Four Doors Down (7 page)

My dad looks at me in annoyance. “No way, Ryan, the game’s about to start. It’ll be good to have someone to watch it with for a change.”

I glare at him.
The absolute traitor
! I always knew he wanted a son. I glance at Ryan and he at least has the good grace to look sheepish. He shifts in his seat and I suddenly remember why he’s here in the first place. His granny just died, his house is empty and his best friend is out of town. God, I am being a bitch. I force myself to smile at him

“Don’t leave on my account. I’m going out, anyway.” I smile sweetly at my mother and spin around to exit the kitchen.

I
’m at my kitchen table staring down at my phone. I have just received a very irate phone call from my mother clearly stating that if I do not get my butt over to the Jackson household in the next ten minutes to pay my respects, then she will take my car from me for the next six months. Apparently she was expecting me over two hours ago when school ended.

Dammit!

I was hoping she would forget about me. I know I’m being stubborn, but I promised myself years ago that I would never go to Ryan’s house again, well not unless I can help it, and I want to stick to that. It’s not like he’ll want me there either. I can’t not have my car for six months, so I heave a big sigh, feeling incredibly woe is me, and head over to the Jackson’s house. I let myself in since no one answers the door and head into their large front room. I immediately feel myself being watched and turn slightly to see five pairs of eyes trained on me. Ryan’s sitting over by the window. It turns out he did tell a couple of people after all. Jessica, Katie, John and Mason are all staring straight at me and it’s not exactly welcoming. I turn away and go find my parents.

After giving Mr. and Mrs. Jackson my sympathies, I’m in their kitchen picking at food and wondering when would be a reasonable time to leave when someone calls my name. I turn to see Lisa Jackson walking toward me and smiling widely.

She wraps me up in a hug, which I happily return. I’ve always loved Lisa.

“It’s so good to see you!”

“You too,” I return and genuinely mean it. Lisa used to drive Ryan and me around whenever we wanted her to and would always give us money for candy and junk food. As far as I was concerned, she was the perfect big sister.

“You look amazing!”

I scrunch my face up at her. What’s she talking about? I’m wearing my jeans and a baggy V-neck t-shirt that I’ve had on all day. I was actually starting to feel stupid for not wearing something black like everyone else, but then I remember Lisa hasn’t seen me for a couple of years so she probably still remembers the twelve-year-old me.

“Why are you in here all alone?”

“Oh you know, just stuffing my face.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “So you and Ryan still don’t talk?” I pull a face and she laughs. “Ah, well, it’s up to you. You don’t need to tell me how much of a brat he can be. Thanks for chilling with him the other day, though, when mom and dad were with me. I don’t think he wanted to be alone.”

I nod and blush slightly. I didn’t realize that was common knowledge.

“There’s some other kids from your school here, though. Gotta be better than being on your own?”

“We don’t exactly run in the same crowd these days. And I can’t stand the girl he’s seeing,” I explain.

“He has a girlfriend? Who?”

“Um, Jessica? The blonde one? At least I think she wants to be.”

Lisa starts laughing. “That is not his girlfriend. And if she were, I’d be having serious words.”

I grin back. “Yeah, I guess your brother’s not exactly the committing type.”

“Oh, he is. He’s just not got the right girl yet.” She cocks her head to the side like she’s studying me. “I hear you’ve got a boyfriend, though? What’s he like?”

I immediately blush and she starts to laugh, but I can’t help the giddy smile that always comes to my face when I think about Charlie. I still can’t believe he’s mine. “He’s great. Really, really great.”

She smiles at me and glances over my shoulder. “Hey, Jake.”

Jake approaches us and I turn to smile at him. I didn’t realize he was here, but then again, of course, he would be. He doesn’t return my smile. In fact, he looks positively pissed at me.

“Right. I better go feed the baby before she starts screaming the place down. Make sure you come and find me before you go, Becca.” I nod as she walks away.

“Seriously, Becca? You’re gonna sit in here all night?” Jake glares at me.

My jaw drops open.
What is his problem? I came over, didn’t I?
“What?”

“This is Ryan’s house, this is his grandma’s wake, and you’re not even gonna say hello?”

Oh. When he puts it like that, it does sound rude. “Right. Yeah, sorry.”

He turns and stalks away, and I wander over to where they’re all sitting. They all look up at me like I’m some crazy imposter.
Great, this will be fun.

“Hey,” Ryan says.

“Hi.” There’s an awkward pause. “I hope today went as well as it could have,” I manage to mumble.

“It was fine. Thanks for coming.” I nod, looking around. “Your parents made you come, didn’t they?”

My attention snaps back to him. “No,” I say, but I haven’t responded quickly enough, and I know he doesn’t believe me.

Ryan glances around the room and looks over at Jake. “This blows, let’s go downstairs.”

He stands and everyone follows him. I’m about to turn away when Jake pushes me from behind and sends me a look, making it clear I’m supposed to follow them.

We head down to the basement, which is decked out like a den. This used to be Lisa’s domain when we were kids, but clearly Ryan’s inherited it now. I look around taking in the changes while we all wait for Ryan to speak. “What do you guys want to do?” he asks.

“Dunno, watch a movie?” John asks.

“We could play spin the bottle?” Jessica suggests.

I look over at her in disgust. “This is a funeral.” I pause. “And we’re not twelve.”

Ryan smirks as she blushes. “I was just trying to cheer Ryan up,” she defends herself.

I cross my arms. “And you’re the one to do it?”

“What no round two, Becca?” Mason asks grinning over at me.

My eyes flash over to him and narrow. Before I stopped ignoring this crowd entirely, I went to Jake’s thirteenth birthday party and got stuck playing a game of spin the bottle. Mason spun and it landed on me; he promptly launched himself my way. That was my first kiss. We’d never spoken before that and I don’t think we’ve ever spoken more than two words to each other since. He’s grinning at me smugly but quickly stops when he glances behind me. Jake’s probably just sent him the same death glare he’s been giving to me.

“We’ll play a few games on the Xbox,” Jake decides, shooting me a look that clearly tells me to shut up and stop arguing.

“There’s too many of us,” I state.

“We can team up. You’re on my team, Becca,” he decides before I have a chance to back out.

Two hours later and I’m pretty good at this video game—whatever it’s called. I’m getting into it and can’t believe the time when I check my watch. The moods lightened up and everyone is actually being civil, even cracking a few jokes, to my surprise, and I’m surprisingly quite enjoying myself. I’m about to shoot down a wall to free myself when my phone starts to ring. I don’t hear it at first, but Jessica, who is sitting this game out, picks it up off the table and waves it at me.

“It’s Charlie,” she says, a big smile on her face.

I’m immediately distracted from the game and reach out to grab my phone, leaving me open to get shot much to Jake’s annoyance. I scowl at his reaction as I answer the call.
Overreaction much?

“Hey, sexy.” I can’t help but smile at his greeting to me and stand up to move away from the sofa for some privacy. I talk to him for a couple of minutes before hanging up and heading back to the group.

“So, I’ve gotta go.”

Jake turns and glares at me. I mean seriously, if looks could kill. “What! We’re in the middle of a game.”

“You can finish it.”

Jake just gives me a thunderous look, cocking his head toward Ryan.

Oh right.
“Um, sorry again, Ryan. See you at school,” I say.

Jake shakes his head in disgust. What’s his problem? Ryan doesn’t care. He hasn’t even looked up from the TV. Jake’s clearly in a bad mood and has decided to take it out on me. I wave half-heartedly at them before leaving the room, trying not to rush, eager as I am to see Charlie.

I trek up the stairs and into Charlie’s waiting car. It’s only later that night when I’m finally climbing into bed and thinking over the day’s events when I remember my conversation with Lisa. How did she know about Charlie? I yawn widely and decide it must have been my mom that told her.

I
try not to wince as Charlie hits a bum note on his guitar and it echoes through the garage. I’m watching Charlie’s band practice, and I’m trying to stay engaged but, to be honest, they do not sound the best. I mean, I’ve only ever seen them live once because they’ve not had many gigs, but they were definitely better than this. The drummer Jimmy, who is also Charlie’s cousin, keeps looking over at me and I get the distinct impression he doesn’t like me, and I’m starting to feel uncomfortable.

The song comes to an end and Charlie calls the practice, looking over at me. Two of the guys, Jack, and Dean leave right away waving goodbye to me, but Jimmy hangs back and ends up sitting on the sofa next to me. Charlie goes over to the fridge to pull us out some drinks, but it’s empty.

“I’m gonna go grab some sodas from inside,” he tells us and exits the garage before I have a chance to go with him. I look over at Jimmy, who’s flipping through pictures on his phone. Silence stretches between us and I can’t help but feel like I want him to like me, knowing how close he and Charlie are.

“That was a good practice,” I lie.

He grins at me. “We blew.”

I start to laugh unable to argue with that.

“You go to MacAllister, right, Becca?” he asks.

I nod. “Yeah. S’alright. You like it at Madison?” I ask, cringing at how eager I sound.

“Sure.”

“It’s good to have Charlie back in town?” I persist. God this is so not me, desperate to make someone like me.

He looks over at me and opens his mouth to say something but then stops himself.

“Look, I know you don’t like me,” I blurt out.

He looks surprised. “I don’t not like you, Becca, it’s just…” he trails off as Charlie wanders back in and hands us our drinks.

Charlie looks between us and our blank faces. “What have you said?” Charlie demands of Jimmy, his gaze passing to me. I shake my head blankly. I’ve no idea what’s going on here. Charlie seems to relax and drops down onto the sofa between us, throwing his arm around me and pulling me into his side.

I smile up at him. “Sam wants to know if we want to go to the movies with her and Chris on Saturday,” I tell him.

He pulls a face. “I wish I could Becca, but I’ve gotta go out of town this weekend. My parents are making me visit our grandparents. Right, Jim?” he says waving his hand toward Jimmy.

“Dude, you are fucking unreal!” Jimmy snaps irritably, standing up and grabbing his bag.