At First Sight (14 page)

I sighed into the phone. “I'm just in a cranky mood. You know—last night.”

Britt clucked sympathetically. During our drive home I'd told her all about everything that had happened between me and Riley at the party. For once she hadn't had much advice for me, though she'd promised to help me figure out what to do.

The problem was, I was starting to wonder if I really wanted to
do
anything. Maybe
it was better to pull back a little, let this ridiculous situation die a natural death.

“I always told you there was no such thing as love at first sight,” I told Britt now. “Guess this proves it, huh?”

She didn't exactly answer that. “Want me to come over?” she asked instead. “You know I'm always happy to help you wallow. Or try to cheer you up, if you'd rather.”

“Thanks.” I felt marginally better just knowing she was there for me. No matter what. “I'm okay. I think I just want to hang out by myself for a while.”

At that moment Meow stood up, stretched, and let out a sudden howl. I smiled.

“Well, not exactly
alone
,” I said.

Britt laughed. “Okay. But call if you change your mind, okay? I can be there in five minutes.”

We hung up, and I sat there staring at the phone for a second. As tempting as it was to let Britt come over and jolly me out of my mood, I really did want to be alone to try to figure out why I was letting this guy get to me so much. It wasn't as if he was my boyfriend or some longtime crush or anything. When you got right down to
it, I barely knew him. I'd first laid eyes on him less than a week ago, and I hadn't really stopped obsessing over him since. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think I really was starting to fall for all that love-at-first-sight garbage.

I was still pondering that a few minutes later. Meow had moved from the coffee table to the couch beside me and was splayed out on his back so I could rub his belly. Suddenly the doorbell buzzed. The cat leaped straight up into the air, letting out a wild shriek and then dashing under my dad's favorite chair.

“Chill, dude,” I told Meow with a laugh. “It's probably just Britt.”

It would be just like her to come over anyway. I headed for the door, not totally disappointed. Maybe she could help me figure things out. I certainly wasn't getting anywhere on my own.

Hurrying into the front hall, I grabbed the door and swung it open. “Hey,” I began with mock anger. “Didn't you hear what I—oh.”

It wasn't Britt.

“Hey,” Riley said with a sheepish smile, shuffling his weight from one foot to the other. “Hope you don't mind me stopping
by like this. I was over this direction anyway, and your address was in Google, and, well, I just thought maybe we should talk or something.”

I just stood there in the doorway, totally agog and not quite believing he was really here. What was he doing here? My mind reeled with the possibilities.

“Mroh-wohwww!”

The yowl yanked me out of my stupor. I let out a gasp, glancing down just in time to see a furry gray-and-cream form streak past my feet and straight out the door.

“Meow! Come back!” I cried, forgetting all about Riley in my panic.

How could I have been so careless? I knew better than to stand there like a dork with the door wide open. If anything happened to that crazy cat, it would be all my fault.

“Was that a cat?” Riley asked.

“Yeah.” I hurried forward to the edge of the front steps and desperately scanned the shrubbery out front. But Meow had already disappeared. “His name's Meow, and he's a total spaz. He's not supposed to go outside.”

“Gotcha.” Riley was instantly all business. “Come on, let's find him—he can't have gone far yet.”

Just then I spotted a flash of gray beneath an azalea. “There he is!” I said, pointing. Then I rushed forward and flung myself to my hands and knees, ignoring the way the moistness of the mulch seeped instantly into my favorite capris. “Here, kitty kitty!” I called softly, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. “Come on, baby. Here, Meow!”

“I think I see him,” Riley called softly from somewhere behind me.

Glancing back, I saw him staring toward a clump of evergreen bushes along the property line. I winced as a car drove by out front, moving way too fast for the residential street.

“Meow!” I called, hurrying toward the bushes. “Are you in there, boy?”

By the time I reached him, Riley was already crouched down in front of the evergreens. “There,” he said quietly, pointing. “He went that way.”

“At least he's heading for the backyard instead of the street,” I commented, grateful for small favors.

“How about if you go that way,” Riley said, gesturing in the direction Meow had gone, “and I'll circle around the other side, try to head him off. Is he friendly?”

“Oh, yeah,” I said with a small smile twisted with worry. “He's practically a Labrador retriever.”

Riley nodded, pausing just long enough to reach out and give my arm a gentle squeeze. “Don't worry, we'll get him,” he said. Then he turned and hurried off toward the far side of the house.

I stayed low to the ground as I moved along my side, keeping a lookout under the bushes. “Meow?” I called out as I turned the corner into the backyard. “Come back inside and I'll give you some nice, smelly tuna!”

I thought that might attract his attention. Dad always swears that Meow has a bigger vocabulary than most of his middle school students. I don't know about that, but Meow definitely does recognize at least a few words, “tuna” being first on the list.

There was a flash of movement across the yard. But when I spun to look that way, I realized it was only Riley. He saw me looking and gave a little wave, then crouched down again, creeping along and peering under every bush.

I went back to doing the same. The backyard was pretty small, consisting mostly of a vaguely Japanese-style rock garden that Dad
had installed himself. Between the bushy mini maples, the hand-stacked rock formations and store-bought sculptures, and the holly bush badly in need of pruning, there were still plenty of places for a runaway feline to hide.

Then I spotted Meow. He wasn't exactly behaving like a fugitive. In fact, he was strolling across the little stone bridge spanning a rock “stream” as if he didn't have a care in the world.

I lunged toward him. “Meow!” I cried. “Hold still …”

“Ra-wohwww!” Meow saw me coming and jumped off the side of the bridge. He trotted along just fast enough to keep out of reach, zigzagging around a Buddha statue and a small stand of bamboo. Based on the soft yowls he was emitting, I had no choice but to think he was laughing at me, cat-style.

“Stop, damn it!” I called, fear and frustration making me feel like crying. “Meow, just come on already!”

He turned sharply to the left, making a beeline for the hedge separating our yard from the neighbors'. I gulped, suddenly remembering that they had a bad-tempered
little terrier who was always chasing the neighborhood strays. Meow was so ridiculously friendly; what if he decided to make friends with the little beast and got chomped?

I stumbled over a stone, almost wiping out. As it was, I had to look down to catch myself on a stone lantern.

When I looked up again, I couldn't believe my eyes. Riley was crouched down, smiling and clucking. And Meow was strolling right up to him!

I gasped, half expecting the cat to come within arm's length only to dash away again. But no. A second later he was rubbing his pointy little head against Riley's knee.

Riley chuckled and scooped him up. “Good boy,” he cooed as the cat started bumping his head against his chin. “There you go.”

I rushed over. “How'd you do that?” I exclaimed.

“Animals like me, I guess,” Riley said with a smile, cradling Meow like a baby as the cat purred loudly. “Now come on, let's get him inside before he makes another break for it.”

I followed him into the house, feeling limp with relief as I shut the door firmly
behind us. “Thanks for catching him,” I said as we wandered into the living room. “My whole family would be devastated if anything happened to that crazy cat. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here.”

“Well, if I wasn't here, then he probably wouldn't have escaped in the first place. But you're welcome.” Riley tried to deposit Meow onto the back of the couch. But in one of his patented moves, the cat sort of flipped himself over and clung to Riley's shirt with his front claws.

I laughed. “I think he likes you.”

Riley grinned, giving up on setting the cat down. Instead he sank onto the couch and started rubbing Meow's head, causing the cat to purr like a miniature freight train.

“I like cats,” Riley said. “We can't have one, 'cause my little sister's allergic. But I play with Marcus's stepmom's cats all the time.”

I perched on the arm of the sofa, watching him run his hands over Meow's head and neck as the cat arched his back blissfully. My panic was subsiding. And being replaced by a question. What was Riley doing here?

“Um … so you said you wanted to talk,” I said when I couldn't stand the suspense any longer.

He looked up at me. His smile faded, and I was pretty sure I saw him swallow hard.

“Oh, right,” he said. “I did.”

“So what do you want to talk about?” I wasn't planning on making this easy for him. Why should I? Just because those pings were starting up again, it didn't mean I should totally give up all my dignity and self-respect.

He glanced down at the cat again before returning his gaze to me. “Look, I really think you're cool,” he said, his voice low and uncertain. “That's why I'm here. I feel like we went a little wrong last night, and you know, I just don't want that to happen if I can help it. But the thing is, all the Planetarium Girl stuff …” He paused and rubbed his face with the hand that wasn't stroking Meow. “I guess what I'm saying is I just want to stay friends for now. I hope you understand.”

“Not really,” I said before I could stop myself. Then I shrugged. Why
should
I stop myself from saying it? It was the truth.

He looked more uncomfortable than ever. “I don't really understand it either,” he said. “I've never had anything like this happen before.”

“You mean meeting someone at the planetarium and searching all over Maryland for her?” It came out a little more sarcastic than I'd intended, but he didn't seem to notice.

“No. I mean the whole love at first sight thing.” One corner of his mouth twisted up into a rueful half smile. “Or not even sight, really, since I didn't get much of a look at her. But you know what I mean.” He glanced down just long enough to tickle Meow under the chin. “Usually, I'm not so much into the big romantic gestures or whatever. I like to get to know a girl first, hang out with her, see how we get along, that kind of thing.”

“Yeah,” I said, almost more to myself than to him. “Me too.”

“But this time …” He shook his head, a range of emotions playing out over his face. “I don't know. It was different. I met that girl at the planetarium, and I couldn't stop thinking about her, and then I came home and wrote the best song I'd ever written
because of her. That has to mean something, right?” He shrugged. “So I just really need to give things a chance to play out there, see if that girl and I really are meant for each other.”

It was all I could do to stop myself from jumping up and shouting,
Duh! I'm that girl!

But I managed to just sit there and smile blandly. Why couldn't he see the truth that was sitting right there in front of him? That
I
was the one and only Planetarium Girl? I didn't get it. Was it the hair thing? Maybe if I tied my hair back right now, showed him how it looked when it was off my face …

But no. It was too late for that. What would be the point? He'd already decided that I wasn't The One.

“So how did he look when he said he just wanted to be friends?” Britt asked.

“I already told you ten times. He looked like he always looks.”

“You mean devastatingly handsome?”

I shot her an irritated glance. “You're not helping,” I informed her.

The two of us were on our way home from school the next day. Britt was driving.

She stopped at a red light and glanced over at me. “All I know is, a guy who ‘just wants to be friends' doesn't usually show up on your doorstep like that. Pretty romantic, really.”

“Thanks, Madame Romance.”

“It's true,” she insisted. “When was the
last time any of your other guy friends came rushing over to see if you were okay just because you got annoyed with him?”

The light changed. I waited until Britt had made it safely through the intersection before I spoke again. She can be a little distractible. “Okay, so maybe you have a point in a way,” I admitted once we were safely cruising down the street. “I mean, he
did
feel those sparks when we first met, right?”

“Totally! Why else would he go searching for you on Facebook? Even if he doesn't know it's you.” She paused for a second, clearly thinking through that sentence to make sure it made sense. “Anyway, it's obvious he likes you—you just need to figure out why he doesn't want to admit it.”

“Or maybe not,” I countered. “Maybe this whole situation is working out fine.”

She shot me a suspicious look. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, if I can just wait out Riley's obsession with finding
her
—”

“Oh, the irony!” Britt put in, rolling her eyes.

“Exactly. But anyway, if I can wait that out and just be friends with him in the meantime, maybe he'll come around on his own.
You know—realize I'm right there under his nose, Planetarium Girl or not. In fact, maybe that would be better. For both of us.”