Page 7 of Before We’re More Than Friends (When We Faced the Music #1)

I checked my purse two more times, trying to be as quick as possible, just to relieve the compulsion. When I put my bag under the seat, Arielle drove off.

“Did the session make you feel better?” she asked. “About our whole situation?”

“A little bit.” At least the part where I’d forgotten about everything made me feel better. “She did her job as usual.”

“Good.” She gave me a faint smile, focusing on the road.

We stayed silent for a few moments before I asked a question that had plagued my mind for the past few weeks.

“Do you need someone to talk to about it?” Arielle had never been in therapy, and even though she was the “normal” one, sometimes I wondered if she needed someone.

Sure, she had all our friends, but she liked to keep her bright facade on around them.

We were completely identical on the outside—wavy golden-brown hair, light blue eyes, and five-foot-five frames with hips that would make a Kardashian jealous—but were socially nothing alike.

She was bubbly, always invited to parties and being asked out on dates.

I didn’t have an extroverted bone in my body and lived off sarcasm.

For the most part, there was nothing wrong with that.

But if we had one similarity, it was that neither of us liked talking about our family situation. She just had an easier time not letting her pain show while it took all my strength not to break down in public.

We were just two girls caught in the crossfire we called home.

Arielle’s face hardened with my question. “I’m good,” she said, keeping her voice light to mask how she felt.

I nodded and let it drop.

“Gosh, I can’t stand stupid rush hour,” she muttered as traffic went to a standstill. “I know you hate driving, but I can’t wait for the day I don’t have to be the one who sits in this.”

I bit my lip, anxiety rising in my chest from the idea of driving. So many things could go wrong. A car could fly at us when they were the ones who were supposed to stop, we could take a wrong turn and crash into someone else, we could get lost?—

Stop it. I drew in a sharp breath and managed to force a laugh.

Arielle picked up on my anxiety because she gave me a sympathetic smile. She didn’t say anything for the rest of the car ride, and I didn’t either. I hated the awkwardness that loomed over us, but there was nothing we could do to fix it.

Around twenty minutes later, we arrived at our two-story Mediterranean monster of a house. You would never think from the outside that everything was crumbling apart on the inside.

Just like me.

There was a strange pain that came with living in a home so big but so empty.

I opened the front door, welcomed by the huge foyer.

Arielle bolted straight for the powder room, whatever she’d drunk earlier finally catching up with her.

Dad was sitting across from me in the grand living room.

The fake fireplace sparkled not too far from him.

I checked the door four times to make sure it was locked before taking my shoes off.

Dad’s dirty-blond head bobbed as he looked up from his fitness book. Even from the distance, I caught a glimpse of the black monitoring bracelet on his ankle. “Hey,” he said with the smallest smile. “How did therapy go?”

“It went well.” I returned the small smile, my insides twisting. I hated coming home every day to seeing him here.

“I’m glad.” He nodded. “Francesca will make dinner in twenty minutes or so.”

“Okay.”

I stood around, waiting for him to say anything else. Maybe have a conversation. I didn’t know about what, but he could’ve thought of something. I could’ve thought of something. But we stayed in awkward silence as Dad’s gaze traveled back to his book.

At least that was still normal. Barely saying two words to Dad before he put his interest elsewhere.

I went up the spiral staircase to my room. In the middle of my study session, I heard a soft knock.

“Come in,” I said, knowing it wasn’t Arielle. After all these years, she still hadn’t learned to knock first.

Mom came in with Penrose and a warm smile, wearing her casual after-work clothes. “You left this girl out. ”

I grinned at Penrose. Her ears stood up as she ran toward me with her tongue out, looking like the happiest dog in the world.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said, beaming at Penrose.

“Of course. Francesca is almost done with dinner. I asked her to make hot chocolate for afterward.” She leaned closer to me. “Even if we all know mine is the best.”

I giggled. “You’re the best.”

She smiled, the bags under her eyes visible. “I try to be.”

The emotion in her words rippled through my chest. I held on to her hands. “As long as you’re trying.”

Mom nodded before leaving the room and closing the door.

Penrose rubbed underneath my legs, and I rubbed her head. It was like we had the same thought.

That we both hoped all our bests would be enough.

For the fourth time, I looked at my phone as music blasted throughout the stadium. It was almost nine, and the concert had started at eight. Gracelynn still wasn’t here.

Sienna Rowan, my sister from another mister, pulled my phone out of my hand and put it in her purse. “Gracelynn says she’s almost here.”

“I’ll report you for pickpocketing!” I shouted over the music. The band, Checkmark, was outstanding as they played their best songs, but the noise and my racing thoughts overstimulated me.

Sienna rolled her eyes. “Trust me, she’s coming.”

Gracelynn transferred from private school to public school in sixth grade. I’d joined her duo with Arielle. Sienna had joined our friend group in seventh grade after switching middle schools, turning our trio into a quartet. Both girls were the best things that’d happened to us.

“She said that ten minutes ago,” I said. It wasn’t unusual for any of us to be late, but ever since things between my family and the Naysmiths fell apart, I was paranoid about my friendship with Gracelynn.

Though my mom was probably the worst at keeping friends, I’d never expected her friendship with Jennifer Naysmith to crumble over my dad getting accused of a crime.

He hadn’t even been charged as guilty yet.

If he was, we didn’t know what his punishment could be.

It could range from anywhere between a fine of thousands of dollars to jail time.

Gosh, I couldn’t imagine my dad in jail. Sure, he wasn’t the best guy, but jail was too far of a stretch. There was no way he’d gone years without paying the IRS, right?

After a few more minutes of trying to control my thoughts—though I wouldn’t know how long, because Sienna wouldn’t give me my phone back—Gracelynn slid into the row to sit to Sienna’s right.

“She finally arrives,” Sienna sang. “Raina was starting to lose her mind.”

“The traffic is terrible tonight,” Gracelynn said as she checked her chestnut bangs with her phone’s front camera.

“I was worried that your mom wouldn’t let you come,” I admitted. “Or that something else came up and you couldn’t come.”

“Wouldn’t I have told you if that had happened?” she asked, her face pinching. “Instead of saying I was on my way?”

A pang hit my chest. “I just wasn’t sure.”

“What do you mean?” Her tone grew sharp.

“Guys, cut it out,” Arielle hissed. “We’re not going down this road.”

“She didn’t have to snap at me,” I muttered .

“It’s just hurtful that you’d think I’d stand you guys up just because of what is happening with our families,” Gracelynn said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You know I didn’t mean it that way. You don’t have to get defensive about it.”

“Stop it!” Arielle shouted, causing a few heads to turn toward us. “We’re not doing this!”

“Here we go again,” Sienna muttered, shaking her head. “I feel like I’m in the middle of a fight between Adam and Emma.” Adam and Emma were her ten-year-old cousins she babysat all the time, and yeah, I had to agree we were acting like them.

Gracelynn huffed. “I wasn’t trying to start a fight.”

“Well, you did,” Arielle said, hands on her hips.

“I’m going to use the bathroom,” I said before sliding out of the row and running up the stairs. The anxiety was building up in my chest, on the verge of bursting.

When I got to the bathroom, I went into the biggest stall and looked into the mirror.

My makeup was perfectly intact—glittery purple eyeshadow, black eyeliner, long mascara, light purple highlighter, and glittery purple lip gloss—but the frustrated tears in the back of my eyes threatened to escape and ruin it.

Please stop freaking out over everything.

“Raina!”

I let out a small huff but ignored my name.

“Raina, I know you’re in here.” Footsteps charged down the bathroom, passing the stall. “Don’t make me start checking feet.”

I surrendered, opening the stall door. “I was just freshening up.”

“Yeah, right, powdering your nose and crap.” Gracelynn crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m sorry I got defensive. I got in a fight with my parents earlier, which got me stuck in traffic for leaving late. And no, the fight had nothing to do with your family. ”

A wave of guilt washed over me, and then another one for being relieved that she hadn’t been fighting with her parents about me. “I’m sorry. I was just worried like I usually am about everything.”

“I know. I shouldn’t have made it about me.” She gave me a sad smile.

“It’s okay.” I pulled her into a tight hug.

After a few seconds, she laughed and broke away from me. “All right, that’s enough.” She never liked hugging for more than a few seconds, even though her tall frame and long arms made her perfect for them. “Ready to go back?”

“No, I actually have to pee now.”

“Me too.” She laughed before she went into the stall next to mine.

I went back into my stall, and when I finished using the bathroom, I studied myself in the mirror one more time. Be careful , I told myself. Before something happens that you can’t reverse.