You and Me

Chapter 16: Awkwardness to the Max

After we left school, Reed asked me where I wanted to go. But, me being me, couldn't decide, so he ended up taking me to the ice cream shop a few blocks from my house.

As we grabbed a table and sat down, I put my blue backpack on the floor and proceeded in pulling out my phone. 12:15, so we had around an hour to get home.

"So," I said slowly, "is this a date?"

Reed eyed me carefully before raising an eyebrow. "Is this a trick question?"

"No..."

"Well then I'm going to go with yes, because tomorrow I'll be busy working on the funeral. I forgot to tell you. Sorry, Cal."

My heart sank a little in my chest, but I brushed the feeling off.

Look at you.  You're being selfish, trying to keep him to yourself for the whole weekend. And he's staying at home for a good cause too.

But he's your boyfriend.

Ok, you've got a point.

"Cally."

I looked up from my empty ice cream cup and locked gazes with Reed. "I'm sorry, what?"

He laughed and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "I asked if it was alright with you."

"Ohh. Yeah, yeah. It's totally fine, don't worry about it."

Reed leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. His muscles flexed when he did that. It was pretty sexy if I did say so myself.

"Mmm. I should be a better boyfriend. I thought you'd at least try and convince me to stay with you. But, I guess I'm not hot enough or something."

I giggled and shoved him playfully. "Nope, you are, but I wouldn't tell you that because your ego's already big enough, I just want you to help your mom first. Then maybe we can hang out."

He smiled, but years of being his best friend told me something was wrong. "Let's take you home, Dean. I assume you have stuff to do?"

Nodding my head, I let him take me outside to where his car awaited. As Reed started to drive, I reached over and grabbed his hand. "Are you okay?"

He blinked a few times before looking at me slowly. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Because if you need anyt—"

"I said I was fine," he interrupted sternly.

A pang of hurt hit me in the chest as I scrunched up my eyebrows in confusion. "Alright, I'm sorry."

Reed sighed and looked at me apologetically. "Look, that was rude of me, I'm sorry.
I've been under so much stress lately. My mom is depressed; she barely gets out of the house anymore. I have to take care of her. You do understand, right?"

I nodded my head and looked away. "Yeah, I get it. I'm sorry."

He looked away and continued driving.

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When we got to my house, everything was quiet. With the car engine now off, the only thing that was  audible was our breathing.