Four Doors Down (12 page)

“Ryan!”

I turn around and see Jessica Murphy at their usual table. She waves at him to hurry him up, one hand on her hip, clearly wondering what he’s doing over here. I turn back around. “You’re wanted.”

He shrugs, dismissing my comment. A smug grin appears on his face. Jake comes bounding over, grinning from ear to ear and throws his arm around Ryan’s shoulder. “Did you tell her yet?”

“Tell me what?” I’m starting to feel confused and a bit self-conscious. Why is everyone staring at him? It’s embarrassing. It’s only Ryan.

Ryan smirks, knowing he’s got my attention. “We skipped the first couple of periods this morning and swung by the mall.”

I roll my eyes. Why do I need to know this?

Ryan’s smirk turns into a genuine smile at my reaction. “Anyway, there’s a new store there. We went in and found something you might like.” He unzips his backpack slowly, fully aware he’s got an audience and pulls out a multipack of candy.

“HOLY SHIT!” I shout, and three tables nearby turn around to see what the commotion is. I grab at the bag. “Where did you find this?”

Ryan and Jake burst out laughing at my reaction, and I’m grinning like an idiot.

Okay, let me explain. My great-grandparents on my mother’s side were English. When I was little and they were still alive, we used to visit them and I would always come back with bags and bags of this candy. They’re called Refreshers, and it’s literally the best candy in the world. I got Ryan hooked on it too when we were kids. I was so obsessed with it I wrote to a bunch of different stores telling them it was the most delicious candy in the world and they should all stock it, but I never heard anything back, which made me furious. They don’t sell it anywhere around here and I haven’t had any in years.

I look up and he’s pulling more multipacks out of his bag. There are bags and bags of it. I’m literally bouncing in my seat with excitement. Ryan and Jake finally stop laughing.

“Wait, there’s more.”

Jake pulls his own backpack off his back and pulls out some cans of soda.

“APPLE TANGO?” I’m back to screeching.
I love this stuff!
This sets them off laughing all over again. The girls at my table are just looking at us in shock, along with quite a few other tables which are staring curiously at us. Ryan and Jake aren’t exactly laughing quietly.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!” I don’t remember the last time I was this excited about something. “Where is this place?”

Ryan smiles at me in amusement. “It’s in the mall on the bottom floor. It’s this English candy store; they’ve got tons of stuff.”

“Thank you guys so much. This is the best thing ever.”

Jake grins and slaps Ryan on the back. “Hey, it was all Jackson. He remembered that you were obsessed with this stuff when we were kids. He practically bought all their stock, I just helped carry it.”

“Oh God, let me give you some money.” I reach down and start rummaging in my bag for some cash. I pull out some bills and hold them out to him.

He holds his hands up in protest, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it. It was worth it to see your face.” He grins at me one last time and not his usually cocky smirk, but a genuine smile like it’s just the two of us in the room. He picks up his empty backpack and turns, sauntering over to his own table and the curious stares he finds there. Jake follows still chuckling to himself.

I turn back to the girls absolutely beaming. Everyone is staring. Sam is raising her eyebrows questioningly at me and Erica’s jaw is practically on the floor.

“What?” I say, looking around.

Erica’s eyes widen at my apparently stupid question. She pulls herself together. “Ryan Jackson, the guy who rules this school, bought you half a candy store just because he remembered you liked that stuff when you were a kid?”

Rules this school? She is so dramatic.

I roll my eyes, dismissing her. “He’s just being nice,” I say. “Seriously, guys, you’ve got to try this. This is the best candy in the world.” I rip open a bag and start dishing it out. I can’t stop smiling. In fact, I don’t stop smiling all day.

S
aturday afternoon comes around and I just got off the phone to Charlie. We were supposed to hang together this afternoon but my mom dropped Jay on me with no warning and Charlie isn’t into the idea of babysitting with me. Can’t say I blame him. Now I’m stuck with the devil child until my parents get home.

I turn around to see what the brat’s doing but he’s left the kitchen. I wander into the TV room, expecting him to be watching a movie, but he’s not there either.

“Jay,” I call. There’s no response. “Jay!” I call again, louder this time. There’s still no response. I start walking quickly through the house looking in all the different rooms calling his name. With each empty room, I can feel my panic starting to build. He’s nowhere to be found.
Shit!
Where is he? I run back downstairs and notice that the front door is slightly ajar.

Oh God.

My heart starts racing; he must have left the house.

I rush outside shouting his name. I run to the end of my driveway, looking up and down the street but still can’t see him. Oh God, this is bad. This is really,
really
bad. What if he’s left this street and is on the busy main road? Or what if he’s been snatched? Or hurt? He’s so small. Tears spring to my eyes. This is bad.

“Jay!” I scream as loudly as I can, running up and down the street hoping I’ll see him hiding behind a car or something.

“Becca!” I hear someone call my name and turn to see Ryan at the bottom of his driveway. I rush toward him panicking.

“I can’t find my cousin. He’s only five and I don’t know where he is.” I’m wringing my hands anxiously. I don’t know what to do.

Ryan reaches out to touch my arm trying to calm me down. “Becca, relax,” he says just as Jay strolls out of Ryan’s house and heads down the driveway toward us.

“Oh my God!” Relief floods my body and I reach out to grab Jay, pulling him into a tight hug. Then I get mad and hold him away from me.

“What the hell were you thinking? You don’t just run off like that, Jay!” I scold shaking him hard.

“Becca, stop.” Ryan pulls Jay away from me. I stand up, my whole body is shaking; a mixture of adrenaline, relief and anger.

“Don’t ever do that to me again!” I shout, pacing up and down. One glance at Jay tells me he doesn’t care at all that I’m mad. He just pulls a face at me. “I didn’t know where you were!” I shout again. “Never do that again.” Jay just rolls his eyes at me. Actually rolls his eyes. At me. Like
I’m
being unreasonable.

“I wanted to see, Ryan,” he says.

Wait, what?
This is news to me. How does he know Ryan? I turn to look at Ryan accusingly. He holds his hands up like he’s innocent. “He just turned up,” he explains.

“AND YOU DIDN’T THINK TO LET ME KNOW?” I explode.

“We were just coming to,” he says. “He just wanted to use the bathroom first.”

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.

“You mean it?” I ask. He nods. “Thanks. My parents will be back by six so just bring him back to the house. Then you can get on with your night. You guys clearly have plans.”

Ryan nods. “You’re just gonna sit at home on your own?”

I shrug. “I can go see Charlie now since you’ve got Jay.” I know my mom is going to be pissed with me, she’ll definitely see this as me shirking me responsibilities. I know I don’t like most of the crowd that have turned up, but she’s known Ryan since he was born and I know she likes him and it’s only for a couple of hours until they get back. To me, it’s worth dealing with her wrath and leaving Jay with Ryan. The truth is my want to see Charlie outweighs my worry about annoying my mom. For me, Charlie trumps everything.

Ryan nods abruptly at me and I turn and walk away. I don’t know why, but I feel like I’ve been caught doing something wrong, being seen with Ryan in public outside of school. I shrug it off. I get to the bottom of his driveway and glance back up, expecting everyone to be inside now, but Ryan’s still standing there watching me leave.

I look away quickly and walk home.