Fall Forever (Fall For Me) (8 page)

 
“Sure,” she said with a forced shrug, trying to act as though
her cheeks weren’t on fire. But they were as red as a juicy, ripe tomato. Then
she added with a wicked smile, “
If
you make the shot.”

I grinned, raising my eyebrows.
“So, we have a deal?”

“Sure,” she said again, but then
she added, because that’s Zoey, “But just so you know—and don’t get your
heartbreaker feelings hurt—no one’s made the shot the whole hour I’ve
been here.”

A lazy smile spread across my lips.
“But we have a deal?”

 
“Right, we have a deal,” she teased. “
If
you make the shot you win the big, gigantic,
humungous prize that we all know you’re
dying for—a
kiss from me.”

A slow smirk spread on my face.

She took it wrong. “What? You’re
going to throw it backwards? Into the trashcan?”

Without answering her, I took the
shot. And made it.

I couldn’t help another smirk
stretching across my lips. ‘Cause she just stood there, dumbstruck and pale,
staring at the basket that had just had a ball whoosh through it.

“The bet still on?”

She blinked. “Um …” she scrunched
up her brow, like she didn’t know how she should behave.

I watched her a moment, wondering
what she would do if I really made her go through with it—kiss me. But
that wasn’t my plan. Never was. I stepped back, pushing myself away from the
booth. “Nah, I’m just kidding. I won the kiss for Finn—tell him he won
the big, gigantic, humungous, grand prize.”

***

So yeah, that day, as I left Finn
and Zoey alone in the tilt-a-whirl line—telling them their cuddling was
making me gag—Zoey called playfully after me, “What
?!
We were just going to use the kiss you won for Finn—we thought you wanted
to be around to see it.”

She said all of that with a cute
little laugh. So, when I turned around to give her a smart remark, she caught
me off-guard. Completely. She kissed Finn.
Long and hard.
She never did that in front of me before—not a real
kiss.

Ouch! Okay, I guess I deserved that
move, but wow
!—
a knife right to my heart.

The smart remark I was going to say
to her caught in my throat. I couldn’t say anything.
At all.
Instead I just gave a slight nod, trying not to stagger.

Once I could breathe, I gave her a
bow and a salute. What else could I do? The girl had kicked my butt.

I staggered away—knowing I
was all white.

I was ready to bang my head against
the nearest tree, but right then I looked up and there was this new girl from
our class, Ava.

She stared at me—directly
into my eyes. The girl sure wasn’t shy about letting me know she wasn’t shy.

“Hi guy,” she said.

“Hi. I’m Riley.” I wasn’t sure she
knew that, since she was so new to our school.

“Oh, I know.” Her eyes twinkled
with
full-on
girly-flirt.

Holy
smokes. So not shy
.

 
“Hi,” I said again. Then tilted my head at her, “You want to
go on the Ferris
Wheel
with me?”

She smiled, her eyes teasing. “I
saw people kissing up there. Is that what you people do in this town on Ferris
Wheels?” Her smile grew even bigger and she gave a soft laugh. “Seems fun.
Sure, I would
love
to go on the Ferris
Wheel
with you.”

Man! I didn’t really think I could
get Zoey out of my head. But Ava definitely seemed like the girl to help me
try.

And she was new. She wouldn’t diss
Zoey like Jade. Or gush about her like most of the girls at our school. I
wouldn’t have to stick up for Zoey or hear about Zoey or talk about Zoey. With
Ava my world could be totally Zoey Free.

Best Friend’s-girl Free.

I grabbed Ava’s hand tight.

CHAPTER 16

Zoey

When I left Finn at the hospital, I
decided maybe I should stay away from guys for a while. Have some “girl” time.
But when I called
Summer
, she was busy packing for
cheer camp.

“Sorry,” she said. “I’m going to be
gone for the next two weeks. But we should
definitely
have a girl’s night when I get back.”

“Yeah, definitely,” I said, sort of
despondent, ’cause, well, two weeks wasn’t right now.

Summer seemed to feel my pain.
“Sorry to leave you like this,” she said. “Break ups are rough. Hey, remember
Lacy Webber from middle school?”

I blinked, not following her abrupt
change of subject. “Ye-ah.”

Lacy and I had been good friends …
once. But then she moved a few hours away and I never saw her again.

“She just broke up with her
boyfriend, too,” Summer said. “You two should get together and commiserate.
Call her.”

Summer had to go, so that’s the way
things were left. Only, I didn’t really plan to call Lacy. We had been more
like “sort of” friends than “close” friends. I mean, we’d been on the middle
school cheerleading squad together and she’d been good to go shopping with, and
she gave excellent makeovers, but she wasn’t exactly someone I ever confided
in.

So, though the thought of calling
Lacy didn’t make me cringe or anything, it also didn’t get put on my “to-do”
list. Instead, I let Jillian paint my nails and then took her and Kalab (my
little brother) to play laser tag.

However, not long after the two
ganged up on me and kicked my butt at laser tag, Lacy called. “Let’s totally
get together,” she said.

We bonded on the phone over the
fact we’d both been cheated on and made plans to get together and do the “girl”
thing.

It was decided Lacy would come over
Friday night after I got off work and she would spend the whole weekend at my
house, since she lived so far away.

I was actually slightly excited
about the plan—getting together with an old friend, dissing on boys, and
eating, eating, eating. Sounded pretty good. Way better than what I had lined
up—which was, you know—nothing.

So, yay for girl-time!

CHAPTER 17

Friday night, it was strange to be back at work. Not that it
had been that long, but still, everything had changed. And I couldn’t help
it—I kept thinking:
The last time I
was here, Riley kissed me.

And that kiss—
oh!
That kiss kept me up nights, fantasizing about it. Made me toss and turn and
ache and yearn—for more.
More, more, more.

And so tonight at work, I couldn’t help it—my mind
would just dreamily go there—back to that kiss. Constantly.

Especially when Riley called me into his office.

“It’s good to have you back,” he murmured softly as I
entered the room.

He went to close the door, but then seemed to think better
of it. Or maybe like me, he was reminiscing about it. Reminiscing the way he
had backed me up against it (enticing me with his ruby-red lips … his velvet
tongue exploring my mouth and his hot fervent hands tangling in my hair). The
memory made me dizzy and weak in the knees. (His strong Riley arms wrapping
around my waist, pulling me to him….)

Gah!
Get
a grip, Zoey!

I almost groaned trying to make myself look away from the
door … and still, even when I did, I practically moaned from the memories.

Anyway, maybe he was thinking about that stuff, you never
know. Or maybe he was just thinking Ava wouldn’t like it if he had me alone in
the office anymore. Maybe she made a rule—he couldn’t close the door
while I was in there. Or maybe
he
made the rule.

In any case, he hesitated before shutting the door. But he
did
shut it. Softly. Reverently. Then
(it
seemed
like) he kind of gently
caressed it.
Sort of.

I saw his shoulders rise and fall before he turned to face
me.
A deep
breath
?
Uh-oh. Bad news.

He cleared his throat. “I just wanted to talk to you for a
second.”

I swallowed and choked out in a whisper, “About Ava?”

He cocked his head, widening his eyes. “Yeah.”

I don’t know why, but my heart fell to the floor. I mean
,
I know why it fell. Why it suddenly ached as though a
skyscraper had fallen on it. But I don’t know why
now
it chose to throb and ache and squeeze
so
bad. I mean
,
I’d pretty much already
known they’d gotten back together. Pretty much.

…
only
I couldn’t believe he would
kiss me, and then not even tell me that he’d gotten back together with his
girlfriend.

So, I’d kept hoping there was another explanation. Another
reason she was at his house—
all
of the time
.

Okay, I’m a delusional dope
—I knew that. Still, it hurt to
have to face reality—they were officially back together and he was
finally getting around to telling me.

Boys. Suck.

I clenched my teeth. “Look, I already know, Riley,” I
muttered.

He jerked his head up. “Know what?”

“You two are back together.”

He shook his head, looking
incredulous. His brow scrunched up. “Jones, Ava and I—we broke up. I told
you that.”

Oh!
My heart fluttered, soaring up to the heavens. I swear, the room started to
spin from too much happiness flowing through my veins, making me dizzy and
needing to dance a jig. Or explode.

But Riley looked grim.
Aw!

It brought my spirits crashing back
down to the ground.

His voice was thick with pain as he
went
on,
“She’s taking it hard, though—way
harder than I expected.” He stared up at the ceiling, then back at me. “I don’t
want her to end up at the same place as Finn.”

Startled, I jerked my head up and
caught his eyes. My heart squeezed seeing so much pain there.

He blanched and looked away.

Immediately, realization sunk
through me. The guy was full of guilt. Not only guilt about Finn.
But now Ava too.
Obviously, she was playing the “I can’t
live without you card” and he was afraid it wasn’t all a game.

His eyes welled with sadness. “She just needs some
time—like you and Finn.”

I blinked. “Is that what Finn said?”

He clenched his jaw. “And his mom.”

A chill ran down my spine. “Finn’s a big boy, Riley. He
doesn’t need his mom to speak for him.”

“Yeah … but she’s been like a mom to me.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. She’d sort of been like a
mom to me too.
An overbearing one.
Riley lost his mom
a long time ago, though. I guess it was different for him.

I rubbed my eyes. “So time? She thinks time’s going to fix
everything for Finn and me?”

“That—” he drew in a breath, “and me staying away from
you.”

“Riley, it’s not going to happen—”

Porcha knocked on the closed door, interrupting my just
beginning rant about Finn’s mom.

“We’re getting swamped out here!” Porcha called through the
door.

Riley turned back to me looking half-apologetic but also
expectant—’cause he was the boss.

 
He didn’t need
to say anything. “I’m going,” I muttered.

“I’ll be out there in a second,” he
said. He watched me leave his office,
then
gently shut
the door.

CHAPTER 18

Riley

When Zoey left my office I banged my head against the door,
wanting to bash it through a window.

I couldn’t resist her anymore. Not since we kissed. Now I
knew what it was like to taste her lips. It had me practically falling to my
knees.

Now when I was with her it was all I could think
about—the taste of her lips and her warm, moist mouth on mine.

It was like a sickness for me. An addiction. I
needed
her kiss.

And holy smokes! Being trapped in my office with her just
now—man. I’d turned into a lovesick puppy. A loon.
Caressing
the door where we’d kissed. What
was
that? I was turning into a cheese-ball.

And that Ava stuff I was telling her—it didn’t come
out right.
I wanted her to know when Ava comes to my house
,
I don’t kiss her
. I haven’t kissed her since I broke
up with her.
Not that she doesn’t try.
Man, she tries.
But it’s not even hard to resist her anymore. She used to be my crutch—my
go-to fix to keep me away from Zoey. But she just doesn’t do it for me anymore.

I need Zoey. And Ava can’t help anymore. Nothing can help.

Finn’s mom had talked about time. How it heals wounds. But
it seems only Zoey can heal my wounds.

But I guess I can’t ask her to do that.

I
need her…. But she needs Finn.