The Saddest Song - By Susie Kaye Lopez Page 0,47

ointment. “It’s not bad, thank god. I can finish Sophie.”

“Okay then, I will go help Gran with lunch. Half an hour. She’ll call.” The girls left, closing the door behind them.

“Okay Max, hold still, I don’t want to hurt you. It’s just a bad scratch but we have to keep it disinfected.” She was gentle but it still stung. My head hurt and I just wanted to lie back down. When she was finished I drank a couple more sips of the hot chocolate and slowly lowered myself back to my pillow.

“Oh Max, you feel really bad, don’t you?” She looked worried and I didn’t want her to.

“I’m fine. Let me lay here for a few minutes. Do you think I could take any pain medicine?”

“I don’t think you get to take it until after twenty four hours, I will go check.”

Rainey left the room and I closed my eyes. When I opened them again she was propped up on my window seat reading a book. I watched her for a few minutes. I had always thought Rainey was pretty, but lately when I really looked at her I found her beauty taking me by surprise. I didn’t want to analyze why.

“Rainey?” She dropped the book and hurried to my side.

“Feeling any better?” She asked, her hand stroking my cheek.

“How long was I asleep?”

“It’s almost dinner time.”

“Dinner time? Shit, I slept all day?”

“Hey, it’s okay, your body needs to heal. Everyone went snowboarding, and Gran gave me a really good book so I hung out here.”

“I’m so sorry I ruined your weekend, Rainey.”

“It’s our weekend, Max. Nothing is ruined. You had an accident and I am glad I was here to look after you.”

“I can’t remember any of it. I remember lunch yesterday but everything else is lost.”

“Maybe that’s for the best. You think you can go to dinner with them? I can bring you a tray. You should try to eat.”

“I should shower, maybe it will help make me feel more alert. I think dinner downstairs is okay.”

She helped me sit up and put four pills in my hand and I drank them down with a full glass of water. Rainey made me leave the bathroom door unlocked, and said she would wait right outside while I got ready. I didn’t argue, just made sure I was careful, I really didn’t want her running in when I was showering.

The intercom sounded just as I opened the bathroom door and Rainey’s smile was like a dose of medicine, the best kind. We joined everyone at the dinner table and about half way through the Italian meal my headache went away and I felt more like myself. Gran was saying that she wished we had brought our guitars with us so we could have a concert. I knew the guys had left theirs behind for the girls, but I had mine in my truck. I didn’t know if I should admit this when Rainey beat me to it.

“Max has his guitar in the truck,” she said innocently. Could it be the girls never told her that they had banned them this weekend?

“Max, you’re the man!” Colin laughed, and he got Max’s keys and went out to retrieve it. Sophie and Rylee just laughed too, and told Rainey their plan for a guitar free weekend.

“That’s what you guys get for leaving me out of the plan!” Rainey smiled.

“I thought you told her!” Rylee and Sophie said at the exact same time.

We all gathered in front of the fireplace, and played and sang the songs that Colin, Ethan and I had worked so hard on. Colin sang most of them, but Ethan sang two and we finished with me singing one that I had written, mostly on my own. I glanced at Rainey as I sang and the look on her face nearly made me forget my own lyrics. Her expression was one of pride, and tears glistened in her dark eyes. It made me want to smile. It made me happy. It made me fall a little bit in love, and not the brotherly, platonic kind. This was a newly developing problem, and the one problem I wouldn’t be sharing with Rainey.

Chapter 18

Rainey

Several emotions were battling inside of me as I watched Max sing. Pride in his talent certainly, his songs were as amazing as his voice. But the bigger one was guilt. Guilt for the way I felt when I woke up in his arms this morning. The butterflies in my