Four Doors Down (22 page)

I shrugged. “She will be.”

Sam was okay. We went home, and when her mom saw the sort of state she was in, she was devastated and assured Sam that she didn’t care what score she got or which college she went to as long as Sam was happy. Then she arranged for Sam to go see a doctor and she started going to counseling for a couple of weeks to get her anxiety under control. She took a week off school and when she came back, she was more like her old self.

Ryan was true to his word and no one ever found out about her meltdown, and if they did, they never said anything about it to Sam. And I would know as I double checked with her a couple of times. In fact, Sam said Ryan was great when she got back to school. He got her notes from all the classes she’d missed, even the ones he wasn’t in, and he made it clear to her that no one would ever mention what had happened. They were in the same homeroom so they saw each other once a day. I had been a bit annoyed, to be honest. I’d planned on doing that for Sam, but he’d beaten me to it.

After that, they were friendlier, exchanging greetings when they passed in the hall and pausing for small talk every now and again. I, of course, kept on ignoring him whenever she spoke to him when I was there. I was annoyed that he was encroaching on my life. Sam was my friend, not his. But even I couldn’t ignore that he’d been good to her and kept his word about keeping her out of our school’s pathetic gossip system.

I suppose I was grateful that he came and found me to help her rather than going to a teacher or to one of the guidance counselors. I briefly wondered how he’d known which class I would be in when he was looking for me and decided it must have been coincidence and he had gotten lucky.

Shortly afterward, Sam met Chris, and he’s great for her. At first, she wasn’t interested, thinking she had too much school work to deal with to date, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer and pursued her until she eventually gave in and agreed to a date. They’ve been together ever since. He’s so laid back and carefree and he brings that out in Sam. He really cares about her and anyone with a brain can see that they adore each other. He’s a really good caring guy, and I honestly think they might go the distance as a couple. I hope so. They’re the best couple I know.

Chris, Sam, and Charlie all start laughing at something and this pulls me out of my daze. Charlie, noticing that I’ve not been paying attention, playfully reaches out and wraps his hand around the hair from my ponytail and tugs me over to him, planting a sloppy kiss on the side of my head. I laugh at this, but when I glance up, my expression changes when I notice Katie Thompson has walked in followed by her boyfriend John, then Mason, Jake, and Bianca.

I turn back to Charlie, knowing that we’re sitting at the back of the restaurant so they probably won’t notice us.

“Hey, guys!” Katie Thompson is standing next to our table. She grins down at us and then slides into the space next to Charlie. Unfortunately, we’re at one of the massive booths so there is space for them to join us. “I’m Katie,” she introduces herself to Charlie and Chris, “one of Becca and Sam’s friends from school.”

I cock an eyebrow at Sam who smirks back at me. Friend is definitely an exaggeration. I mean, she’s been nothing but nice to me since I hung out with her at Ryan’s house, but I wouldn’t say we were friends. Charlie turns and smiles at her, not looking at all bothered that she’s squeezed in next to him. I can’t really blame him. Katie’s gorgeous.

Chris smiles at her too, then when he turns around, his grin gets bigger as he notices the guys and he jumps up to greet them, looking genuinely happy to see them. My eyes flash to Sam in surprise. I had no idea he knew them. She just shrugs in return and mouths “Mason’s party” at me. Ah, Chris went with Sam to the party at Mason’s house after that football game. That makes sense then.

Katie carries on introducing everyone to Charlie and they all exchange niceties. Jake squeezes in beside me and I turn to face him, tuning out the conversation going on around me.

“Please tell me you’re not here with Bianca Gallagher,” I whisper to him. I know they run in the same crowd, but I’d noticed recently whenever I see that group, she’s always near him. I know he’d been seeing that Zara girl from the Madison party I went to but didn’t know what was happening with that. “I do not approve,” I tell him. Bianca Gallagher is Jessica Murphy’s number one lackey and, as far as I can tell, doesn’t have a brain of her own.

He rolls his eyes at me. “Well maybe I don’t approve of your boyfriend,” he tells me back and I send him a dirty look. Why on earth would Jake not approve of Charlie? He’s only just met him and knows next to nothing about him.

“Maybe you could have a spiritual connection and make love?” I throw back, referring to the last time I saw her in Sal’s. Jake laughs at my reaction and reaches out and playfully pushes me away, palm to face. I grin at him and shove him back, but the smile is wiped from my face when I look up and see Ryan walk in holding hands with Jessica Murphy.

I immediately drop my head, hoping they won’t see us, and when I look back up, they’ve stopped to chat with some other students from our school by the door. Of course, I’m not lucky enough that they just go and sit in a booth on their own; the fact that their best friends are currently with us means that they’re immediately noticed.

“Hey, Jackson, down here!” John calls.

Ryan looks our way and I swear I see a flash of annoyance in his eyes when he sees me with his friends, which just pisses me off further.
Guess what, Ryan? I don’t want to see you either.
We’ve managed to avoid each other since our fight at the beach. Here I was enjoying pizza and good conversation with
my
friends when his friends turn up, butt in and now bring him over too.

Ryan walks toward us and although I glare at him the whole time, he doesn’t look at me once. He tugs Jessica along behind him who happily follows. They stop just behind Chris, who jumps up and greets Ryan like a long lost brother. I can’t help sending a scowl in Sam’s direction; she just smirks back at me. She knows I’ll hate having Ryan here and doesn’t even know about our latest fight. I manage to stifle a groan of annoyance at this whole situation.

“And this is Jess,” Katie continues to Charlie. Apparently she’s decided to be chief introducer for the group. “And that’s Ryan, one of Becca’s good friends. They’re neighbors and grew up together. Were best friends for years, right, guys?” she continues, grinning wickedly at Ryan. I nearly choke on the sip of Coke I’ve just taken, and it takes Jake banging on my back and Sam shoving some water in my face to get my coughing fit under control.

I have no idea how Katie knew all that stuff, but that was definitely not the time to share. I’m pretty sure Charlie didn’t appreciate that information. He didn’t really care for it when I told him about the candy Ryan got for me or when I told him he watched Jay play soccer.

Ryan and Charlie barely nod at each other while Jessica glares at Katie in irritation. Charlie reaches his arm out and wraps it around my shoulder, pulling me in toward him. I happily shift in closer.

“So, should we see if we can all fit in around here?” Katie asks, looking like she’s enjoying herself.

“No!” I manage to bark out. I can hear Jake snickering to himself next to me and Mason and John are grinning like idiots. I look over at Sam. Surely I’m not the only one who thinks this situation is awkward as hell? I turn to Katie. “We already ate. We’d better go.”

“But we only just got here, McKenzie,” Jake teases. I send him a dirty look and start fishing around under the table for my purse, eager to get the check and get away from this awkwardness. I glance over at Ryan, and he looks annoyed just to be standing near us.

“What do you guys want to do now?” I ask Sam and Chris. We’d all planned to hang out together all afternoon.

“Hey, Becca,” Charlie interrupts me, not taking his eyes off Ryan. “You’ve got Jay tomorrow, right? Why don’t we take him to go see a movie?”

Surprise crosses my face followed by a smile. “Sure, great,” I agree.

I turn to Ryan smugly.
See, Ryan? Charlie does want to hang out with my cousin.
I don’t particularly care that he’s just doing it to annoy Ryan because he knows he spends time with Jay. He’s doing it; that’s all that matters. I resist the urge to flip Ryan the finger while he stands there with his jaw clenched, staring at the ground. It looks like smoke is about to blow out of his ears.

I nudge Jake out of the way to stand up, surrendering the booth to them. “You guys want to come back to my house?” I ask Sam and Chris.

“Actually, Becca,” Charlie interrupts me again. “You should just come back to mine. My parents are out for the night. No interruptions.” I freeze. Did he actually just insinuate to everyone here that we should go back to his house and have uninterrupted sex? How embarrassing! Maybe no one was paying attention and didn’t get what he meant. I feel my face go red, but Charlie’s looking at me like he’s waiting for a response. I nod my head in his direction. “Okay.”

Ryan lets out a noise somewhere between a growl of annoyance and a snort of disbelief and he walks away, pulling Jessica along behind him. He sits in an empty booth and somehow she ends up in his lap. She wraps her arms around him and bends her head to kiss him. I pull a face. That doesn’t look very sanitary in an eating establishment.

“Gross,” I mutter under my breath as his friends stand and go to join them in the booth.

Jake walks past me as he heads to the booth. “You should cut him some slack, Becca,” he says under his breath like he’s annoyed with me. “Maybe he doesn’t want to know, or any of us, actually, that you’re going back to your boyfriends to have sex all night.”

Okay, so they definitely got what Charlie was implying. I look at Jake in annoyance, unsure why he’s having a go at me again. Great, now all this fighting with Ryan is affecting my friendship with Jake. Fantastic.

I pay the bill and get out of Sal’s as fast as I can.

“B
ecca!”

I look up from my phone distracted and find Katie Thompson in front of me. I’ve just finished school, taken a back exit out of the building and have rounded a corner to head to my car and am now standing face to face with Katie. I’ve had to park further away than usual since I was late this morning. Katie’s stood directly in my path and her usual crowd is sitting at a picnic table just up from my car. Katie smiles widely at me. Jessica Murphy scowls over at me and John, Mason and a bunch of other’s I’ve barely spoken to are also there as well. I stifle a groan of annoyance. I could do without this after that scene in Sal’s the other day. My eyes flick around them, but thankfully Ryan and Jake aren’t there which is a definite bonus.

“Hi,” I reply and offer her a quick smile before stepping to the right to get past her.

She moves with me blocking my way. “How are you?” she asks. I frown slightly and look pointedly past her at my car. She completely ignores my not so subtle hint that I want to leave. “How was your day?”

I force myself not to sigh, remembering what Ryan said about Katie liking me and making an effort with me. He’s right, she’s only ever been nice to me but I don’t understand why she’s suddenly so friendly. “Um, yeah it was okay,” I reply. There’s a pause. “How was yours?” I ask awkwardly, mainly to fill the silence. I feel like everyone’s watching me.

“Good, really good.” She takes a step toward me and before I know it she’s linked her left arm through my right and herded me over to her friends and their table. I’ve got to hand it to her, the girls got skills. Surprisingly the rest of her crowd all smile over at me in greeting and some even wave. Everyone except Jessica.

“So, you’re coming to Jake’s party, right?” she asks.

“Um, no. I can’t that night.”

“Seriously? You guys are like best friends and you won’t come to his birthday. Why?” My mouth gapes open slightly at how direct she is before I snap it shut. What can I say? I don’t want to go because I don’t want to see Ryan and all of you? Something tells me that won’t go down very well. Besides, Jake knows I won’t go, I’ll just buy him a pizza one night instead. I just kind of shrug my shoulders and look uncomfortably around. Kate nods suddenly and a small smile appears on her lips. “Because of Ryan, right?” I don’t respond. “Okay, in that case…maybe we can work out something else.” My eyebrows furrow in confusion at her words.

“Unbelievable!” Jessica suddenly exclaims harshly and stalks off, shooting me a filthy look over her shoulder. I scowl after her.

“What is her problem with me?” I ask confused. For God’s sake, she’s the one who threw a ball in my face, not the other way around.

“Oh just ignore her,” Katie says dismissively. “She’s just jealous.”

What?
“Jealous?” I ask incredulously.

Katie grins. “Yeah, you know?”

“No. What?” I ask, suddenly feeling nervous.

“Because of you and Ryan being,” she pauses watching me. When I don’t react, she carries on, “…such good friends.”

A burst of laughter escapes from me. “Are you kidding me? We are not good friends. He annoys the shit out of me.”