Naked 2 : BAD (3 page)

“What’s she talking about?” Caelyn asked, looking at her parents, hoping they would dismiss Deena’s comment. But they didn’t.

Instead, her mother picked up a napkin and toyed with it idly. “Your father and I have to go to work, so obviously we can’t be here for you. But your sister—“

“My little sister,” Caelyn corrected.

“I’m going to be seventeen,” Deena said.

“In eight months.”

Caelyn’s mother silenced them both with a look. “Your sister has agreed to take a few days off from school so she can be with you.”

“Why? I don’t need her here with me.”

“Because you’re acting crazy,” Deena said.

“I don’t need a babysitter. I’m fine.”

Her father straightened the right cuff of his shirt, wiping a piece of lint from the material. “We just want to be sure.”

Caelyn tried to ignore the beaming face of her sister, who was eating this up like it was a chocolate sundae.

“We’re all just worried about your mental health,” Deena said, fixing her expression to appear genuinely concerned.

Caelyn opened her mouth to try and talk sense to her mother and father, but just before the words came out, her phone started ringing. She looked down at the caller ID and saw the same number that Elijah had called from last night. “Shit,” she said.

“Caelyn, language please!” her mother cried.

She stood up hastily. “Sorry, I just—I have to take this.”

As she left the table, Caelyn saw her parents exchanging apprehensive looks.

She ignored them, walking out of the kitchen and into the hallway. Then she answered her cell.

First came the automatic recording, asking if she would accept the call from the county jail, to which she replied “yes.”

Her pulse was racing again, and she licked her lips.

“Hello?” Elijah’s voice came through the line, sounding somewhat distant, crackling with static.

“Hi,” she said, smiling just from hearing him.

“I got another chance, so I thought I’d try you again. I wanted to tell you that I’ll probably be back in Massachusetts tonight. Not sure if they’ll let me use the phone when I get there or not.”

“Really?” she said. “I’m back already.”

“You flew back to Boston? You’re back at school?”

“Ummm…not exactly.”

Suddenly, from behind her, Deena’s voice called out aggressively. “Who are you talking to, Caelyn?”

She turned around and waved her younger sister away. Deena didn’t move.

Elijah had said something else, but she hadn’t heard him because of Deena’s antics.

“What did you say?” Caelyn asked him, her voice strained now.

He tried again. “I said—“

“Caelyn, who is that?” Deena broke in. “Mom and Dad are waiting for you.

You’re acting crazy, being all secretive.”

Caelyn put the phone to her chest. “Deena, you better get the hell away from me, I swear. I need to take this call.”

“Who are you talking to? What are you trying to hide from your family?”

“GO.” Caelyn pointed down the hallway, but Deena just continued standing there, her arms folded.

Caelyn put the phone back to her ear. “Hey,” she said. “I didn’t hear what you said, I got interrupted.”

There was a silence. “I’ve been thinking a lot about you,” he said.

She smiled. She wanted to say it back, but then she caught sight of Deena’s face out of the corner of her eye. “Thanks,” she said. “Me too,” she added lamely.

“Is this a bad time?” Elijah asked. “I’m kind of getting a weird vibe from you right now.” His voice was suddenly guarded, suspicious.

“Well, it’s just that I was eating breakfast with my family and—“

“Oh, right. I get it,” he interrupted.

“It’s not a great time to talk,” she finished. She realized too late that it had come out wrong. With her sister watching and listening, she’d gotten stressed and hadn’t felt free to be honest with him.

“Listen, I understand,” he said. “You’re back home with your family, back to real life. You can’t have some felon calling you and bothering you.”

She almost said his name, but then realized she couldn’t risk having Deena know who he was. “It’s not like that,” she said, feeling totally lost. Confused.

“Don’t worry about it. I won’t bug you anymore, Caelyn. You go back to your real life, and forget I ever existed. You’ll be better off anyway.”

“Wait, don’t hang up.”

But she was talking to a dead phone. He’d already gone.

Caelyn felt tears stinging her eyes. She looked up at Deena. “Why the hell won’t you leave me alone?” she said.

“Because, they told me not to.”

“They didn’t tell you to eavesdrop on my private conversations.”

“How do you know?”

Caelyn felt a rage come over her, cold and intense. Her sister had totally ruined her chance to talk to Elijah, to hear his voice, to feel close to him again. Worse than that, now Elijah was under the impression that she’d come home and decided to try and pretend the whole thing with him had never happened—that their relationship didn’t mean anything, because he was inconvenient to her privileged life.

Somehow, Caelyn thought, she had to prove to him that she did still want to see and talk to him, that she’d never discard him for being inconvenient.

Deena went back to the kitchen table and Caelyn heard her murmuring something to their parents. Caelyn couldn’t even tell what was being said, but she was sure it was unflattering and insulting.

But that wasn’t the issue right now. She was racking her brain for a way to show Elijah that he was wrong, that her feelings hadn’t simply changed overnight.

He’d sacrificed for her, and she needed to make a sacrifice for him.

And that’s when it hit her.

She could make a sacrifice for him—something that would make a real difference in his life. She would prove to him beyond a shadow of a doubt that her feelings for him were real.

It started with Jayson.

If Jayson would drop the charges against Elijah, than Elijah might not have to go back to prison. The offense of leaving the state wasn’t nearly as serious as being charged with assault, she knew that from her online research.

And there was one obvious way to get Jayson to drop the charges against Elijah.

Caelyn got on her phone and quickly wrote Jayson a text. She felt sick to her stomach just seeing his name there, in black and white. But she had to do it. This was her only real chance, she realized, to help Elijah and make it possible for her to see him again outside of a jailhouse visit.

Caelyn kept it simple and didn’t put too much detail in her text message to Jayson.

We need to talk.

After she hit send, Caelyn breathed a deep sigh. It was done. It was like pulling the pin on a grenade and throwing it. That bomb was going to explode now, and it was just a matter of where and when.

Caelyn went back to the kitchen table and everyone was waiting, having done nothing more than picked at their food since she left.

“Everything okay?” her dad asked.

She smiled, trying to fake it. “Yup. Everything’s fine.”

“Who was that on the phone?” her mother said.

Caelyn shrugged. “Nobody. Just someone from class that I had to talk to really quickly,” she lied. The lie flowed so smoothly that she felt ashamed. She wasn’t used to being dishonest.

“Why don’t you just admit that you were talking to a boy?” Deena said.

Caelyn picked up her fork and stuck it into some cold, rubbery eggs. “Because, it’s none of your business who I talk to.”

“Mom, she’s being totally weird and secretive,” Deena said.

“Caelyn, is something going on with a boy?” her mother asked.

“Maybe she’s pregnant,” Deena continued.

Caelyn stared at her sister. “You are being such a little twerp,” she told her. “What gives you the right to say that about me?”

“I’m just saying, it would make sense if you were.”

Suddenly, Caelyn’s phone vibrated. It was a text, and she had to check it and see if Jayson had responded, so she checked her phone as quickly as she could.

And the text was from Jayson.

What do we have to talk about?

Her stomach did a triple flip and sweat broke out on her forehead.

“She’s texting with someone right now,” Deena cried, leaning over and grabbing at Caelyn’s phone. She snatched it away, reading it quickly as Caelyn screamed at her to give the phone back.

Caelyn was able to take the cell phone back, but Deena had already read the exchange.

“I told you!” Deena said. “She was texting with Jayson, that guy she’s been dating.

She said they need to talk. I told you she’s pregnant!”

Caelyn was flushed and sweating, angry with her sister and sick to her stomach that she was going to have to try and explain herself now. Of course, explaining would mean lying, because there was no way she was going to come clean until she’d secured Elijah’s safety.

“I’m not pregnant,” Caelyn said, addressing her parents, who both looked ashen and pale.

“You can tell us if you are,” her mother said slowly. “You know you can always come to us.”

“I’m not,” she said, laughing a little to show how silly the idea was.

“How can we believe anything you say?” Deena asked, her tone parental, as if she were the most disappointed one at the table.

Caelyn ignored her. “Jayson and I had a fight, that’s all.”

Her mother nodded, her expression relaxing, as if this explained everything. “These things happen,” she said calmly. “But Jayson’s a great boy from a very good family. I’m sure the two of you can work it out.”

Caelyn wanted to scream at her mother for saying such ignorant words. She had met Jayson for all of five minutes one night, but then she’d found out about his prominent family and obviously had fallen in love with the idea of him. She’d already probably started bragging to her friends and fantasizing about a wedding with all the bells and whistles.

Still, Caelyn needed to let her mother believe the lie for just a while longer.

“I’m sure we can work it out,” Caelyn agreed. “But not if Deena keeps sticking her nose in my business.”

Her mother sighed. “Deena, you do need to calm down. Your sister’s having a difficult time and you’re not helping things.”

“She’s totally playing you guys,” Deena whined.

“You’re here to help Caelyn, not attack her. You both need to calm down and get along better.”

“I really need to meet with Jayson today,” Caelyn said. “Can I use the car—“

“No, it’s my car,” Deena said.

Caelyn’s father gently put his napkin on his empty plate. “Deena can drive you into the city, or Jayson can come out here and meet you.”

“No, he doesn’t have a car,” Caelyn told him. “Why can’t I just use her car for a few hours?”

“I think it would be best if your sister went with you,” her mother said. “We just don’t feel comfortable with you going off on your own so soon after this whole Florida incident.”

Great, Caelyn thought. Her short-lived excursion to Siesta Key already had it’s own name—the Florida Incident.

She shook her head, knowing without even looking up that her younger sister would be wearing a proud smile of victory.

***

After her mother and father left for work, Caelyn was home alone with Deena, who was preening and walking around the house like she owned the place.

“God, you really must’ve messed up at college if you needed to run away to Florida in the middle of the night,” Deena said, as she strode by Caelyn, who was in the family room pretending to read a book.

In reality, Caelyn was waiting for another text from Jayson.

“Just because you’re staying home with me doesn’t mean we need to be talking,”

Caelyn replied, not even bothering to glance up from her book.

A moment later, she checked her phone—just in case. But although she’d texted Jayson back just asserting that she needed to talk to him in person, he hadn’t replied yet.

Deena snorted. “This guy must really be getting sick of how clingy you’re acting.

Guys don’t like to be chased by needy girls.”

“Don’t you have a bunch of frenemies who you can be bothering right now?”

Caelyn said.

“Actually, no. Mom and Dad said I should keep an eye on you and try and talk to you. I’m pretty sure they think you’ve gone nuts.” She twirled a finger near her ear in the universal signal of someone who’s gone crazy. “Like, totally loco.”

“Whatever, I’m glad you’re entertained by all of this. Maybe if you had your own life you wouldn’t be so interested in what I’m doing every second.”

“I have a life,” Deena said, her voice suddenly defensive.

“Sure you do.” Caelyn raised her eyebrows and went back to reading. “Hey, are you still friends with Eileen Wentworth? Or did she dump you just like Gail and Brooke did?”

Deena’s eyes narrowed. “I bet you
are
pregnant. I bet you went to school and fucked every guy you could, like the little closet slut that you are.”

Caelyn jumped to her feet, walking forward. She felt like she could punch her sister at that moment. “Your mouth is as dirty as your putrid mind,” she said.

“Go ahead and hit me, you nutcase. I’ll tell Mom.”

For a split second, she pictured herself winding up and slapping her sister hard across the cheek. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She’d never hit anyone in anger before, and it was her younger sister, however much of a bitch she’d become the last few years.

Besides, it was exactly what Deena was hoping she would do.

Instead, she brushed past her and walked upstairs to her room.

Deena was yelling something after her, but Caelyn had already slammed her door shut. She was breathing heavily and when she looked down at her hands, Caelyn saw they were shaking.

***

Jayson had finally responded.

I’m around today.

That was all he’d said. She hadn’t written him back again just yet. His response had been strange, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it. If she showed up, would he be waiting with lawyers, police, family members ready to try and attack her?

Or was Jayson just being cautious and trying to protect himself from her?