Fall For Me (6 page)

“Okay. I get it. I’m sorry,” I said all contrite and stuff, only then added kind of whiny, “But, Riley, it’s hot.”

He opened the door for me. “Work, Jones.”

The weird thing was, not much later that night, a delivery man came in with a brand new air conditioner. Everyone patted me on the back and called me their hero, but I wasn’t even sure the air conditioner had anything to do with me. For all I knew, Riley had already ordered it. He probably had. Still, I accepted their gratitude and sat with a group of them huddled in a booth—at their request (shock!)—when my shift was over.

Aiden, The Hot Bartender (that’s what we called him, since we also had Aiden, The Not-Hot Busboy), squeezed into the seat beside me.

He whispered in my ear, kind of seductive-like, “Let me buy you a drink.”

I choked on the French fry I’d just popped in my mouth. Did I mention Aiden was hot? And twenty-two?

Now he was looking at me all:
Why-hadn’t-I-ever-noticed-you-before?
And:
I-want-to-stick-my-tongue-down-your-throat-
like.

I choked again and took a sip of my water. “Um, I don’t drink.”

I was also going to blurt out that I was only seventeen and had a boyfriend, but I wasn’t really sure that conversation was quite relevant to the situation. Besides, sadly, I could also add I had a Free Pass. But sigh. I didn’t want to. That was just too depressing to talk about.

“I’ll make you a virgin creation,” he said. “No alcohol—just for you.”

I beamed. “Okay.”

Wow. I watched him hurry off, totally amazed. He was being so nice. Everyone was. Apparently, it totally, totally paid to have an air conditioner show-up right after humiliating yourself with the boss. Who knew?

Aiden’s drink was really good. So good. When he saw me slurp it down, he smiled and quickly brought me another. Then he started bringing me more—different variations—one after the other. All awesome. I chugged them down, slurring, “Keep ‘em coming!”

At some point, Aiden smiled, tilting his head. “Maybe you’ve had enough.”

“No, no,” I protested—really loud. Really, really loud. Not sure why.

It just seemed necessary as the world was kind of tilting and spinning and reminding me of a roller coaster where you have to speak really loud to the person next to you or they can’t hear what you’re saying. “Your drinks are so good, Aiden. I love them. And I love your eyes, and that little hat thing you wear, and—and wow, it’s getting hot in here—and spinny—don’t you think it’s spinny?”

Aiden grinned at my rambling. “Maybe I should take you home.”

“Oh. No, no, no,” I slurred. “I have a car. I’m seventeen. I have a car.”

His smile grew. He played with a lock of my hair. “You’re in no condition to drive.”

“Well—” Even as I tried to protest, Aiden helped me to my feet and walked me towards the exit, then, surprisingly, out the door.

Once out in the dark parking lot, I did have to admit, I felt sort of funny—dizzy and unsteady. Good thing Aiden was here to hold me up.

 
“You’re into guitars, right?” Aiden said conversationally as he dragged me along. “I have a guitar. Want to see it?”

I looked around the secluded parking lot, amazed. “Is it here?”

“No, itw RoTs at my house. Hey,” he coaxed as I started to stumble towards my car, “don’t go over there. I’ll give you a ride home.”

“Awww. That’s so sweet of you.”

Coming to think of it, he had been sweet all night, making me non-alcoholic drinks, whispering in my ear, playing with my hair, and now he had his arm around me, holding me tight as he steered me toward his car.

Then, from out of nowhere—

“Hey, Aiden, I got her.” Riley was at my side. He pulled me from Aiden, wrapping his arms around my shoulders to keep me from falling.

“You bought us an air conditioner.” I smiled up at Riley, snuggling into his warm shoulder, all affectionate and dreamy and slightly dizzy, totally amazed he was suddenly here, beside me, holding me. How cool.

Aiden slinked away, looking shamefaced for some reason.

“Aiden was being so sweet,” I told Riley. “He made me drinks and was going to give me a ride home.”

“Yeah,” Riley sounded like an adult counseling a small child, “you probably shouldn’t let Aiden give you drinks—or rides home. You should probably stay away from Aiden.” He helped me into his car, fastening my seatbelt, then muttered under his breath, “Shouldn’t be too hard, since Aiden’s not going to be working here anymore.”

“Oh.” That made me feel sad, but only for a second.

Riley was being so sweet. I wanted to tell him that. But suddenly I was so tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

I started to drift off, but blinked, just realizing something—why I felt so woozy. “Hey, I think there might have been
alcohol
in my drinks!”

Riley raised his eyebrows, giving me a sardonic look. “You think?”

That epiphany was it. All I had left. I instantly fell asleep, and probably snored, only waking when I suddenly felt sick.

My head was spinning, my stomach too. The whole world—spinning. So bad. I knew what was going to happen, but it was too late to do anything about it. I puked in my lap. And all over Riley’s fancy car.

***

Me puking in Riley’s car probably had nothing to do with him buying a new one only a few weeks later, but you never know. In any case, he was very pleased with his new purchase. He showed it off to all of us when he came in to work the next day. It was actually the first time I’d seen him happy since Ava dumped him. It was weird that a car could have such an affect on a guy. But I was glad to see Riley happy.

And, speaking of cars having affects on guys—Riley’s car had Finn drooling.

When Riley came to pick us up for The Wave concert in it, Finn stopped talking in mid-sentence to salivate.

“Man, I wish I was rich,” Finn sulked.

I nudged him, teasingly. “Money can’t buy everything.”

“No, but it can buy a lot.”

“Like back stage passes to meet The Wave!” Courtney, Riley’s date said. “Woot!”

Courtney was nice. I wished Riley liked her, so he could be happy, since she obviously adored him. But I could tell he wasn’t that into her. I mean, he was friendly to her, and flirty and attentive and all that stuff, but his eyes didn’t get that spark, not like when he looked at Ava.

Then again, I wasn’t sure I’d like Riley to get that spark when he looked at Courtney either.

Gah! It was confusing.

I wanted Riley to be happy. I did. But to be honest, I didn’t really want him to like a girl—unless the girl was me. And well, I had a boyfriend, so I was—seriously, desperately—trying not to like Riley. Trying so hard. So, really, it wasn’t fair that I wanted him to like me. But blah. That’s what it seemed I wanted.

Stupid.

The concert was fun—pretty much. But Bianca ended up being there. When I came out of the bathroom, there she was, cornered with Finn, acting all intimate and
we-have-a-thing-
like. It made me feel sick and it ruined the rest of the night for me, though after that, Finn treated me extra sweet and gave me extra hugs and kisses and ice-cream.

“I love you so much,” Finn whispered to me on the way home from the concert. “Please, don’t let Bianca come between us—Zoey, please.”

I sat ridged and trembling, not knowing what to say or think. It seemed
he
was the one letting Bianca come between us. I mean, he sure didn’t look hostile towards her when they were huddled together in that corner. You know that spark I was talking about? The one Riley got in his eyes when he looked at Ava? It seemed Finn had it in his eyes tonight when he was talking to Bianca.

It made me clutch my stomach and want to cry. But I let Finn hold me in the car and try to make me feel better. I wanted to feel better. So bad. I wanted things to go back to the way they were—when we were happy and totally into each other and in love. I wanted things to be right between us again. But … it didn’t seem they could.

Not anymore.

But I wanted to be wrong.

***

A week after the concert, Finn and I took my little brother and sister with us to the fair. We stopped by Riley’s on the way, trying to coax him into coming too—and I tried coaxing him into bringing Courtney, but Riley smirked.

“Why are you trying to sell me on Courtney, Jones?”

I shrugged, turning red. “She’s nice.”

“And the total opposite of Ava.” Finn nudged me playfully. “Zoey hated Ava.”

Riley raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

I could feel myself turning even redder, ‘cause I wasn’t quite sure anymore why I didn’t like Ava. Was it because she was a self-centered snob … or because Riley like, craved her? I was pretty sure it was a little of both, but I didn’t want to discuss it.

I didn’t like talking about Ava with Riley around, anyway. I didn’t like her name even being brought up in his presence anymore because it made his eyes look all sad and lost these days. Though, actually, they didn’t look sad or lost right now. Right now they looked … guarded.

“Come on, Riley!” Justin called impatiently through the open window of Finn’s car. We stood talking in Riley’s front yard longer than my little brother could tolerate. “I want to ride the Ferris wheel with you!”

“I’d like to come, buddy—really.” Riley sounded torn, regretful. He didn’t often tell Justin no—in fact, he never did. Only, well, he did now, saying he had already made other plans.

“Oh!” Finn whooped with a grin. “Riley’s got another girl—is she inside? Who is it? The red-head from the mall?”

Riley shook his head, looking sober. “It’s not the red-head.”

“Who is it, then?” Finn’s interest was piqued by Riley’s reluctance to spill.

Riley rubbed the back of his neck, eying me. Then he set his jaw. “Ava.”

It was like a punch in the stomach. For some reason. Though, really it was none of my business. I knew that. It shouldn’t matter to me who Riley dated. Of course. Still … ouch.

“Oh.” Finn laughed, awkward-like. “Zoey doesn’t hate her
that
much—I was just messing around. Bring her with us—she and Zoey can duke-it-out in the fun house—actually make the house fun.”

I tugged on Finn’s arm, wanting to get away. Riley obviously didn’t want to come. The way he was acting, it was kind of tense.

“I already invited Ava to come,” Riley said.
 
“But she didn’t want to.” He ran his hands through his hair, not seeming to want to go on, but he finally did anyway. “I guess her and Jones—their feelings are mutual.”

I opened my mouth in indignation, but Finn laughed. “Well, okay then,” he said all merry as can be, “see ya.”

***

The next day at work, I was filling drinks at the soda fountain for a table, and Riley was standing nearby, getting ready to leave. But when he saw me, he hesitated, then came over and mentioned maybe the kids and Finn and I shouldn’t come to his house while Ava was around anymore.