The Saddest Song

Chapter 17

Rainey

When we got back to the house, the girls and I warmed up in front of the fire and Gran brought us a tray filled with steaming mugs of hot chocolate. The snow had been coming down steadily all day and I was glad to be inside. I hoped Max was having fun. I knew from experience that he had never spent this long of a time snowboarding in one day. It was starting to get dark so I expected them to walk in any minute. I felt anxious for him to get back.

Rylee was chatting with Gran in the kitchen about the Snickerdoodle Cookies she had baked while we were gone. She was carrying a tray of them towards us when Sophie’s cell phone rang.

“Hi Kara!” Sophie said, and as she listened her expression grew concerned. “No, the guys aren’t here. We came back before them. I’m sure they will be here soon though, it’s getting dark.”

“What? You want to talk to her? Sure, hold on.”

All eyes were on me as Sophie handed me the cell phone. “Kara wants to talk to you.”

Just the expression on Sophie’s face was alarming, and before I said a word into the phone I felt fear blossom deep in my chest.

“Kara, what is it?”

“Don’t panic Rainey. I just wanted to assure you that all is going to be fine.” I clutched the phone and felt light headed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I feel like there may have been a little incident. You know my psychic nosiness. I can’t help it. I just felt it and wanted to prepare you, and of course reassure you as well. He is going to be fine.”

“Max? You are talking about Max? What is wrong with him?” My voice sounded shrill and I was in a pure panic now.

“I think it is his head. He will be okay. I’m Positive Rainey. So, prepare to be strong for him. Also, Rainey? He may say some things that shock you. He won’t be himself for a few hours. Don’t let him see you get distressed. Just let him talk. He won’t remember any of it tomorrow.”

I couldn’t say anything but I felt tears sliding down my cheeks.

“Rainey, give the phone to Sophie. Remember that most importantly, he will be okay. Be strong.”

I think I nodded , and then handed the phone to Sophie while Rylee grabbed my arms and made me sit down. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening. A psychic was telling me Max had been injured but would be okay. He would be okay. I tried to hold on to that. Still, if it was true, and Max was hurt, he needed me and I wasn’t there for him. I was here, falling apart.

“Call Colin! Find out what is happening,” Sophie instructed Rylee. She had her phone to her ear and was saying, “Answer Ethan, please… He’s not picking up,” she said with frustration.

She looked at me then and said, “Rainey, if Kara says he will be fine, then you can count on it. She is never wrong. Never.” She sat beside me and reached for my hand, squeezing it.

Rylee’s phone rang just as she pulled it from her bag and we all stared at her as she answered. “Colin, I’m putting you on the speaker, fill us in. How is Max?”

“How did you already hear? Oh, don’t tell me, Kara. Okay, Max had a little accident. He took a pretty good fall and hit his head. He was unconscious and scared the shit out of us for a few minutes but he is awake now and the paramedics are with him. It looks like they are saying it is a bad concussion but I think we get to bring him home.”

Before any of us said a word, Ethan could be heard saying, “They’re releasing him to us. Come on, let’s get him in the car.”

“Thank god.” Rylee said, “See you soon.” Colin said goodbye and Rylee set the phone down. She sat beside me and said, “Rainey, are you alright?” When I didn’t reply, because I simply couldn’t, I felt numb from head to toe, she shook me and said,”Rainey, talk to me. Sophie, I think she’s in shock.”

She put her face so close to mine that she was blurry and her breath smelled like cinnamon from the cookies she had been eating.”Rainey, Max is going to be fine. Don’t let him see you like this, you will scare him. You’re scaring me.”

Her words made sense and I tried to take a deep breath but it came out shallow and shaky. “I’m okay, just give me a minute.” My heart was pounding and my hands were shaking.

Gran sat down and put her arms around me.

”You had a scare, you have every right to be shaken up. Now sweetheart, I think we should go get Max some warm dry clothes and turn down his bed. Can you help me with that?”

I nodded, and they herded me upstairs. I found myself digging through Max’s suitcase and pulling out sweatpants and a long sleeve t-shirt while Sophie adjusted the fireplace and Rylee turned down the bed. Then we heard the car pull into the driveway and we all flew to the window and watched Colin and Ethan help Max out, each of them holding an arm and walking slowly. I saw a large bandage covering his forehead.

“Max!” I cried, and ran from the room. At the bottom of the stairs Gran and Grandad held the doors open as they came through it. I had to stop myself from throwing my arms around Max. He looked at me and grinned. His eyes looked funny, like he couldn’t focus. He looked like hell, and I knew he must feel that way too.

“Rainey, you look worse than he does,” Colin said. I tried to smile, but didn’t quite pull it off. I put my arms around Max, holding tight. So happy he was going to be okay.

“Whoa there Rainey, let us get him inside first,” Colin said.

I nodded. I should have been embarrassed. My nose was running along with my tears, and probably my mascara too. I didn’t care. Not at all.

The boys helped Max up the stairs and into his room and then turned to leave us alone.

“When he’s changed call us. We will help him back downstairs. He needs to remain awake because of his concussion. It will be better if we are all together, you two might fall asleep,” Ethan said and I nodded. I knew a lot about concussions and so did Max. Garrett had sustained a couple bad ones playing football. I closed the door behind them and we were alone.

I sat down on the bed and hugged Max gently. “Oh Max, I would die if anything happened to you. Thank god you are okay.”

“I love you Rainey,” Max said, his words sounding a little bit slurred.

“I love you too Max.” I said, hugging him close.

“No Rainey. I love you, love you.”

I pulled back to look into his eyes. They looked dilated or something. Okay, he wasn’t himself. Like Kara said, I would just go along with it.

“Rainey, do you love me, love me? Or just love me?”

“Max, I love you. You know that.”

“Garrett’s dead, and if he wasn’t he would kill me Rainey.”

“No sweetie, he wouldn’t. You have a concussion and you are just confused. You will feel better tomorrow.”

“I love my brother’s girlfriend. That is not good. Garrett will be so pissed off.”

“Max, you need to relax. Everything will be fine. We are friends and we love each other. Best Friends. That is okay. Garrett knows that.”

“I just love you so much Rainey. You are so beautiful. Can I kiss you Rainey?”

Holy shit! He almost seemed drunk. He leaned heavily against me and his eyes were half closed.

“Max, kissing is off limits when you have a concussion. You need to stay still. Let’s get you changed and we will go sit with everyone else.” I started to untie his shoes and help him change into his sweats. He looked like he could nod off any second. He put his arms up so I could remove his sweater and shirt and I struggled to get his long sleeve t-shirt on him. We managed to remove his pants and get his sweat pants on, and I tried to be as impersonal as I could while I dressed him. By the time I finished, I was exhausted, and so was Max. He laid back on the bed and closed his eyes.

“No, don’t go to sleep. We have to get down stairs and see everyone else.” He didn’t want to open his eyes so I climbed onto the bed with him and gently shook his shoulder. “Max, wake up!”

Suddenly he grabbed me and pulled me on top of him, holding me tightly. “Kiss me Rainey. Please.”

My face was against his so I leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. I knew he wasn’t aware of what he was saying, but still I felt funny being in this predicament. Max would never say this if he was okay. Then he put his lips on mine and I felt his tongue try to pass my closed lips. Uh oh. I quickly rolled off of him and onto my feet. I opened the door and yelled for Colin and in a flash he and Ethan were there.

“Help.” I whispered. They looked at Max lying on the bed and both went over to talk to him and get him up and down the stairs. He didn’t even seem to remember what had just happened, and I was never telling. We watched movies for the rest of the night . Everyone took turns keeping him awake, which was tougher than it sounded. Finally around two in the morning we all went up to bed and I set an alarm to wake Max up each hour until morning.

I decided to leave both of our doors open in case he woke up and needed me. Just as I tiptoed towards the door, sure he was asleep, he spoke.

“Rainey, stay. Please.”

I didn’t have the heart to say no, and I was sure I wouldn’t sleep being away from him anyway. I crawled into the bed and he reached for me. We held each other, my head pressed to his chest, the sound of his heartbeat steady and strong beneath my ear. The next thing I knew, my cell phone alarm sounded. I shook Max’s arm. “Max, wake up. Max? I need you to wake up.”

“ Rainey?” His voice was alarmed.

.”You have to wake up once every hour because of your concussion.”

“Concussion?”

“Oh Max, it’s okay. I’m here. Go back to sleep.” He didn’t reply just pulled me to his chest and I felt the lightest kiss on the top of my head before his breathing told me he was out again.





Max

“Max, wake up.” I heard a woman’s voice repeating her words over and over again, but I didn’t want to open my eyes. My head ached and I reached for my throbbing forehead. A bandage covered it. Slowly, I opened my eyes.

“Good Morning! How are you feeling?” I stared at the woman hovering over me, and tried to place her.

“I need to check your eyes Max. Can you look here for a moment? Hold still.”

I did as I was told and she smiled, kindly. “Your eyes are a lovely color, and your pupils are not dilated. I’d say that is good news.”

Sophie’s Grandmother, I remembered. The cobwebs in my head began to clear a bit, but I was definitely not feeling like myself.

“Hi! How’s the patient?” I recognized Rainey’s voice and watched her smile at me as she came into the room.

Gran said, “I will leave you in Rainey’s capable hands Max. I need to start lunch, you need to eat something.”

“Ever notice that everyone wants to feed us?” Rainey sat down beside me and took my hand in hers.

“What time is it?” I asked, trying to hold still so my head wouldn’t spin.

“Almost noon. I woke you up every hour until seven this morning, then I let you stay asleep. Does it hurt?” She pushed my hair off my forehead gently, I winced.

“I feel strange. Foggy, and confused.”

“You have a nasty concussion. Remember when Garrett got one last year?”

“Yeah, I do. I don’t remember what happened.”

“The guys can tell you about it later. The paramedics assured them you would be fine. I guess you passed their test.” She smiled.

“Did you have to keep getting up to come in here all night? I’m sorry.”

“You don’t remember at all? I slept with you.”

“You what?”

She blushed. “I slept with you. You wanted me to, and it made sense. I wouldn’t have gotten a good night sleep anyway, I was worried. I needed to see that you were alright.”

I had vague dream like memories of holding her, but it was foggy . I needed to get up. I made an attempt to but the room began to spin.

”What’s happening? Do you feel sick?”

“Just dizzy. Got up too quick, I guess. You didn’t call my mom and dad, did you?”

“They would have been here by now if I had. I didn’t want to frighten them, and you know it would have. I could see them flying up the snowy mountain roads in the middle of the night.” She shivered, imagining how dangerous it would have been.

“Thanks.” I tried sitting up very slowly, Rainey holding my arm.

“Oh, he’s up!” Rylee came through the door, followed by Sophie carrying a tray.

“Time to change your bandage, and we brought you Hot Chocolate and Cookies, to put something in your stomach.” Rylee said, putting a steaming mug in my hands.

I took a few sips and held still while Sophie gently pulled off my bandage. Rainey stood next to her holding some ointment. “It’s not bad, thank god. I can finish Sophie.”

“Okay then, I will go help Gran with lunch. Half an hour. She’ll call.” The girls left, closing the door behind them.

“Okay Max, hold still, I don’t want to hurt you. It’s just a bad scratch but we have to keep it disinfected.” She was gentle but it still stung. My head hurt and I just wanted to lie back down. When she was finished I drank a couple more sips of the hot chocolate and slowly lowered myself back to my pillow.

“Oh Max, you feel really bad, don’t you?” She looked worried and I didn’t want her to.

“I’m fine. Let me lay here for a few minutes. Do you think I could take any pain medicine?”

“I don’t think you get to take it until after twenty four hours, I will go check.”

Rainey left the room and I closed my eyes. When I opened them again she was propped up on my window seat reading a book. I watched her for a few minutes. I had always thought Rainey was pretty, but lately when I really looked at her I found her beauty taking me by surprise. I didn’t want to analyze why.

“Rainey?” She dropped the book and hurried to my side.

“Feeling any better?” She asked, her hand stroking my cheek.

“How long was I asleep?”

“It’s almost dinner time.”

“Dinner time? Shit, I slept all day?”

“Hey, it’s okay, your body needs to heal. Everyone went snowboarding, and Gran gave me a really good book so I hung out here.”

“I’m so sorry I ruined your weekend, Rainey.”

“It’s our weekend, Max. Nothing is ruined. You had an accident and I am glad I was here to look after you.”

“I can’t remember any of it. I remember lunch yesterday but everything else is lost.”

“Maybe that’s for the best. You think you can go to dinner with them? I can bring you a tray. You should try to eat.”

“I should shower, maybe it will help make me feel more alert. I think dinner downstairs is okay.”

She helped me sit up and put four pills in my hand and I drank them down with a full glass of water. Rainey made me leave the bathroom door unlocked, and said she would wait right outside while I got ready. I didn’t argue, just made sure I was careful, I really didn’t want her running in when I was showering.

The intercom sounded just as I opened the bathroom door and Rainey’s smile was like a dose of medicine, the best kind. We joined everyone at the dinner table and about half way through the Italian meal my headache went away and I felt more like myself. Gran was saying that she wished we had brought our guitars with us so we could have a concert. I knew the guys had left theirs behind for the girls, but I had mine in my truck. I didn’t know if I should admit this when Rainey beat me to it.

“Max has his guitar in the truck,” she said innocently. Could it be the girls never told her that they had banned them this weekend?

“Max, you’re the man!” Colin laughed, and he got Max’s keys and went out to retrieve it. Sophie and Rylee just laughed too, and told Rainey their plan for a guitar free weekend.

“That’s what you guys get for leaving me out of the plan!” Rainey smiled.

“I thought you told her!” Rylee and Sophie said at the exact same time.

We all gathered in front of the fireplace, and played and sang the songs that Colin, Ethan and I had worked so hard on. Colin sang most of them, but Ethan sang two and we finished with me singing one that I had written, mostly on my own. I glanced at Rainey as I sang and the look on her face nearly made me forget my own lyrics. Her expression was one of pride, and tears glistened in her dark eyes. It made me want to smile. It made me happy. It made me fall a little bit in love, and not the brotherly, platonic kind. This was a newly developing problem, and the one problem I wouldn’t be sharing with Rainey.