“I should go so you can handle whatever that was.”
“It’s handled. He comes home. He yells. He leaves. End of story.” I gave him an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry I fell asleep.” I still felt humiliated.
“What’s that about anyway,” he asked as he sat on his bed.
“It’s not about anything. I just don’t sleep well.”
“Why not?”
I shook my head and shrugged because I didn’t have the energy to answer, but the sound of the door slamming again snapped me awake.
“I should go.” I scooped up my things and walked out of his room, but I stopped in my tracks when I realized I had no idea of how to get out of his maze of a house.
He looked a little too amused at my confusion.
“I’ll walk you out,” he said as he led the way. We walked past a study that had rows and rows of books and a man who looked like an older and more distinguished Riley was seated at a desk with a tumbler of amber liquid in his hand. He didn’t even look up as we walked by.
“I thought no one else would be home,” I said, remembering why we needed to work at his house.
“Same here. Trust me, I stay away when the house is occupied.”
I shrugged and left it at that.
“Sorry again…for falling asleep.” I wanted to hide under a rock when I thought about it.
“Don’t be. It looked peaceful.” He caught my eye and smiled. It wasn’t the normal flirty smile he usually flashed. It was a sincere smile for a change and the magnitude of it caught me off guard.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said in a bewildered whisper. I got in my car and gave myself a moment to shake off Riley’s spell.
I got to school early on the day of our presentation so Riley and I could go over some notes together. I knew he’d be at lacrosse practice so I went to the bleachers and waited for him. I had never really watched a lacrosse match, and if practice was anything like a game, then it was brutal. Gwen sent me a text as I waited and I told her where she could find me. She finally arrived and made her way up the stands to sit with me.
“Why are you slumming it out here?” she asked as she sat beside me.
“I have to go over some stuff for our project. I’ll be happy when we’re finally done after today.”
“Is he really that bad?”
“No,” I said, surprising myself. Their coach blew the whistle and the players scattered off of the field. I spotted Riley and got up to meet him, but I stopped in my tracks when he approached a girl at the bottom of the stands. They didn’t hesitate in engaging in a huge display of P.D.A.. It was hard to tell from where I was standing, but I was pretty sure he had most of his tongue crammed down her throat.
“He’s still a man-whore,” Gwen declared.
“Yep,” I agreed.
“Maybe he’s looking for something in there,” she said, tilting her head as we watched them make out in plain sight.
“Gross. Oh look, he’s coming up for air!” I said with a sarcastic monotone. “I’ll see you later.” I jogged down the bleachers and caught him before he decided to go back in for some more. A surprised smile spread across his face when he saw me.
“Jane!” he announced.
“Last chance to pass our lab. Do you have a moment?” I looked between him and the girl whose name I didn’t know.
She crossed her arms and gave me an “eat shit” look, but he kissed her goodbye and sat with me in the bleachers as we went over notes.
He got up and grabbed a clean shirt from his backpack and proceeded to change it as he spoke, catching the attention of a few girls who were sitting near us. I couldn’t deny the fact that most of Riley was nice to look at.
“You know, if we do well on this she’ll probably keep us together as lab partners,” he said provokingly.
“Sucks for you since you now know I won’t do the work for you,” I shot back.
“You don’t need to do the work for me,” he said, sounding a little annoyed.
“Imagine my surprise when I found out you’re more than a pretty face.”
He looked at me with a huge grin. “You think I have a pretty face?”
I rolled my eyes and got up. “See you in chem.”
We passed our lab with flying colors and after class I went straight to my locker to put my chemistry book away.
“This girl, folks,” Riley shouted in the halls of our school. “You won’t be sorry if your teacher pairs you up with her. She’s a fierce scholar with more brains than you can handle,” he said as he applauded.
I covered my face and tried to hide but that didn’t make him go away.
“Don’t you have some random girl to find and make out with?” He leaned in close enough to whisper in my ear.
“Maybe I’m in the mood for intellectual stimuli,” he said in his flirtiest voice.
“Let me know if you find some. Gotta go.”
I rushed off before he could touch me. Just the memory of what I felt when he tapped my shoulder exhausted me. I wondered what it must feel like to actually live it first hand.
I somehow managed to avoid him for the rest of the day, but I wasn’t so lucky with Chris. He flagged me down after school and handed me a piece of paper with his address on it.
“Just in case,” he said. I thanked him and stuffed it in my bag, promising again that I’d be there.
Gwen met me at my house and we got ready for Chris’ party together. I didn’t know why I was making such a fuss about what I should wear, but I became frustrated when nothing in my closet seemed right.
“Ugh! I give up,” I said as I plopped down in frustration.
“You have a million things in there. And it’s like the first cool night in months.”
I stared at Gwen, who was wearing her faded jeans and black and white striped crop top effortlessly and I hated her for a tiny fraction of a second. She went into the back of my closet and pulled out a skirt I had forgotten all about. It was a pink corduroy mini skirt. She moved a few hangers down the rod until she came to a black vintage looking t-shirt.
“This,” was all she said when she handed them to me. I opened my mouth to argue, but she silently pointed to the bathroom before I could say anything. I couldn’t argue once I had the outfit on. It took her five seconds to do something that would have taken me all night. “Red lips,” I heard her yell from my room. I shook my head and looked in my make up drawer for my red lipstick.
I smeared a soft rose gold color on my eyelids and penciled in a line of black eyeliner to my top lid. I finished the look with a little mascara and when I put the lipstick on I realized it was more of a soft berry color, but it would have to do. When I came out Gwen gave me an approving arch of her eyebrow and handed me my black combat boots. I tossed my lipstick and wallet in a small, leather purse I could wear across my shoulder and we headed out. I didn’t want to arrive alone so Gwen was riding with me and giving me directions.
The neighborhood looked familiar as soon as we got to it. I looked at the houses and quickly realized I had been here before.
“Are you sure this is where he lives?”
“Yeah, right there,” she said, pointing to a house that was across the street and one over from Riley’s. “There’s Trey. Let’s go in,” she said, opening the car door.
“Wait, you invited him?”
“Yes, Jane. I invited my boyfriend,” she said with no attempt to hide her sarcasm.
“Fine. Go. I’ll catch up.”
“Okay, see you inside.”
Once she was gone I leaned against the head rest and groaned in frustration. I had planned on having Gwen by my side most of the night. I hadn’t planned on attending solo.
Some commotion from across the street caught my eye and I saw Riley storming through his front lawn with his dad stumbling and screaming after him. I gasped out loud when his dad took a swing at him, but Riley was able to duck the punch- almost making his dad topple forward. Riley took a step back and a
glass his dad had been holding went flying. I could hear it shatter all over their driveway from where I was. I watched him pace for a few long moments and then his dad started screaming again.
“Go! Get out!” his dad slurred and I suddenly felt like I had been intruding from what I witnessed. At that same moment Riley looked in my direction and found me watching their fight. He shook his head and marched over to my car. He opened my door and stood there with an angry look on his face as he waited for me to get out. I studied him for a moment before I moved. The flirty air he gave off was gone, replaced by an intense anger. I could see his free hand balled in a fist at his side and his jaw was clenched in a tight line.
I slowly stepped out and felt very intimidated at how tall he was compared to myself.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t eavesdropping. I just parked before you came out.”
“Great,” he sarcastically barked.
“It’s not my business.”
“Nope.”
I stood there for a long and awkward moment before I finally made my feet walk toward the house. From behind me I heard a girl giggle and call Riley’s name. He took a breath and stepped back into character before he turned around.
“Did you miss me?” he playfully asked her. And just like that, his charm was back to normal.
Chapter 5
Deafening mumble rap greeted me when I walked through the front door of the party. People with red cups in their hands were trying to socialize and screamed over it to talk to each other. I scanned the room for Gwen, but came up empty and started looking for the kitchen. “Hey Jane,” I heard a few people say as I walked by. I smiled and waved back, doing my best not to brush up against anyone or bump elbows because I wasn’t in the mood for the feels.
I found the kitchen, but still no Gwen or Trey. I leaned against the counter and checked my phone.
“Jane! I didn’t know you finally made it,” Chris said as he walked into the kitchen. He took a sip of whatever he was drinking then used the keg to refill his cup. “Want some?” he offered.
“No thanks.”
He shrugged and finished filling his cup before he leaned against the counter next to me. “You look amazing, by the way.”
“Thanks,” I said, feeling a little self conscious.
“I’m glad you came. You know everyone, right?” He asked, waving his cup around to point out the other people who were hanging out in the kitchen.
“Yep.” I wasn’t intentionally being unfriendly. I was dreading the pat on the shoulder I was about to get from him and the feeling of needing a shower after. And as if on cue he did just that.
“Hey, you all know Jane, right?” he announced, giving away that he was a little tipsy by his slurred speech. A few people from around the kitchen nodded and waved.
“Chris, have you seen Gwen?”
“Not for a while. She and Trey are around here somewhere.” He looked around on his tip-toes and over the heads of the crowd in front of us.
“Okay, I’m gonna have a look. I’ll be back.”
I navigated my way through the downstairs, checking each room. The house seemed to go on forever, but I finally found a backroom with a pool table and spotted Riley playing a round with a few guys from his lacrosse team. He saw me and shot me a wink before he made his shot. I rolled my eyes and looked around again only to come up empty.
I found a quiet spot in the study. It was dark and I figured I could hide out for a while. I checked my phone and killed some time before I headed back to the kitchen. Riley had changed his position too, leaning against the wall in the hallway as he flirted with a girl I recognized from my algebra class.
I thought I heard someone call my name, but stopped in my tracks because I realized it was someone talking about me. I didn’t want to walk in on the conversation, so I was stuck next to where Riley was smelling the neck of his next victim.
“Did you seal the deal with Jane yet?” I heard someone ask.
“Dude, I’ll hit that tonight if things go right,” Chris said in a confident tone that pissed me off. I wanted to storm in there but I decided to wait and see how it played out. “That tight little body and those big green eyes...damn,” he added.
Riley looked in the direction of the conversation and I watched as his face changed from casual to angry.
I decided not to stick around to hear anymore, and broke my no touching rule when I practically shoved Chris across the room as I stormed past him.
I went out to the porch and sat on the steps as I sent a text to Gwen to tell her it was time to go. Chris was behind me moments later with a string of apologies.
“Jane, I am so, so sorry. It was just guy talk,” he tried to explain.
“Great. Wanna bring them out? I have a few things I’d like to add- such as the fact that you won’t be hitting anything in anyway, unless that includes the pavement when I shove my foot up your ass,” I said, not bothering to look up from my text. I heard someone laugh from the doorway and caught Riley eavesdropping and trying to keep a straight face as he listened.
Chris had nothing to add except a string of expletives, more at himself than me, so he turned and stormed off.
“Clearly his night isn’t going as planned,” Riley said as he joined me on the steps.
“Not my problem,” I snapped.
“Hey,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender. “Just an innocent bystander. Did I happen to mention you’re small but fierce?” I let out a little chuckle at that. “Oh, what’s that I see?” He teased as he tried to get me to look at him. “Is that a smile? I don’t believe Iv’e seen anything more than a smirk on your face. Let me see it,” he said. For whatever reason the smile was spreading from ear to ear and I did my best to avoid looking at Riley until we were both laughing in hysterics.
“Damn,” he whispered as our laughter died down.
“What?” I suddenly felt extremely self conscious.
“Nothing. Just...you should smile more.”
I looked at him, puzzled, but didn’t have time to say anything else before a very drunk Gwen and Trey stumbled out of the house. I saw Trey fish in his pocket for his keys as Gwen waited.
“Oh, hey Jane,” she slurred. “I’m gonna head home with Trey.”
“Like hell,” I said as I stood up and blocked their path.
“Hey, Trey’s only had a couple. We’ll be fine.”
“No way. I’ll drive you both home. I’m parked over here,” I said as I started walking in the direction of my car, but they weren’t following me. I turned around and found Trey trying to unlock his car with the lock button. HIs horn went off over and over as he doubled over and laughed.
I marched my combat boots to where they were and attempted to snatch the keys away from Trey.
“Hey!” he yelled with an angry look on his face.
“Let’s go Gwen. You’re not getting in the car with his drunk ass.” She started to follow me and that’s when Trey got in my face.
“Hey, you need to back off, bitch,” he snapped, as I flinched from the finger in my face. I shook my head because he was just annoying me at this point. I saw Riley stand up from the step with fists balled at his side.
“If you want to get behind the wheel and kill your own sorry ass, be my guest, but do it alone. My best friend won’t be riding anywhere with you,” I spat out through gritted teeth.
“Fuck you,” he slurred as he pushed me backwards. The touch was an unfair advantage. I could feel the anger he was feeling and it took me a second to brush it off, but just as I was about to stand my ground again, Riley took my place.
“Don’t touch her again,” he warned in an icy calm voice that gave me shivers. He and Trey were eye to eye in a stand off at this point.
“This isn’t your business, man. Just back off.”
“I can’t do that. You made it my business when you pushed my friend.”
“Fine, have it your way,” he said and without warning he took a swing at Riley who was quick enough to du
ck. When that one missed he swung again with the same result. He stood still just long enough for Riley to give him one blow to the nose, causing Trey to stumble backwards and onto his ass. Trey put a hand over his nose, but quickly pulled it away when he realized he was bleeding.
“You broke my nose!” he yelled, suddenly sounding pathetic. Riley turned around and found me behind him.
“Are you okay,” he said as he reached a hand our to touch my shoulder. I flinched just in time to miss it.
“Sorry, and yeah. I’m fine,” I lied. I wasn’t fine... not with the fact that Riley just punched someone for me. I saw Gwen kneel down with paper towels someone must have fetched and she was holding them to Trey’s nose. She helped him up and steered him towards the house.
“Clean him up, but don’t think for a moment that he’s driving you anywhere,” I warned. She nodded yes because she was starting to become sober again.
I paced back and forth in the grass as the crowd that had gathered to watch a fight started to scatter.
“God, I just want to go home,” I complained out loud.
“Relax,” Riley said. I hadn’t realized he was still standing there. I stopped pacing and faced him.
“Thank you...for what you did, but you need to know that I am very capable of taking care of myself. Still, I do appreciate it.”
“You really do forget how small you are,” he teased. I turned and faced him straight on.
“I’m serious.” He rolled his eyes as he stood in the grass with his hands in his pockets. “Come at me,” I teased, taunting him.
“I’m 6’2. You’re like, 5’3 in boots and as big around as my pinkie.”
“Scared?” He only shook his head no. “Seriously, what is the worst that will happen? You’ll knock me into the grass?”
“Fine, and I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he said with a sigh. He charged at me, slower than I would have liked, but it would do. I grabbed his right arm with my left hand, as my right hand pushed against his chest. That stunned him just enough to make time for my right foot to kick his left foot out from under him- giving me just enough leverage to cause his body weight to fly over my shoulder- landing him on his back.
Within Reach Page 3
