Love Remains The Same

I Wanna Know

Is she the one
That I couldn't be for you?
Is she the one?
I hate that you're the one
That I never get over
——I Wanna Know, NOTD ft. Bea Miller

October 2018

Rae looked over at her friend. Cait was staring out the windows of the apartment at a beautiful fall day in New York City. But Rae suspected that her best friend wasn't looking at the scene below.

Rae had just told Cait some of the concerns that she and Luke had about Vanessa. But Cait hadn't responded initially.

"She's dated a few other athletes," Rae said quietly. "She's a few years older than him and she can't model forever. I think she's pushing him. And looking for a meal ticket."

"I can't say anything," Cait finally said. "It's not my business. He told me that I lost the right to comment. And that's accurate."

"Don't you care-" Rae started.

"Of course I do," Cait snapped. "I want him to be happy. I want to know that he's with someone that makes him happy. But I can't interfere, Rae. Who knows? Maybe she is the one."

"She's not," Rae sighed. But she didn't finish the rest of her thought out loud. You are.

*****
After Rae left for Detroit, Cait stood in her bedroom and stared at the shirt in her drawer. Grayson's shirt.

She'd taken one when she left Durham. Just one thing of his to keep. She rarely touched it. But it was his birthday. And she missed him.

She reached out with shaking fingers and picked it up. Slid out of her bathrobe and into the shirt, letting it surround her and remembering the feel of his arms around her. Her fingers were still shaking as she buttoned it.

And as she did, those shaking fingers grazed the scar on her abdomen. The reason that all she had left of him was a shirt.

*****

The invisible presence was back. It appeared on Grayson's birthday. Vanessa had insisted on throwing a party for his teammates at a club and had actually arranged for an ice cream cake, knowing that Grayson liked ice cream. And he'd turned white as a ghost.

She knew he didn't like country music anyhow, but Sam Hunt caused him to clench his hands into fists. When she'd suggested booking a vacation in Hawaii after his season was over, hoping for some long term plans, he'd snapped out a negative response and stalked from the room.

He didn't like her touching his hair, running her fingers into it.  And when she'd called him Daddy in bed once, he'd literally stopped in the middle, gotten up and walked away. 

Quiet and brooding was fine with her, but this was getting ridiculous.  He was silent for hours on end.  She was frustrated. But the publicity was great for her career, so she supposed she could put up with his quirks.

*****
November 2018

The kids were driving Cait crazy.  They called.  They texted.  They insisted that she plan to come to their games whenever they were in New  York.  And that she have dinner with them.  Which inevitably led to them talking about Grayson.