Find You in the Dark (Find You in the Dark #1)(51)
Author: A. Meredith Walters

Daniel shrugged. “Enough. Now, just drink up.” He turned to make himself his own drink. I had a bad feeling about this. I wanted to find Rachel. I was worried about her. I headed down the hallway toward the bedroom she would be sharing with Daniel.

I tentatively knocked on the door. I heard a muffled, “come in.” I opened the door to find Rachel sitting on the bed, painting her toenails. I’ll admit, I had expected Rachel to be curled into a ball, moping. So, seeing her doing something as mundane as giving herself a pedicure was a nice surprise.

“Hey.” I said, plopping down beside her. “Hey.” She said back, not looking up. “Cool color.” I commented, watching her coat her nails a fire engine red. Rachel wiggled her toes. “Yeah, they’ll look awesome with my strappy, red dress.”

Rachel put the cap back on the nail polish and put it on the bedside table before stretching out her legs, waiting for the her toes to dry. I lay down on the bed and pulled a pillow to put under my head. “Why are you hiding in here?” I asked her point blankly.

Rachel leaned over to blow on her nails. “I’m not hiding.” I looked at her archly. Who was she kidding? “Okay, so maybe I’m hiding. I just can’t deal with his bullshit. Everything he says and does right now, just pisses me off. He doesn’t even mean to hurt me, which makes it all that much worse. I know I’m being a moody bitch. Just let me have my PMS moment in peace, please. I promise to put on the shiny, happy later. But now, I feel like brooding.” Rachel got up and hobbled over to the bathroom, making sure she didn’t mess up her toenails.

“Fine. But I’m holding you to the whole shiny, happy thing. Because the gloomy, emo show your putting on seriously sucks.” I stuck my tongue out at her as she closed the door. But I was happy to see her small smile before she shut me out.

I left the room and went back out into the living room. “So is her majesty going to deign us with her presence?” Daniel asked as I sat down beside Clay on the sofa. “Shut up, Daniel! If you weren’t such a self- centered prick, you’d figure out your 99% of her problem.” I barked. That shut Danny up. Ray snickered from across the room and Clare’s eyes widened at my outburst.

“Cool your heels, baby.” Clay said, rubbing my arm. I sank into his touch, wanting to ignore the inevitable drama between my two best friends. When did things get so complicated? I hated this weirdness that existed between Rachel and Daniel. Even worse, I was focusing on their shit and not what was happening between my boyfriend and me.

Rachel came out of the bedroom a short time later. “Check out the snow.” She said, pointing at the window. The snow had picked up considerably since we had come inside and a half an inch of white now lay on the ground. “Oh, I hope we get stuck here!” Clare clapped her hands in excitement.

“Yeah.” I said halfheartedly. That little scenario wouldn’t be so great for me, considering my parents had no idea where I really was. I watched the flakes fall from the sky. Clay’s arm rested warmly over my shoulders and I rested my head on his shoulder. For that one moment in time, everything was how I wanted it to be.

I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew Clay was nudging me awake. “Hey, sleepy head. Time to get up. We need to start getting dinner together.” He whispered in my ear, kissing it gently, sending shivers down my spine.

I stretched and tried to burrow back down into the couch cushions. “No, I want to sleep.” I complained, closing my eyes again. “Get up, Mags!” Daniel shouted, before jumping on top of me. He tickled my sides until I was gasping for breath. “I’m up, I’m up!” I screeched, smacking his hands away. I shoved Daniel off of me and stood up.

I met Clay’s eyes as he watched me. His face was dark and I shivered involuntarily. I didn’t like what I saw. There’s no way he could be jealous of Daniel. That was just ridiculous. But looking at him and how pissed off he seemed, I knew that’s exactly how he was feeling.

I crossed the room to where Clay was standing at the island. I slid my arms around his waist. “Hey, you.” I said softly, kissing his back through his t-shirt. I tried to let him know through body language alone that there was no one else I wanted.

“I’ve gotta get dinner ready. So just back off, alright.” Clay lifted my arms from around his middle and moved away from me. Wow, that hurt. “Clay…”I began but realized he wasn’t listening to me. He had moved over to where Rachel was chopping vegetables. I watched as he began to laugh at something she said. He helped her get the salad together, completely ignoring me.

Rachel met my eyes in confusion over Clay’s sudden chattiness. I gave her a small smile and turned away. If he wanted to pretend I wasn’t there, then fine. I’d go in the other f**king room. Screw this!

I grabbed a beer from the fridge and popped the top angrily. Throwing the bottle back, I drank half its contents in one gulp. I went back into the living room to sit with Clare, who was watching Desperate Housewives.

Dinner was awkward. The food was fantastic but I couldn’t eat any of it due to the huge lump that had taken up residence in my stomach. Daniel sat beside me as Clay brought in the platter of steaks. Seeing this, Clay dropped the plate on the table and walked around so that he was sat on the opposite end of the table from me.

He wouldn’t look at me the entire time we ate. He laughed loudly with Ray and even flirted with Clare- (which I thought was totally inappropriate-). But it was as though I didn’t exist. “Problems in paradise?” Daniel asked between bites of salad.

I gave him a withering look and otherwise ignored the goad. Rachel sat across from me and gave me worried looks throughout dinner. This is not how I envisioned this evening would pan out. Rachel and Daniel were barely talking and Clay was refusing to acknowledge me. Could it get much worse?

After we finished, I decided to take the bull by the horns and deal with the ice that had formed between Clay and I. I grabbed a bunch of plates and followed Clay into the kitchen, where he began to load the dishwasher.

I dropped the dishes on the counter and pulled Clay by the arm. “Look at me!” I said loudly, trying to get his attention. He tried to shake me off but I wouldn’t be swayed. “Damn it, Clay! Just tell me what I’ve done to deserve the silent treatment!” I hated how wobbly my voice sounded. Clay must have heard it too because he finally looked at me.

Seeing how hurt I was he sighed and the coldness melted away from his face. “It’s nothing, Mags. I don’t know. I’m just being irrational again.” Clay filled the sink with water and started scrubbing the pans, apparently trying to avoid the conversation.