Rise (31 page)

chapter 44

I took one last look in the mirror and let out a disappointed sigh. I looked nothing like I’d hoped I would. My hair wouldn’t pouf the way I’d wanted, and the bust of the dress wasn’t filled quite the way I’d imagined. It looked a little deflated, and my mood was starting to match.

Dad threw open the door. “You ready to go, Attie? He’s waiting on you downstairs. You need to hurry.”

“I guess so. Not much else I can do to fix myself now.”

“You look beautiful. Just try to have a good time.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now put him out of his misery and get on downstairs.”

As I walked toward the door, he called after me. “Attie?”

I turned and noticed tears in his eyes. “Yes?”

“You’re stunning.”

I walked to him and kissed his cheek before turning and leaving him in the room alone. He never followed me down the stairs.

A corsage sat on the stair banister. Cooper was nowhere to be seen, but Baby barked loudly in the living room. “I can’t believe you didn’t let me make a grand entrance or anything. I should go back upstairs and make you watch me as I walk gracefully down the staircase. I was gliding, you know? I was literally gliding down the stairs and you missed it. I got ready upstairs for the sheer reason I could glide.” I picked up the corsage and began to put it on.

“I believe that’s my job.”

His voice startled me and caused me to drop the corsage onto the floor.

I looked up in utter shock.

“Hey, Charlie,” Riley said, followed by a crooked grin.

My heart raced out of control, and my hands began to shake. “Riley? What … ?”

“I couldn’t miss your prom. We had a date, remember?”

“But I thought Cooper was taking me.”

A beautiful laugh floated out of his mouth. It was one of the most wonderful sounds I’d ever heard. I’d desperately missed his laugh. “Well, plans changed.”

“They did?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s okay with you taking me instead of him?”

“Yeah. Why? Would you rather go with him?” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and prepared to dial. “I’m sure if we called him up he’d be here in a matter of minutes.”

“Don’t you dare call him. I’m so happy you’re here.”

Looking down, I watched as Baby yapped at Riley’s feet. She was happy to see him, but he didn’t pick her up.

He walked toward me and knelt down to pick the corsage up off the floor. “Do you wanna wear this thing?”

“Did you pick it out?”

“Yeah.”

“Then yes, I want to wear it.”

I held my arm up for him to slide the flower onto my wrist, but he hesitated before doing it. I wondered if he’d realized I wasn’t wearing the ring he’d given me.

He regained himself and slid the corsage on before jamming his hands into his tuxedo pockets.

“You look very handsome, Riley.”

“Thanks. I feel kinda weird all dressed up in this thing. It isn’t very comfortable.”

“Well, you look great.”

“Thanks.”

“Do I look all right?”

“Oh yeah, sorry. You look amazing. Beautiful. Not that I’m surprised or anything.”

“Thank you.”

“Your hair’s gotten longer.”

“It has?”

He nodded as he shuffled his feet on the hardwood floor. “In case you can’t tell, I’m a nervous wreck right now. I had everything all planned out, but as soon as I saw you, I forgot everything I was gonna say.”

“Are you happy to see me?”

“Of course.”

“That’s all I need to know.”

“Should we go?”

“Yes.”

He opened the front door, and I immediately noticed Cooper’s car sitting in the driveway.

Apparently Cooper had lied. He wasn’t okay when he left me standing at the door two days before. I couldn’t even wrap my brain around what was happening, and I couldn’t help but worry that I’d broken his heart. “Riley, I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“I know. I’ll explain it over dinner.”

As the waiter took our order, Riley nervously messed with his hair and then finally gave me a smile when the man left us alone.

“I hate fancy restaurants,” he announced.

“I know you do.”

I placed my elbows on the table and looked over at him.

“So I guess you wanna hear why I’m the one sitting across from you instead of Cooper?”

“Yes.”

“Well, when I came home from school yesterday, he was sitting in my living room. He looked like he’d lost his puppy or something.

“My first thought was that something happened to you, which of course threw me into a complete panic. But he finally told me you were fine, and he just came out and asked me if I wanted to take you to prom.”

“Why?”

“He said that he thought you might want me to take you.”

“He said that?”

“The way he tells it, the two of you have been hanging out, and the closer it came to prom, the more he thought you might want me here.”

I thought back to the conversation in the living room when I accidently called him Riley. “That’s it? That’s all he said?”

“Basically. He said if I wanted to go, I needed to pack my bags and come back with him. He let me borrow his dad’s tux and everything. Oh, and he told me that you were wearing crimson.”

“Did he say ‘crimson’?”

“No, he said ‘red.’ But I knew you wouldn’t be caught dead in Husker-red and he must have meant crimson.”

“Cooper doesn’t really get the difference.”

“Then he doesn’t know you very well.”

I didn’t reply. Riley and I both understood that nobody knew me like he did.

“How’s school?” he asked before dipping into his salad.

“You know school, it’s … well, school.”

“Yeah.”

“How is school back home?”

“Close to done, thank God. I can’t believe I’m going to be out of there before long. Then off to UCO.”

“So you decided to stay close to home?”

“I got a scholarship, so I couldn’t pass it up. My parents were completely freaking out. I mean, it’s not a full ride or anything, but it’s enough that my parents can afford the rest.”

“Good grief, Riley Bennett! I’m so proud of you I think I might explode.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you proud of yourself? Excited?”

“Both.”

“Have you decided what you’re going to major in?”

“Not for sure, but I’m thinking criminal justice.”

“Good for you.”

“Hey,” he said, jabbing his fork in his salad again, “I know this is random, but the gang and I went to Johnnie’s a couple of weeks ago, and you know what I found out?”

“What?”

“Their pie is amazing.”

“It is?”

“Yeah. All these years I’ve gorged myself on frieds and coneys, and I’ve been missing out on the pie.”

“Well, I’m glad you finally figured it out.”

“Me too. I can’t wait for you to taste it. You’re gonna love—” He stopped himself and shook his head. “Sorry, I forgot we aren’t back home.”

“It’s okay. Who knows, maybe I’ll come visit soon.”

“That would be great. You can meet Anne’s new boyfriend. Oh, and Jen’s finally dating the guy from the golf team. They seem to really like each other.”

“She told me, and wouldn’t you know it? As soon as she stopped chasing after him, he went after her.”

“You’ve kept in contact with them all this time?”

“I talk to them every week on Skype, and we’re on Facebook almost every day.”

“Uh yeah, Facebook. I haven’t really gotten into that.”

“You should. It’s a great way to keep in touch.” I looked down at my plate and sighed. “I can’t believe that much has happened since I’ve been gone.”

“You look disappointed,” he whispered.

“I’m not. It’s just—”

“What?”

“It’s not like I expected time to stand still or anything, but it’s just weird to know that life just kept right on going—like I was never there.”

“That’s not the case at all. We just didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Look, Riley, about the way I left—”

“Let’s not,” he said. “I don’t want to ruin the night. There’s no need to go back and rehash all that. It is what it is.”

“It is what it is.” I spoke in a quiet whisper that even he couldn’t hear.

“Let’s talk about something happier.”

“Like what?” I asked.

His face went blank, which caused me to bust out in giggles.

He sat back in his chair and threw his hands into his moppy hair with a laugh. “Seriously, are we so far gone that we can’t come up with something to talk about?”

“We’re pitiful,” I announced. “We really are.”

“I sure hope we dance better than we talk, or this is gonna be a long freakin’ night.”

“No doubt.”

“Oh, I guess you heard that Nicole had the babies.”

“Pops told me. I’ve been meaning to call her.”

“They’re the cutest babies I’ve ever seen. Joshua can’t stop talking about them. He’s crazy in love.”

“What did they name them?”

“Libby Grace and Sophie Rae.”

“How cute is that?”

“I know.”

“I’m sad I wasn’t there to see it all.”

“It’s been fun. It’s kinda neat to see new life come into the world like that. It makes you realize that there’s still some good going on around us. Lord knows we could all use more good.”

“Tell me about it.”

The mood was instantly lifted, and Riley and I were able to spend the rest of our dinner enjoying each other’s company over very interesting conversation, none of which included Cooper or any girls back home.

Unfortunately, our dancing wasn’t nearly as effortless as our talking, and within less than an hour we were more than ready to leave the lamest prom that had ever existed. It didn’t come close to comparing to the Second Chance Homecoming Dance that Riley had thrown for me.

“We needed some eighties music or something. How can you dance to that hip-hop crap?” he asked as we made our way toward the car.

“We can’t, obviously.”

“I think I looked like I was having convulsions or something.”

“Well, I didn’t look much better.”

“Yeah, you did. You’ve at least got that booty-shake thing down.”

“How could you even tell with me wearing this dress?”

“Oh, I could tell.”

“You aren’t supposed to be looking at my booty, Riley Bennett.”

“Hey, you were shaking it in my direction; how was I supposed to ignore it?”

“I wasn’t shaking it in your direction.”

He rolled his eyes at me.

“At least I wasn’t meaning to.”

“Well, you were.”

“No matter how bad the dancing was, I still had fun. Thanks for coming, Riley.”

Without thinking, I leaned in and kissed him. He didn’t respond. I pulled away, but he grabbed me by the waist and brought me to him as I ran my fingers through his hair.

I’d been wrong about kissing Cooper. Kissing him didn’t come close to kissing Riley. The touch of Cooper’s lips on mine had never caused my knees to buckle, my hands to tingle, or my mind to blur. Kissing Riley was, in my opinion, what a true kiss should be.

Riley’s hands slid around my back. Keeping his left hand stationary, he slid the right up my back before cupping it gently around my neck. The way he held me was familiar and wonderful. For a split second it was as if nothing had ever changed. We were right back in Oklahoma standing on the side of the house, hiding from the view of his parents.

Out of nowhere, his body went stiff, and his arms fell lifelessly at his sides before he slowly pulled away and cleared his throat.

I stepped closer to him. I wanted him to kiss me again.

“Charlie, we can’t.” His left shoulder shrugged up to his ear as he looked down at the ground.

“Why?”

“Because I can’t kiss you knowing that I have to turn around and leave tomorrow. I can’t let those feelings happen. It’ll kill me to feel that way again and then turn around and have to let you go.”

“But Riley—”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have come. I just … ”

“You just what?”

“I wanted to take you to prom. That’s all.”

“I see.” As if a bandage was ripped off my heart, it shattered into pieces.

His hand touched my face, and he softly stroked my cheek with his thumb. No matter how much I may have wanted to, I couldn’t hide the pain, the pain caused by his rejection. My shoulders trembled, and tears spilled down my face.

“Charlie … ” His hand moved from my cheek to the back of my neck, and he pulled me to him. His right arm wrapped around me, and I was in his arms again. “This is so much more painful than I imagined it would be. I just don’t feel like we should start something, especially with me going right back home.”

“When are you leaving?”

“Early tomorrow morning.”

“So soon?”

“Yeah. Maybe I shouldn’t have come at all.”

Anger rose in my chest. “You’re right.” I shoved myself away from him and walked toward the car. “Why did you come, Riley? Why now, after all this time?”

“I wanted to see you.”

I turned to face him but quickly turned back around. It was too painful to look at him.

“I’m sorry, Charlie; I was being selfish. I missed you and wanted to see you. This hasn’t been easy on me.”

I turned back to him. “And you think it’s been easy on me? I tried calling you when I first got here. You wouldn’t even talk to me.”

“You broke up with me and moved away. What did you expect me to do?”

“I expected you to understand.”

“So help me understand.” He took a step toward me. “You left me and everything else good about your life behind. Why?”

“My dad finally wanted me.”

“I wanted you too.”

“I needed to repair my relationship with him before it was too late.”

“By ending ours?”

“Ours was going to end anyway.”

He looked as if I’d slapped him. “I see.”

“It was inevitable that we’d end up apart, whether it was then or later; we wouldn’t have lasted.”

“You really believe that?”

“We’ve survived this long without each other. I think that proves we weren’t meant to be.”

“I guess I didn’t realize it was all so final.”

“I’ve been gone for six months, Riley.”

“You don’t have to tell me that. Trust me, I know how long it’s been.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders to his ears. “Are you and Cooper dating? Have you kissed him?”