Four Doors Down(73)

And I did. And she didn’t run away, she didn’t tell me to get lost. She looked shocked to the core, but then I could almost see the wheels in her brain turning, working things out and I knew she was starting to figure it out. Understand why I was always where she was, understand why I always had something to say, understand the way I felt about her and she smiled. She actually smiled, and that was it. That was the best moment of my life. The moment when I got my best friend back and the girl that I’ve been in love with ever since I can remember.

I walk into the cafeteria still grinning like an idiot. I can’t stop. I walk to my lunch table, past Becca, who is already sitting down at hers. She glances up at me and her face lights up. I’ll never get tired of seeing that. I’ve waited so long for her to look at me like that. She gives me a knowing smile and it takes all the self-control I have not to pick her up and drag her back to my house. I can’t stop thinking about her. I cannot get enough of her. I can’t believe she’s finally mine.

I reach my table and slide into my seat. Mason glances up at me and screws his face up when he sees me smiling. I’ve not exactly been the happiest person in the world recently.

“What are you so happy about?” he asks.

I shrug but can’t wipe the smile from my face.

Jake on my left glances over at me and chuckles. “Yeah, Ryan, what could possibly have made you so happy?”

Confusion crosses Mason’s face and the rest of the table quiets down, tuning into our conversation. Realization dawns on Mason, and he breaks out into a huge grin. “You nailed McKenzie, didn’t you?”

I smirk back at him and look around to see that the rest of the table doesn’t really look too surprised at the news and are grinning back at me, looking genuinely happy for me. Wow, I guess everyone really did know how I felt about her.

I think originally everyone enjoyed watching me getting roasted by Becca. It’s not usually the way it works, but they soon changed their minds when the way she treated me made me into the world’s moodiest *. And the thing is, I know they all like her too. That thing Becca thought about us being the popular kids and looking down on her is crazy. I know most of the girls think she’s funny and I know for a fact that everyone is in awe of her for standing up to that psycho Fran Cunningham when we were freshman. Becca was fearless that day, and I was so f*cking proud and impressed by her. Katie’s made an effort with her recently and would be BFF’s with her if Becca would let her, and I’m pretty sure if my male friends didn’t know how obsessed I was with her, at least a couple of them would have tried to have hooked up with her by now. In fact, I know that’s true. I’ve caught a few of the guys checking her out over the years, but they all knew she was off limits. Even though I never said anything, never admitted to anyone but Jake how I felt about her, they all knew.

“Finally!” says John while the others echo his sentiments. Only Jessica rolls her eyes in annoyance and I feel a pang of regret about using her as a distraction, but then remember she’s already been on a few dates with a college guy her sister introduced her to. The guys start to slowly clap their hands, giving me a round of applause.

I start to laugh and look over at Becca, who is listening to her crazy friend Erica. “Actually, I think I’ll ditch you losers today and go sit with my girlfriend,” I say still grinning.

This really sets them off and they start laughing, banging on the table and stamping their feet on the floor. Becca looks up in surprise at the noise and when she sees me grinning at her and the rest of my table looking over, she turns slightly pink but doesn’t look away. It’s probably for the best that she doesn’t look away because most of the students in the cafeteria are looking over now; my friends are making that much of a racket. She’d die of embarrassment.

I start walking over to her and the cheering and whistles start; my friends obviously find this very entertaining. I couldn’t care less. Becca shakes her head slightly, but she’s smiling and doesn’t look away from me. I drop into the seat beside her, throwing my arm over her shoulder and ignore the astonished looks from her friends. Only her friend Sam is looking at me like she’s not surprised and winks in my direction.

Becca turns and looks me straight in the eye, raising an eyebrow. “So you told them?” she asks.

I lean over quickly and kiss her right on the mouth. She freezes in surprise and then shocks me by leaning into me and kissing me right back.

This sends my friends into overdrive, making them even louder, if possible, whooping and yelling over at us. My grin gets so wide I feel like my face is going to split in two. Becca just kissed me back, in front of everyone. She wasn’t ashamed or trying to hide it. She claimed me just as much as I claimed her.

Becca looks over at my friends and the scene they’re making and flips them the finger, but she’s laughing. I know she hates being the center of attention, but I’m not going to pretend we’re not together and now everyone knows. And they can get used to it, because if I have anything to do with it, we’ll be together for a very long time.