At First Sight (7 page)

“It's not game playing. You're just meeting up again, not pretending to be anything or anyone you're not.”

“Wrong. I'm pretending to be a person with a Beast ticket.”

She waved one hand airily, as if shooing away that minor detail. “That doesn't matter. All we need to do is arrange for you two lovebirds to bump into each other outside the club. The rest will be romantic history!”

“I don't know. Still sounds like game playing to me.”

Britt shrugged. “Okay, maybe a little,” she said. “But it's too late to back out now. He thinks you're going.”

I glanced at the computer screen, where Riley's last message was still blinking back at me. Then I glanced at Britt. Okay,
glared
at Britt.

Because I realized she was right. It was too late to take back what “I” had told him now without looking like a psycho.

“Thanks a lot, Britt,” I muttered.

She smiled serenely. “You're welcome.”

“So how's this supposed to work again?” I asked Britt with a flutter of nerves.

It was Friday night. I was standing on a lamplit sidewalk in Silver Grove outside the Cave Club, dressed in a MTIAB T-shirt, my favorite skinny jeans, and a pair of Sanuk flats, along with a cool sparkly vintage
belt I'd found at a thrift shop. My hair was flowing free in all its glossy glory, and Britt had spent close to an hour making sure my makeup was perfect. I had to admit it—I felt pretty hot.

At least I would have if I wasn't so anxious I was afraid I might puke at any moment. The band was in full swing inside; the fast-paced strains of their song “My Emergency” poured out to fill the otherwise quiet block with raucous energy. I wondered how the people in the apartments over the Laundromat and liquor store on either side of the club ever got any sleep on the weekends.

Britt was there, too. So was her latest boy toy, a kid she'd met at the gym, named Todd. He was just her type: good-looking, a little dumb, and totally into her. He hadn't asked too many questions about why we were chilling outside the club instead of going in. Instead he kept grabbing Britt and slow-dancing with her right there in the street. At the moment she was giggling and halfheartedly pushing his hands away as he kept grabbing for her butt.

But at my question she smacked him away for real, disentangling herself and
turning toward me. “I told you, we just wait here until the show lets out,” she explained with remarkable patience, considering we'd been through this umpteen times already. “Then we hang out and watch for him, and when you see him, you go introduce yourself and just sort of let him think you were in there all along.” She shrugged. “Not that he'll waste too much time wondering about that anyway. Once he sees you, it's going to be Spark City.”

I just nodded, too nervous to speak. Now that I was here, faced with the prospect of seeing Riley again very soon, my palms were sweaty and my heart was pounding away like a jackhammer trying to escape from my chest. What was up with that? Since when did I get so nervous around a cute guy?

Sparks,
I reminded myself.
This must be what happens when you get sparks.

“I don't believe in love at first sight,” I muttered, talking mostly to myself.

But Boy Toy Todd heard me. “Yo,” he said. “Sure you do. Everyone believes in love at first sight.” He grabbed Britt around the waist and pulled her toward him, swaying back and forth without paying the least bit of attention to the rhythm of the song that
was playing. “Like, the second I saw Britt straddling that stationary bike, all wrapped in spandex and looking hot, I knew I had to get my hands on her.”

“That's not love,” I informed him, not in the mood to be tactful. “It's lust.”

An expression of dull confusion crossed his handsome face. I wasn't sure whether he literally didn't understand what I meant, or if he just wasn't accustomed to having girls argue with him. Either way, I wasn't interested in continuing the vocabulary lesson. The band had just finished their song, and the distinctive opening strains of “Squid for Breakfast” were drifting out into the night air.

Naturally, that reminded me of Riley. “I'm really not sure about this,” I told Britt anxiously. “You know I'm not a good liar. And I still say this really feels like game playing to me.”

“Look, you don't actually have to lie.” Britt smacked at Todd's hands, which were starting to wander again. “You just have to mingle with the crowd when the show lets out and look for Riley. What's the big deal? It's not like we can't hear the whole show from out here.”

“True. The Beast is known for being loud.” I smiled, glancing toward the club building. The solid brick walls probably weren't
actually
throbbing with the beat of the song, but it sort of seemed like it.

“And it's not like you aren't really a fan of this ridiculous band.” Britt rolled her eyes as the traditional audience sing-along chorus of “Squid! Squid! Squid!” rang out from inside.

“True.” I smiled, my foot tapping along with each “Squid.”

“Besides,” Britt said, “it's for a good cause. True love.”

Todd started nibbling on her earlobe right about then, which made me give up on talking to her anymore. Besides, I knew she didn't get why I wasn't comfortable with this. After all, she was right in a way. Listening to the show from outside was almost as good as being in there, and I'd certainly seen the Beast enough times in the past to make up the difference. But I still felt uneasy about deceiving Riley. Didn't that make me no better than all those fibbing Facebookers?

I felt like one of those people in the movies who have a devil on one shoulder and an
angel on the other when they're making a big decision. Only in my case it was Britt sitting on one shoulder and my own insecurities on the other. And both of them were yowling at me as loudly as Chairman Meow when he's hungry, making it hard to think rationally.

Maybe I should just go,
I thought.
This isn't worth it. I can just tell Riley I couldn't make the show after all… .

My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden ear-shattering banging of cymbals and drums from inside—the Beast's traditional farewell. The show was over.

Seconds later people started emerging from the club, talking and laughing loudly as a result of the deafening show. I smiled despite my nerves, knowing the feeling all too well.

Britt had started slow-dancing with Todd again, but now she pulled away and raced over to grab my arm. “Here we go!” she hissed, her eyes dancing with anticipation. “I'll help you spot him, but don't worry, I'll disappear before he sees me. It's better if he thinks you're alone.”

“Why? So he thinks I'm a total loser with no friends?”

“Shh! Pay attention. We don't want to miss him.”

But five minutes passed and then ten, with more and more people coming out of the club, and there was still no sign of Riley. I was starting to wonder if I'd hallucinated that whole Facebook exchange when Britt finally got impatient.

“He must be hanging out inside,” she said, grabbing my hand and dragging me toward the door. “Come on, let's go see.”

“Maybe he couldn't come after all,” I said as I allowed myself to be dragged. “His parents might have grounded him or something, or maybe he got the flu… .”

“Wait, why are we going in this dump?” Todd complained, trailing along after us. “I thought we were going for pizza after we dropped Lauren off.”

“Chillax, Todd,” Britt tossed over her shoulder. “You'll get your 'za. First we need to get Lauren her man.”

I winced; Britt doesn't have the quietest voice in the world. What if Riley walked out just in time to hear her?

But he didn't. Instead we pushed our way past a rowdy group of college kids rushing out the door, and we finally found ourselves inside the club.

The Cave pretty much lives up to its
name; it's little more than one low-ceilinged room with a small stage at the far end and a few tables scattered across the battered floorboards. The lighting is pretty bad, consisting mostly of bare, flickering overhead bulbs, which made it hard to see much as we wandered farther in.

The band was dismantling their equipment on the stage, laughing and trading obscenity-laced insults with some fans who were watching. Maybe a couple dozen other people were clustered here and there throughout the place, either finishing their drinks or chatting with one another about the show.

“Do you see him?” Britt hissed into my ear, scanning the room.

“See who?” Todd asked too loudly from behind us. “Who are we looking for anyway? Just a single guy for Lauren to hook up with?”

“Ew, no!” Britt shot him an annoyed look. “Who do you think she is, anyway?”

I didn't hear Todd's response. That was because I'd just turned and spotted Riley. He was sitting at one of the tables off to one side.

At first my heart did this funny little
series of somersaults as the pinging started again. He was here—there—right in front of me, just ten yards away. Looking adorable in a Beast T-shirt and jeans, with his hair slightly damp with sweat—it was sweltering in the club.

Then I saw who was sitting with him, and my heart landed from its latest somersault with a splat. He was surrounded by at least three cute girls. And as I watched, one of them laughed and then bent down to plant a kiss right on the top of his head.

“Let's get out of here,” I hissed at Britt, turning away.

But she'd just spotted Riley, too. “There he is!” she said. “Go for it, babe.”

“No way. Looks like he has enough female company already.” My hands were shaking, and my stomach churned with disappointment. Coming here had been a mistake. A
huge
mistake. Why had I let Britt talk me into such a crazy plan?

I sneaked another look over at the table. At that same moment Riley looked up—and his eyes locked onto mine. He blinked, then tilted his head and squinted, clearly trying to get a better look in the dim lighting. I flashed back to the field trip; he'd tilted his
head the same way while trying to get a look at me in the darkened planetarium.

But this time the lighting wasn't quite
that
bad. If he recognized me from my Facebook profile pic …

“Hurry!” I hissed to Britt. “We have to get out of here!”

But when I looked behind me, she'd disappeared. I spun around frantically, finally spotting her halfway across the club, dragging Todd behind her.

I gritted my teeth. Thanks, Britt.

“Hey, Lauren!” a voice called.
Riley's
voice. I would have recognized it anywhere.

I slowly turned around to face him again, plastering a smile on my face. “Oh! Hey,” I called back to him. “Uh, there you are.”

It was a pretty lame response. But he waved me over anyway.

My feet seemed to take on a life of their own, propelling me toward his table despite the fact that my whole body had just gone numb. I kept my focus on Riley, trying not to notice the three girls, who were now peering at me suspiciously.

When I was still a few feet away, Riley jumped up and took a couple of big strides
over to join me. “I've been looking everywhere for you, Lauren,” he said, reaching over and giving my arm a friendly squeeze.

I couldn't help staring down at his hand on my arm. “Um … ,” I said intelligently.

Riley was turning back to the other girls, who were still staring at us from the table. “Listen, it's been nice talking to you,” he told them. “But I promised Lauren here that we'd hang out after the show. It's, uh, her birthday today.”

“Oh.” The girl who'd kissed him on the head, an overdone blonde wearing a low-cut purple cami and too much glitter eye shadow, didn't even bother to hide her disappointment. “Are you sure you have to go so soon?”

“Sorry,” Riley said again.

“Happy birthday,” one of the other girls said to me with a sickly-sweet fake smile. “So how do you know our Riley?”

“Uh … ,” I began helplessly.

“Lauren and I are old pals,” Riley put in before I could hyperventilate. “Known her forever. Old, old pals. So anyway, bye!”

“Bye, Riley! I'll catch you later on Facebook!” the blonde sang out.

“Me too!” the third girl put in. “I'm still
dying to talk to you about our meeting at the planetarium.”

Riley just smiled and nodded, then turned away and pulled me along with him, steering me gently toward the exit. I was so focused on keeping my numb feet and legs from tripping over themselves and sending me flying that I didn't have enough mental energy left over to wonder exactly what was happening. Moments later we burst out into the evening air, which felt cool and refreshing after the stuffy interior of the club.

That revived me a little, restoring at least part of my usual abilities to think and speak. “Who—what—,” I stammered.

Okay. I
said
it was partial.

He let go of my arm and turned to face me, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry about that, Lauren,” he said. “It
is
Lauren, right? You look just like your profile pic. I'd recognize that awesome hair of yours anywhere.”

“Thanks.” I reached up and touched my hair as if wondering if it was really still up there. “I mean, yeah, it's me. Um, hi?”

“I really appreciate you playing along. I was having trouble shaking those three without being an a-hole about it.” He shot a
look back at the club as if fearing those girls might come swooping out at any moment.

“Who, uh, who were they?”

He sighed, rubbing his face. “When I put that message up on Facebook, I never thought it would turn out like this,” he said. “First I get tons of messages from random girls claiming to be the girl from the planetarium. And now some of them are actually showing up and, like, stalking me!”