He's With Me (6 page)

He was right about one thing, though: He was really bad at tennis, too. He

had trouble even getting it over the net, so she hardly ever got to try volleying it

back.

Finally, for the last hour, Mr. Giambi switched the partners and she was

paired with Sally. At least with a good partner she had a better chance to practice,

but Riley seemed disappointed that they were split up. She glanced over at his

court a couple of times and caught him watching her instead of the tennis ball he

was supposed to be watching.

“Hey,” Sally said during a break for water. “I’ve been meaning to talk to

you.”

It was funny how a simple sentence like that could make a person so

nervous. Lexie screwed the cap back on her water bottle, trying to look calm.

“This Friday,” Sally went on, “would you and Jake want to go on a double

date with me and Ian?”

“Really?” Lexie said. That was about the furthest thing from what she’d

expected Sally to say. A double date? A real date? With Bree’s best friend?
Maybe

that’s why,
the voice in her head whispered.
Bree’s assigned her to spy on us. To
see if Jake and I still act like a couple away from Summerlodge. So I have to say

yes, don’t I?

“Um,” she said, hedging. “Let me ask Jake. But thanks, that sounds like

fun.”

“It would be fun,” Sally said. “I was thinking we could just walk downtown

to the movie theatre on Main Street – I think they have the new Pixar movie

there, which Ian is being kind of a jerk about seeing, but I’ll get him to go. And

then we could have dinner at the diner across the street afterward.”

Lexie nodded. Sally added, “Unless you want to do something else. My

mom could drive us to the mall, but I thought we’d have more fun if we could go

somewhere without any parents yakking at us the whole way. Ian’s not a big fan

of my mom.”

“The one in town sounds fine,” said Lexie. “I’ve been wanting to see the

Pixar movie, too.”

“
Finding Nemo
was
so
funny,” Sally said, and Lexie would have agreed, but Mr. Giambi called them back to the court to keep practicing.

On the way to lunch, Riley caught up with Lexie and Sally.

“Okay,” he said, “lesson learned. No more jeans. I’m afraid you’re going to

think my cool factor is plummeting, but you know, if the choice is shorts or death,

I guess shorts wins by a tiiiiiiny margin.”

“I won’t think you’re less cool,” Lexie said.

“I’ll think you’re a heck of a lot smarter,” Sally said. “Hi, I’m Sally.”

“Riley,” he said.

“Oh, Lexie,” Sally said, “I forgot to mention – don’t say anything to Bree

about our double date. I’ll tell her later, but she can be weird about stuff like

that.”

Clever,
Lexie thought.
Make me think Bree doesn’t know about it when

she’s really the one who masterminded the whole thing.

“No problem,” she said.

“Double date?” Riley said.

“Maybe,” Lexie answered. “I have to check with Jake.”

“Oh, right,” Riley said. “Your boyfriend.”

They got in sight of the picnic tables, and once again, Jake was already

there. He raised his hand to wave at Lexie but stopped when he saw Riley.

“And there he is,” Riley said.

“You can, um, sit with us, if you want,” Lexie said.

“Great, thanks,” he said. “First, hot dogs.” He headed off toward the lunch

line. Sally raised her eyebrows at Lexie and followed him. Lexie wondered if that

was a girl-code expression that a normal girl would have been able to translate.

With a sigh, she headed over to Jake.

This time she remembered to sit next to him instead of across from him. He

smiled at her as she sat down, and it was such a different smile from Riley’s. It

made her calmer instead of more nervous, and it said,
I’m happy to see you,

instead of,
I know something about you
. He smelled sharp and clean, like apple shampoo.

“Hi there, girlfriend,” he said as she sat down. She wondered how long he

was going to find that funny, but she liked the way he said it, kind of warm and

teasing at the same time. She was glad to see he seemed to be in a better mood

than he had been when he’d dropped her off the day before.

“Hey,” he added, “you’re wearing the necklace I got for you.” He reached

out and touched one of the glass beads. His fingers brushed the side of her neck

like a whisper of wind, and her heart sped up. Hadn’t he ever noticed that she

wore it all the time?

“Yeah,” she said awkwardly. “I love it.”

“That’s so cool,” he said, removing his hand. “Go, me. What do you have for

lunch today?”

“I, um,” Lexie said, clearing her throat, “well, I’m guessing more carrot

sticks.”

Jake laughed, but then his face changed, closing down again. Lexie turned

to see Riley smiling down on the other side of her.

“Hi,” Jake said. “I thought you didn’t go here.”

“I do now,” Riley said. “Hello again, Lexie’s boyfriend.”

Bree and Sally plunked their trays down on the other side of the table, and

Lexie felt a weird tension between Riley and Jake, and sitting in between them

made her nervous.

“Hi there,” Bree said, leaning toward Riley like a leopard sniffing out her

prey. “I’m Bree. I’m a lifeguard, or I will be soon.”

“Hey, Bree,” Riley said. “A lifeguard? That’s awesome.”

“Yes, well,” Bree said, shooting a look at Lexie and Sally, “I thought it would

be a good way to help my community. Better than tennis, for instance.”

“Oh, I’m doing tennis,” Riley said, and Lexie nearly giggled at the “oops”

look on Bree’s face.

“Really,” Bree purred. “Sally, you didn’t tell me about any gorgeous guys in

your tennis class.”

“He just started today,” Sally said, stabbing a fork into her salad like she

was hoping it would die and turn into a hamburger.

“And what’s your name, handsome?” Bree asked.

“Riley,” he said. “What’s yours?”

She wrinkled her nose like she was trying to hide her real expression. “I

already told you,” she said. “It’s Bree.”

“Oh, right,” he said. He gave Lexie a huge obvious wink. It took her a

minute to realize he was saying,
the one we’re not telling about the double date
.

Which reminded her. But she couldn’t ask Jake there, in front of everyone.

“Hey,” she said, turning to him. He was moodily shredding her brown paper bag.

“Um, Jake. I forgot to get a soda. Want to come with me to...um...buy one?”

Jake looked confused. He knew her mom didn’t like her to drink soda.

When he paused, Riley jumped in. “I’ll come with you,” he said. “I’ve got tons of

change for the vending machine.”

“No, that’s okay,” Jake said quickly. “I can buy my own girlfriend a soda,

thanks.” He took Lexie’s hand and tugged her away from the bench. His hand was

cooler than hers, and much bigger.

As they walked away, Lexie head Bree purr, “You can buy
me
a soda, Riley.”

“Nah, I’m good,” he said.

Lexie hid a smile. Bree wasn’t going to like that! But maybe if she turned

her attention to Riley, she’d lose interest in Jake and leave him and Lexie alone.

“What kind do you want?” Jake said, feeding quarters into the slot.

“Cherry Coke,” she said. “I can pay for it, Jake.”

“No, no,” he said, waving her hand away. “Let me, since I don’t have a

cookie to split with you today.” He grinned at her, then glanced over her shoulder,

back at the table. “I don’t like that guy,” he said, punching the Cherry Coke button

a little too hard.

“Riley?” Lexie said. “Why?”

“Well, why didn’t he start tennis camp at the same time as the rest of us?”

Jake said. “Why doesn’t he have any of his own friends? And his smile is all

lopsided.”

“That’s true,” Lexie said. “He is a little weird – he wore jeans to tennis this

morning. But he seems nice enough.”

“Hmm,” Jake said, turning to head back.

“Wait,” she said, catching his sleeve. “Actually, I needed to ask you

something.”

“Aha,” he said. “I thought the soda thing was out of the blue.”

“Well, if you help me drink it, I figure I’ll only be half breaking my mom’s

rule, right?” He smiled, and she told him about Sally’s double date offer. “I know

it’s strange,” Lexie said. “Maybe we could tell her you already have plans, or that

our parents won’t let us go, or something.”

“Are you sure?” Jake said. “I think it could be fun, don’t you?”

“Oh,” Lexie said, “well, I mean, if you –”

“Why not, right?” Jake said. “I want to see it; you want to see it.”

“But with Sally and Ian?”

“Well, we don’t have to talk to them during the movie. But we also don’t

have to go,” he said. “I mean, if you don’t want to, I can totally say no for us. I’m

sure you don’t want to go on your first date with a guy who’s just a friend, like

me, right?” He was looking at her really intently.
You have no idea
, she thought.
I
want to go on my first date with you, plus every other date for the rest of my life
.

“No, I mean, sure,” she said. “We can go. Let’s do it. Besides, if Bree is

behind it, this should help convince her we’re really dating, right?”

“Right,” he said. “That’s why we’re doing it. Of course.”

When they got back to the table, Bree was explaining lifeguard training to

Riley, who looked fascinated. Sally looked bored, but when Lexie caught her eye

and gave her a thumbs-up, her face brightened.

“I’ll call you,” she mouthed while Bree wasn’t looking.

The afternoon went a lot like the previous afternoon, except that Riley

joined pool volleyball and was put on Bree’s team. Seeing him in his swimsuit

made Lexie realize why he liked jeans better than shorts: His legs were thin and

paler than his arms, which looked sort of odd. But he turned out to be a lot better

at this sport than tennis, and he made a lot of energetic leaps and dives in the

process. Whenever he saw Lexie watching him, he gave her his crooked smile.

At the end of the day, Jake hustled out of the changing room almost as

soon as he went it, catching up to Lexie while she was still on the path to the

bikes.

“Hey,” she said. “That was fast.”

“That guy was annoying me,” Jake said. “He keeps asking questions about

our relationship, like how long we’ve been dating and stuff.”

“Really?” Lexie said. “That’s weird. I wonder why.”

“Uh, yeah,” Jake said, spinning the combination lock on his bike. “Weird.

Let’s go before he comes out.”

As they rode back to Lexie’s house, she wondered if she should talk to Jake

about Colin. Maybe he could help her figure out what was wrong with her twin

brother. She decided to wait and see if Jake noticed anything himself. But when

he came inside with her, Colin seemed more cheerful than he had the day before.

The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon trying to set up and film gory

special effects from a book Jake had found. It didn’t work very well; they ended

up with ketchup all over the kitchen and several bits of carrot that didn’t look

anything like severed fingers.

“Better luck tomorrow,” Jake said, heading out the door. “See you in the

morning, Lexie.” She stood at the screen door and waved as he pedaled away.

Thorn and Alanna nosed their way into the kitchen and snuffled across the floor,

licking up spattered ketchup and carrot bits.

“Oh, dear,” Mrs. Willis said, coming into the kitchen. “I gather we’re having

takeout for dinner.”

“We’re cleaning it up,” Colin said. “Don’t worry.”

“I’m quite sure you are,” his mom said. “Lexie, Sally Kim is on the phone for

you. When you’re done, ask her if I can speak to her mother.”

Colin gave Lexie a curious look. He knew as well as she did that a phone call

from Sally Kim was not at all the normal event their mother seemed to think it

was.

Lexie picked up Alanna for moral support, took the portable phone into her

room, and shut the door.

“Hi, Sally,” she said into the phone, lying down on the bed. Alanna curled

up beside her and began licking her fingers with energetic snorting sounds.

“Hey, Lexie,” Sally said, as if she called her every day. “So let’s figure out

Friday. Ian’s being a pain about it because he’s going on a camping trip with his

family the next day or something. But he’ll come. It’ll be fun, don’t you think?”

“Sure,” Lexie said.

“I’ve been wanting to go on a double date for ages,” Sally said, “but Bree

hates them. She likes to keep her boyfriends to herself. Anyways, I don’t really

want Ian to model himself on any of her relationships. But I figure he could pick

up some tips from Jake, right? I’d love it if he treated me a bit more like Jake

treats you.”

Lexie thought that was funny. The whole time Jake had been dating Amy

Sorrento, Amy had complained nonstop (Jake’s word) about what an

unenthusiastic, uninspired, boring, neglectful boyfriend he was (her words).

Maybe he was just better at pretending to be in a relationship than at actually

being in one.

“Are you excited?” Sally asked. “Dinner and a movie, totally romantic,

right? Is it okay if I have my mom drop me off at your place beforehand, so we can