Come Back To Me

Chapter 7

Gavin takes me to one of the few good burger places in town, Burger Barn, intent on making me eat something substantial. We walk into the quiet little restaurant and take a seat in one of the small, red vinyl booths. A waitress comes and places two menus on the table, takes our drink orders and gives us some time to peruse the lengthy menu. I can feel Gavin’s eyes on me as I scan the menu.

“Anything you feel like you can eat?” he asks me softly.

I look up at him and shrug.

“I’m really not very hungry.”

“Bullshit Hadley. Come on, what’s your favorite thing here? Get it,” he orders.

I sigh and return my eyes to the menu just as the waitress comes back with our drinks.

“What can I get you kids?” she asks us.

“Hadley?” Gavin gestures to me.

“I guess I’ll have the chicken fingers and fries,” I tell her.

Gavin looks satisfied with my choice.

“I’ll have the cheeseburger.”

He takes my menu and hands them both to the lady and she quickly retreats. Gavin returns his eyes to me.

“So, doesn’t it feel better to get out of that stinky room for a little while?” he chuckles lightly.

“I guess so, it feels strange to be out in the real world,” I offer.

“You can’t keep locking yourself up in there Hadley, I won’t let you do it,” he says seriously.

I frown at him but don’t argue because as I found out today, he has no problem literally pulling me out of bed, so he probably has no problem physically dragging me out of my room if he felt that he needed to.

The doorbell rings, alerting staff of new customers entering the restaurant. Gavin and I both look and see Taylor Bennett and a few of her friends walk in. I glimpse her noticing Gavin and I, but she does not approach us. She and her group decide on a table a few booths down. Gavin quickly turns his attention back to me.

“I saw her talking to you at the funeral, what did she have to say? According to what Reid had said, she was always kind of a pain in the ass towards you guys,” he asks quietly.

“She just told me she was sorry about Reid, and that she was sorry for giving me a hard time, and that she was just jealous of our relationship,” I tell him.

“Wow, she admitted to being jealous of you?” he raises his eyebrows.

“Well, now that Reid’s gone, I guess there is nothing for her to be jealous of anymore, maybe she’ll just leave me alone for good now,” I say a little bitterly.

“So, I take it you still haven’t changed your opinion on her even after she apologized?” he asks.

I shake my head.

“No, not really. Yes, it was nice of her to apologize, but I know that if Reid were still here, she’d still be on her mission to try and cause problems. I don’t understand why she never gave up even after Reid rejected her again and again.”

“You’re probably right about that…although it’s not only Reid who she was interested in,” Gavin lowers his voice even more.

“Whom else is she interested in?” I lower my voice as well.

“Me,” he admits.

“What? So it’s a family thing then?”

I can’t help but laugh in disbelief. Gavin leans back and chuckles.

“Yeah, I guess after getting rejected by Reid enough times, she thought I’d be the next best thing, she even somehow got my cell phone number and she texts me sometimes.”

“So, did you ever go for it? I mean, she is beautiful,” I ask him curiously, and Gavin’s cheeks pink slightly.

“Once, at a party, we made out,” he admits, “but I was really drunk, and she was all over me, I kind of just gave in. I wish I hadn’t though, it kind of just spurred her on.”

Gavin shakes his head. I just gape at him, not knowing what to say.

“What? At least I didn’t sleep with her,” he verifies.

“Oh, I don’t care if you did or not, I’m just surprised that’s all…Actually no, I’m not surprised. She almost always gets what she wants, with the exception of Reid. It was one of the things I loved most about him, his immunity to her, and loyalty to me,” I state seriously, and I feel the tightness forming in my chest.

I swallow hard, trying to squelch the feeling. Gavin seems to notice my inner struggle and places a comforting hand on mine across the table. I look up at him and offer a weak smile.

“Here’s your chicken fingers, and your cheeseburger,” the waitress announces loudly.

Gavin pulls away to make room for the food.

“Dig in.”

Gavin points at my plate. The smell of the food fills my nostrils, and my stomach lets out an embarrassingly loud grumble.

“I guess I’m hungrier than I thought,” I blush and dig in as per Gavin’s instructions.

Once I have polished off my plate, Gavin orders two chocolate milkshakes to go. He pays the bill, then we stand up to leave. I glance towards Taylor and her table as I follow Gavin out the door. I’m shocked when I’m met with a glare, so much for her being sorry. I follow Gavin silently back to his car and hop in.

“Taylor just glared at me,” I tell him when he shuts his door.

“Really? I wonder why she would do that?” he looks at me questioningly.

“Probably because I’m hanging out with you,” I make a guess, and Gavin shrugs.

“Maybe. Oh well, don’t let her bother you Had.”

Gavin starts the car and we pull away from the restaurant, but I’m still thinking about it.

“I just don’t need her going around telling people that I’ve moved on to Reid’s brother. I know for a fact that that is something she would do,” I cross my arms, feeling annoyed.

“Oh well, let her. It would only make her seem stupid. We know the truth, and anyone who knows us, knows that would be a ridiculous lie, end of story.”

Gavin frowns at me.

“I guess you’re right,” I assent.

“Okay. So, enough about Taylor, what do you want to do now?” Gavin asks me as we drive around aimlessly.

“Actually, can we just go home?” I ask, not really feeling up to anything else.

This has been enough for today.

“Nope,” Gavin refuses.

“What? Why not?” I pout at him, and he just laughs.

“Because Hadley, I know that you’ll just go and lock yourself in your room again. So, I’m not taking you home yet.”

“I promise that I won’t Gavin, please let me go home,” I beg.

“Nope.”

He doesn’t back down. I huff petulantly and stare out the window silently brooding. He can’t hold me prisoner.

“Hello?” Gavin says suddenly.

I look over at him in confusion, thinking he’s talking to me, but realize he has answered his phone, I hadn’t even heard it ring. I watch him as he nods along to whatever is being said on the other line and he peeks at me from the corner of his eyes.

“I don’t know, maybe. I’ll think about it,” he responds to a question I can’t hear.

“Okay, I’ll call you later,” he hangs up and shoves his phone in his cup holder.

I don’t ask who it was, it’s really none of my business, but I wonder idly if it was Taylor.

“It wasn’t Taylor,” he smirks, eerily guessing my unspoken question.

“Oh?” I shrug.

“It was a buddy of mine. He said there is going to be a huge party tonight in Cole’s field, he wants me to come,” he tells me.

“Cole? As in Reid’s friend Cole?” I ask him.

“The very same,” he nods, “I don’t know if I’m up for that kind of thing yet though.”

“You should go, have some fun, you deserve it Gavin. Reid wouldn’t want you to just stop living your life,” I tell him.

“Oh, look who’s talking,” he snorts.

“What?”

“The person telling me to go live my life is the same person who has been holing herself up in her room for a week. You should be taking your own advice. Even so, I’m not sure I feel like it’s appropriate to go out partying only two weeks after my brothers’ death, feels wrong somehow,” he sighs, and grips his steering wheel.

Not knowing what to say, I just keep quiet.

“What the hell, why don’t we just go for a little while?” he suddenly blurts.

I almost spit out the mouthful of milkshake I have in my mouth.

“Um, no thanks Gavin, that is something I’m definitely not ready for,” I shake my head adamantly.

“Were you not the one to just tell me that I need to live my life? Well, you do too. I know it’ll be hard, but we should at least try Hadley. Just go with me for a little while, and if becomes too much, we’ll leave, no questions asked,” he argues.

“I don’t know Gavin. What if people want to start talking about Reid? I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”

I look down at my hands nervously.

“So what if they do? It wouldn’t be a bad thing if they did. Some of those guys lost a friend too, and who better to talk about him with than two people who loved him more than anything?”

I look over at Gavin who watches me, waiting. I take a deep breath, gathering my courage.

“Fine, we can go, but I don’t want to stay for very long, and watch the road please,” I relent.

Gavin smiles broadly and returns his attention back to the road.

“What time is it at?” I ask him.

“He said it starts at eight, but that people probably won’t show up until nine,” he replies.

“What time is it now?”

Gavin presses the button on his phone.

“Just after seven.”

“Okay well, before we go, I need to change my shoes and grab a coat,” I tell him, still feeling hesitant about going to this party.

I really don’t want to go, but I don’t want to let Gavin down. He’s being so selfless, trying so hard to make me feel better. I can do this for him, Reid would have wanted me to.

We arrive at Cole’s field at eight thirty, and there are already a lot of people here. A gigantic bomb fire lights up the night sky, surrounded by vehicles, many of them trucks, with people using the tailgates as seating. Gavin parks on the gravel road just outside the fence, and we make our way in the dark to the entrance of the field. Gavin seems to sense my growing trepidation and wraps a protective arm around my shoulder.

“It’ll be fine Hadley, I’ll be right here if you need me okay?” he murmurs quietly.

“I know, thank you Gavin. I’ll try to relax and have a little fun.”

Gavin removes his arm from around my shoulders as we reach the open gate, and we wander over to the fire. Immediately, Cole and Aaiden notice us. They quickly make their way over, and Cole grabs me into a tight hug.

“Hadley! I’m so glad you came!” He says loudly.

I can tell he’s already had a lot to drink. He holds me out at arms length.

“How are you, how have you been?” His voice is filled with concern.

“I’m fine Cole, thanks for asking,” I smile weakly, trying to stay positive.

Aaiden shakes Gavin’s hand and moves over to hug me as well. Cole turns to Gavin and shakes his hand too; they just nod at each other with mutual understanding.

“Can I get you guys anything to drink? There’s a couple kegs.”

Cole gestures towards his massive black Dodge that holds two kegs on its bed.

“Well, I’m driving, so none for me thanks, but I think Hadley needs one,” Gavin announces.

“No! I’m good thanks,” I rebuff.

“Nonsense, come on Hadley, let’s go get a drink,” Cole says, putting his arm around my shoulder as he starts pulling me towards his truck.

I shoot an annoyed glance back at Gavin who just smiles and waves at me.

Almost two hours later, I’m starting to feel almost drunk. Cole has kept my cup full, and after the first two, I stopped protesting. I figured if I was drunk, maybe I could actually relax and maybe even have a decent time. So I sit on Cole’s tailgate next to him as he and a few of Reid’s other friends stand around me, reminiscing about their hockey days with Reid. They tell me about a few bench brawls Reid had started, as well as some other funny stories about him. I was at all of his games, but hearing about them really does help me feel a little better.

I look across the fire and spot Gavin who is surrounded by his own friends. He appears to be laughing, which is good, he deserves to have a good time. I watch with detached interest as I see Taylor stumble towards him, giggling. She goes to stand in front of Gavin, as his friends watch her curiously. She then puts her hands on his chest and starts pulling on his shirt, trying to pull him down to kiss her. Gavin’s friends start hooting at him, but Gavin places his hands on her shoulders and holds her back at arms length away from him, shaking his head at her.

Taylor puts her hands on her hips and says something to him that I can’t hear from this distance. Gavin says something to his friends and laughs, and then he looks back at her still laughing. One of Gavin’s friends move towards her and places a hand on her butt, she steps away from him and throws her empty cup at him, storming away. Gavin and his friends continue to laugh at her expense, and I actually feel a little bad for her in that moment. Gavin looks in my direction and catches me watching this little scenario unfolding; he smiles and makes his way over to where I sit.

“What was that all about?” I ask him as he leans against the tailgate on my right side.

“You know, Taylor being Taylor. She tried to kiss me, I turned her down, and she got mad,” he says, a little blasé.

“You guys seemed a little mean to her from what I could tell,” I scold him lightly.

He looks at me, surprised by my Taylor defense.

“I wasn’t mean to her,” he disagrees, “but Brad thought he’d have a go at her,” he laughs.

“Yeah, didn’t look like she appreciated it that much.”

I can’t help but laugh too. Just then, Taylor comes storming over to us.

“Oh god, what now?” I mumble under my breathe to Gavin before she reaches us.

“Who knows, this should be good,” Gavin says, standing up straight. Taylor comes and stands right in front of me, glaring hard at me.

“You know what Hadley!” She shouts, “You are such a f*****g phony. You act all sad so everyone will feel sorry for you, but in reality, you’ve already moved on to Reid’s brother! What would Reid think?”

She points her finger at me. Everyone has stopped talking and now gawks at us. I cannot believe it, the nerve! Anger boils hot in my belly, how dare she even say such a thing! Gavin looks at her with a disgusted expression on his face.

Cole, sitting next to me, hops off the tailgate and speaks up before I can,

“Taylor, why don’t you just shut the f**k up!” he yells in her face. She cringes slightly, but stands her ground.

“No! f**k you Cole,” she spits back at him then looks at Gavin. “How dare you do this to your brother Gavin. Reid deserves better than this,” she sneers.

That’s it! I hop off the tailgate and take the few steps until I’m standing right in front of her. She looks down her nose at me with a smug expression on her face.

“Taylor, you don’t know s**t! Don’t you dare talk about Reid like you really knew him. What you’re doing right now, is extremely disrespectful, and it just shows everyone here, what type of person you really are,” I shout back at her.

Taylor looks taken aback for a split second before she recovers herself. She bends down slightly, getting her face very close to mine.

“Reid made the wrong choice when he chose you,” she says very quietly.

Before I can even think about it, I pull back my right hand, and punch her right in the face as hard as I can.