Rise (17 page)

“I’m starting to see that.” Her voice sounded sincere, and for some reason having her act so nice was making me feel uncomfortable.

“We better get out to the game. They’re going to realize that we’re both missing and think we’ve killed each other. I’ll go track down Riley and tell him what he’ll be doing during halftime.”

“You go on out. I’m going to freshen up a bit.”

“All right.” I hopped off the bench and started for the exit.

“Attie?”

I turned to face her.

“I’m about to tell you something that I’ll completely deny if you ever repeat.”

“Okay.” I braced myself for some earth-shattering news.

“I thought it was awesome the way Tammy kicked Wes’s butt. It made my year—you have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to do the very same thing. He can be such a jerk to everyone around him.”

“I think it made a lot of people’s year.” I turned to go again.

“And Attie?”

I turned around again.

“Thanks for listening. I know I didn’t deserve to have you be so nice.”

“We all deserve to have people be nice to us Tiffany, even you.” I laughed.

“Go on,” she encouraged. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

As I walked out of the locker room, part of me was in shock that Tiffany and I had a conversation. The other part of me worried that the entire thing had been an act and she would somehow use all the information she’d gathered against me. I’d have to wait to see which it was.

I knocked on the football locker room door and waited for someone to answer. Soon, one of the trainers stuck his head out.

“Yeah?”

“I need to see Riley Bennett please. It’s a minor emergency.”

Joshua, Nicole, Riley’s parents, Tammy, and I sat on the first row of stadium seats and watched as the homecoming court and their escorts made their way out of the tunnel. When I asked Riley to escort Tiffany, he’d told me he thought I’d “officially taken the train to crazy town,” so I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d see the two of them actually walk out together. I was thrilled when they emerged together, and as soon as people realized who was walking beside Tiffany, the rumbling of hushed voices began. Gasps, chuckles, and questions flowed toward the field in such a downpour that it caused Riley and Tiffany to stop dead in their tracks.

It was obvious by the look on Riley’s face as he walked across the field that he still wasn’t happy with the request I’d made, but he dutifully accepted it just the same and was managing to be a good sport about it all.

I hoped that he’d thank me for it one day, and I further hoped that Tiffany would prove to have been worth it.

Jesus had been right. Taking the higher road had left me feeling far better than drudging in the mud along with my enemies ever would have.

For the first time in a very long time, I felt free.

chapter 22

The next morning Riley and I sat on the couch across from Joshua and Nicole. Even with her sitting, I could see a small baby bump. Doing the math in my head, it seemed a little early to start showing, but who was I to know? I wasn’t a doctor—yet.

“There are two in there,” Joshua announced. He must have noticed my stare.

“What?”

“Twins.” Nicole laughed. “All that wait and praying for a baby, and God turns around and gives us two at once. Can you believe it?”

“That totally sounds like something God would do.” I was in awe of his wonderful blessing. He couldn’t have given a more precious gift to a more deserving couple. “Hear that, Riley? We’re going to be babysitting twins.”

“Twins are special,” Riley muttered. “They’ll always be close.”

The room went silent as we all realized that Riley was thinking about his sister.

I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “If they’re anything like you and Melody, then they better watch out.” I turned my attention to Joshua and Nicole. “Riley and Melody were quite a team, and they could do some serious damage if you left them alone too long.”

Nicole laughed. “I’ll be sure to stay on alert.”

Riley cleared his throat and sat forward on the sofa. “We need to get on with our session ‘cause Charlie and I have gotta get ready for the dance.”

“What dance?” I asked the question even though I knew exactly what dance he was referring to.

“Homecoming, of course.”

I looked over at Nicole. “We won.”

“We did.”

A scowl grew on Joshua’s face. “Way to go and blow it for me, Riley.”

“Blow what?”

I pulled my hand away and reached over to give Nicole a high five. “I told you it would be today and not a second before. I had a feeling.”

“You were right. I’m glad I took your side on the bet instead of Joshua’s.”

“What’s today and not a second before?” Riley asked. “What bet?”

“You just lost me twenty bucks,” Joshua announced.

“How did I lose you twenty bucks?”

“I figured you’d clue in long before today, my friend.”

I slapped Riley on the leg. “We aren’t going to any dance.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“You didn’t ask me.”

“What? Yes, I did.”

“No, you didn’t.”

He turned to face me and crossed his legs in front of him. I did the same.

“Charlie, I asked you to homecoming.”

“No, you did not.”

His face was full of confusion. “I could have sworn … ” He shook his head and looked over at Joshua for help.

“Don’t look at me. You made this mess; you dig yourself out.”

A glance toward Nicole didn’t help him either. She only pursed her lips and slowly shook her head in mock disgust.

“You’re my girlfriend,” he said, looking back at me. “You’re wearing the ring I gave you.”

I shrugged.

“We live together, for cryin’ out loud. Of course I’d assume we’d go to homecoming together.”

“That was your first mistake. You assumed.”

Joshua laughed. “You know what they say about assuming.”

Riley ignored the teasing and kept his eyes on me. “Are you serious right now? You aren’t going to the dance with me?”

“Riley, you didn’t ask me.”

He stared at me in complete disbelief. “But—”

“I don’t care if you’re married, old, and crippled; you’ve still got to ask a girl on a date. Your mom was right. You’ve gotten lazy.”

“Oh dear Lord, you got my mom involved in this?”

“She’s the one that warned me that boys get lazy. I didn’t think you would, but good grief, was I wrong.”

“I didn’t get lazy, I just—”

“How could you forget to ask? Do you not think about me?”

“I think about you all the time!” He looked over at Joshua in a panic. “Josh, help me out here.”

“He does think about you all the time. I can verify that much.”

“And ninety-five percent of the time I’m thinking about you, it’s stuff that I’m allowed to think about, so I’m not even screwing that up.”

“I guess that’s nice to know.”

“You’re seriously not going to the dance with me?”

“You didn’t ask me.”

“I’m asking you now.”

“I didn’t hear an invite. Did you, Nicole? Did you hear an invite?”

“No, I didn’t hear an invite. I heard more of a telling than an invite.”

He looked at the mother-to-be and rolled his eyes before scooting toward me and picking up my hands. “Charlie, I’m sorry I forgot to ask. And I’m sorry I assumed that we were going together. But will you please, please go to the homecoming dance with me?”

“That’s very sweet of you, Riley.”

He finally grinned.

“But no.” The grin slipped right back off his face. “If you want to go out with me, you have to ask more than a few hours in advance. I’ve already made plans.”

“What?” he shrieked.

“I have. I’m sorry.” I pulled my hands away and gave his cheeks a pat. “And as a matter of fact, I’ve got to get home and change clothes. I’m leaving in less than an hour.”

“Where on earth are you going?”

“To Stillwater with Gramps. He’s going to show me around the campus, and then we’re going to the game. OU’s not playing tonight, so I might as well go watch the Cowboys.”

“Are you feeling okay?” he asked.

“I’m feeling fine. I mean, if I’m going to go to vet school there, I might as well get used to it a little bit at a time.” I got up off the couch, gave Nicole and Joshua a hug, and started toward the door.

“Okay, I get it,” Riley announced. “Ha ha. Funny joke. You all taught me a lesson. Charlie, I’ll never take you for granted again and assume that you’ll go out with me. Are you happy now?”

I threw my hands on my hips and scowled.

“You had me going until you said you were going to a Cowboys’ game. That would never happen in a million years. Now, I’ve got my tux in the car. Let’s get you home so you can get in your dress, and let’s get to the dance.”

“Riley! We aren’t going to the dance. I don’t have a dress.”

He stood in silent shock.

“Your mother and I didn’t go dress shopping because you never asked me to the freakin’ dance, and even if I wanted to go with you now, she wouldn’t let me because you didn’t ask until today.”

“But my mother loves me.”

“She loves me more.”

His jaw dropped.

“Well, not really. But asking me the day of the dance is completely disrespectful, and if I wasn’t so in love with you, I’d break up with you right this instant. Now you better not say another word or I really will break up with you just because of your stupidity. You went and screwed up. Accept it and let’s move on.”

“Fine!”

“Fine!” I stomped toward the door, threw it open, and walked out and down the sidewalk. Within seconds, Riley was running up behind me.

“Wait, what time do you think you’ll be home?”

“I don’t know. Eleven or so. Why?”

He grabbed my hand and stopped me. “I’ll wait up for you, okay?”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“But still, I’ll wait up.” It was obvious he was worried. He placed his hand on my neck and traced my jawline with his thumb. “Charlie, are we okay?”

“We’re okay. This isn’t a big deal. It’s just a dance.”

“I love you. I’m sorry I messed up.”

My point had been made, and he’d suffered enough. I couldn’t let him worry anymore. Standing on my tippy toes, I grinned before giving him a small kiss. His body relaxed instantly as he wrapped his arms around me.

“I’ll make this up to you, I promise.”

chapter 23

“Atticus.” I felt Gramps lightly tap my cheek. “Atticus, we’re almost there. Time to wake up.”

I opened my eyes a bit and then closed them right back. “What time is it?”

“Almost midnight.”

I felt the truck lurch to a stop, and without even bothering to open my eyes, I felt around for the door handle, gave it a pull, opened the door, grabbed my socks and shoes off the seat, and climbed out of the cab. “Goodnight, Gramps. See you at church in the morning.”

“Good night, princess.”

Picturing the Bennett house in my mind, I blindly walked toward the porch steps, but even after several steps my feet never found them. I opened my eyes and realized I wasn’t even at the Bennetts’ house. In a panic, I turned to get back in the truck, but Gramps had already pulled away.

It was extremely dark, and I was all alone.

Squinting into the darkness, I realized I was in the park. I could barely make out the merry-go-round just a few feet away. Not knowing what else to do and too tired to start walking home, I stumbled to the floating metal disc and took a seat.

Naturally, I worried about Gramps. Had he suddenly gone senile? I hadn’t seen any other signs, but confusing a house and a park were pretty serious mix-ups. And it had been his suggestion to take me to the OSU game—maybe he had gone senile!

Finally waking up fully, I remembered my cell phone, pulled it out of my sweatshirt pocket, and dialed Riley’s number. Hopefully, he was waiting up for me, just like he said he would.

A split second after pushing the send button, I heard a phone ring behind me.

“I wondered how long it would take you to call,” a voice said in the darkness.

The merry-go-round turned until I was sitting in front of a smiling Riley.

“What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you.”

His phone was still ringing, so I pushed the cancel button and shoved the phone back into my pocket. “How’d you know I would be here?”

“I arranged it.”

“How?”

“I called Gramps as soon as you left Joshua and Nicole’s.”

“Why on earth would you want to meet me out here in the middle of the night?”

“We’ve got a homecoming dance to make up for.”

“We do?”

“Yep.”

“And just how do you think we’re going to accomplish that tonight?”

“Hold that thought.” He jogged into the darkness and out of sight.

Within moments, small white lights filled the night sky. I closed my eyes and gave them a rub before opening them and refocusing on my surroundings. Christmas lights were wrapped around the swing set and draped over the play fort. The vision was stunning.

“You did this?”

“I did.” He walked toward me again; this time he held two items in his hand. He gave the merry-go-round a kick, causing it to start turning, and then jumped on and made his way to the middle. “Join me please.”

My heart fluttered as I stood and carefully walked to the middle of the slowly turning sphere.

“I want to ask you a question,” he announced.

“You aren’t going to ask me to marry you, are you?”

“Not yet.”

“All right then. What?”

“I know this is very late notice, but we’ve got a dance starting in a couple of minutes or so.”

“We do?”

“Yep.”

“Oh.”

“Will you go with me?”

“I don’t know if I’m allowed. See, Marme has this rule—”

He held a finger to my lips to silence me and then tucked something shiny up under his arm, grabbed a piece of paper out of his front pocket, and handed it to me. “Here, read this.”

I unfolded the paper and held it up so I could read it in the little bit of light that illuminated the playground.

“Read it out loud,” he said.

“‘I hereby give Atticus Reed permission to go with Riley Bennett to the Second Chance Homecoming Dance. Molly Bennett.’”

“See, you’re allowed to go with me.”

“How’d you manage to get permission?”

“I blamed it all on my dad.”

“You blamed Pops for the fact that you forgot to ask me to the dance?”

“I sure did. Mom and I figured that if he’d raised me right, I woulda known better than to screw up so bad; seeing as how he failed to instruct me properly, I got a pass for just this once.”

“Poor Pops.”

“He’ll get over it. But as his punishment, Mom made him help me hang the lights. So … ” He grinned. “Will you go with me?”

I glanced around at the hard work he’d put into decorating. “How could I possibly say no to all this?”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” Out of nowhere, he presented a corsage. “First things first. You have to wear this. All girls wear these things to fancy dances.”

“We’re wearing jeans. What’s so fancy about that?”

“Use your imagination please. I know you’ve got one.”

“Oh, sorry. Then I’m wearing an amazing crimson dress.”

“I knew you would be, so of course I got the flower to match.”

Fearful he might accidently stab me with the needle, I held my breath as he carefully pinned the corsage to my sweatshirt.

“It matches my hat,” I announced.

“Funny you should mention that.” He reached up, slipped the ball cap off my head, and dropped it onto the ground.

“Wait, I’ve got hat hair.”

“It looks fine.” He reached under his arm and pulled out the object he’d placed there. “Don’t all princesses need a crown?”

“You got me a crown?”

“Of course. You’re the princess of this particular dance.”

“Wow. I’ve never been the princess of a dance before.”

“Another first,” we said simultaneously, which caused us to laugh.

“Or even been to a dance. So there’s another one. And this is my first crown and my first corsage.”

“What’s a corsage?”

“The flower thing.”

“Oh.”

As music started playing in the background, Riley stepped back slightly and held his hands out for me.

“I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve never danced with an actual boy before.”

“Actual boy? Have you danced with an imaginary one?”

“Several, of course. All girls have practiced dancing with their Prince Charming. It’s what Disney movies train you for.”

“Well, I know you’ve watched enough of those, seeing as how I was forced to sit through hundreds of Disney princess movies with you and Melody growing up. You should be a natural.”

“And for the record, it’s another first.”

“Consider it added to the list.” His fingers waved an invite for my hands to join his, and I obliged. “Okay, you put one hand on my shoulder, like this.” He lifted my left hand to his shoulder, and once it was in place, his now empty hand lowered and slid around my side until it found its familiar home in the small of my back. Doing so brought me even closer to him. He lightly shook my right hand. “Keep hold of this hand.”

“Where did you learn how to do this?”

“My mom taught me way back before my first dance. Well, that and those Disney movies.”

I looked down at our bare feet and listened as his instruction continued.

“I know this will be a very hard concept for you to understand, but if we’re gonna do this right, you’re gonna have to let me lead. That means I’m in charge, at least for the next several minutes, anyway.”

“Don’t abuse your power.”

“I’ll try not to.”

I watched his feet until he removed his hand from my back, placed it under my chin, and tilted my head up. “Don’t look down. Look in my eyes.”

“You know what happens when I do that and we’re this close.”

“It makes you wanna kiss me.” His hand went back to its position, and my body immediately felt warmer.

“Right. What if I can’t dance and want to kiss you at the same time?”

“I guess we’ll have to forgo the dancing at some point, but sadly for you, I’m bound and determined to at least get one dance in, so you’re gonna have to control your hormones.”

“I can’t believe you’re telling me to control my hormones. That’s the first time that’s ever happened.”

“And it’ll probly be the last.”

“Then I’ll treasure the moment.”

“Kinda like how I treasure every moment with you?”

“That’s the sappiest thing I’ve ever heard. You’re overdoing it with the sucking up.”

“That’s not sucking up; it’s true. But, if it happens to help get me off the hook, then all the better.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And have you even noticed we’re dancing?”

“We are?”

“Yep.”

I looked down at our feet. He was right. We were making our way around the center of the merry-go-round. I was following his lead and hadn’t even noticed. It was simple.

I looked into his now smoldering eyes. “You’re the first boy I ever dated, the first boy I ever kissed, the first boy I ever danced with, and—”

“And?”

“The first boy I ever loved.”

“I hope I’m the last boy you ever love,” he whispered.

My heart raced and my legs felt weak. “Is the first dance over yet?”

“Not yet, why?”

“I want you to kiss me.”

He shrugged as a crooked smirk perched on his face. “If you insist … ”

“I insist.”

After bringing his hands to my face, he leaned toward me. I closed my eyes, but just before his lips met mine, I felt him back away. “Quick question.”

I opened my eyes in disappointment. “What?”

“Will you go to prom with me?”

“Riley, it’s seven months away. Why are you asking me now?”

“I wanna make sure you don’t make other plans.”

“What if you change your mind between now and then?”

“I won’t.”

“You could.”

“But I won’t.”

“How are you so sure?”

“I just am. So will you go to prom with me or not?”

“You think you’ll still love me seven months from now?”

“Call me crazy, but yeah, I’ll still be in love with you in seven months.”

“Will you get a crimson tie so it’ll match the dress I buy?”

“Consider it done.”

“Then it’s a date.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Will you kiss me now?”

“Love to.”

I closed my eyes and puckered up.

“One more thing—”

My eyes flew open again. “Oh good grief, what now?”

“The new song that’s about to start … ”

“Yes?”

“I spent hours searching through my iPod until I found the perfect one. I picked it just for you.”

“You did?” My heart was melting to the point that I could practically feel it drip.

“It’s a group called Foreigner. They’re from the 80s.”

“Of course they are.”

“Some of the song doesn’t fit us, but a lot of it does.”

“What’s it called?”

He nervously straightened the crown on my head and then let his hands skim the side of my face and body as he lowered them to mine. “‘Waiting For a Girl Like You.’”

“‘Waiting For a Girl Like You?’” My heart puddled at my feet.

“Uh-huh.” He kissed the inside of each of my wrists, and I gulped as his face inched closer to mine.

“Have you been … waiting for a girl like me?”

“You could say that.” He kissed the small space just above the bridge of my nose and between my eyebrows.

“I could?”

He placed his mouth right next to my ear. “I’ll never take you for granted again.”

“You won’t?”

“No.”

His lips grazed the skin just below and behind my earlobe, sending my body into full-blown chills. “If you don’t kiss me right now, I’m going to lose it. You’re killing me, Riley.”

His cheek slightly grazed mine. “It’s about time.”