Four Doors Down(21)

Seriously? Ryan has some girl draped all over him, yet I’m the one Jessica Murphy is snapping at?

Ryan looks up as we approach and his gaze quickly sweeps to me. He moves the girl by the hips off his knee and to the side so that she’s sitting next to him, rather than on him, much to her annoyance. He stands so that he’s level with us as Jake smirks at him, raising his eyebrows as Ryan greets us.

“Uh, Ryan!” The junior girl snaps; he looks at her blankly. “I don’t believe you!” She declares before turning and flouncing off.

“What was that about?” Ryan asks looking genuinely confused as John and Mason snicker at him. I can’t help but laugh. Ryan turns to me. “Something funny, McKenzie?”

“Nah,” I smirk. “Just watching you lose your game.”

He crosses his arms and narrows his eyes then steps right into my personal space so that I have to tilt my head back to look him in the eye. “Oh, I’ve got plenty of game, McKenzie,” he tells me, peering down at me. I grin back at the sheer cockiness of him. “I can show you anytime you like,” he continues.

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” I say as I hear Mason snickering. A glance to the side shows Jake, John, and Mason grinning at his words, clearly entertained. The junior girls next to them have their mouths hanging open in disbelief. Clearly they didn’t get the memo that Ryan’s using me once again to make his friends laugh.

“Did you guys know Becca thinks I’m the most popular guy at school?” he asks his friends. “And the hottest. And the best on the football team.”

“You said that!” I do not want them thinking I actually think any of those things are true.

“She secretly wants me,” he continues. “Hey, all you have to do is admit it, McKenzie, and I’m sure we could work something out.”

“Excuse me while I vomit,” I tell him to further laughter from the guys. Ryan’s grinning at me, his arms crossed almost as though he’s challenging me— to what, I don’t know.

“Ready?” I ask Sam, turning away from them.

She nods and I turn to walk past Ryan, but he steps to the side blocking my route. I scowl up at him, then change direction, but he steps in front of me again, not letting me pass.

“God, Ryan, move!” I demand and shove him out of the way as he laughs at me.

We’re a few steps away from them when Jake calls out to me. “Hey, Becca, why don’t you come back with us to Ryan’s? We’re gonna play Xbox again.”

I turn round to face them, walking backward. “No,” I reply instantly.

“Why not?”

“Just don’t want to,” I say bluntly.

Ryan smirks and John starts to laugh. “Don’t you live, like, next door to him or something?”

“No, just on the same street. Still too close, though.”

The junior girls scowl over in my direction, annoyed that I’m still distracting the boy’s attention. God, some girls are pathetic.

“Come on, McKenzie,” Ryan says grinning. “I’ll let you win this time. Then if you’re a good girl, I’ll even walk you back home after,” he teases me, moving his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

My eyes narrow. God, he’s patronizing. Let me win? I was better than him!

“And we all know what happens when a guy walks a girl home to her front door,” Jake says grinning from ear to ear.

“I’m actually gonna throw up now,” I say and turn back around. I can hear them chuckling behind me. “Go find some na?ve cheerleader to use that shit on, Ryan,” I call over my shoulder.

“Hey, Becca!” I roll my eyes in annoyance and turn back to Jake. “You change your mind about coming to homecoming with us yet?”

“Nope. Not gonna happen.”

I turn my back to them and carry on walking and get to my car. Sam climbs in next to me and glances over at me. “Since when have you been hanging out with Ryan Jackson?”

“I haven’t. My parents made me go to his grandma’s wake and we played a few video games. Apparently he’s no longer upset and is back to being an *, so I can go back to pretending he doesn’t exist.”

Sam laughs. “Like he’d ever let you forget he exists.”

I shrug as I pull out of the lot.

“Maybe Jessica’s right to be jealous after all.” She grins. “He was definitely flirting with you.”

I snort. Yup, actually snort.

“You think Ryan Jackson would stoop so low as to flirt with me? He was trying to make the guys laugh and using me to do it. Trust me.”

She pulls a face like she doesn’t believe me and I roll my eyes. “What’s this about homecoming?”

“Jake wants me to go with them. Something about it being last chance and all that.”

“You gonna go?”

I send her a look and she smirks back at me. She knows that was a stupid question. Neither of us could care less about homecoming.

“So anyway, has Charlie said anything to Chris about me?”

She sighs in annoyance. “Becca! Charlie is all you think about.”

Well, duh.





“Hey, Sam. Hey, Becca.”

I glance over to see Jake sitting at a huge booth to the side with a bunch of jocks from school.