“Hello?” Ryan answered the phone quickly. I bit my bottom lip and took a deep breath.
“Ryan? It’s Rachel,” I said.
“Oh, thank God!” He exclaimed. “Rachel’s on the phone, everybody.” I heard him explain to people talking softly behind him. I rolled my eyes.
“Who all’s there?” I frowned.
“Everybody. Your mom and dad, your brother, two of your cousins and the police,” Ryan explained.
“You called the police?” I asked him, anger quickly building up in my voice. I couldn’t believe him! Why would he do that?
“Well, yeah. I mean, after this morning, none of us had heard from you. The receptionist said you were checked in but she didn’t know where you had gone,” Ryan tried to explain.
“Ryan, I told you I needed to get away for a little while,” I sighed and rubbed my temples. I could feel a headache growing there. “So do you not trust me?”
“Honey, it’s not you that I don’t trust. It’s the hundreds of other people in New York City I don't trust,” Ryan explained, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible.
“Let me talk to my brother,” I muttered and sat down on my bed. I could feel tears in my eyes. I felt so much more stress just talking to Ryan. After spending time with Nick, I had felt so carefree about life in general. And now Ryan was adding on so much stress.
“Ray, baby,” Ryan practically whined.
“Ryan, I just need to talk to Brad right now,” I sighed into the receiver and continued to rub one side of my forehead with my free hand.
“Fine, but I want to talk to you later,” Ryan muttered. “I love you.” Those words seemed so automatic from him. It sounded like he was rambling off from his thoughts rather than from his heart and soul.
I heard a voice in the background and someone coming towards the phone. “Hello? Rachel?”
“Hey Brad,” I sighed, a sudden wave of relief washing over me.
“Listen, I need some space. Let me talk to my sister,” Brad said to the people around him. I giggled at how serious he sounded, knowing he wasn’t serious most of the time. Brad was the first child in our family. I guess he’s twenty-nine now, going on twelve. He’s the biggest kid I’ve ever met, besides Nick, of course. My mom “disowned” him first, I guess you could say. He went off and dropped out of college, breaking my mother’s heart – over dramatized if you ask me – and married a wonderful woman named Samantha. “Wow, you must have really pissed mom off if she came to me to talk.”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” I sighed. I picked up the base of the phone and climbed onto the hotel bed, relaxing a bit. “Mom just overreacted, what’s new?”
“Yeah, so much to the point that she called me home and called the police,” Brad sighed. “Listen sis, I completely understand the fact that you aren’t a kid anymore, but running away from mom is not the answer, even if I thought it was.”
“Brad, I didn’t run away from mom,” I muttered.
“Then how the hell have you been in New York for the past twenty-four hours and yet you didn’t manage to call?” he asked. He wasn’t yelling or even being firm. Brad, of all people, knew and understood that yelling and being strict wasn’t the answer.
“I ran into Nick,” I said softly, even though I was the only person in the room. It sounded sinful to even say.
“Nick? As in the Nick?” Brad whispered. He probably knew my mom was outside the door with a glass cup, listening for every detail. “Well, how the hell did that happen?” He sounded nervous.
“I ran into him and we decided to catch up,” I twisted the cord on my fingers, trying to find a distraction in anything I could. I heard him sigh. I could sense the confusion from him. “Are you mad?” I bit my bottom lip. His approval mattered to me so much more than my mother’s did because I knew his was real.
“Of course not,” he whispered. “Please tell me you decided to leave the sorry jackass waiting back here and do something brilliant for a change.” A smile formed upon my lips.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks for all the reviews! Please continue to send your thoughts!
