Fall For Me (8 page)

“Look, I’m not going to lie to her, man,” he said to the person on the other line. “Dude, you’re being a douche, just stop cheating on her—”

Riley turned and saw me standing in the doorway. He blanched and stopped talking in mid-sentence.

His jaw flinching, he stared at me for a long, tense moment, then quickly muttered into the phone, “I have to go.”

He hung up without waiting for a reply.

I swallowed, then let out a breath, but it caught in my throat. “Who—who were you talking to?”

Riley rubbed the back of his neck. “Zoey … ”

His voice sounded pained.

But he didn’t answer my question—which of course was an answer in itself, but no way could I handle it being left like that. No way.

I snatched Riley’s cell off the edge of his desk and, of course, he tried to grab it from me, but too late. I slipped away from him, hitting the call back button.

Riley winced. “Zoey, don’t.”

On the second ring, Finn answered. I clutched my stomach, practically doubling over. Okay, I pretty much knew it would be him—totally knew it in my gut. But still, I so hoped I was wrong.

But, of course, I wasn’t. Of course. My boyfriend had been cheating on me. Duh. I’d basically known since the concert. I just didn’t want to face it.

Broken and numb, without saying a word, I handed the phone back to Riley. He hung it up, his eyes never leaving my face.

Immediately, his cell started ringing again. Riley didn’t even look at it.
 
He shut it down without a glance, still staring into my eyes.

His jaw flinched. “Jones …” He ran his hands through his hair, his eyes looking tortured, full of sympathy.

No. I didn’t want to see that. I couldn’t handle it.

I swallowed, holding back tears. “You should have told me.”

Riley glared up at the ceiling. “He’s my best friend.”

“You should have told me.”

I ran out of his office, though I could hear Riley calling after me.

My plan was, I was going to storm out of the restaurant and drive home and bawl my eyes out. That was my plan.

Only, I had orders up—plates of food sitting at the window, cooked and ready to go to tables. I couldn’t ask a co-worker to do it. I couldn’t even talk.

Gah.

On wobbly legs, I trudged to the kitchen window to pick up the orders, and I even managed to serve them and everything without crying.

Riley was at my side anyway. He took the pitcher of root beer I was filling. “Jones, go home. Talk to Finn.”

I shook my head, my lip trembling.

Riley let out a breath of frustration. “Then go to my office—now.”

He sounded like a boss, all firm. In control. That was good. It made me actually do what he said instead of trying to keep working, ‘cause I knew I’d start bawling any second.

I sat in Riley’s office, folding myself over in his desk chair. Still shaking. So bad. I tried not to think, but having all these thoughts scrambling around in my head anyway. Thoughts that made me want to cry. Finn—who I had once loved so deeply—had cheated on me. More than once. And Riley knew. But he didn’t tell me. I felt hurt and angry and betrayed.

By both of them.

I shoved at the tears in my eyes, moaning.

Riley quietly came into the office only moments later. He watched me trembling for a moment, then ran his hands through his hair, looking as though he wanted to comfort me—kind of bad—but also run away.

“I know I should have told you, Jones—I know that—but you love the guy, and he’s just making a mistake. He loves you. He does. He’s just … messed up right now. His hormones are all—” Riley clamped his jaw shut, shaking his head slightly—like he’d rather rip out his tongue than finish that sentence.
 
“Look, it’s Bianca.”

I narrowed my eyes, ready to fight. “You’re defending him?”

“No. No, Jones. The guy’s being an idiot, he knows that.” Riley ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He kept doing that—screwing with his hair. It was a mess. But a sexy mess.

Silently, Riley watched me, grinding his jaw muscles, seeming to weigh his next words. “Look, Jones, I just don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”

“Something I’ll regret?”

I sighed.

You know how sometimes you don’t want to face something, so you just … don’t? You just sweep it under the rug and try to forget about it? That’s what I had been doing with Finn—for so long. Ever since the concert—but really, even before the concert. I had known something was up with Finn, that something wasn’t right, but I had just kept sweeping the problem under the rug so I didn’t have to face it or deal with it.

Then tonight I had finally decided to deal with it, once and for all—face it. What I regretted was not doing it before now.

My lips twisted and I jumped to my feet, heading towards the door. This was too painful—like another knife being jabbed into my heart—having Riley stand here, trying to talk me into staying with Finn—Finn who cheated on me multiple times. What could Riley’s motives possibly be? I was pretty sure I knew.

Grr!

“Don’t worry Riley,” I growled, “I’ll stay out of your way. I won’t try to get between you and Ava.”

He blinked, then tilted his head, like he was trying to figure out what I was saying. “Get between us?” He blocked my way as I tried to get past him to the door. “Jones, I broke up with Ava.”

“Oh.” My heart started doing a little flutter thing, beating all happy. “You did? Oh. Well, that’s good.” I breathed—tried to breathe. “With the way things were between you two—it seemed like it would be hard …”

Riley raised his eyebrows, waiting for me to go on. But I didn’t wanna.

Still, he waited, watching me.

“I mean, in case someone else, better for you …”

He tilted his head

“What, you mean if my true love ever comes along?” His lips quirked. “She did, Jones. Just unfortunately, my best friend saw her first.”

My heart slammed against my chest.

But Riley backed away from me, as though just noticing how close he’d gotten. He ran his hands through his hair. “Look,” he muttered, sounding resigned, “you and Finn—you’ve been together a long time. You’ll work it out.”

He didn’t get it.

“Riley, I don’t want to work things out with Finn—I’m over Finn.”

Riley’s lips quirked. “Jones, what are you saying?” He leaned in close again, so close I could feel his heat. His hungry eyes locked on mine. “Are you falling for me, Jones?”

I swallowed, finally going to do it. ‘Fess up. “Riley … I already have.”

He smiled, playfully pinning me against the door. He messed with a lock of my hair. “I’m not going to give you any free passes, Jones.”

“That’s good,” I said, but I needed things to be clear—totally clear—before I fell completely, for real. “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?”

“Of course,” he murmured and finally … he kissed me.

Melanie Marks was born and raised in California. She is married to a naval nuclear submarine officer and blessed with three amazingly terrific kids.

Melanie has had over fifty short stories published in magazines such as
Highlights, Woman’s World,
and
Teen Magazine
as well as in various anthologies. She’s had four children’s books published and one YA novel,
The Dating Deal.
More YA novels are forthcoming in 2011, such as
The Stranger Inside; A Demon’s Kiss
; and
When Kyle Came Back.

Melanie enjoys reading in the bathtub, writing in bed, and living in a house longer than two years. Visit her website at
http://www.byMelanieMarks.com
or email her:
[email protected]
.