Just To See Her (The Bancrofts: Book 8)

by Barrett, Brenda

  He was struggling not to become frustrated, but this was day three. He didn't want to answer Dr. Bancroft. He hadn't told his Mom nor his uncle what was happening, and he had no intention to. His mother would overreact and make him feel worse about the situation, and his uncle was already facing a very stressful situation. Khaled's tell all interview was today. Already, he had called Clay five times since he got up that morning; he was acting so jittery that Clay didn't have the heart to add more bad news to his current situation.

  He finally answered Dr. Bancroft. "No, but I have good reason not to."

  Dr. Bancroft nodded. "You are waiting until your sight comes back?"

  "Yes," Clay said quickly. He may or may not share this story with either his uncle or Mom. Both of them had acted as if coming to Mount Faith was a bad idea: his mother because she wanted to have him closer, his uncle because he wanted help with the final Khaled album.

  "Good morning everyone." Jessica breezed into the room. He could smell her perfume: a hint of jasmine. It was scary, but since his sight left, his other senses had indeed sharpened. Celeste smelled faintly of roses. Dr. Bancroft had a fresh clean scent like Brut cologne.

  "Good morning," Clay said, looking in her direction. He had taken to wearing dark glasses since they shielded his eyes from bright lights. His doctor said that the sensitivity was a good thing.

  Jessica sat beside him, and he couldn't help smiling in her direction. She was always chirpy and full of joy. She squeezed his hand, and he felt her touch long after she had taken her hand away. Two and a half weeks and already he knew that what he felt for this girl was not the usual.

  "How are you?" she asked him softly. "Ramon sent over the notes from your classes on tape and the audio book for your chemistry class. He said it was quite easy to find it."

  Clay nodded. "I'll thank him later, as well as my lecturers who have been doing the same. I was thinking of returning to classes on Monday. I think I am getting cabin fever."

  Dr. Bancroft grunted. "Are you sure you will be able to navigate the campus on your own. Our visually impaired students usually have classes in the special needs block."

  Clay cringed. He didn't want to be considered visually impaired. "I will work with Ramon helping me to my classes for now."

  "And I'll help you with anything else," Jessica said passionately.

  Bancroft cleared his throat and Celeste chuckled.

  Clay ate slowly. From early on, he had gotten the hang of eating without help. Celeste had given him a napkin and told him where everything on the plate was. He liked how she treated him. She just told him where stuff was and didn't hover while he learned.

  "I have a small issue," a voice said in the room. The person must have walked in softly because Clay did not hear anyone else enter the room. His hand shook and the eggs he had on his fork fell off.

  "Sorry if I frightened you," the voice said. "You must be Clay."

  Clay nodded in the direction of the voice.

  "I am Vanley," the person said. "I hope you get back your sight soon. I know Jess is very excited to take care of you. Anyway, I need your advice Uncle and Aunty."

  He walked out of the kitchen. Chairs scraped the floor as both Bancroft and Celeste got up.

  "I think he's going to propose to Davia," Jessica said excitedly, "and needs advice from the grays."

  "The grays?" Clay asked.

  "Yup. That's what I call my parents." Jessica laughed. "Did you know that today is the big Khaled interview? It is going to be aired at three and again at ten, but I am coming home for it at three. Want me to bring lunch for you?"

  Clay nodded. "Yes, thanks."

  "We'll eat and watch it together," Jessica said. She got up and kissed him on his forehead. Her soft lips left a trail of wetness on his forehead. Clay sat around the table smiling long after she left.

  *****

  Jessica came home at quarter to three. When she entered the living room, Clay was reclining in the longest settee before the television, which was turned down really low. He lifted his head when the door opened, and she smiled involuntarily. Even with the glasses, half blind, and vulnerable, he was super cute.

  "It's me," she said and saw his head relax again. She realized how tough it was on him not to be able to tell who it was that entered a room, but she loved his resilient spirit: he had not gone into a well of despair. He was being mature about the whole thing.

  She sat beside him. "I bought your favorite, chicken patty."

  Clay grinned. "Thanks. At least it will make this interview a little better."

  "I am so excited about the interview," Jessica said, I can't believe that Khaled, who used to have such an air of mystery about him is going to share himself with the world." She handed him the patty.

  "Why don't you look so happy?"

  Clay shrugged. "Depends on what he shares. If it's bad it will be catastrophic for my uncle, who is very concerned about the brand."

  Jessica turned up the television. The interview had begun. They were playing her favorite Khaled cover ‘I Go Crazy’.

  "Ooh, it has started on the right note already," Jessica said bouncing up and down on her chair.

  Clay just sighed and closed his eyes.

  "Today we have with us the notoriously private Khaled, who announced his retirement two short weeks ago, and who is now willing to talk to us unedited."

  "Welcome, Khaled."

  The interviewer shook his hand, and the camera panned into his face.

  Jessica gasped. "He has gotten better looking."

  Clay imitated a snore.

  "Seriously," Jessica said. "His eyes are so green and his complexion like smooth coco butter."

  "Thank you, Michelle," Khaled responded.

  "So, the question on everybody's lips these days is why would Khaled, the best-selling voice in the game, retire so suddenly?"

  Khaled looked into the television screen. He had cut his curls, and looked even better than before as a result. Jessica clutched a pillow closely and listened intently. Just a few short weeks ago, she had been devastated to hear of Khaled's retirement.

  "I decided to go back to school. Education is important you know. I want this to be an example, especially to my young fans."

  "Oh, my," Jessica breathed. "He believes in education."

  Clay straightened up in his seat. What was Khaled up to? He wished he could see his face and how he answered the questions.

  The interviewer looked bemused. "You are a multimillionaire. Why go back to school?"

  "It's something I've always wanted to do, and now it seems like as good time as any. I have six albums under my belt. I have been doing this for years now. I am just taking a hiatus. Maybe when I go back to school I will be inspired, write new material, and come back fresh for the seventh album."

  The interviewer was nodding. "So the rumors that you were getting married and starting a family are not true then? At least that was one of the reasons given for your retirement."

  Khaled chuckled. His teeth were so white. Jessica was so busy looking at them that she almost missed his answer.

  "I can't get married, at least not yet. I haven't found my dream girl."

  The interviewer was leaning into him as if she wanted to force him to choose her as his dream girl.

  That's because I am your dream girl, Jessica said in her mind. I've always been. She wondered which school he was going to attend. She closed her eyes tight and prayed that it was Mount Faith.

  Clay was fidgeting beside her uncomfortably.

  The interviewer asked a few more questions, and then she asked. "Your fans are dying to know, is ‘Khaled’ your real name?"

  "No," Khaled said. "My parents gave me the name David. My surname is Green."

  "Green like your eyes," the interviewer said breathily. "How appropriate, your surname."

  Khaled grinned into the cameras. "Yes. It was like kismet. My eyes and my surname."

  "Rubbish!" Clay muttered. "Do people actually believe thi
s soppy, syrupy nonsense?"

  "Oh, hush!" Jessica said fiercely.

  "Okay we have reached the part in the program where we'll take five questions from fans on our Facebook page. He says he will answer them as truthfully as possible."

  The camera zeroed into Khaled and he winked.

  "Where's my computer?" Jessica asked anxiously. "I need to ask him which school he is going to attend?"

  Clay had an instant headache. "Jessica. I thought you were weaning yourself from Khaled."

  "I was. I was," Jessica said, frantically pulling her laptop out of her bag, almost banging it on the edge of the settee in her hurry.

  "Okay," The interviewer said. "The first question is from Justine Bent: 'Hi Khaled. I am your fan for life. How did you get started in music?'"

  "Ah, good question," Khaled said easily. "I always knew I was born with a musical gene. I went to the famous iJam Studios in Kingston with a tape of myself singing some covers and then Noel Reid, y'all must have heard of the famous Noel Reid, took it from there."

  Clay groaned.

  "What's the matter with you?" Jessica asked. "That's good publicity for your uncle's studio." She found the program's Facebook page and typed her question as fast as she could.

  "Second question, from Kingsley Taggert," the interviewer asked. "What's the hardest part about being you?"

  Khaled paused. "Coming up with my songs. I live to be inspired, but sometimes I get stuck in the inspiration process."

  "Hogwash." Clay mumbled. "This is excruciatingly painful for me to listen to."

  "Third question, from 'Tia Khaled Is My Guy'. That's a long name." The interviewer chuckled, "If you had to die tomorrow, what would you tell your fans, friends and family?"

  Khaled rubbed his chin. "I love you all, my fans. I sometimes feel as if I cannot breathe without you, and that is why I am going to cut my retirement short. To my friends: you all know who you are… don't wear black to my funeral. To my family: you are special bunch of people, and I know you love me."

  Clay grunted. "He can't even articulate a heartfelt message to his fans, and this from the guy who writes his own songs."

  "Oh, shh," Jessica said, rocking her foot back and forth. "Pick me, pick me."

  "Fourth question." The interviewer chuckled. "This one is from Jascinth Timberdale. 'Khaled, will you marry me?'"

  Khaled laughed. "Maybe if I knew you, maybe if we meet, maybe if, maybe when, maybe not."

  "Good answer," the interviewer said, laughing. "That song, Maybe, was from your last album, wasn't it? The album went platinum in a week. I tell you, Khaled, you have an amazing voice. Okay last question, from Jessica Bancroft. Hi Khaled I am your biggest fan, which school are you planning to go to?"

  Khaled laughed. "I like that name, Jessica. I once dreamt that I would meet a Jessica who would change my life. I am planning to go to Mount Faith University."

  Jessica was shell-shocked. She wanted to squeal, but only a little sound escaped her mouth.

  "He is coming here," she whispered in shock. "Did you hear that, Clay. He is coming here and he dreamt that I would change his life."

  Clay groaned. His phone rang at the same time. He fumbled for it, wishing with all his heart that he didn't feel so blind and handicapped right at that moment.

  "Did you hear that?" His uncle asked when he answered. He could barely hear him over Jessica's hoops and hollers.

  "Yes, I heard," Clay said tiredly.

  "So that was his plan, to follow you?" His uncle said. "He even knows your girlfriend's name. Clay, he is spying on you. Maybe from the get go. I should send a bodyguard up there just in case he gets any weird ideas in his head."

  "No." Clay sighed. "I don't want a bodyguard. I know what Khaled wants."

  "Did you tell him that you were going to Mount Faith?"

  "Of course not," Clay said tiredly. "I wouldn't have told you either because, believe it or not, you both have a similar way of hounding me."

  "I am coming there next week Monday anyway. I have to see you and maybe I'll have a bodyguard discretely watching you."

  "No," Clay said weakly.

  His uncle hung up and he was left with the sound of Jessica dancing beside him.

  "I can't believe it." She was past euphoria. "Clay! When he comes you have to introduce us."

  Not over my blind body, Clay thought.

  Chapter Eight

  "Khaled is coming to Mount Faith, here, up in the hills, to the school I go to. I can't believe it."

  Ramon sighed and looked at Clay, who was fiddling with a walking stick Jessica had gotten him as a present. Clay had a stony expression on his face, and Ramon felt almost sorry for him. He had recently lost his sight, and the girl he likes was now killing him with her Khaled talk. He could remonstrate with Clay. Khaled announcing that he was coming to Mount Faith was something else. He knew that Jessica would be over the moon with excitement.

  "Can't you ask President Bancroft when you are around the breakfast table one morning not to let the guy in?" Ramon asked Clay. "He is going to be a big distraction up here. I know several people who will flunk the semester."

  He glanced at Jessica, who looked extra pretty today in her earth tone colors. She was wearing her extra large earth tone bracelet that she had made out of shells. That to him spelled trouble. She usually wore it when she was dressing up for some major occasion.

  Clay grunted to Ramon's question. His right eye was making out general shapes, but he couldn't make out features clearly: people looked like ghosts, but at least he could see where they were located if they moved their heads or hands. The darkness in his left eye felt as if it had lifted a bit though. It was now more of a pale brown. He had an appointment to see the doctor today, and he was hoping that he would have good news for him.

  He couldn't afford to be blind when Khaled made an appearance at Mount Faith. He didn't know what he would get up to. He cursed Stewart afresh in his mind. This whole incident couldn't have come at a worse time.

  "Seriously," Ramon said beside him. They were all sitting in the Science conservatory, where most of the science students went to lounge around between classes. "Get the president to block him!"

  Jessica looked at Ramon fiercely. "If my Dad does that, I will never forgive him."

  Ramon sighed. "And here I was thinking that you had grown out of this fanatic madness and there was hope for you. You are breaking Clay's heart with this Khaled madness."

  Jessica was about to heatedly respond, but when she looked at Clay, she realized that she had indeed been going on and on about Khaled, and he had silently listened through her excitement for the last couple of days.

  "I...shut up Ramon!" she said guiltily. She gathered her books and was about to stalk off when she remembered that she had promised to take Clay to the doctor.

  She sat down and started drumming her fingers on the table.

  Ramon smirked at her and mouthed 'serve you right'.

  He got up after Jessica glared at him murderously. "Talk to you later, Clay."

  When he walked away, Jessica looked at Clay. He was dressed all in black, and had on dark glasses. She couldn't read his expression. He just had his head fixed in one direction. His body was tense though. She could see it in the curve of his fist, and he seemed to be gritting his teeth.

  She felt really bad now. She had allowed her youthful exuberance to get the better of her. She had proved to him that all her talk of growing up was just that: talk. Just the very threat of Khaled being in the same space as her was enough for her to forget her resolution.

  Jessica cleared her throat. "I am still here, Clay."

  "Why?"

  "Because I have to take you to the doctor," Jessica said, feeling defensive.

  "There is no need to," Clay said, gritting his teeth. "I can take care of myself. I can ask someone else to take me. I don't want to be a burden to you, Jessica."

  "You are not a burden," Jessica said exasperatedly. "I like helping you out."

 
"I don't want to put a damper on your enthusiasm," Clay said. "Your idol is coming to school up here; isn't that what you have always wanted? To be with him. I don't want to get in your way."

  Jessica hung her head in shame. "I like doing things for you because I like you, okay. You are not a burden."

  Her phone rang and there was a shriek in her ears. "He's here. I just saw him. He's in the admin office. Oh my, Jess. I can't believe it." It was her friend and fellow fanatic, Sabrina.

  Jessica cleared her throat. "Sab, find out everything you can, like what his major is going to be, that sort of thing."

  "Aren't you coming by?" Sab asked, almost eating her words in her excitement.

  Jessica looked at Clay then clutched the phone tighter. "No. Not now."

  She hung up the phone feeling torn, so torn that she had to bite her lip. Khaled was here in the same space as she was and she couldn't follow her natural inclination to run to see him.

  She looked at Clay, waiting for the resentment to kick in, but it didn't.

  He was giving her a half smile. "That must have been tough."

  Jessica grinned and clutched his hand. "You have no idea."

  Clay squeezed her fingers in his. "I think I do. Answer me this question, Jess. What is it that makes you so into Khaled, that gives you this feverish, worshipful excitement?"

  Jessica closed her eyes. She could vividly remember her first time listening to Khaled. "I was in the bus returning from an economics class school trip in high school and the bus driver turned on the radio and the announcer said, 'and here is a new singer, Khaled. We think he is going to go big with this one.' It was a song about love, loss, and pain. I could hear it coming through in his voice, you know. It was that profound. After that I started searching for his songs, and a face for the voice. The rest his history."

  "So you loved his voice and his songs first?" Clay asked quietly.

  "Yes," Jessica said. "He has such an amazing voice. I mean…especially in his song ‘Loving You’, he sounded as if he was crying. I really wanted to be that girl that he was crying over."