Breaking Point (Drew Ashley 1) (11 page)

I peeled off my clothes, leaving them in a puddle on the floor, and threw on my PJs. A look at my phone told me I'd missed seven calls. I knew they must all be from Travis. I decided to bite the bullet.

"You hung up on me," Travis answered, sounding a tad testy.

"What do you want?" I asked impatiently.

"I want dinner with you on Friday."

"What's the point? I'm not interested—"

"You don't have to be interested in someone to have dinner with them. Can't we be friends? I just want to talk to you."

"About what?" I asked.

"About all this religion stuff that's got you so twisted these days," he sneered.

"Is that really what you want to talk about?"

"Yeah, I swear."

I rolled my eyes. Well, maybe I'd get the opportunity to do a little witnessing. "Okay," I agreed.

"How's Friday?"

"It's fine."

Travis gave me a time and a place, and then we hung up.

Friday came around too quickly, proving my theory about how time rushed you towards the things you dreaded and slowed you down when you were looking forward to something. I looked out of the taxi window as it took me to my glitzy destination in London's Soho district. I prayed for strength.

***

Travis wasn't moving me at all. Despite his designer shirt and fancy haircut, I was so indifferent, I may as well have been dining with a brick.

I listened to his sob story about how he suspected Sharon of unfaithfulness. I wasn't sure what he expected me to do. Dole out advice like I was his relationship counsellor? Ask him if he wanted me to make it better by going home with him after dinner? No can do.

Kale sent me a text while we were being served our appetizers. I'd told him about my dinner with Travis. I liked transparency.

I'd decided that I was going to relegate Harvey to the 'acquaintance' compartment, which is where he should have been all along. We were both going to be working at News24 and it wouldn't do to be letting myself get all out of control over him, never mind his big, impressive build, and the magnetism that he exuded, and those eyes…I blinked and cleared my throat.

"Need a refill?" Travis asked.

"Oh, I wouldn't mind, actually."

Travis summoned a waiter. I tried to drag my thoughts to dinner with Travis, but they had a mind of their own tonight and kept wandering away.

Somehow Harvey had sneaked into my 'maybe' compartment without my permission. Now he was back where he belonged. Acquaintance. That was all. Kale was my 'maybe.' All week, he'd been so sweet, calling me, and even helping me with proofreading Destiny's assignment. Now that was a good guy.

"So, I broke up with Sharon," Travis was saying. "I just couldn't put up with her anymore."

I gave him a sympathetic look, but I was really thinking:
And you're telling me this because?

I endured four courses. Just when I thought it was escape time, Travis ordered whisky. "I still care about you," he said after his whisky was served.

I'd gone for coffee instead. "Well…I suppose we were together for a long time," I said patiently, although I just couldn't wait to leave now.

"We were. We shouldn't just let that go."

If I recalled correctly, he was the one who had wanted to break up.

"We can go slow," he said. "Take it a step at a time, and rebuild our relationship. We can even make it stronger than it was the first time."

"Let's not go there, Travis."

"But I really miss you, Drew," he protested, unaccustomed to being turned down. "I made a mistake."

I gave Travis a firm smile. "I just don't feel the same way. I'm sorry."

I insisted on getting a taxi home. There was no way I could handle an hour-and a-half-long journey with Travis after a three-hour dinner. Just no way!

As Travis waited with me for my taxi, I felt a familiar stress headache starting up around my temples, and bringing with it a dark feeling that filled me with dread. "I'm just going to the ladies," I told Travis.

"I thought you don't have feelings for me."

I frowned. The roaring had started. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Why're you trying to impress me if you don't have feelings for me?"

"Travis, I'm going to use the toilet, not to refresh my makeup and impress you."

Travis shook his head and swore under his breath. "Just trying to crack a joke, Drew."

My vision was blurring. I could see dark spots floating in the air. I gave Travis my most casual smile. "Be right back."

I made my way to the toilets, ensuring that my steps were measured, and that I was breathing normally. I was a master at pretence. But then, I had to be. It was the only way to maintain some semblance of normality. Each time a vision invaded my mind, I felt like the biggest freak in the world.

I made it into a toilet cubicle before the vision started. It was Travis. He was running. His eyes were wild and terrified, his feet pounding across a field as he tried to escape some kind of horror. I shut the toilet lid and sat down, not caring that I would never normally do such a thing in a public toilet. Sweat beaded across Travis' brow as he tried to escape. Danger was closing in on him.

The scene disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. I started to sigh with relief, then stifled it as I heard someone come into the toilet. I tore some toilet roll from the dispenser and dabbed at my eyes.
God, please let this stop. I don't want these visions anymore!

No sooner had my mental prayer ended, than my vision went blurry again, and another image seized my mind. So much for prayer! This time Kale was running.

The person that had entered the toilet was doing a pretty long twinkle. I smiled, as Kale's face filled my mind in vivid clarity, as if he was really before me. His eyes pleaded with me not to do something, but I didn't know what that something was. He was still running and it was raining. He was drenched through. He cried out for help.

The person in the next toilet flushed, and unlocked the door. I heard her wash and dry her hands, as I continued to see Kale, running and making progress, getting out of reach of whatever monster was trying to catch him.

The person left the toilet and a few moments later my vision ended. Travis sent me a text saying that my taxi was here so I let myself out of the cubicle. I glanced at myself in the mirror. I looked normal.

I made my way out of the restaurant, feeling like my legs were going to give. I was exhausted. Two back-to-back visions was too much. Tears pricked my eyes but I blinked them away.

Travis walked out with me, saying something about how we should do this again. I didn't think so.

I entered the taxi and leaned against the door, relishing the coolness of the window against my head. After a while, I couldn't hold back tears any longer. Why was this happening to me?

"Everything okay, love?" the taxi driver asked.

I cleared my throat. "Yes." I had to pull myself together, at least until I got home.

Travis hadn't suspected a thing when I'd come out of the toilet. Nobody had ever suspected anything after I'd had a vision. If I was pretending so well, what if everybody else was? What if everybody was hiding something behind a casual smile and a measured walk? It was a scary thought, but at least I wouldn't be the only freak roaming the earth.

Chapter 7

I couldn't believe I was back at home. I couldn't believe I had agreed to live with my mum. What was I thinking? Within my first hour back, I was reminded of all the reasons why I had moved out in the first place. Yes, I'd thought I was in love with Travis, but there was also the fact that my mum was always talking. Always.

Jazz and Kale had helped me with my stuff, and they were still here, but not by choice. My mum was talking their ears off. It wouldn't aggravate me so much if it was about something relevant to any of us, but she'd talked about my dad, her boss at work who had a very handsome son, Botox, and now she was onto Simon Cowell and why he should be banned from TV. It didn't help that her boobs were proudly on display and looked like they might burst out of her bright purple top.

Kale had a polite smile on his lips, and he gave the occasional laugh, but he wasn't fooling me. How my mum couldn't see that she was pushing him over the edge was beyond me.

Jazz, as always, was listening pretty keenly. Her smile looked genuine.

"Mum, I think Kale might need to leave now," I interrupted her when I couldn't take it anymore.

"Oh, no," she protested. "He must have dinner with us."

"He can't," I said in annoyance. Why couldn't she just get the point?

"Can you stop answering for him?" my mum rebuked me. She smiled at Kale. "Does she always do that? It's no wonder Travis dumped her. She can be so overbearing."

I couldn't believe my mum had mentioned Travis. Most mothers would know not to talk about the ex.

"Travis made the worst mistake of his life when he dumped Drew," Kale said smoothly. "I'd feel sorry for him, but his loss is my gain."

I felt my cheeks warming. Travis had never stood up for me in front of my mum, his mum, or anyone.

"So are you two together?" my mum asked.

"No," I said.

"Not yet," Kale added.

"I take it you must be a Christian too, then?" my mum asked Kale.

"I am," he confirmed. It was the first time we'd had some dialogue since we'd got here.

"Did you meet at church?" my mum asked.

"No, we met at uni. I go to a different church from Drew."

My mum nodded as though it was a lot to take in. "What are you studying?"

I looked at Jazz and rolled my eyes. Most mothers would have asked Kale about himself first, not after an hour of trivia about Botox!

"Drew just finished her PhD," my mum told Kale before he got a chance to tell her what he was studying. "She's very intelligent. And she's got a job at News24."

The monologue started again. I couldn't take it anymore. I went to the kitchen. Jazz followed. "You need to give your mum a break," she said.

Something that smelled pretty heavenly was cooking in the slow cooker on the stove. I lifted the lid. "You wouldn't be saying that if she was your mum."

"Your dad is away a lot, Drew."

"What's that got to do with her talking like she's got word diarrhoea?"

"She's lonely."

Jazz had a point, but still.

"Try to be a better Christian witness to her," Jazz said. "If you're still as horrible to her as you were before you got saved, she's not going to see what's changed in you, and she's not going to want to change herself."

The landline phone rang. It was my cue to rescue Kale. I popped my head into the living room. My mum was on the phone, laughing uproariously. I beckoned to Kale and he joined us in the kitchen, looking relieved.

"Thanks for helping me with my stuff," I told him.

"It was no problem at all."

I looked in the direction of the living room. My mum was still on the phone, laughing. "Escape now, while you can."

Kale chuckled, but took my advice. "Tell your mum I said bye," he said. He nodded stiffly at Jazz and then left.

"What is up with you and Kale?" I asked Jazz.

She frowned. "Me and Kale?"

"Yeah. Why are you so weird with each other?" They'd barely spoken a word to each other since they'd both arrived at Destiny's earlier in the evening to stow my belongings into their cars. They'd acted like they didn't know each other. They could at least say hi!

"Nothing. We just don't really get on, I suppose."

"Why?"

Jazz shrugged. "I think he loves himself."

"Kale? He's the most unassuming guy I've ever met. I doubt he even knows he's remotely attractive."

"You'll get to see what I mean," Jazz said. "Anyway, haven't you got any events coming up that you need me to escort you to? I'm in the mood for a nice ball gown."

"No, I hate events and I hate ball gowns."

"Well, I have my faculty ball next Friday. I need a date. And considering that I've been your date twice now, I think you owe me."

"I'll think about it," I said, although I knew I couldn't turn her down after she'd accompanied me to Wanda's party and the Women in Sport event.

"Are you gonna order some nice dresses for us?" Jazz asked, excitedly.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay."

My mum burst into the kitchen and looked around. "Where's Kale?"

"He's gone," I told her.

"So, he didn't want to stay for dinner?"

"No, he didn't."

"I'm staying though," Jazz said.

My mum smiled at her. "Sit down while I just check on my potroast. Dinner will be served in a minute."

Jazz took a seat at the kitchen table.

"Anyway, as I was saying before," my mum said. "My boss' son is so nice, and he's very clever. He's a scientist. I forget what kind. He's twenty-seven, and his name is Dillan Jefferson."