Light in the Shadows (Find You in the Dark #2)(70)
Author: A. Meredith Walters

We found Rachel and Daniel at a corner booth and headed toward them. “Yummy,” Maria purred, catching sight of Daniel. Maggie stiffened beside her.

“Yeah and he’s very taken,” she warned, cutting Maria off so she could slide into the booth beside Daniel. Maria grinned like a cat on the prowl and I groaned inwardly for the hundredth time since she had shown up.

“Hi guys! Took you long enough,” Rachel teased, giving me a smile. Rachel and I had definitely become something close to friends. She was a cool girl and I knew it made Maggie happy to have us getting along.

“Hey, this is Maria Cruz, my friend from Florida. Maria this is Rachel Bradfield and Daniel Lowe,” I waved my hand between them in introduction. Rachel gave Maria a wide smile.

“Hi, Maria! Nice to meet you,” she said, leaning around me as she spoke. Maria smiled tightly.

“You guys up for a dude movie tonight? I’ve had my fill of chick flicks lately,” Daniel said, grabbing some menus and passing them around to everyone.

“I’m up for anything,” Maria said, batting her eyelashes. Daniel looked at her as though she had three heads and Rachel tried to cover up her laughter. Maggie grit her teeth and I just wanted to cover my head with my arms and pretend this night wasn’t happening.

“Okay then, I vote for shit being blown up. Rachel is not allowed to suggest that movie about the two best friends where one of them has cancer. I didn’t bring enough tissues for that crap,” Daniel gripped. Maggie smacked his arm.

“Spoiler alert you ass! I wanted to see that!” Daniel laughed and dodged another punch.

Rachel rolled her eyes and turned back to Maria. “So, Maria, you’re from Florida? Did you go to school with Clay?” Ah, f**k. Clearly Maggie’s friends weren’t clued into the fact that I knew Maria from the treatment center.

Maria shot me a look before answering. “Not exactly. I was a patient at the Grayson Center while Clay was there. We had a lot of groups together,” she answered, not shy in the least about announcing to complete strangers that she had been in a psychiatric facility for three months.

Rachel paled and looked embarrassed. “Oh, that’s nice,” she stuttered, looking away.

Maria, seeming to revel in Rachel’s mortification, kept on going. “Yeah, I wasn’t there for trying to off myself like our good buddy, Clay, here. I have a bad habit of f**king anything that moves. Of course that’s because of my abusive ass**le of a father. So consider me the stereotypical slut with a bad case of Daddy issues.” I choked on my soda and Rachel’s pale face went bright red.

“Cool it, Maria,” I bit out under my breath. Maria snickered and looked down at her menu. She seemed entirely too pleased with herself.

“So how long are you visiting for?” Maggie asked, obviously wanting to know how long we’d be have to put up with Maria’s fantastic personality.

“Just for the night. I have to head back to Alexandria in the morning. My brother lives there and I’m supposed to stay with him for a few days before flying back to Florida. But I think I kind of like Virginia. I may have to extend my stay,” Maria smiled at me and I looked away.

Yeah, that was the last thing I needed.

The waitress came and took our orders. Maria complained about the greasy food on the menu and took forever to finally decide on a salad.

While we waited on our food, Rachel attempted more small talk. She asked Maria questions about Florida. Maria gave short, one word answers. After several conversation nonstarters, Rachel gave up and sat quietly drinking her milk shake. Daniel and Maggie were engaged in their own discussion about soccer.

“I thought you were going to try to be nice? Enough with the Cruella Deville act!” I whispered. Maria narrowed her eyes at me but didn’t say anything.

Once our food arrived, everyone seemed to be in complete agreement and inhaled our meals. No one seemed particularly keen on spending anymore time sitting there in awkward silence. Maggie looked pissed and I didn’t blame her. Maria was causing some serious drama and I would be giving her a piece of my mind about this later. Maria’s unmedicated self was not particularly likable. And I was able to see for the first time, how horrible it must have been to be around me when I refused to take my meds.

I felt like shit for putting Maggie, Ruby and Lisa through that for so long.

Daniel and Rachel followed us to the movie theater in the next town. Maggie didn’t even bother trying to talk to Maria, the line in the dirt was drawn and neither girl was going to step over it. These two were definitely not destined to be best friends anytime soon.

Maria was acting like a jealous girlfriend. And my actual girlfriend simply ignored me. Super f**king fantastic.

I bought tickets for Maggie and myself. Maybe I should have offered to pay for Maria but at this point, I didn’t want to give her any ideas. While Maggie went the restroom and Maria went to get some popcorn, Rachel and I waited for Daniel, who was talking to a few guys from school.

“So you were in treatment with Maria?” Rachel asked. I looked down at the much shorter girl and she seemed really uncomfortable. We didn’t have the type of relationship that allowed for deep discussion. And I had never contemplated talking about my time in Florida with her.

“Yeah,” I answered briefly. Rachel shuffled her feet on the ground.

“I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but what’s her deal? She seems, I don’t know, weird I guess.” That was the understatement of the year.

I looked over at women’s restroom, hoping Maggie would come out and save me from this conversation. No such luck.

“She’s not taking her medication for starters. I had no idea she’d be like this when I said she could come for a visit. Maria wasn’t like this in treatment. Trust me; I’d never have been friends with someone who acts the way she is acting tonight. She really is a nice girl. A screwed up girl. But she means well, deep down,” I found myself defending Maria.

Rachel chewed on her lip thoughtfully. “I believe you. That just sucks she’s not taking care of herself. I can tell she’s probably pretty cool underneath all that other stuff.” Rachel surprised me with her astuteness.

“Yeah, she is. I’m really sorry about all of this though,” I said. Rachel gave me a smile.

“Don’t apologize. It’s fine. I just feel for Maggie. She hides her insecurity well, but I know this whole thing has to be bothering her,” Rachel said, meeting my eyes.