Duality

Chapter 6- Nice Cue

"Blythe! Blythe, wait up!" I jogged down the stairs after her.

"Go away," she said as she pulled on her baseball cap and pushed through the double doors into the courtyard.

I ran after her in the rain. "No, wait, Blythe-"

"I really don't want to talk to you right now, Sawyer, just leave me alone." She had to yell above the downpour, her feet slapping the wet concrete as she marched toward the parking lot.

I ran up behind her and held her arm. "Blythe, will you hold up!" She twisted away.

The black clouds were reflected in her dark green eyes. Her mouth was pulled tight into itself as if to hide a quivering lip. She looked on the verge of crying, if not already, but I couldn't tell tears from rain drops.

"What about detention?" I asked stupidly.

"Screw detention. I'll take my share from Chambers later." She wiped a shock of wet hair from her face. "Look, I need to go home. I'll walk, it's really not raining that hard," she said as lightning flashed and thunder cracked above our heads simultaneously. "Nice cue," she muttered as she turned away.

Her voice was unexpectedly steady. I grabbed her arm again but she didn't succumb.

"No, look, come back inside and I'll call my brother to give us a ride, okay? Okay? Please, for me?"

"For you?" she said, whirling around and showering me with rain water from the brim of her hat.

"Yes, for me. I'll feel a lot better if I knew you were safe and not walking home in a thunder storm because of me. Call me Satan."

She just looked kind of stunned for a minute before yanking her arm back and walking inside. I followed her in and sat on the opposite side of the stairs. I had no idea why she was reacting like this. Her windbreaker and hat were soaking wet, and a puddle of water started to form around her. She buried her face in her hands that sported knitted, fingerless, orange and red gloves. I speed dialed Joshua and asked him to pick us up. So much for giving Delilah a ride home.

She didn't look up from her hands until I said more to the empty entryway than to Blythe that my brother was here, after which she softly murmured shotgun.

We walked out into the rain a fair distance apart and climbed into the Audi silently, the windshield wipers going nuts. Joshua greeted Blythe cheerfully and asked how the book she was reading was coming along, how her aunt and uncle were, and other small chat. She responded quietly in three words or less and kept her eyes on her lap. Josh caught on soon enough, pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose and continued to drive without conversation.

It was strange to see Blythe so quiet in Joshua's presence, whom she got along with as if he was her own brother. They usually babbled on about Law & Order or Harry Potter or vlogbrothers or some other obsession they shared, leaving me with my head spinning in the backseat. Josh had been home from college for nearly three weeks and they had already gone to the science museum together downtown to see an IMAX movie about the Hubble telescope.

Joshua was a freshman majoring in engineering about five hours away from Elrich pier. Not surprisingly, his long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, which meant his nose had been stuck in a book for the majority of the day. He kept throwing furtive glances at Blythe. At a stop light he looked at me quizzically in the rearview mirror, but I just shook my head. He furrowed his brow and turned left.

We pulled up in front of her small house she shared with her Aunt Jody and Uncle Dale. Saying thank you she went to her door without even looking at me.

I felt like shit.

---

"What happened?" Joshua said, slamming the front door shut and following me into our living room.

"Nothing. Well, not nothing, I dunno, nothing I think she has a reason to be upset about."

Josh took three large steps toward me until he was practically in my face. "Sawyer, I swear to God if you hurt her-"

"Look! I didn't hurt her! If I did, it wasn't on purpose. I mean, I have no idea why she reacted the way she did!"

"What happened?" he repeated.

"I was fooling around with Delilah in Mr. Chambers's room and she walked in on us. That's all it was!" Joshua stormed into the kitchen, punching the wall. "Jeez, Jay, what's the problem? Why're you so worked up?"

He whirled around, something people seem to be doing to me a lot lately. "Because, Sawyer, it's Blythe. She shouldn't be treated like trash in the first place and she certainly doesn't need to be treated like trash by you, too. I don't know why you're going out with that cheerleader chick in the first place. If Blythe was that close to me I'd-" He stopped short. "Look, just don't mess it up with her, okay?" Joshua shoved past me into the living room. I heard him go upstairs and slam the door to his room.

I sighed and plopped down on the couch. What was with everybody today? They were all acting so weird. Why the hell would Blythe react by almost crying and Joshua react by tearing my head off? I didn't get it, and I wasn't sure I wanted to. But I had to make it better.

I wandered over to the phone. Blythe's words from today still rang in my head. "I really don't want to talk to you right now, Sawyer, just leave me alone." I'll call; if she won't talk to me at least I'd know I tried.

Dale Baker picked up on the third ring. "Hi, Mr. Baker, it's Sawyer."

"Hey there, kid," he rumbled. "I'll get Blythe Ann."

"Thank you, sir." There was a pause before Mr. Baker responded again.

"Hey, Sawyer... Um, it seems that she really isn't in the mood to talk right now. Something wrong, kid?"

I ignored his question. "Well, thank you, Mr. Baker. Please tell her that I'll see her tomorrow morning, and that I can drive her to school, okay?"

"Sure, kid. Have a good one."

I hung up the phone.

I still felt like shit.

~~~