Page 24 of Before We’re More Than Friends (When We Faced the Music #1)

Raina

“ T hat was my fault this time,” I said as Sienna helped me sit on the ice, my knee throbbing from the collision. “I never learned how to brake.”

“It’s okay,” Dallas said, though frustration flickered across his face as Hayden helped him up. Could I blame him at this rate? I was fed up with literally crashing into him too.

And I might actually be injured this time.

When Sienna helped me up, my left knee buckled and throbbed. I yelped and fell onto my butt. Tears stung my eyes from the pain.

Sienna’s amber eyes grew wide. “What’s hurting?”

“My knee.” Touching my knee sent another bolt of pain to it. I winced, my eyes burning more.

“I’ll get the nurse,” Hayden said before gliding off the rink.

My cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Enough attention had already been on me since Dad was arrested and taken to federal prison, and I’d been doing my best to stay under the radar the whole party.

I really hadn’t wanted to come, but Arielle and Sienna were coming, and I’d wondered if it would’ve hurt Dallas’s feelings if I hadn’t shown up with them .

Why did I care so much about his feelings? I had no idea, but after staying in the house all week, filling jewelry orders while crying my eyes out, I needed to be anywhere but that broken place we called home.

Dallas put his hand on my leg. His deep brown eyes met mine, so warm and melty, not cold and harsh like they had been before. “You’ll be okay.” His words warmed my heart. Like he wasn’t just talking about my knee.

“Thank you.” My hand went on top of his before my brain could process what it was doing. When it registered, I took it off at the same time Dallas took his hand off my knee. “Sorry.”

Whispers filled the air, and I turned around to see our friends and some randoms still standing here, staring at us like we’d been caught making out.

It seemed like light years before the nurse brought me inside to take care of my knee. Thankfully, it was just a bruise, and I didn’t have to go to the doctor. However, this thing would hurt like hell for the next few weeks.

Something to add to the extensive list.

Arielle sat beside me on the bench and touched my leg. “Want me to take you home? I can always come back to the party.”

I shook my head. “It might be over by then.” It wasn’t like me to fight against leaving, but Arielle needed to be here.

Unlike me, she’d been avoiding the house as much as possible all week.

She’d left for around five hours on Monday after the fight with our parents, and no one questioned it.

I had a feeling I knew where she went. “I’ll just call Mom and Dad to let them know what happened. ”

Her face dropped, and it took me a moment to realize why.

We didn’t have a dad to call when we needed him anymore.

I cleared my throat. “I’ll call Mom.” I just hope she’s inside and sober .

My hopes deflated when Mom still didn’t pick up after six calls. I restrained myself from throwing my phone across the room. “I give up!” I shouted.

A few people looked at me, and I put my head in my hands. Why is everything falling apart all at once?

“We’re going home,” Arielle said, getting up from the bench. “I’m going to use the bathroom, and then I’ll tell everyone that we’re leaving.” She gave me a side hug. “I’m sorry I made you feel like you had to come.”

“It was my choice.” A very horrible choice that resulted in an accident.

I jammed my phone in my purse and put my head in my hands again, letting tears of frustration stream down my cheeks. In the middle of my meltdown, a warm hand rubbed against my back. I jumped to see Dallas sitting where Arielle had been.

“Shush,” he whispered. “I’m right here.”

Snot ran from my nose, and I took a tissue from my purse to wipe it. “I didn’t say anything.” I turned away to open my compact mirror and make sure I didn’t look like a drowned rat. I did. Thank goodness I hadn’t been in the mood to put on anything but lip gloss.

“Don’t worry, you still look like a princess.” He let out a soft chuckle before straightening his face. “Sorry, it’s just . . . I wanted to check on you. Because I’m worried. I’ve been worried about you all week.”

“I tried not to break down like this,” I said, wiping the remaining tears from my face.

“But I went to call my parents before realizing I didn’t have parents to call.

My mom won’t answer because she’s wasted, and my dad, well .

. .” I shook my head, putting my mirror away.

“Sorry, you don’t need my pathetic self to ruin your birthday party. ”

No one other than my friends knew about my mom’s drinking addiction. I worried Dallas would judge me for it, but he’d already caught me bawling my eyes out. What did I have to lose?

Still, this wasn’t the time to open up. To anyone.

“You’re not pathetic,” Dallas said softly. “You’re hurting because you’re going through hell right now. I don’t expect you to be perfectly okay.”

“I am, but I’m not supposed to . . .” I sniffled. “I’m not supposed to let it show.”

He nodded. “I understand not wanting to show your weakness. I don’t like it, either. But we’re . . .” He stared at my bracelets before his eyes bounced back to mine. “We’re friends now.”

I managed to give him a smile. “I’m glad you think we’re friends.”

“We are, right?” His eyes widened, his cheeks flushing as they usually did. “I-I just thought because?—”

“Because I didn’t yell at you when you knocked my pencil out of my hand in Chemistry? Because I fed bunnies with you even though you were rude?”

He swallowed. “I-I’m sorry, I just?—”

I laughed. “Gosh, I’m playing with you, Dallas.”

“Oh, good.” He let out a breath. “Sorry.”

My lips curved in another smile. “You apologize too much.”

“Sorry, I just get anxious often.”

“You apologized again.”

His grin showcased his dimples. They were too cute. “My apologies.”

I couldn’t help but laugh again. “I think you’ll make a good friend.”

“Hopefully.” He rubbed my knee. “Are you feeling better now that you let everything out? I have to get back to this beast of a party that Hayden thought he’d perfectly planned, but I just want to make sure you’re doing better. ”

“I’ll be fine soon,” I said. “Arielle and I are actually going to leave once she gets out of the bathroom.”

“I wish I could leave, too, honestly.” Dallas hugged his knees to his chest. “I really hate parties, and I made it very clear to Hayden that I didn’t want this to turn into one. I didn’t even want to celebrate my birthday in the first place.”

“Really? I mean, I’m not surprised Hayden made this a big party. Everything he plans is over the top.” He and Arielle for sure had that in common. “But I didn’t know that you didn’t want to celebrate your birthday.”

“Yeah.” Dallas brushed dirt off his shoes. “It’s my first birthday being away from Dallas and my best friend.”

“I’m sorry.” I rubbed his shoulder, not knowing what else to do.

“It’s okay. Birthdays are just the anniversary of your birth when you think about it.”

“Well, what else would a birthday be?”

He chuckled. “I’m glad you’re acting more like yourself now.” He put his hand on my leg again, warmth spreading through my leggings. “Seeing you cry broke my heart a little.”

“Oh, I have enough of an effect on you to break your heart?” I put a hand to my chest. “I’m honored.”

He glanced at the friendship bracelet on my wrist and back at me. “You do.”

The hairs on my neck prickled at the sincerity in his voice. “That was a joke.”

“I know.” He swallowed and shifted away from me as if he were lying, his cheeks redder than before. “Um, I should get back to this disaster of a party.” He got up from the bench. “I really hope things get better for you. I mean it.”

“I’d hope that you wouldn’t be lying.” I beamed, though something unfamiliar fluttered in my stomach .

He gave me a shy wave before scurrying to who-knew-where.

A wave of my sadness crashed over me once he was out of my sight, the fluttering feeling in my stomach refusing to subside. We’d only known each other for a week, but something about the way he talked to me felt like home.

Like I’d known him for much longer.

Mom was drinking lemonade vodka in the living room when we got home. From the way she nodded off, I could tell she was still wasted. She’d only stay awake for so long before puking her guts out the next morning.

“Why didn’t you answer our calls?” Arielle demanded, grabbing the remote and pausing the TV. “Raina got hurt while ice skating!”

Mom’s eyelids fluttered as she jerked awake. “Oh, I lost my phone.”

“It’s right there.” Arielle pointed to her phone underneath the couch.

“Oh, there it is.” Mom didn’t even look at it. “I guess I had it on silent.”

“Mom, you need to get help,” Arielle said, pain in her voice. “I’ll make Nonno come down here if I have to.” Our divorced grandparents, Nonno and Nonna, still lived in Venice, almost a five-hour drive from here. Nonno sometimes drove over, and I knew he’d come if Mom needed to go to rehab.

But I hated the idea of that happening in the first place.

“I don’t need help,” Mom muttered before taking another sip of her vodka. “I’m processing my emotions.”

“ This is not the right way to process your emotions!” Arielle threw her hands up. “You know what, I can’t deal with this right now.” She kicked her shoes off and stormed up the stairs.

A pained frown spread across Mom’s lips before her lashes fluttered closed.

I shook my head, frustration welling inside me, before taking off my shoes and going upstairs as well. Penrose greeted me at my door, wagging her tail back and forth. I rubbed behind her ears to calm my blood pressure.

Even from the other side of the loft, I heard a fast-clicking noise coming from Arielle’s room. I knocked and creaked open her door to see her at her desk, typing away at her laptop. “What are you doing?”

“I’m looking for programs to put Mom in,” she said, too fixated on the screen to face me. “And we won’t let her quit this time.”

“We won’t,” I agreed, sitting in one of her pink chairs. I rarely came into Arielle’s room—it was full of pink and had a different layout than mine, the atmosphere just as cheery as the facade she always put on in public. “I want her back.”

“Me too.” Arielle let out a frustrated sigh and opened another tab. “I’m scared, Raina. I’m scared she’ll always be stuck in this pattern. I’m scared because Dad is in prison, and we don’t have him to take care of us. I’m scared that . . .” She sniffled. “I’m scared that our family is gone.”

“Me too,” I said, fighting the tears that threatened to resurface. Dallas’s warm hand on my knee came to my mind, but I shook the image away. “I’m terrified.”

Arielle and I sat in silence for the next few minutes as she clicked through tabs and typed. I got a notification from Connections, and I perked up, hoping it was from Alex. It was just some bot informing me about new updates.

Stupid bot. I wanted my best friend.

Alex hadn’t replied to me since last Saturday. He’d said he was sick to his stomach, so I assumed he had food poisoning or the stomach flu. But he hadn’t said a word or responded to any of the messages I’d left about my family. It wasn’t like him at all.

And it was beginning to stress me out.

I shot him a message, hoping to finally get a response.

Chloe

Hey, where have you been?

Are you still sick?

I can get a bucket for you

Okay, seriously, I’m getting worried. My whole life has changed, and you’ve fallen off the face of the earth. I don’t want to be selfish, but this isn’t like you at all. You haven’t even sent a single puke emoji.

Send me anything so I know that you’re okay

I looked at the gray dot next to his dog profile picture, hoping it would turn green. That he would remember to check his phone and tell me he was alive.

After a few minutes, I gave up hope and sent one more message before closing the app.

Chloe

I don’t want to lose you.