Four Doors Down(51)

I have no idea how Katie knew all that stuff, but that was definitely not the time to share. I’m pretty sure Charlie didn’t appreciate that information. He didn’t really care for it when I told him about the candy Ryan got for me or when I told him he watched Jay play soccer.

Ryan and Charlie barely nod at each other while Jessica glares at Katie in irritation. Charlie reaches his arm out and wraps it around my shoulder, pulling me in toward him. I happily shift in closer.

“So, should we see if we can all fit in around here?” Katie asks, looking like she’s enjoying herself.

“No!” I manage to bark out. I can hear Jake snickering to himself next to me and Mason and John are grinning like idiots. I look over at Sam. Surely I’m not the only one who thinks this situation is awkward as hell? I turn to Katie. “We already ate. We’d better go.”

“But we only just got here, McKenzie,” Jake teases. I send him a dirty look and start fishing around under the table for my purse, eager to get the check and get away from this awkwardness. I glance over at Ryan, and he looks annoyed just to be standing near us.

“What do you guys want to do now?” I ask Sam and Chris. We’d all planned to hang out together all afternoon.

“Hey, Becca,” Charlie interrupts me, not taking his eyes off Ryan. “You’ve got Jay tomorrow, right? Why don’t we take him to go see a movie?”

Surprise crosses my face followed by a smile. “Sure, great,” I agree.

I turn to Ryan smugly. See, Ryan? Charlie does want to hang out with my cousin. I don’t particularly care that he’s just doing it to annoy Ryan because he knows he spends time with Jay. He’s doing it; that’s all that matters. I resist the urge to flip Ryan the finger while he stands there with his jaw clenched, staring at the ground. It looks like smoke is about to blow out of his ears.

I nudge Jake out of the way to stand up, surrendering the booth to them. “You guys want to come back to my house?” I ask Sam and Chris.

“Actually, Becca,” Charlie interrupts me again. “You should just come back to mine. My parents are out for the night. No interruptions.” I freeze. Did he actually just insinuate to everyone here that we should go back to his house and have uninterrupted sex? How embarrassing! Maybe no one was paying attention and didn’t get what he meant. I feel my face go red, but Charlie’s looking at me like he’s waiting for a response. I nod my head in his direction. “Okay.”

Ryan lets out a noise somewhere between a growl of annoyance and a snort of disbelief and he walks away, pulling Jessica along behind him. He sits in an empty booth and somehow she ends up in his lap. She wraps her arms around him and bends her head to kiss him. I pull a face. That doesn’t look very sanitary in an eating establishment.

“Gross,” I mutter under my breath as his friends stand and go to join them in the booth.

Jake walks past me as he heads to the booth. “You should cut him some slack, Becca,” he says under his breath like he’s annoyed with me. “Maybe he doesn’t want to know, or any of us, actually, that you’re going back to your boyfriends to have sex all night.”

Okay, so they definitely got what Charlie was implying. I look at Jake in annoyance, unsure why he’s having a go at me again. Great, now all this fighting with Ryan is affecting my friendship with Jake. Fantastic.

I pay the bill and get out of Sal’s as fast as I can.





“Becca!”

I look up from my phone distracted and find Katie Thompson in front of me. I’ve just finished school, taken a back exit out of the building and have rounded a corner to head to my car and am now standing face to face with Katie. I’ve had to park further away than usual since I was late this morning. Katie’s stood directly in my path and her usual crowd is sitting at a picnic table just up from my car. Katie smiles widely at me. Jessica Murphy scowls over at me and John, Mason and a bunch of other’s I’ve barely spoken to are also there as well. I stifle a groan of annoyance. I could do without this after that scene in Sal’s the other day. My eyes flick around them, but thankfully Ryan and Jake aren’t there which is a definite bonus.

“Hi,” I reply and offer her a quick smile before stepping to the right to get past her.

She moves with me blocking my way. “How are you?” she asks. I frown slightly and look pointedly past her at my car. She completely ignores my not so subtle hint that I want to leave. “How was your day?”

I force myself not to sigh, remembering what Ryan said about Katie liking me and making an effort with me. He’s right, she’s only ever been nice to me but I don’t understand why she’s suddenly so friendly. “Um, yeah it was okay,” I reply. There’s a pause. “How was yours?” I ask awkwardly, mainly to fill the silence. I feel like everyone’s watching me.

“Good, really good.” She takes a step toward me and before I know it she’s linked her left arm through my right and herded me over to her friends and their table. I’ve got to hand it to her, the girls got skills. Surprisingly the rest of her crowd all smile over at me in greeting and some even wave. Everyone except Jessica.

“So, you’re coming to Jake’s party, right?” she asks.

“Um, no. I can’t that night.”

“Seriously? You guys are like best friends and you won’t come to his birthday. Why?” My mouth gapes open slightly at how direct she is before I snap it shut. What can I say? I don’t want to go because I don’t want to see Ryan and all of you? Something tells me that won’t go down very well. Besides, Jake knows I won’t go, I’ll just buy him a pizza one night instead. I just kind of shrug my shoulders and look uncomfortably around. Kate nods suddenly and a small smile appears on her lips. “Because of Ryan, right?” I don’t respond. “Okay, in that case…maybe we can work out something else.” My eyebrows furrow in confusion at her words.