Page 83 of Catching Sparkles

“That would be great,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure if I could force down any food that would actually stay in my nervous stomach. “Um, whatever’s around here. I’m not picky.” I wasn’t even in the state of mind to decide something that insignificant at the moment.

Before he pulled out of the parking lot, Rhys fiddled with some buttons on the console screen of my car, and turned on one of my favorite playlists. He scrolled with his finger a bit, until he found a particular song I really loved, from one of my favorite musicals.

“Ah, you seem to really like this one, so…” He trailed off a bit, clearing his throat. “I mean, it’s a nice song. You know, defying gravity or whatever. Maybe it’ll help.”

“A nice song?” I questioned, amused. “This part doesn’t get you all choked up?”

“Well, I never saw it, so…” He gave me a brief side glance as he pulled out onto the main road.

“You’ve never seen Wicked? Wait, you mean you never saw, like, the Broadway play, or you haven’t watched the movie?”

“Neither.”

My mouth fell open a bit, my eyes popping wide. “Rhys! You’ve never seen Wicked!? How is that possible?”

“Ah, I’m not really into… singing, I guess. And I don’t really get what it’s about, anyway.”

“Oh my god. That is blasphemy. You’re watching this movie with me even if I have to duct tape you to the chair.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “We can watch it, okay? You don’t have to restrain me. I mean… you know, unless you want to.”

I smirked, understanding exactly where his mind had gone. “If I tie you up, we probably won’t be watching any movies.”

“Fine with me.”

Well, he’d sufficiently distracted me. At least enough that I wasn’t stuck in the agitated beehive of my own brain.

We ended up driving through a burger place to grab food, parking in their tiny lot to eat it.

“What do you think I should do?” I finally asked him, taking a slurp of the giant Coke I’d gotten. Calories and cholesterol were the absolute last thing on my mind at the moment.

He hesitated, giving me an uneasy look as he shoved another salty fry in his mouth. “Uh… I don’t really know. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but… Do you think you’ll keep feeling bad if you don’t? Like, is it going to stay on your mind?”

I considered it, letting out a heavy exhale. “Probably. I don’t really want to see her, but if I don’t and she… You know, if something really bad happens, then I’ll feel awful.”

“Maybe you could just go and get it over with,” he suggested. “U-unless that would make it worse!” He clarified quickly. “I just don’t want you to feel bad, Sparkles. I hate seeing you look so worried.”

“Yeah,” I finally agreed, after a stretch of silence where I’d been contemplating my options. “Maybe getting it over with is best. Just so I can know how bad it is, I guess. But I…” I paused, pulling one knee up to my chest so I could rest my forehead on it. “I’m kind of scared.”

“Scared of seeing your mom?” He asked.

“Scared of seeing my dad. I don’t know what he’ll do to me when I show up. He’s probably still pissed about that picnic thing.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to let you go by yourself,” he said, sounding incredulous at the very idea. I blinked, surprised by his tone, raising my face to look up at him.

“What do you mean?”

“Kendall, he tried to hit you in front of everyone. I don’t even want to think about what he might do if you were by yourself.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again, feeling a bit like a gaping fish. “You wouldn’t mind coming with me to see her?”

“Mind?” He repeated, before shaking his head slightly. “No, what I said is you’re not going anywhere near him without me or my dad with you.”

The protective note in his voice had my heart turning a slow loop in my chest, like a barrel roll on a roller coaster track. No one had ever sounded like that for me. Like they’d fight someone for me. Like my safety and wellbeing were so important they couldn’t imagine putting me in harm’s way. Like I was something precious and delicate they couldn’t imagine being damaged.

I’m in love with you.

It’s what I wanted to say, but it wasn’t the right time. And I wouldn’t want him to think I’d just say it out of gratitude that he’d help me with this terrible situation I’d found myself in. Still, I’d never felt it more than I did at that moment.