Fall Forever (Fall For Me) (5 page)

Quick as lightening, I shot off my
bed and started grabbing Finn’s things from my closet and dresser top and
drawers. I shoved them into my empty laundry basket. (I’d get a box later, but
suddenly, at that moment, it seemed urgent that I collect his things—so
he couldn’t come here and get them and try to sleaze his way back into my
life.)

Okay, the immediacy of the job was
irrational. I mean
,
he was trapped in the hospital. He
couldn’t come and invade my house—no matter how much he might want to.
But I worked ferociously anyway, finding each and every item I could that
belonged to him. I’m sure a few weeks ago I would have cried over the items—sat
mooning over them and the happy memories they possessed. But now, I just wanted
them gone—out of my life. Forever. Just like Finn.
Backstabbing, lying, cheat!!

Instead of mooning over the items,
they just made me angry.
Stupid Finn’s
shirt that he had given me last week when I was cold
—the night I went
to see him while he was at work, and found him huddled intimately in the corner
with Bianca. I’d brought him brownies, but suddenly I’d wanted to shove them in
his face—seeing him jump away from her when he saw me standing there.

Then he’d tried telling me they
were only working—nothing at all inappropriate was going on between them.
It was all in my imagination—my worked-up, jealous, story-making mind.

Grrr!

I wadded up the shirt and threw it
in the basket, wanting to rip it to shreds. Instead, I scrambled under my bed,
finding more of his things. The thought that my hunt for Finn’s possessions was
only an excuse to avoid thinking about Riley with Ava wasn’t lost on me. But
hey, the job needed to be done. And I definitely
did
need a distraction.

So, win-win,
right?

(Sob.)

Finally, I texted
Riley.
I did it only a few hours before my shift, because all the while
as I worked on purging my life from Finn, I was waffling back and forth about
work. Wanting to go—to finally talk to Riley and just get the mess out in
the open and know where I stood (and probably quit). But another part of me
knew I wasn’t ready. A lot of stuff had happened in such a short while and I
was going to be overly emotional. Heck, I was overly emotional already. It was
like I needed to spend a week where Finn was—in a place that simply dealt
with getting better.

I texted Riley,
“I’m
not ready to see you yet. Can you fill my spot at work?”

Immediately, he wrote me back, like
he was relieved to get my message. Like he wasn’t jumping up and down to see me
either.
Far from it.
Probably because he wasn’t too
excited to tell me he was back together with Ava. Groan.

Probably the thought of dealing
with more girl drama made him cringe.
But waaa.
Whatever. (Face
it,
the guy had brought it totally on
himself. I mean, he did, right? He had
told
me he wanted me to be his girlfriend. He said that, right? That hadn’t been my
imagination … right? Right
?!!
Boys suck.)

Riley responded:
“Sure.
Take the week off. A lot has happened. We need to talk, definitely—but
not yet. Talk to Finn first.”

I exhaled slowly,
then
swallowed down a lump in my throat.
Talk to Finn first
. Right. Riley was
most likely hoping Finn and I would patch things up so he wouldn’t have to feel
guilty that he and Ava were back together. I mean
,
those two had a long, sordid history of fighting, breaking up, and then getting
back together. He knew that, I knew that, everyone knew that. We both should
have been smarter and saw that coming. But since we had gotten “caught up in
the moment” or whatever, Riley was hoping for dual make-ups. If Finn and I
“talked things out” it would ease Riley’s conscience and let him skip off with
Ava and freely forget that he had kissed me and led me to believe we were
making a commitment.

Well, sorry buck-o, but that wasn’t
going to happen—the “talking things out” with Finn. Not the way he was
hoping anyway. Finn and I weren’t going to “patch” things up. I didn’t care
where he was—a mental hospital or the moon. I was kicking his sorry,
cheating butt to the curb.

“Right.
I’ll
talk to Finn,”
I texted
back.
But you aren’t going to like what I have to say.

CHAPTER 11

Two days after getting Riley’s
text, I blinked, shocked to see him when I opened our front door. I had
expected the knock to be my little sister’s friend that was coming over to play
“Beauty Shop” with Jillian. I definitely,
definitively
hadn’t expected the gorgeous hunk that had kissed me so exquisitely and
expertly that I was still drooling over it (five days later) to be the one
standing at our doorstep. (Especially when he seemed to be avoiding me.)

I think I might have gasped when I
saw him, but Riley only eyed me, his eyes glistening with amusement.

He raised his eyebrows, a smile
playing at the corners of his beautiful, dream-inducing mouth. “Interesting
look.”

Huhhh?

His dancing eyes were targeted on
my hair.

Oh!

I touched a dangling curler in my
long locks (
Guh!!!)
, only now
remembering my head was full of rollers. Rollers!!

Oh,
yay!
He’s gorgeous and I’m in curlers. I breathed out an embarrassed laugh.
“My sister’s being a beautician today.”

“Awesome,” he said with a grin.
“Luckily, my phone has a camera.”

I squealed with a laugh as he
mockingly made a motion to fish his cell phone out of his pocket. “Don’t you
dare!
”

“Relax,” he said gently, still
smiling, totally amused-like. “Really, I was only getting this.” He pulled out
a slip of paper from his pocket and offered it to me.

I tilted my head, staring at it.
When that’s all I did, stared at the paper instead of actually reaching for it,
the corners of his mouth quirked another grin. “Don’t worry, Jones. It’s not
going to take a picture. It’s your paycheck.”

My
… paycheck?
My stomach fell.

He had never, ever brought me my
paycheck to my house before. Ever. But now here he was, after we had kissed and
Ava was at his house all of the time. (I know because I’d driven by his house a
couple thousand more times since the first time I’d seen it there.) I
swallowed. “Did Ava tell you to fire me?”

His eyebrows went up. “Ava tries to
tell me to do all sorts of stuff—I don’t usually do them.” He watched me
closely, like trying to read my expression. “Yeah, she told me to fire you. But
I’m not—of course. You’re the best employee I have.” He gave me a weak
smile. “And you kiss pretty good too.”

Heat rushed through me.

I tried to make my voice sound as
though my head was staying with the conversation, not floating back to his
tantalizing kiss. I swallowed. “You told Ava we kissed?”

His answer was a slow nod. “Yeah …
I told Finn too.” He rubbed a bruise on his cheek and cocked an eyebrow.
“People aren’t taking it well.”

I swallowed again. The lump in my
throat just kept growing and growing. “No. But it’s different with Ava.”

He tilted his head like a question.
When I didn’t answer, he scrunched up his brow and asked as though he didn’t
agree, “What do you mean?”

“Well, Finn cheated on me. But you
and Ava …”

He waited for me to go on. But I
didn’t. Wouldn’t. It hurt too much. The words wouldn’t come. Like a punch in
the stomach that stole away all my breath—that’s the way I felt about him
and Ava. Unspeakable pain.

He stared at me, waiting for me to
finish my sentence. Stood stiff and curious, as though he couldn’t breathe
until I answered. “Me and Ava what?”

Slowly, I filled my lungs with air,
deciding to just come clean and let him know there was no sense denying it or
trying to block the painful blow. “I saw her car at your house—a couple
of times.”

His lips twitched a weak grin that
didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Stalking me, Jones?”

I drew out a breath. “Yeah, I guess
so. Look, Riley, I’m pretty busy—my hair appointment and everything.”

He placed a hand on my shoulder,
pulling me back to him. “I’ve been stalking you too, Jones—the check’s
just an excuse to see you. To talk to you.”

Electrical sparks shot through my
body from his touch.
And his words.

But with an exaggerated motion he
released his hand from my shoulder as though he knew his simple touch was
causing my heart to explode … and that’s not what he intended. Or wanted.

He took a step away from me as
well, as though he also knew how hard it was for me to be so near him and not
jump on him and start mackin’ on those dreamy red lips of his that had kept me
up every night these past few days, fantasizing and reliving our hot, tasty
tongue encounter.

His words came out hesitant and
carful, “Jones, Ava and I—”

I flinched. His beginning had me
knowing my heart was going to break. His voice gave it away too. It was all
concerned, as though he was worried how I was going to take his announcement.

He didn’t get to finish his
sentence, though. Just then Jillian came into the foyer. Her eyes lit up when
she saw who was at our door.

“Riley!” she exclaimed. She ran to
him and jumped into his arms. “I’m sorry I threw up in your hot tub. Let me
make it up to you. I’ll style your hair.” She tugged on his arm excitedly.
“Come on. Come into my beauty parlor.”

She led him into our guest bathroom
and had him sit in the chair she had at the sink. “Come on Riley.” She patted
the seat coaxingly, giving him a big, toothy smile and showing him her big
bottle of shampoo. “I’ll make you into a model.”

“Um …” Riley looked worried.

I laughed, for a moment forgetting
about Ava and the announcement he was going to make about them as a couple (as
if I could!). “I’ll get my camera,” I told him, scrambling upstairs.

I quickly took out my curlers and
blew dry my hair. It actually looked … awesome. Go Jillian.

But just as I was racing downstairs
with my camera, I got a phone call. I was so excited to witness Jillian doing
Riley’s hair, I forgot to check caller ID. So, suddenly I was faced with a very
stern voice.

“Zoey, perhaps we’ve been a bit
hasty,” the words came from Finn’s mom.

Groan.

***

The only way I was able to finally
get off the phone was announcing, “I have to go—there’s someone at the
door.” And it wasn’t even a lie.

There
was
someone at the front door. It ended up being Jillian’s little
friend, late for her “beauty” appointment.

By the time I was able to return to
the guest bathroom, Jillian had already finished shampooing Riley’s hair and
was busy blowing it dry. Priceless!

My heart melted at the scene.

I snapped a bunch of pictures as
Riley posed adorably while Jillian worked her beauty magic with the
blow-dryer
(which, until today, she had never used before in
her life). But once Jillian turned off the dryer and reached for our curling
iron, Riley jumped to his feet as though his seat was on fire.

“I see your next appointment is
here, Jillian,” he said, still eyeing the curling iron anxiously, as though the
thing was surely going to give him nightmares. “How much do I owe you for this
awesome ’do?”

“Nothing!” she gushed, sounding
flattered at his offer. “It’s free!”

“Aw, Jillian. Thanks.” He gave her
a huge hug,
then
he gave himself another dramatic look
in the mirror, as though he loved his new “look” so much that he could barely
tear his gaze away. “I love it! You’re awesome.”

She grabbed her notebook with a
huge, pleased smile and gazed up at him adoringly. “So, you want me to schedule
you in for next week?”

“Definitely!” he said, giving her a
playful pat on the cheek and making her year. “Schedule me in for every week.”

Jillian beamed, eagerly writing
notes in her “scheduling” notebook. Then she turned to her friend, “You’re
late.”

“Yeah, sorry,” the girl said, not
taking her eyes off Riley. Gawking at him like he was a rock star. (Which lots
of girls
do.
They gawk at Riley and get tongue-tied.
They had ever since middle school. It used to be hilarious. But, sigh. These
days I found myself doing it as well … so not so funny anymore. Kind of sad,
actually.)

I walked Riley to the door,
desperately wanting to broach the subject of him and Ava again, but not quite
sure how.
Or quite sure that I really, truly wanted to.
I mean, he had sounded all guarded and cautious as he mentioned the subject.
Like he had been wary to break the news to me that he and Ava were back
together … or whatever he was going to tell me. I mean, it hadn’t sounded at
all happy. In fact, it had sounded foreboding. So, I was
half-way
thinking maybe it was better to just not mess with it until I was less
emotional (like, next millennium).

Being the chicken that I was,
instead of mentioning Ava, I said, “Sorry I missed most of your beauty
appointment.
Really
sorry.
But it was Finn’s mom on the phone.”

“Oh yeah?” Riley raised his
eyebrows, stopping at the door. He turned back to me. “What did she have to
say?”

I shrugged, feeling caught in the
middle of a mess I didn’t want to be in.
At all.
I
just wanted to lick my wounds and be left alone. “She wants me to go see Finn.
Now.
But before she was telling me not to.
But now she
says that Finn begged her to talk to me—to get me to go see him.”