Out of the Shadow (18 page)

“
Are you all right, Ally?” Robby asked.

“
Yeah, fine,” she said, wincing at the pain that seemed to slice her brain in half. She pushed away from the counter and opened the door. She offered a weak, embarrassed smile which he returned. “Thanks for everything.”

“
Not a problem,” he said. “Come on, I’ll make you breakfast before I drive you home.”

“
That’s not necessary,” she protested.

“
Nonsense,” he said as he grinned at her over his shoulder. “You can’t walk.”

She laughed as she followed him to the kitchen. “I meant breakfast.”

He chuckled and she couldn’t help but notice how his muscles bunched beneath the thin t-shirt he was wearing and how the back of his hair was ruffled and pointing in odd directions. It seemed sort of boyish.

Stop!
she told herself. You don’t need to be thinking that way. That’s what got you in this mess in the first place.

She sighed and he heard her. He reached the kitchen and turned to raise a brow. “Ally?”

She stopped in the doorway and wrapped her arms around her waist. The pesky tears started leaking out of the corners of her eyes and she cursed them silently, hating the weakness she was displaying.

“
Robby, I’m so sorry about last night. I’m sorry about…everything,” she said, dropping her eyes to the floor, too ashamed to look at him. “I didn’t mean…”

He moved swiftly in front of her and grasped her shoulders. “Ally, don’t. You have nothing to apologize for, okay? It’s over and forgotten.” He placed his knuckle under her chin and forced her eyes to his. “Water under the bridge, right?”

She smiled and wiped the tears off her cheeks. “Okay.”

His smile was radiant as he guided her to a chair. He opened the refrigerator and started gathering breakfast ingredients. He set to work, mixing eggs, preparing toast, and frying bacon. In no time at all, he placed a plate in front of her then turned to fill a glass with orange juice. He prepared a plate for himself and sat beside her.

“
Eat,” he said as she toyed with her fork. “It will make you feel better.”

“’
kay,” she said as she forked some eggs and shoved them in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed. “It’s good. Thanks.”

“
Ally, please stop thanking me,” he said. “It’s nothing, really.”

She nodded and nibbled on her toast. Her mind was whirring, reliving the events from the night before, and her cheeks heated hot enough to fry more eggs. Her brain switched gears and turned to Cole and she gulped at her juice, hoping it would chase the ever present tears away. She didn’t want to fall apart yet again.

“
So, um,” Robby said, spearing a chunk of bacon. “Are you going to talk to Cole today?”

“
I’ll try,” she said as she dropped her fork. “I don’t know. I was so angry yesterday and I was mean to him on the phone. He’s probably still mad at me.”

Robby smiled and patted her hand. “I doubt it. I bet he’s feeling as miserable as you.”

She lifted her eyes as her heart filled with hope. “Do you think so?”

“
Yes,” he said with a laugh. He pointed at her plate. “Are you finished?”

She nodded and helped him clean up the kitchen. He excused himself to shower and promised to take her home when he was done. She perched on the sofa and glanced at her phone. She hadn’t missed a single call which meant Cole hadn’t tried to reach her. It was just as well – he had probably needed to cool off as much as she had.

Sighing, she dialed Jamie’s number. If Robby was going to take her home, she was going to need a ride back to campus.

***

Cole slowly woke, and was immediately aware that he was not in a familiar bed but slumbering on yet another hotel mattress. But at the moment, he didn’t really care. He was miserable, plain and simple, and he didn’t want the comforts of home. He didn’t want to wake in his own bedroom and stumble down the stairs to the warm kitchen where more than likely, his stepmother was preparing breakfast for him and his father. He didn’t want to hop in his car and cruise over to one of his friends’ houses to hang out for the day.

What he wanted was to remain in the strange bed with the blinds drawn and the television off. He wanted to keep his eyes closed and not think of anything at all – not music, not shows, not appearances and definitely not Ally.

He groaned and flopped to his stomach. He yanked the spare pillow out from under him and placed it over his head. He knew he had handled the situation with Ally poorly but he had honestly thought she’d overreacted. Still, it had been a long time since they’d argued that way and he placed most of the blame on the stress of being so far apart for such a long time.

He’d call her later – he just had to – he hated when they were on the outs. He wasn’t quite sure what he’d say but he was sure they’d work it out somehow. They had to.

A knock on the door managed to penetrate the pillow buffer on his head. He ignored it and kept his eyes closed. He had no intentions of moving until he absolutely had to move. The knocking continued and he continued to ignore it. If it was important, they could call. Maybe he’d answer the phone.

The knocking finally stopped and he relaxed again, allowing his body to melt into the mattress. That’s just what he needed – a morning of total rest and relaxation. He’d have it, too. He’d demand it. If anyone dared to interrupt him, he’d rip off their head.

He grinned under his pillow.

***

She paced her living room, cell phone in hand. She wanted to call him, knew that she should, but she wasn’t sure what exactly to say. Did she dare tell him that she’d…kissed Robby? She didn’t think she could. She didn’t want to hurt him in the least and figured it would be best if she waited to confess her little indiscretion at a later time. But she didn’t like it at all.

She dropped to the sofa and opened her phone. She hit his number and pressed the phone nervously to her ear. It didn’t take long at all for him to answer.

“
Princess,” he breathed. “Are you okay?”

“
Yes,” she said and burst into tears. She closed her eyes and leaned her head on the back of the sofa as she attempted to control her emotions.

“
Hey, calm down sweetness. It’s all right – just a little fight,” he said. “I still love you, you know that.”

“
I’m…sorry…Cole,” she stammered. “I should…have…listened to you.”

“
Nah,” he said. “You had every right to be mad but Al, honestly, I didn’t think it was such a big deal. I’m sorry – I guess I should have realized that it would make life difficult for you.”

She sniffed and reached across the sofa to the end table and fetched a tissue. She blew her nose, mindless that he could hear, and tossed the tissue on the coffee table. “I’ll handle it – I have before.”

“
I really am sorry,” he said. “Damn. I guess I didn’t think. What a mess.”

“
Cole, I’m not ashamed of you, honestly, but you just didn’t hear those girls talking about you that day in the cafeteria,” she said. “And then they all came to my room yesterday and I had to leave.”

“
Listen to me, Ally,” he said with a deep breath. “We can talk in circles all day long, apologizing then defending ourselves but it’s not going to get us anywhere.”

She froze, her eyes bulging in their sockets. Her bottom lip quivered. “What do you mean?”

“
I mean we’re getting nowhere at all. Let’s just agree that I didn’t think the interview through and maybe you got a little over emotional before we had a chance to talk.”

She smiled through her tears as her heart filled with love. “Okay.”

“
So, this tour ends in about a week and a half,” he said. “And I think the first weekend I’m home that we should spend that time together. Just us. We’ll talk and work all this out. What do you think?”

Her tears dried and her heart swelled. “I think that’s great. I can’t wait.”

“
Good,” he said. He yawned. “What are you going to do tonight?”

“
Well,” she said as she tucked her legs under her body. “I’m home right now and Jamie’s coming over later. We’re going to pig out on pizza and watch corny horror flicks.”

He laughed and it did her heart some good. “Sounds fun. I miss that stuff.”

“
You’ll be home soon and after our weekend together, we’ll hang out with Jamie and RJ again.” She scooted up, excitement building inside her. “I miss the four of us together.”

“
Yeah, I know,” he said. “Hey, princess, I have to run. We have sound check in a half an hour and I haven’t even showered yet.”

“
Okay,” she said, sad that she had to end her call but feeling much better. “Call me after the show and let me know how it went.”

“
Of course,” he said. “Ally, I love you.”

“
I know,” she whispered. “I love you, too.”

***

Ally returned to her dorm Sunday afternoon, grateful Shannon was out. She opened the top drawer of her dresser and extracted a framed photo of her and Cole. She smiled at him, an ache throbbing deep in her heart, and carefully placed the photo on her nightstand. No sense hiding it anymore. At least she’d be able to look at him every night before she went to sleep.

She withdrew another framed photo – this one from her graduation day. It featured her and Jamie, clad in graduation gowns, sandwiched between Cole and RJ. It was one of her favorites. She flicked the leg on the back of the frame out and set the photo on top of her dresser.

The door opened and shut quickly, admitting Shannon in a whirlwind of activity. She locked the door and engulfed Ally in her arms. Shocked, Ally cautiously wrapped her arms around Shannon and patted the girl on the back.

“
Is everything okay?” Ally asked.

Shannon drew back to blink rapidly at Ally. “I was going to ask you the same thing. You left in such a hurry Friday and didn’t come back. I didn’t have your cell phone number to call you and I was worried.”

“
I know,” Ally sighed, abashed. “Sorry. Let me give you my number now.”

They exchanged cell phone numbers and sat on their beds, facing each other, as Ally regaled the entire story to Shannon – most of it, anyway. She purposely left out the kiss with Robby. She hadn’t told Cole or even Jamie about it and she wouldn’t – not until she deemed it the proper time.

“
Those girls stayed here for a long time after you left,” Shannon said, her eyes wide. She fiddled with the cell phone in her hands. “I think they were waiting for you to come back so they could talk to you about Out of Control.” Shannon nodded at the picture atop Ally’s dresser – the one her eyes seemed to be drawn to.

“
I’m sorry I left you here to fend for yourself,” Ally said, noticing that she seemed to be saying those two words a lot lately. She’d apologized to Robby, Cole, Jamie, and now Shannon. She just wanted to put the whole mess behind her and move forward.

“
Don’t worry about that,” Shannon said with a wave of her hand. “I think I would have run away from them, too, if I was you. You were pretty stunned when I showed you the article.”

“
Yeah,” Ally said, sighing. She scooted on her bed and rested her back against the wall. “You see, my whole life I grew up as Jay Jones’s daughter. Everyone knew who he was and who I was so I never really knew who liked me for me. When Jamie and I came here, we wanted all this stuff kept secret. I figured I’d tell you sooner or later but it’s not an easy thing to tell someone.”