Four Doors Down(31)

He picks up his phone and puts on some music, leaving it by my head, and then he dips his head and starts dropping feather light kisses on my shoulder, leading up to my neck. I squirm under his touch but don’t protest, arching my neck to give him better access. By the time he reaches my mouth, I’m almost ready to forget that we’re in a public place and pull him onto me. He drops one last kiss on my mouth and smiles down at me.

“You’re so pretty, Becca.”

I laugh and shake my head. I know I’m not ugly or anything and I’ve caught the odd guy checking me out, but I’m nothing compared to Charlie. He’s the beautiful one with his long dirty blonde hair that falls into his eyes no matter what he does, his warm brown eyes and gorgeous tanned skin. I still feel like everyone must wonder what he’s doing with me when they see us together. I just hope he doesn’t open his eyes and realize he’s way out of my league.

He starts trailing his index finger slowly up and down my arm, concentrating on my skin like it demands his full attention. When he slowly turns and looks me in the eye, I feel it everywhere, and I’m ready to get up and demand that we find some privacy.

My phone starts to ring next to me, but I completely ignore it. I’m so in this moment with Charlie that I can’t imagine anything in the world that is more important. When it rings for a second and then a third time, I reluctantly roll over and see it’s my mom. I answer it with a sigh.

I listen as she tells me that Jay’s big soccer game is starting soon and his dad isn’t coming into town for it like he promised and his mom left him with her this morning and she doesn’t know if she will make it either. Apparently Jay’s trying to put on a brave face but is pretty upset. My heart sinks for him. I know he drives me crazy, but he’s a little boy whose soccer team has made the final in some junior cup, and he just wanted his screwed up parents there to watch him like all the other kids parents will be. She’s asking me to come, and although when she first asked me I’d told her I didn’t want to, this changes things and I immediately agree. I hang up and stand, straightening out my clothes.

Charlie looks at me in concern, clearly wondering what the conversation was about. “What’s up?” he asks.

“We have to go,” I say bending to pick up my bag.

“Why?”

“My cousin’s parents have bailed on his soccer game and he’s pretty upset.”

“What does that have to do with you?”

“Well, he needs people there to cheer him on. So he can forget about them. Come on, it starts in twenty minutes. It’s at Highgate Fields,” I say, waiting for him to get up.

“You want me to come with you?” he asks in surprise.

I screw my face up, isn’t that what I just said? “Yes. Come on, Charlie, he’s five years old and just wants people to cheer for him. We’ll only be an hour or so. They don’t play for very long.”

“But your parents will be there?”

“Yes. So?”

I watch as his eyes start shifting around and realize that he’s never met my parents before, and judging from his reaction, he doesn’t want to meet them today.

“Actually, Becca, I forgot…” he trails off, not able to come up with a valid excuse.

I cross my arms and look down at him. “What’s the problem?”

“It’s not really my scene, Becca. You know, parents and all that. Why don’t we just stay here? We were having fun, right?”

My jaw falls open. Seriously? “We don’t have to sit with my parents, we’re just going to support Jay.”

“Why don’t you give me a call after?” he asks.

“Why bother?” I snap in response. “You know, Charlie, I never ask you to do anything and you can’t even spend an hour at a soccer game cheering on my abandoned little cousin.”

He doesn’t reply and I shake my head and walk away to my car. When I reach it, I slam the door closed so hard I’m lucky my hand wasn’t in the way or I’d be down a finger. Usually, I’d never argue with Charlie. I never want to rock the boat with him. We typically have nothing to argue about, but I don’t think I was being unreasonable. I shake my head in annoyance then remember Jay and step on the gas to get to the game.




“GO, JAY!” I call from the sidelines as Jay comes running past me. He turns and grins at me, waving his hand.

I’m with my parents on the side of the field and after my dad gave me a rundown of the rules, I have a vague understanding of what’s going on. It’s pretty close at the moment with both teams not looking particularly likely to score.

I hear loud cheering and shouting from down the field and turn to see Ryan, Jake and a couple of others shouting and cheering for Jay. Jay’s face lights up when he sees them, but he just about manages to resist the urge to run over and say hi to them.

“What’s Ryan doing here?” I ask my mom in surprise.

She shrugs. “He’s been down a few times to see Jay play.”

“Really?” I ask incredulously. Why didn’t I know this?

“Yes.” She smiles at my surprise. “I mentioned to Kathy about Jay being upset this morning and she must have told him because he doesn’t usually bring so many friends with him.”

I don’t have anything to say to that, so I just glance in their direction again and see Jake and Mason laughing at some joke while Ryan stays focused on the game.