Stay With Them Tonight

ALLIE P.O.V.

I watched Jason leave with a frown, and Rachel looked indecisive before following him out, sending me an apologetic smile and promising to bring him back.

What did Rachel mean about him being like before? With Ginger? I couldn’t imagine them ever being together; yes, Ginger was an absolute bitch, but she was also tall and elegant-looking, with a sweet face when it wasn’t twisted into something malicious. She always seemed to have an ulterior motive.

Jason was blunt, and never tried to pretend to be anything else. But he was also naturally protective; that much could be seen especially with his little brother, and he always stayed away from drama. How could he love someone like her? I stared at the wall, feeling like crying. Jason had just left at the mention of stupid Ginger’s name. I wondered why that mattered so much to me.

Instead of crying like an idiot and not knowing why, I glared at the door, waiting for Jason to come back. The nurse went around silently, filling out a slip of paper and wrapping my wrist. I would have to wrap it and be careful for a few weeks, but at least there wasn’t a bulky cast.

“He’s trouble, that one.” I looked at the nurse questioningly. “You shouldn’t get involved with him. Go lay down while I fill out your incident report card.” She clucked at my expression and turned around before I could say that no, he wasn’t really that bad.

She went into her office, closing the door and pointing through the window to the tiny rooms with more beds. I angrily walked into one of the empty rooms, closing the door a little loudly, and lay down on the bed. It crinkled every time I moved, and I turned on my side to stare at the wall. I heard the main door open, and wondered who would get hurt in the last few minutes of school, besides me.

Maybe it’s Jason coming back, I hoped silently.

“Is everyone wrong about him, or is it me?” I asked myself. “Or is he different with different people?” The door to my room opened quietly and Rachel walked in. She sat on the little chair at the head of the bed and I offered a smile.

“Luckily you were easy to find; you were the only one crazy enough to talk to yourself.” She joked. We listened as the last bell rang, and out in the hall it grew noisy.

“Where’s Jason?” She didn’t meet my eyes.

“He ran into Tracey outside. Or she ran into him, or whatever.” She picked at the bottom of her shirt.

“Rachel, he doesn’t date people often, does he?” she nodded, wondering what I was getting at.

“Because of Ginger?” I asked.

“I think so.” She replied. I rolled onto my back, choosing to look at the ceiling instead of her.

“I think I might like him,” I admitted quietly, not having even really thought of it myself. She didn’t seem surprised, and I wondered if other people saw it. I certainly hadn’t. Before she could say anything, my phone started ringing. I reached into my left pocket with my right hand, wishing my left hand weren’t hurt. I looked at the screen before picking up the phone.

“Hey, Tyler,” I greeted, smiling slightly for the bad (or good, depending on how you looked at it) timing.

Hey, Allen. You’re out of school now, right?” he asked. I heard people talking in the background.

“Yep, where are you?” I asked.

”I’m actually outside.” I heard the grin in his voice. “I was wondering if you wanted to go bowling again.”

“I would, but I just got hurt in gym.” I admitted.

“Are you okay?” He sounded slightly worried.

“I’m fine, but I don’t think the nurse would approve of bowling.” I rolled my eyes. “Do you want to do something else? I’m hungry,” I realized.

“You’re always hungry,” he laughed.

“Why don’t we go to my house and make food? We could just hang out for a while.” I suggested.

“Sure. Hold on, did you drive to school?” he asked.

“I did, but I carpooled so Kells or someone can drive it back.” Not to mention I can avoid Jason until I figure out what’s happening with me. I thought to myself. “I’ll be out in a sec.” I told him. We hung up, and I sat up. Rachel raised an eyebrow.

“He’s just a friend,” I defended without thinking. I blushed when I realized how it sounded.

I knew we would have to get together and talk to sort things out.

“If you want, we can meet tomorrow at lunch, in the library. We can talk, and just figure things out. You know, if you want to come back to us. If not, that’s okay. But,” I hesitated, wondering if she was even the Rachel I thought I knew. I decided to trust her. “We’ve kind of missed her. Especially Greg,” I added. I walked out, hoping Greg wouldn’t find out that I had basically told her he liked her. It wasn’t my right to tell her, but if my intuition was right, she felt the same. She had started at his name, anyway, and I hoped that meant something.

*****

“Hey,” I said as Tyler opened the car door for me, scanning to see where I was hurt. I stuffed my bag at my feet.

“Sorry, it took a little longer to get changed than I expected,” I said as he climbed in next to me. He had a Chevy, which is all I needed to know, because I hated Chevys. This one wasn’t bad, spacious and pretty big for a car, but I thought (with heavy bias) that my truck was definitely better. I had already handed my keys off to Ryan and told him Jason had taken off and run into Ginger, and that I didn’t know what had happened after that.

“It’s fine. What happened?” he asked.

“I had an accident while playing football. It is definitely not my sport.” I sighed. “My parents probably won’t even be surprised,” I told him. He laughed at me, and I just shook my head, knowing it was true.

I decided to change the subject. “Have you learned to cook anything besides Pop tarts since you left?” I asked.

“I learned how to make hash browns and eggs,” he stated proudly. I laughed.

“Good, because I don’t think I can cook right now. It would wind up all over the floor.”

“I have no problem cooking for you for once,” he told me. I looked out the window, grinning.

*****

RYAN P.O.V.

I called Jason for the fifth time, sighing in irritation on the third ring. He picked up on the fourth, and I told him exactly what I was thinking at the moment.

“You are such an ass, Jase.”

“I know. Is she alright?” he asked.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“Allie? Is she still at the nurse? I walked out on her.” he said, like it should have been obvious.

“Oh. I saw her; she didn’t say anything about that. But, that’s just more reason you’re an ass. We’re leaving though, and have been looking all over for you. Allie told me you ran into Tracey.” I left it to him whether he wanted to go into that subject or not. It was a touchy one with him.

“How did Allie know?” I heard him ask, almost to himself. “Where is she? Can she even drive right now?” he asked. I took the phone away from my ear, staring at it. Seeing nothing outwardly wrong that would cause me to hear things, I put it back to my ear.

“Ryan? Hello?” Jason was saying. I had brought up the subject of Tracey, and instead of freaking out and raging about it, he had asked after Allie. It took me a moment to gather my thoughts, in which Jason again impatiently asked if my brain was in the right place.

“Actually, she took off already. I’m driving her truck.” I answered cryptically, wondering what he would say. I expected him to take it in stride, not even ask about it, and move on to the next subject.

“Where is she?” he asked instead. Kelly glanced over at me, my face probably showing extreme confusion. My brother was completely unpredictable.

“Tyler picked her up a few minutes ago,” I told him. He was silent.

“Bro? You there?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’ll be there in a minute.” The phone went silent.

“He hung up on me,” I said as I stared at it. I grinned over at Kelly, absentmindedly twisting a few strands of her long brown hair through my fingers as we sat in the truck, my arm on the seat behind her.

“Why are you smiling about it?” she asked suspiciously. I suddenly pulled her close, being in a randomly good mood.

“I need you to find out how Al feels about him,” I told her. She looked up at me, and I kissed her quickly. She laughed.

“Why?” she asked curiously.

“Because,” I started, pausing to kiss her again. “He feels something for her.”