Cloud Walking (Find You in the Dark #1.5)(22)
Author: A. Meredith Walters

Since that day we had cornered her, Maggie seemed to be trying. But her “trying” was really kind of pathetic. Because her heart wasn’t in it. And she was still half of the person she used to be.

My mom stirred some more sugar into her coffee before taking a drink. “Laura says she’s depressed. That ever since she and that boy she was dating broke up, she barely talks to either her or Marty. She stays in her room most of the time, and is barely eating. She’s apparently having these nightmares where she wakes up screaming. Laura was a complete mess. I think it would be good if you guys try to get Maggie out of the house more often.”

Daniel and I traded glances again. My mom had no idea how much we badgered our friend. “Sure Mom,” I agreed, feeling like maybe we did need to step up our game a bit. After my mom finished her coffee, she went to go get changed for work.

Daniel stayed in the kitchen to help Kaitlin with her homework and I went back to my room to get my English notes for the essay I had to work on. I was rooting through my book bag when my mom stopped in my doorway, already changed into her scrubs.

“How late is Danny planning to stay?” she asked. I looked at her in surprise. His being at the house had never been an issue before. My mom rolled her eyes. “Please, Rach. I’m not an idiot. I can see you guys are dating. So, of course that changes how late he can stay. I don’t need to be a grandmother before forty, thank you very much.”

I made a choking noise and my mom let out a gruff laugh. “I’m glad the two of you got everything figured out. And he’s being good to you, right?” she asked, watching me closely. I felt a burst of warmth in the center of my chest. My mom loved me. Even though she had a hard time expressing it, she really did. And that made me feel extremely lucky.

I nodded. “Yeah, Mom. Everything’s sort of great,” I told her, grinning. My mother gave me her own small smile.

“Good. I’m happy to hear it.” She turned to go then looked at me over her shoulder. “Eleven o’clock, Rachel Marie. And then he needs to go home. I’ll see you in the morning.” With that, she turned and left.

After Mom was gone and Kaitlin was in bed, Daniel and I snuggled down on the couch to watch TV. Daniel’s fingers traced circles up and down my arm and I never thought I would tire of the way I felt as he held me. I couldn’t believe we were finally here. At this point. I truly never thought we would.

And the beautiful thing was I hadn’t lost my best friend. In fact I felt as though that part of our relationship had only grown stronger.

“What are we going to do about Maggie?” I asked, laying my head on his chest, feeling the steady thump of his heart beneath my ear. It was a comforting sound. One that made me feel completely safe.

Daniel took a deep breath, causing my head to rise and fall with the motion. His arms came around me, holding me tight. He kissed the top of my head, his nose buried in my hair. He did that a lot – smell my hair, my neck. I had joked one of the first times I had noticed it, that I hoped he wasn’t giving me a subtle hint that I needed to take a shower. He had only kissed me and explained that my scent was calming. He admitted with embarrassment that when we were kids, I had left a stocking cap at his house after playing in the snow one afternoon. He had kept the hat because it smelled like me. That there was something about the way I smelled that made him feel better.

After admitting that, Daniel had worried that I would think him a freaky stalker or something. But to me, that just proved that he had loved him as long as I had loved him. It just took him longer to realize that was what he was feeling.

“I’m not sure. I, uh…well…I talked to Clay the other day,” Daniel admitted. I looked up at him, my eyebrows raised.

“Really? When? I haven’t seen him around in weeks.” I could only imagine how that conversation went. Daniel wasn’t Clay Reed’s biggest fan.

Daniel squeezed the back of his neck before returning his hand to my back. He started to rub the skin under my shirt and I relaxed into him again. “I waited for him in the parking lot at lunch. You know, because he’s been cutting out of school so early. Figured it was time he and I had a little chat.”

“Ah, so you didn’t have a lunch tutorial,” I said, pinching him in the side. Daniel squirmed.

“Yeah, well I didn’t think you’d let me go if I told you what I was planning to do.” Daniel reasoned. And, of course, he was right. I knew that his feelings about Clay were volatile and the slightest provocation could lead to an all-out explosion. I stilled.

“What happened?” I asked nervously.

Daniel moved his hand up the back of my shirt, his fingers trailing lightly between my shoulder blades, making me shiver. “Well, at first I really thought we were going to have a conversation with our fists. I was pissed. He was pissed. He kept telling me to back the f**k off and mind my own business. You know I don’t take shit like that very well. Particularly when it has something to do with my girls,” Daniel said, and I could hear the anger in his voice.

I kissed the place over his heart through his shirt. “I know, baby,” I said soothingly. It had the desired affect and Daniel’s body relaxed.

“I asked him why he was putting Maggie through hell. I asked him if he knew she wasn’t talking to anyone. That she was barely eating and sleeping. I asked him if he felt good about hurting her the way he was. And yeah, I was up in his face. And yeah, maybe I had grabbed his shirt.”

“Danny,” I chastised softly.

“I know, I know. But I was so angry. I hate seeing her like that, Rach. It kills me,” he said in an agonized whisper. I squeezed him. I understood completely. I felt the same way. It was horrible watching someone you loved lose themselves so completely.

“But then, it was like a light switch. It was freaking weird, Rach. One minute, Clay looked like he was about to take my head off for getting into his business and the next, he had crumpled onto the ground. Scared the shit out of me.”

I sat up and looked at Daniel. His eyes were drawn and I could see how bothered he was. “He did what?” I asked, needing to hear more.

Daniel rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. “He f**king fell to the ground. And then he just put his head down on his knees and started crying. Rachel, the dude was full on sobbing. I have never seen anything like it in my life. I didn’t know what the hell to do. It was like he was falling apart right in front of me.”

Well, damn. “What did you do?” I asked him.

“Well, I couldn’t just leave the guy like that, now could I? So I sat down on the ground beside him and waited for him to calm down. It took awhile, let me tell you. But finally, he pulled it together. And all he said was ‘she’s better off.’ I asked him what the hell he was talking about but he wouldn’t say. Then he thanked me for looking after Maggie. To keep looking after Maggie. And I let him know in no uncertain terms that he didn’t need to thank me for that. That you and I would always be there for her. And that seemed to do the trick, because he snapped out of whatever freak out he was having. He didn’t say anything else to me. Just got in his car and left. Rachel, the whole thing was really bizarre. And it made me late for Geometry. So I got afterschool detention, which sucks.”