Healing Rain (14 page)

 

 

I woke up on Saturday morning with a wonderfully anxious and excited feeling in my stomach. All my confusion from the night before had disappeared as I thought about my first official date with Ethan. I couldn't wait to be alone with him – no Tyler, no football players or cheerleaders (specifically cheerleader ex-girlfriends) – just the two of us. I could hardly wait for six-thirty to arrive.

I bounced into the kitchen to find Mom just as she was about to leave for work. She was already dressed and holding a muffin in one hand while she tried to make a sandwich in the other hand to take with her for lunch. I knew she hadn't seen me enter, so I snuck up behind her and touched her back as I yelled, “Hey!”

She jumped about five feet in the air, dropping the muffin and flinging mustard everywhere. “Rain! You almost gave me a heart attack,” she said, clutching her hand to her heart.

I laughed. “Good morning. Let me finish that sandwich for you while you eat your breakfast.” I took the knife and began spreading the mustard on the bread before she could object.

“Thanks,” she said, giving me a strange look. “What's with your cheerful mood this morning?”

I shrugged, still smiling. “No reason,” I lied. “Can't I just help my mom make her lunch without some ulterior motive?”

She glared at me with a slight smile on her face. “No. Now tell me what's really going on.”

“Oh, Mom, you know me so well,” I teased. “I'm just excited about going out with Ethan tonight, that's all. It's our first date.”

She laughed loudly. “First date? You guys are together all the time!”

I nodded. “I know. But we haven't had the chance to go out on a real date. Between his football and me watching Tyler, we just haven't been able to make it happen.”

She suddenly got really quiet. I turned to look at her and saw the sad expression on her face. “Mom, what's wrong?” I asked worriedly.

She sighed and shook her head. “I just hate that you are stuck with Tyler all the time.”

I shoved her playfully. “Mom! I'm not
stuck
with him. He's my little brother. I don't mind watching him all the time.”

She gave me a sad smile and said, “Thank you for being such a good sport. I just hate it that you're not even seventeen yet and you are already playing the part of a mom.”

I shook my head. “Mom, I didn't say that to try to make you feel guilty. I don't mind that I have Tyler all the time. Really. I understand why I have to and I want to help out. You work so hard…anyway, Ethan loves him too, so he likes taking him around with us. Honestly.” I felt incredibly horrible as I watched the look on my mom's face. It wasn't easy for her, I knew, just as it wasn't easy for me. She went from being the Super Mom who didn't work and was so involved in our lives to being the Super Working Mom who didn't get to be around much and didn't get to see what was going on in our lives, all in a matter of days. It was a huge change for her, and I knew she hated it. Sometimes I forgot how much harder this all must be on her; I was too busy feeling sorry for myself and thinking about my own problems.

I suddenly got the urge to give her a big hug, which I did. Clearly, it took her by surprise. “I'm so lucky I got such a great kid,” she said, hugging me back, and I could hear the tears in her voice. Squeezing her, I released my grasp, turning away quickly so that I wouldn't actually see her crying. I knew that if I saw that, I would lose it. I went back to making her sandwich, humming and trying to seem happy as I finished it.

At that moment, Tyler came in, rubbing his eyes and holding his favorite blanket. I always teased him about still carrying that blanket around, but he wouldn't give it up. He still slept with it every night, and kept it with him all morning as he tried to wake up. “Good morning, Ty,” I said cheerfully.

He mumbled something that must have been “good morning,” but I couldn't make it out clearly. He sat down at the table and put his head in his hands. Mom and I exchanged smiles as she left the room to finish getting ready before she had to leave. I turned to Tyler and asked, “You hungry?” He nodded his head without looking up. “What do you want?” I asked. He shrugged, still not looking up. “All right. Cereal it is,” I said, pouring two bowls and joining him at the table.

As soon as I sat down, Mom came in and grabbed her purse. “Don't forget your lunch,” I said, nodding toward the counter where I had put her lunch bag.

She smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Rain. I'll be home sometime this afternoon. In plenty of time for you to get ready for your date,” she added in a teasing voice.

Tyler looked up with narrowed eyes. “What date?”

“Ethan and I are going out tonight,” I said casually.

“I get to come?” he asked excitedly, suddenly waking up.

I frowned and shook my head. “Not tonight, buddy. Sorry.”

He frowned. “Aww, man! Why not?”

“We just want to do something alone,” I tried to explain without hurting his feelings. “But, me and you get to hang out all day. What do you want to do?”

“Um…can we go to the video store and rent some movies?”

I smiled and nodded. “Sure,” I told him. That seemed to satisfy him as he smiled and ate his cereal.

Mom leaned down and kissed us both on the forehead. “See you guys later. Call if you need anything.”

“Bye, Mom,” we said in unison as she walked out the door.

Tyler and I finished our cereal quietly, and then I took the bowls and put them in the sink. “Go get changed so we can go to the video store,” I told him, and he sprinted to his room. I went to my room to change as well, grabbing the first thing I saw in my closet – my Beaten Path concert T-shirt and a pair of cut-off jean shorts. I threw my hair into a ponytail and put some powder on my face before I walked back into the living room to find Tyler waiting for me.

The walk to the video store was short, which was a good thing since it was such a hot day. Tyler sprinted in ahead of me, heading straight for the children's section. Walking in behind him, I glanced at the different sections of the store, thinking maybe I would treat myself to a movie as well. I could watch it on Sunday after I finished my homework.

I caught up to Tyler just as he found some movies that caught his interest. That's when I heard a familiar voice behind me. “Great choice. Classic movies.”

I turned to see Aiden grinning at us. “Oh, hey Aiden! I forgot you were working today.”

He faked disappointment as he said, “You mean you didn't come to keep me company?” I looked around and noticed that we were the only ones in the store.

I sighed. “Well, that was my original intention, but I can see how busy you are here, so we should probably just get out of here so you can help all the other waiting customers,” I joked.

He laughed. “Yeah. This is definitely the hot spot on Saturday mornings.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Obviously. I can't believe I didn't hear about this place sooner.”

“Well, it's pretty exclusive,” he said, putting his hands on his hips. “Hey, guess what? I got great news!”

“What?” I asked, still browsing through the videos.

“We got a gig tonight. You ever heard of the band Stand Alone?”

That caught my attention as I looked up at him quickly. “Yeah. They're a local band, right? I heard their single on the college radio station and they were talking about how they've got an album that's about to be released. They're supposed to get pretty big.”

His eyes sparkled. “Yeah, well, they're playing in Madison tonight, at this restaurant called Joey's. And we get to open for them.”

My eyes practically bugged out of my head. “Aiden, that's awesome! Congratulations!”

“Thanks, we're so pumped!” he gushed. “We get to play our own stuff, which is amazing.”

“Wow, Aiden. I'm so happy for you! I wish I could see it,” I said. What a great opportunity. I wanted to jump up and down for him.

“You can,” he said. “They gave us a few tickets – I could probably get you a couple of them if you're interested.”

“Really?” I squeaked. “That would be great – I'm sure Ethan wouldn't mind if we changed our plans a little…”

“Right,” he interrupted. “Your date with Ethan. Forgot about that.” His smile had suddenly gotten a little smaller, and the sparkle in his eyes was gone.

“Well, yeah,” I stammered, “but we could come to your show instead. We were just gonna go to the movies, so it's not like we had big plans.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Do you really think Ethan would want to go? I don't know him that well, but that doesn't seem like his type of music.”

I rolled my eyes. “He needs a musical awakening. Trust me. This would be good for him.”

Aiden laughed loudly. “Well, okay. If you think so. I can leave your tickets up at the front. I'll put them in your name, so all you'll have to do is ask for them. You need directions?”

I smiled. “Nah. I'll look it up. Can't wait. We'll see you tonight.”

Tyler tugged on my sleeve. “Can we go home and watch the movies now?”

“Oh, the movies,” I said. “I almost forgot. Let's go pay first, buddy.”

We walked the movies up to the counter as Aiden rang them up for us. I gave him the five dollars and we left. Before I walked out the door, I turned around and called, “Good luck tonight!”

“Thanks, Rain,” he said with a grin. He looked like an excited little boy.

We had just gotten home and started the first movie when the phone rang. It was Ethan, just leaving practice. “Hey. I've got everything figured out for our date tonight, and you are going to love it,” he said excitedly.

I cringed. I hoped they were plans that could be saved for another time. “Um, what did you have in mind?” I wasn't sure how to bring up the concert, but I really did want to go.

“Well,” he said, “I won't give you all the details yet, but I will tell you that I just found out I will have my house to myself tonight because my dad has this work party tonight that he and Mom are going to. So, I'm going to cook for you. I've got a menu all planned out with some of your favorite foods.”

I melted. “Aww, Ethan, that's so sweet!”

“Yeah, well, I'm a sweet guy,” he said teasingly.

“And humble,” I added, teasing him back.

“Anyway, that's where we'll start the night. I'll come pick you up at six-thirty, and I'll have dinner already set up for you by the time we get back here. Then I have a surprise for you, so you'll just have to wait and see what the rest of the night will bring.”

“I can't wait,” I told him honestly. I temporarily forgot all about the concert as I thought about the date with excitement.

“So what are you guys doing now?” he asked.

“We're watching movies. You can come over if you want.”

“Aw, I would, but I'm disgusting. It was a rough practice and I have got to go shower. Then I need to go do a little grocery shopping,” he said. “So, I'll just see you tonight?”

“See you tonight,” I repeated before I hung up the phone.

I wondered what he was up to as I walked back into the living room to join Tyler. He sounded so eager about our date, and he was obviously putting so much thought into it. I couldn't help but smile to myself when I thought about what he might have in store. My smile quickly faded when I remembered the concert tickets Aiden was leaving at the front for us. I realized I should probably call him and let him know we couldn't make it after all so that he wouldn't waste the two tickets. I looked at the clock and figured he would probably still be work, so I made a mental note to call him in a couple hours.

It wasn't long after we started the second movie that I fell asleep. When I woke up, Tyler was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as he sat on the floor playing. I looked at the clock. “It's four-thirty? How long was I asleep?”

Tyler looked up and tapped his finger on his chin like he was thinking. “Um, a long time.”

“Tyler, why didn't you wake me up? I would have made you lunch.”

He shrugged. “I don't know. You seemed tired. And I know how to cook,” he said as he held up the messy sandwich he was holding, peanut butter dripping out of the bottom corner.

I laughed and rustled his blond hair. “I forget how grown up you are sometimes,” I told him with a smile. “Mom's not home yet?”

“Nope,” he replied.

“Well, she should be any minute. I'm going to get in the shower, okay?” I didn't have a clue what I was wearing for the date, so I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to get ready.

“Okay,” Tyler replied, not looking up from the structure he was building out of blocks.

Taking my time in the shower, I thought about what I should wear. I wanted to be able to straighten my hair, which could sometimes take a while, so I finished and went straight to my closet to decide on an outfit. After trying on several different options, I decided to go with my white flowy skirt and a lavender halter top. As I was getting dressed, there was a knock on my door.

“Come in,” I said.

Mom entered the room. “Just wanted to let you know I'm home,” she said. “Oh, Rain, that looks great on you.”

I smiled. “Really? I'm thinking this is what I'm going to wear tonight for our date.”

She nodded. “That's perfect. What are you guys going to do?”

I shrugged. “He won't tell me. All I know is that he's cooking me dinner, but the rest is a surprise.”

Her eyes got big. “He's cooking you dinner?”

I smiled. “Yeah. We're going over to his house.” I left out the part about his parents not being there.

“Rain, I really like this guy. He is so great with Tyler, and I've seen him open doors for you…He seems like a real gentleman. He's a keeper.”