I Wish It Would Rain

Chapter 21

Clark was driving me to school for the next few days, because I couldn’t very well drive with a sling on my arm now, could I? So, there we sat in his car in the student parking lot, me staring at the building and he was holding my hand in reassurance.

“I can’t believe my parents made me come today,” I mumbled under my breath.

I was hoping that because of the concussion that my parents would allow me at least another day of rest before sending me to school. But no, they couldn’t be the kind and compassionate parents that I knew them to be.

“The doctor on said to take a break from horses. She said nothing about missing school. I’m sorry, but that’s how it’s got to be,” dad said with a sympathetic smile and a pat on my shoulder.

“You know, you still would’ve had to face the people eventually,” Clark pointed out.

“But, today is that day after the weekend, when the gossip mill is going to be swirling around nonstop!” I groaned while hitting my head against the headrest.

“Don’t worry Pen. If anyone makes fun of you, tell me and I’ll beat the crap outta them,” he said while showing off his ‘muscles’.

“You know what Clark, you’re the best friend that anyone could ask for. Thank you so much,” I said as I leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. But at that time, he turned his head so I ended up kissing his lips. They lingered on there a little bit before we both pulled away.

His eyes widened in fear as he started fumbling around with his stuff and opened the door in a rush. “I’m so sorry Pen, I never should’ve done that.”

“Clark, wait!” I called after quickly getting out of the car after him. “I said wait!” I yelled as I grabbed onto his wrist and yanked him around to face me.

“I’m so sorry. I was an accident, I pro-” I silenced him by putting a finger on his lips.

“Clark, it’s ok,” I smiled at him softly as I removed my finger. “Although, you still suck at kissing. I suppose I could give you those kissing lessons if you wanted.”

“Pen,” he let out a sigh of frustration while running a hand through his hair.

“Clark, just hear me out. I know that you’re thinking that this is probably too soon after Keith to do anything. But, we hardly dated that long. I just… I just think that we should give us another chance. Things have changed since when we were in 8th grade. We could take it slow for now. I mean, it’s up to you,” I looked up at him.

“Pen, you don’t know how much I want to take you up on that offer. But… I don’t want to be the rebound guy. I want to be with you because you want to be with me. Trust me when I say that we can’t be together because it’ll only end up hurting both of us,” he said, pain and hurt evident in his voice as he leaned down and gave me a hug.

Great, this past weekend I got my heart broken by an asshole that I should have been wary of all along, and now my best friend is rejecting me. If this kept up, I wasn’t going to have much of a heart left. So, I put on a fake smile and stepped away from him.

“We should get going,” I said while beginning to walk away. “I have to go up to the office to see if they’ll allow me to carry my books to classes in a tote bag.”

“Yeah, we should,” he said as he followed after me.

“This is for your own good,” I thought to myself as I tried to keep the tears at bay. I was doing such a good job too until we stepped inside the building. Keith was standing there in the lobby with his friends.