Four Doors Down(27)

I put my hands on my hips and sigh. “How do you even know each other, anyway?”

“Duh, Becca! We’ve known each other forever,” Jay says like I’m stupid.

I turn to Ryan for an explanation. He shrugs. “Your parents bring him over with them sometimes and we kick it.”

This is news to me. Jay grins up at Ryan. Clearly he’s a member of Ryan’s fan club.

“Ryan’s way cooler than you, Becca,” Jay tells me. “Ryan’s a player!” he declares proudly.

I raise my eyebrows at Ryan. “You’ve told my five-year-old cousin that you’re a player?”

Ryan blushes. “No, of course not.”

“Jake and Mason said so,” Jay continues coming to Ryan’s rescue. “He gets all the girls.”

I roll my eyes. “Come on, we’re going,” I say reaching for Jay’s hand.

“I want to stay here!” Jay shouts in protest. I ignore him and grab his hand, pulling him down the driveway. He yanks his hand free and runs back up the driveway.

“Seriously, Jay, move! You are already in trouble for just disappearing,” I shout at him.

“I don’t want to go with you.”

“Tough!”

“No! You don’t want to look after me anyway.”

I freeze at this. I hadn’t realized he could hear me on the phone with Charlie. I suddenly feel ashamed of myself and refuse to look over at Ryan.

“I wanna stay with Ryan,” he shouts again, his voice getting even louder. Ughhh! What am I supposed to do?

I look at Ryan, who just shrugs at me. “He can stay, if you want,” he tells me.

“You’d really watch him for a bit?” I ask, surprised. I did not have Ryan down for the babysitting type.

“Sure. We can just play some ball or something.”

I don’t know what to do. Part of me is angry with Jay and thinks he shouldn’t be rewarded for running off, but then if I drag him home, I’ll have to deal with him.

“But you’ll have to stay too,” Ryan continues. “I can’t watch him all by myself.”

Well, that decides it then. I shake my head and go to grab Jay again, but he just runs away from me. I sigh, exasperated. I really do not have any control over him.

“Just stay,” Ryan says to me. “I’ll play a bit of ball with him, tire him out, then he’ll be more chilled. We can order pizza later.” I glance up at this and Ryan’s grinning at me. “I know you can’t resist pizza,” he teases.

I smile at this. I do love pizza. But I don’t want to hang out with Ryan. I mean, we’re not friends and I seem to be seeing him more and more recently, and I don’t like it. I know I’m being stubborn, but I decided years ago that he wasn’t worth my time, and I plan on sticking to it.

Ryan rolls his eyes at my indecision. “Don’t worry, I won’t think we’re suddenly best friends again or anything.”

I laugh out loud at this since it’s so close to what I was actually thinking.

“Please, please, please, Becca!” Jay calls from further up the driveway.

I shrug and nod. Ryan smiles and opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by the sound of honking horns. We turn to look and see two cars full of Ryan’s friends pull up at the bottom of the driveway. I hear Ryan mutter something under his breath and I instantly feel my whole demeanor change and become more tense.

“I forgot they were coming over,” he explains. “I can ask them to leave if it makes you uncomfortable?”

I glance up at him in surprise. He’d actually ask his friends to leave just because I don’t like them?

“No, they’re your friends, it’s fine,” I reply as I watch Jay run up to the car and jump straight onto Mason’s back and high five the rest of the guys. Turns out Jay knows these guys better than I do, and I briefly wonder how long my parents have been bringing him over here.

Jake comes over grinning and throws his arm around my shoulder, hugging me into him.

“Hey, Becca, what are you doing here?”

“Long story,” I mutter as Jessica Murphy comes over and wraps her arms around Ryan’s waist and glances over at me with disdain. A couple of the other cheerleaders also make their way over looking at me curiously.

I turn to Ryan. “Right. Well, thanks for your help with Jay but we’d better go.” Ryan just looks back at me, shaking his head slightly. “Come on, Jay,” I call.

“You said we could stay,” he shouts from Mason’s back. Everyone is silent watching us.

“You could still stay?” Ryan asks me, and I’m surprised that he’s saying it so publically. Usually, he’d never be caught dead talking to me, much less socializing with me. He reaches up and detaches Jessica’s arms from around his waist and takes a step closer to me. I shake my head. My face feels warm from having everyone looking at me. I wish I didn’t always blush.

“Just come on,” I snap at Jay as Mason sets him down on the ground.

Jay doesn’t move, just crosses his arms at me defiantly. I sigh in frustration. Great this is all I need, my five-year-old cousin to embarrass me in front of this crowd.

“It’s fine, Becca. He can stay,” Ryan tells me.

Jay whoops in delight and runs into the house. This breaks the tension and everyone else starts making their way inside.