Chapter Fourteen

 

Clay called his uncle as soon as he reached the science building and enclosed himself in an alcove where he knew nobody could hear him. He was breathing hard; he wasn't sure if it was the walk or the anger that had him so worked up.

He felt jittery. He jabbed the numbers on his phone and paced while he waited for his uncle to answer. When he finally did, he realized that his voice was quivery.

"Listen uncle, I want to know what's the connection between Stewart Rhoden and David Green?"

"Ah," Neil said, "you have finally come to the realization that that boy being at Mount Faith was a well-orchestrated move."

"Yes," Clay hissed, "and that my almost being blinded was no coincidence."

"How is the eye?" Neil asked breezily. He had long come to that conclusion so he was not as agitated as Clay.

"My eyes are almost fine. The left one is coming back. The doctor said they will be back to normal in a few weeks."

"When are you coming back home?" his uncle said after a pause.

Clay felt trapped. His independence was very much at stake here. He hated this feeling of not being able to do what he wanted, but with David at Mount Faith trying to woo Jessica, and on the verge of succeeding, he didn't know what to do. He could have easily taken anything that David had coming his way but he didn't want Jessica to get hurt.

He sighed. "I don't want to come back to the studio just now," he said faintly.

"Just do one more album," Neil said softly, "and the contract will be fulfilled. I promise you that I will leave you alone to do whatever you want to do with your future. At the very least, if you do this it will get David off your back."

Clay grunted. "I don't know..."

"How many courses do you have left?" Neil asked, smelling capitulation.

"Two, next semester," Clay said, "and then I am done."

"Do you have to do them there?" Neil asked. "Why don't you do them while we work on the seventh album? I promise I won't put any pressure on you."

Clay hung his head and stared at the tip of his sneakers. If he agreed to his uncle’s offer, he would be telling Jessica goodbye in December. Maybe she wouldn't miss him anyway. The thought made him grit his teeth.

"Okay," he said to his uncle. "I'll do it."

Neil whooped. "Yes!"

Clay hung up the phone and felt a light feeling take him over.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

He looked up reluctantly and saw that the person asking him was Stewart. He grimaced. "How much is David paying you to follow me?"

Stewart frowned and came nearer to him. "What are you talking about, Clay?"

"You've been pretty scarce around here since you blinded me," Clay said, "but then again, I couldn't see so I wouldn't know, would I?"

He didn't even feel angry toward Stewart. He felt like shaking David Green, the self-centered prig, right this minute.

Stewart frowned. "I don't know what are you talking about."

Clay sighed. "I know okay. I can see fairly well again, and I put two and two together."

"I knew your eye wouldn't be permanently blinded," Stewart said smugly. "The same thing happened to me when I was younger, and I had no ill effects. You see I know a thing or two about chemistry, and David said he wanted you temporarily incapacitated. That experiment was a God send."

Clay snorted." Excuse me if I don't have the same reaction. Did you come up here to Mount Faith just to spy on me?"

Stewart sat across from him. "Yup. I enrolled shortly after you did."

"And all of that madness about Tracy was fake, wasn't it?"

"Yup," Stewart said unrepentantly. "I made it up to have a story. I dated her just in case. Let me tell you, that girl is a handful. It was the longest two months of my life."

"Was she really seeing Ray?" Clay asked curiously.

Stewart nodded. "Apparently she was using him to build some super secret perfume thing for some class or the other she was taking. He did it, and now they have parted ways."

Clay sighed. "I should have you and David locked up for assault or conspiracy to do bodily harm. That carries some jail time, doesn't it?"

Stewart looked at him. "Yes, it does. That's the reaction I expected when you were first blinded, but what I found intriguing was that David told me that you wouldn't do that. He said that you didn't want any publicity. What's the deal with you, David, and your uncle?"

"David isn't much of a friend if he hasn't told you everything," Clay said wearily.

"I guess. If I were more curious, I would figure it out myself," Stewart said, shrugging.

Clay sighed. "I have a class. Unlike you, I really came up here to finish a degree."

Stewart stood up and watched him as he walked away. He was glad that he didn't have to pretend to go to the classes anymore because he sensed that his time at Mount Faith was coming to an end.

 

*****

 

It was raining when Khaled called Jessica. "Want to go for an evening stroll?"

Jessica looked across at Clay. He was sitting in the living room in the chair across from her. He had his big science book open and was perusing it with a magnifying glass.

After their conversation this morning, she had kind of expected that he would move out. She knew that he could now see properly from both eyes. She dreaded coming home, thinking that he was not going to be around.

Her heart still did that weird thing when she saw him, but she suppressed it. He was just a guy. She was getting to know the real Khaled, the one she had always wanted. There could be no space for Clay.

"Or," Khaled was saying in her ear, "you could come and help me to finish this poem that I started. I entitled it, Jessica."

Jessica laughed uncomfortably, glancing at Clay. "You did?"

"Yes." Khaled breathed in her ear. "If you asked me the question who is she, the answer would be that Jessica is the girl for me."

"Khaled," Jessica said breathlessly, "that's so sweet." She got up because Clay had looked up when she said “Khaled”, and his eyes were eating her alive. She could actually feel the heat from them.

She moved toward her room. "I can't leave my house; it is raining cats and dogs."

"I am outside," Khaled said, "and it's not that bad. I can make a mean hot chocolate at my apartment to chase away the chills."

Jessica glanced at Clay who had swiveled around to watch her progress, and then she said breathlessly. "Okay, I'll be right there."

"Stop looking at me like that," she said when she hung up the phone.

Clay grimaced. "Sorry. It's a privilege to see you. After the accident I vowed to take advantage of sight for as long as I can."

"I am going out," Jessica said defiantly.

She went into her room and grabbed her raincoat, completely missing Clay's crumpling expression.

When she got up, he had schooled his face into a calm he did not feel. "I'll wait up."

"Don't wait up. I am an adult; I know what I am doing. Leave me alone."

She already felt bad and guilty, and she didn't want him to sit there with his long-suffering martyr expression and judge her. She had waited her whole life for Khaled. She didn't want anybody to rain on her parade.

She opened the front door. The visibility was poor. There was even a fog over the hills in the distance. She walked down to Khaled's car; inside was mercifully warm.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey." He was in a red shirt; his dimples showed as he flashed a smile at her. He was gorgeous. Her wayward heart, which once had only shown signs of movement for Clay, was now fully functional, and it was racing a mile a minute for Khaled.

He smelled good. He leaned over her to check if she had her seat belt on right and brushed her breasts in the process.

He smiled at her warmly. "I know this must sound weird," he said softly, "but I love weather like this."

"Me too," Jessica said. "I had this fantasy once…" She shook her head. She shouldn't tell him about her fantasy of both of them kissing with the elements crashing around them.

"What, Jessica?" he asked, his green eyes lighting up.

"Nothing. I might tell you another day." She looked back at the house; the curtains had shifted, and Clay's silhouette was at the window.

"Lets get out of here," she said hurriedly.

David chuckled. "Is he seeing better now?"

"Yes. Sort of."

"So why don't you kick him out? David asked. "Hasn't he overstayed his welcome?"

Jessica swallowed. She didn't want to talk about Clay and she didn't want to kick him out, as David had so casually put it.

"He's okay," Jessica said lamely. What she felt for Clay couldn't be put into words. Mixed up was more like it. One thing was for sure: a part of her wanted him near.

 

*****

 

When Jessica let herself inside later that night, she glanced at her watch; it was twenty minutes after twelve. She had really had a good time. She had sat with Khaled and listened to music. He told her what inspired some of her favorite songs, and they talked about everything and nothing. It had been cozy and intimate and such a great time that she didn't wanted to leave.

She glanced at the settee. True to his word Clay was up. He looked at her as she opened the door and then back into his book.

"Goodnight," she said defiantly.

He didn't answer. Jessica's previous high suddenly deflated. He was making her feel really bad, like she was a cheater or something. She walked off to her room, looking at the back of his head before she closed her door and leaned on it. She was torturing herself with Clay around; she should ask him to leave.

Clay stopped pretending that he was reading his textbook and closed it when he heard the click of her door. He closed his eyes rubbing them tiredly.

"Enlighten me." He jumped when he heard the gruff voice behind him. Bancroft walked into his line of vision and sat down in his favorite rocking chair.

"About what?" Clay asked curiously.

Bancroft looked at him his eyebrow raised. "Your sight is back?"

Clay nodded.

"And you are still here," Bancroft frowned, "while my daughter is seeing that singer."

Clay shrugged. "Sorry, Dr. Bancroft; I can always leave."

"No," Bancroft shook his head. "I don't want you to leave. You can stay here. I find this fascinating. How do you feel about Jessica?"

"I..." Clay sighed, "I...like her a lot."

Bancroft nodded. "So why are you passively waiting while she goes out with this Khaled guy."

Clay shook his head and looked down at his fingers. "I am not passive Sir. I am pathetic."

"Explain," Bancroft said, looking at him contemplatively, like he was a puzzle that he had yet to solve.

"If I leave Mount Faith," he inhaled and then exhaled rapidly, "it will solve everything. The truth is…" He paused. He couldn't really say what the truth was, could he? A half-truth would be better. "I am the reason that Khaled is pursuing Jessica. If I leave, he leaves with me."

"Why?" Bancroft asked.

Clay looked at the president of the school in his maroon colored robe and his matching slippers. He shouldn't look so commanding, but he did, and though he would dearly love to confide in him, he couldn't.

"He followed me here," Clay said. The grandfather clock's loud ticking in the dining room could be heard in the silence.

Bancroft frowned. "I don't like secrets. I am tired of them. Every single one of my children has been tainted by some mystery or secret surrounding their relationship. I was hoping that Jessica would be different."

Clay nodded.

"Whatever it is that you are doing, Clay Reid, don't you dare let that Khaled guy hurt her."

Clay nodded contemplatively, "I won't."

"Because if he does," Bancroft said, "I am blaming you."

Clay nodded again and then glanced at the piano. "It won't wake up Mrs. B if I play?"

Bancroft shook his head. "No, go ahead. She wasn't sleeping; Jessica was out. Don't think that you were the only one up."

Clay got around the piano and played “Find You”, one of his favorite songs from Khaled's third album. If I knew who you were, I would have found you a long time ago.

When he finished playing the notes, Bancroft looked at him speculatively and got up. He was shaking his head and then he left the living room.

Jessica heard the haunting tune from her room and almost got up to join him. He played it exactly the way that Khaled did. Well, not Khaled, he couldn't play. He played it the same way that it was played on the album.