Fall For Me (7 page)

“She seems to be, I don’t know, a little bit, uh, jealous,” he said.

I widened my eyes. Ava was beautiful—like gorgeous. Super gorgeous. She was jealous of me? I was kind of surprised, and mystified.

“Jealous of me? Why?”

“Well, not you. Or maybe you. The whole situation really,” he said, not seeming to want to talk about it. “She has it worked into something it’s not.”

“Riley,” I said, hoisting up my full tray, “what are you talking about?”

“She thinks you guys come over a lot—which you don’t. And she thinks you take advantage of me—which if you do, I haven’t really noticed. But,” he picked up my second tray for me, then didn’t go on, but started on a new tack. “Look, if she’s at my house, could you not be?”

It wasn’t like
I
went to Riley’s house. I didn’t. I used his extra parking spot, ‘cause he lived right at the beach and finding parking was a pain during the summer. But I hardly ever actually went
in
to his house. The kids did—they adored Riley and he seemed to have adopted them since Dad died. I mean totally bonded with them—so they’d go in his house sometimes after swimming in the ocean to warm up in his hot tub, but I never did—went in with them—except on “occasion” with Finn. But I had always tried really hard to get out of it … ‘cause, you know, I used to think Riley hated me.

Still, I shrugged, like his request was no big deal—like I wouldn’t dream of going to his house with Ava there, ‘cause really I wouldn’t. For so many reasons.

“Sure,” I said breezily, though feeling slightly punched in the stomach, though really it seemed I shouldn’t feel hurt or even care—except that Ava was a witch and it sucked that Riley chose her over me. Okay, it was totally irrational of me to feel that way—I knew that. I did. I mean, she was his girlfriend and I had a boyfriend of my own—though Finn seemed to have the hots for another girl these days—a skank. Still, I tried to reason with myself—there was no reason to begrudge Riley happiness with the girl he adored—despite what a witch she was.

Anyway, that was the end of the conversation.

But then a few nights later, Finn and I took my little brother and sister to the fair again since when it’s in town that’s all the kids want to do—go to the fair—and well, their dad just recently died, so we took them and then—wham—ran into the “couple”—Riley and Ava.

Justin, of course, wanted to go on the bumper cars with Riley and Jillian dragged him over to the ring toss wanting him to win her a stuffed animal.

Riley seemed thrilled to see us. He really, truly, genuinely loved Justin and Jillian. He did. And they loved him. It was a beautiful thing. But I saw Riley glance over at Ava, like:
What can I do? They love me
.

Ava rolled her eyes, the witch. So, I tried to drag my siblings away—since Riley had, nicely, asked me to back off when she was around. But the kids wouldn’t leave without a fight, and Riley didn’t seem to really want them to go.

Finally, Riley came up with a compromise of sorts, suggesting, “Jones, we’ll take the kids for a while. You and Finn can be alone—like a date—go on the rides and stuff.”

That was a strange offer from Riley. Finn and I had been “dating” for over four years, we didn’t need an excuse to be alone … but, well, come to think of it, since my dad died, Finn and I hadn’t been alone much. Or “dated” much. I liked having my family near me these days. Had Finn complained to Riley about that? Suddenly, I had the sinking feeling he did.

But maybe that wasn’t it.

Maybe it was just Riley’s way of asking me to get lost, so he could hang out with the kids but still get lucky later with Ava. Only, I was at the fair
for
the kids—that’s the only reason I came again, since we’d just been here a couple days ago. But the kids wanted to hang out with Riley, and Riley couldn’t hang out with me … it seemed.

So, Riley got his way, that day.

But …

A few days later was a bright, beautiful Saturday. So, of course, Justin and Jillian wanted me to take them to the beach. I called Finn, practically begging him to come with us.

“Zoey, I can’t,” he said, sounding out of it. “I’m so beat. Last night I didn’t get home from the fund-raiser at the pool until after two, and I have to work this afternoon at one. I just want to sleep.”

“Okay,” I said, trying to be a good girlfriend, understanding and all that.

“Have fun, though.” Finn yawned, then added, “Park at Riley’s. You’re not going to find a spot anywhere else—not on a day like this.”

That’s what I was afraid of. Still, I drove around a long time looking for a parking spot before I finally gave up and parked at Riley’s. Ava’s car was in his driveway where his dad usually parked, so I knew she was there. I made the kids promise not to knock at Riley’s door or make ourselves known or anything. Only, once we were settled into our spot on the beach, a thunderstorm came from out of nowhere and it was suddenly pouring.

And as we were running for the car, Jillian said she had to go to the bathroom, right that second. So, with no other choice, we knocked on Riley’s door.

He didn’t exactly look thrilled to see us. He muttered under his breath, “You’re killing me, Jones.”

I sighed, wary to tell him, “I’m so sorry to bother you—really—but Jillian needs to use the restroom.”

“Oh,” he said, opening the door for her, like
Of course, by all means, come in
.

Jillian padded off to the bathroom, Ava scowling after her from the hallway.

“She has to use the bathroom,” Riley explained.

Ava didn’t stop scowling. Witch.

“We were at the beach, but it started pouring,” Justin told Riley. “Can we use your hot tub?”

“Justin!” I scolded, having warned him time and time again this afternoon not to dare ask.

“Sure, you can use the hot tub,” Riley said, and when Ava shot him a dirty look he said, “What? It’s pouring.”

The kids gleefully piled into the hot tub and it was my cue to politely leave—with the excuse of shopping to do—only I heard Ava whine to Riley that the kids were “
always
around.”

So, instead of leaving, suddenly I decided to stay. Defiantly, I took off my cover-up.

Normally around Riley (and all of Finn’s friends, actually), I wore my cover-up, always—just cuz. So Riley never saw me in my bathing suit—until now. I watched him look away from Ava, his eyes suddenly glued to me.

“Riley, come get in with us!” the kids shouted.

“Either they go, or I go,” Ava said through gritted teeth.

Still feeling Riley’s eyes on me, I stepped into the hot tub.

“I can’t make them leave,” Riley said.

“Fine. Then I’m going.”

Riley and I watched her storm out of the house, not saying a word. Then silently Riley looked at me again, his eyes all hungry and
I-want-you
. It had my heart fluttering and my stomach dancing and suddenly, I was feeling as though I wanted to use my Free Pass. Really bad.

I mean, Finn’s words still said he loved me these days—they did—but his eyes seemed to say otherwise. His actions too.

But Riley’s eyes, they had that spark in them now as he gazed at me. That spark I had talked about earlier—the one he had for Ava. And his actions—they seemed to say something, too. I mean, he always gave me what I wanted, always. And now he had chosen me and the kids over Ava. Ava! Who he supposedly adored.

But the way he was looking at me now … whoa.

Tingles ran through my body.

And suddenly I knew. Knew for sure. I really, truly, totally, sincerely had fallen for Riley. It wasn’t just a pathetic crush. Not something I could “get over.” It was real.

I took a deep breath. This was it.

I was going to open my mouth and spill it all out. Actually tell Riley what I was feeling. All of it. Totally. For real. That was my plan. Really. But just then …

Jillian puked in the hot tub.

***

No, I didn’t end up telling Riley how I felt. Grr! Puke just kind of ruined the moment. It usually does.

That night, when I got to work, I went up to Riley’s office to apologize for the mess Jillian made in his hot tub. Then I added, “And sorry, about messing things up for you and Ava. I didn’t mean to do that.”

Riley raised his eyebrows sardonically, “Are you sure about that?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it, turning red.

Riley let me sweat it out a second—just watched me silently as I shriveled up inside—then he let out a breath. “Okay, Jones. I accept your apology. Get back to work.”

I watched him shut the door to his office—him looking all sad and tortured—and I just stood there, frozen, reminding myself how in the hot tub I had planned to actually tell him how I felt. For real. I thought about doing that now, just knocking on his door and letting my feelings spill out—take a chance.

But … right before I actually knocked, I thought maybe I shouldn’t do it like this—get everything out in the open. Not yet. I should wait and talk to Finn first—tell him that it just didn’t seem to be working for us anymore. That maybe we should forget about the Free Pass thing and just plain old see other people for a while. Basically, you know, break up.

The thought made me sad … but not
that
sad. Not like it would have before this summer. Before this summer, I would have died without Finn. Or
felt
like I was dying. Now my heart just hurt a little. But I’d get over it. I knew that. My heart was already mending as it was.

But yeah, I figured I should tell Finn my feelings first—before Riley—because Finn was my boyfriend, and I owed him that. But, at least I had a plan now—finally. I’d be proactive. Instead of feeling sick and whiny inside, I’d take action. Finally.

The thought felt good.

But I didn’t feel so good after a second, ‘cause just then, Ava came rounding the corner, heading towards Riley’s office.

“Oh, look who it is,” she said all snide. “You try so hard to steal my boyfriend—you always have. The whole time Riley and I have been in a relationship you tried to act so innocent—like you didn’t notice him watching you. You’d tease him. Pretend like you didn’t have a clue he was watching you and your lame boyfriend snuggle and be all lovey-dovey-gross. You’re pathetic.”

She spewed all that out with venom, then put on a fake smile and waltzed into Riley’s office and clicked the door shut behind her.

I watched her go, ignoring everything she said, as it was just out of anger and bitterness. But from her phrase—“steal my boyfriend”—the word “boyfriend” was stuck in my head. She used it in reference to Riley. Was Riley really her boyfriend now? Did she really, truly actually choose Riley over College Boy—for real this time? Did she and Riley make up after the kids and I left his house this afternoon?

The thought made me feel sick—like, seriously ill. I was sweaty and shivery and had trouble holding things properly—like my serving tray and pen. I was shaking so bad they kept toppling out of my hands.

About an hour later, Ava finally left Riley’s office. She narrowed her eyes at me into tiny slits as she stormed past me in the kitchen, on her way out the back door. But she didn’t say anything to me. Not a word. Which was lucky—for her. ‘Cause I felt ready to rip her hair out.

I waited and waited for Riley to come out of his office, waiting to tell him I was sick and needed to go home, but he never came out.

Finally, after an hour, I dragged myself up to his office, but his door wasn’t shut all the way and I could hear him on the phone.