Reagan sipped her coffee and watched Luna’s facial expressions as she thought it over.
“It would be nice. I don't typically go home due to the cost. I’ve never gone with Davis because I’m terrified to meet his family. I’d love to go with you, but I’ll split the cost of gas.”
Reagan bounced in her seat. “That’s awesome. I can’t wait.”
When they were done eating and there was still no text, Reagan accepted Luna’s offer to see a movie. They hadn't done anything so relaxing and normal since the beginning of school.
When they stepped out of the theater and blinked in the bright sun, Reagan waited for her phone to power back on and was pissed to not have any new messages. She should have been worried, but she wasn’t even surprised. It seemed that Hudson was just the type to freak out and renege on their plans.
“Can I hang out with you the rest of the day?” she asked Luna. “It looks like I’m completely free.”
Luna agreed, as Reagan knew she would, and they hung out at Luna’s apartment for the remainder of the afternoon. Reagan never heard a word from Hudson.
When Monday rolled around and she still hadn’t heard so much as an apology for not contacting her on Saturday or Sunday, she dressed carefully for class in her tightest jeans and a cute top. She took her coat off in the hall before she reached her lit comp class, fluffing out her long hair and making sure she looked her best. If he thought he could ignore her, she was determined to make it damn difficult for him to succeed. She turned in the work she’d completed Friday afternoon and sauntered past the table where Hudson was sitting. His head popped up as she passed, and she smiled triumphantly. She was more than happy to return the favor and pay him no attention.
She felt his eyes on her for most of the class. He tried to play it nonchalantly, but every time she glanced up from her notes she found him watching her. She kept her head down as much as possible so he wouldn't think she was the one doing the staring. She couldn't believe that she’d recently thought of him as a strong man that had his shit together. He was a scared little boy, and it was Reagan that scared him.
She breezed out of the classroom as soon as the minute hand reached the hour. She didn't stop as she passed him, just kept going to her next class.
The fall break was the perfect reason to get away and hopefully gain some clarity. Reagan picked Luna up outside her dorm and headed south. She was ecstatic to see Grant again after being away from him for the longest she could remember in her life. Having learned her lesson when she headed to college, she left earlier in the day. It was not even a three hour drive in light traffic, and only the storm had delayed her the last time. Some days she was grateful for that storm, and some days she hated its existence and what it had come to mean for her.
Reagan felt tears spring to her eyes as she pulled into the parking lot of the apartment she and Grant shared for six years. The house they grew up in was too much to maintain, not to mention there was a mountain of debt to be paid off. The lawyer that handled their parents’ estate—such as it was—sold the house and paid off what he could. Tuckahoe was a mostly upper middle-class area of Virginia, but she and Grant lived in a low-income area. It was the best her brother could do, and Reagan appreciated him all the more for providing a roof over their heads.
She left her suitcase in the car and ran across the cracked sidewalk. Grant was coming down the stairs outside their unit as she approached, and he bounded the rest of the way down to catch her mid-air as she launched herself at him.
“Grant!”
“Oh, baby girl, I missed you so much.”
Luna followed more slowly, comforted by the obvious affection between the siblings as well as the barefoot, jeans and t-shirt wearing Grant Hughes. This was the type of family she could feel at home around.
“Hey, let me go so I can introduce you to my friend.”
Grant was taller than Reagan by a wide margin, and her words were muffled in his shirt. Still, he ruffled her hair as he released her and stood next to her as he faced the red-haired girl.
“Luna, this is my brother, Grant. Grant, this is my friend, Luna.”
