Baby Just Say Yes

Three Year Later

"Rayleigh, Alexander is here to see you." Rayleigh's mother said to the seventeen year old girl. She got up off her bed, brushing her dyed black hair out of her face.

"I don't want to see him." She said, uninterested.

"Rayleigh, you need to stop this. It's been two years since--"

"Don't. Don't you dare mention his name." Rayleigh snapped darkly.

"Just get over him, sweetie. We always told you--"

"Stop talking about him! You're wrong! The only reason he isn't talking to me anymore is because you threatened him!"

"We had to, darling. You needed someone more like--" Her mother started, unsure of how to handle this.

"SHUT UP! The last thing I need is someone like YOU!" Rayleigh screamed. "I don't want a perfect, blonde haired blue eyed jock who has a scholarship to Yale or Harvard. I don't want a football star. I don't want THIS!" Rayleigh yelled at her mother, throwing a book. Her mother dodged it.

"Rayleigh, snap out if this mood right this instant!" Her mother demanded. "I have tolerated this depression for two years. Now I've had it! You will see other boys. You will fall in love with one."

"I'm already in love, Mother." Rayleigh spat vehemently. Her mother smiled bitterly.

"That wasn't love, darling. He just wanted in your pants."

"No, mother, he didn't."

"Then why hasn't he come around? Why hasn't he called you? Sent you emails?" Her mother questioned. Rayleigh covered her head with her pillow and curled into a ball. She didn't want to admit that her mother was right. Because she wasn't. She couldn't be. Brian wasn't like that. Was he?

"Mother, you've got it all wrong. That's what Alexander wants. That's what Herald wanted. And I'm not giving you and Daddy Dearest what you want. I am not going to see him, now or ever. I'm waiting until Brian comes back." She told her mother stubbornly.

"No, sweetie. Your father and I have made sure that that hoodlum will never see you again." Her mother smiled, fake sweetness behind it. Rayleigh chucked another book at her.

"LEAVE ME ALONE! GO AWAY!" She screamed.

"Rayleigh, stop this--" Her mother started. More books started flying, and when that didn't do anything, Rayleigh picked up her alarm clock.

"If you don't leave right now, I will throw this at you." She threatened. "I'm not seeing him. Period."

Her mother's eyes widened in shock, and she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Rayleigh sighed, and set the alarm clock down on her nightstand again. She got up to pick the book out, and was surprised when she saw a paper fall out of one of them. She put the books on the shelf by her bed, and then picked up the paper and read it. It was a note from Brian, dated three years ago. She'd forgotten he'd even sent it to her:

Ray,
By now I haven't seen you for a few weeks. Either your parents pressed charges against me for something or another and I'm in jail, or they've upped your security and I am not able to see you. I realize that you're most likely under strict supervision, so I'm not going to text you because you have other friends, and your parents would take your phone. I won't send you emails because I know they'll be checking them, and I don't want to get you into more trouble. I won't call because they won't let me talk to you. I haven't figured it out yet, but someday I'll figure out a way to talk to you again. But right now I can't.
Bri

Rayleigh felt the tears stinging her eyes as she read it. The day she'd gotten it, she had hidden it, because she didn't believe him. She knew he'd text her. She knew he'd find a way to keep in contact. She knew he wouldn't just abandon her.

But he hadn't lied. For three years--1095 days--he had not contacted her. And as each day passed, her hope faded until she'd given up on ever hearing from him again. Matt had continued talking to her, as had Jimmy, Johnny, and Zacky. But never Brian. She'd heard from Matt that he was dating Val's sister Michelle now. That hurt more than she'd like to admit. Though they'd never been an official couple, they'd been something more than friends, and she knew Brian knew it. She looked out the window and saw that it was almost dark. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, and she pulled it out, surprised. While all the guys minus Brian had kept in contact, they rarely ever texted, instead opting for calling her late at night. Her eyes widened in shock at the name on the screen:

1 New Text Message: Brian

What? No, that couldn't be right. She opened the phone, sure that she had other contacts named Brian. She searched through all of her 74 contacts, and there was only one Brian. She went back and read the text:

Don't text back to this. Meet me in the orchard at 12 midnite

Were her eyes decieving her? She was positive that it wasn't him. After all, he hadn't contacted her at all. Not once. She looked at her alarm clock. It was only 5 PM right now. She still had seven hours until he would be at the orchard. She sighed impatiently, then decided that she was going to go take a shower to mull things over.

Once in the shower, she decided she was going to make herself look damn good. She washed her hair, and shaved her legs for the first time in a long while. She'd had no reason for the last three years, and though it disgusted her, she wanted to keep guys at a distance, since the only one she wanted to see refused to talk to her. She scrubbed herself clean, almost to the point of being raw, and then finished up her routine. When she was done showering, she blow dried her hair, and parted them into two piggytails, keeping her bangs out. She'd decided two years ago to stop straightening her hair every morning, and now it retained it's natural wavy texture. She left all the hair but her bangs wavy, and parted them so that they slanted over her face. She applied red eyeliner with some dark eyeshadow, and no lip gloss. She went back into her main bedroom and pulled out her black nail polish and painted her nails perfectly. Then she went to her closet and pulled out random shirts that she liked, trying to figure out which one she wanted to wear. She narrowed it down to a tight Misfits shirt, a loose Morbid Angel shirt, a Metallica cutoff, a tight Motley Crue shirt, and an AC/DC shirt. She decided on the Motley Crue shirt and a pair of black cutoff shorts with her lime green and black Vans. She looked at her alarm clock and realized it was still only seven. She lay on her bed, waiting for the seemingly endless hours to go on.
Once it was eleven thirty, she stuck her head out of her bedroom and listened for any sound of her parents being awake. She heard none, but she walked to their room just to be safe, and quietly opened the door. She saw them quite asleep on their bed, her father snoring heavily and her mother sprawled across his chest. She smiled, realizing she could now sneak out effectively. She ran back to her room and pulled her shoes on, and then quietly snuck down the staircase. She saw her cat at the bottom, and he meowed.

"Scuddle, shhh. Be quiet." She whispered urgently, patting his head. Seemingly appeased, he wandered up the stairs, and she saw him disappear to the right. She went through the kitchen to the screened in porch that led to the back yard, and typed in the house security code so she wouldn't get caught when she came back in. She left the door propped open with a loose rock she found by the pool, and then darted across the backyard past the pool and through the meadow behind the house where her parents kept Rayleigh's horses. She kept running until she reached the orchard, which was about a half a mile away from the house, and sat underneath what had been hers and Brian's favorite tree. Still etched in it were the names of all her friends, Brian and Ray in a circle which had been jokingly carved by Johnny.

"I didn't think you'd come." A voice whispered from somewhere in the dark. She looked up, and saw Brian. He looked different now. His hair was longer, and he wore on top his head a red fedora. He wore a semi-fight Jack Daniel's shirt and some nice blue jeans. The only thing that hadn't changed was his signature grin.

"Of course I came." She snapped. "What did you expect me to do?"

"Ray--" he started.

"Don't, Brian. It's been three years. 1095 days. Long, painful days." She told him, the tears beginning to fall. She cursed herself. She'd told herself that no matter what happened, she wasn't going to cry. Yet she was.

"I couldn't." He told her. "I didn't want to get you in trouble, and when I turned 18, I could have been arrested."

"You still could have said goodbye. You didn't need to just all of a sudden ignore me, like I was nothing to you." She whispered hoarsely. He moved closer, but when he felt the air intensify between them, he stepped back again.

"You were never nothing to me." He told her. "You know that."

"Well apparently I am now. It seems you've moved on just fine in your life."

"Michelle and I are just--" He started. She scoffed.

"Don't lie, Brian. Val told me. I guess you guys are pretty serious now."

"I know you have to get home again before they find out you left, but please, at least keep talking to me. Let me tell you my side of the story before you jump to any conclusions. Please." He asked her. She sighed.

"Fine. I'll talk. But you're right, I gotta get home. Text me later tonight." She told him, running off before he could say anything else.