She Will Be Loved (COMPLETE)

Chapter Four

Of course, knowing Maria, I wasn’t going to get relaxing. Maybe the first day I got to, just lounging out on the pier tanning, but the rest of the weekend I found out was going to be anything but relaxing.

            “You invited who?!” I shrieked.

            “Riley,” she smiled, “come on Alyson! Now’s your chance! Both of you are broken up and it’s obvious to everyone that you guys are into each other, it’s the perfect time to act!”

            “Come off it Maria! I’m average! I’m nothing special! I’m not Samantha!” I threw a pillow at her and pouted on the couch.

            “You are amazing Alyson,” she said, glaring at me, “everyone loves you, despite what you think. Do you know how many guys I see awe stuck by you in the hallway? Dozens! But there is only one person that I really see totally under your spell, and that’s Riley. I know you guys haven’t had the best friendship with the whole on and off again thing, but I know that if you guys really try that you can make it,”

            “I don’t know Maria,” I said, my sentence drifting off at the end.

            “Trust me Alyson,” she smiled, taking my hands, “I know what I’m doing ok?”

I smiled and she smacked my cheek lightly, getting up to go answer the door.

Out of everyone to invite, she had to invite him? I understood what she was trying to do, but honestly I couldn’t survive 5 days in the same house as him; sharing everything and seeing each other all the time.

            “Hey Alie,” Riley said as he dropped his bag on the floor, a large smile on his face. He jumped on the couch adjacent to me and kicked off his shoes.

            “Hey Riley,” I said, looking away and blushing slightly, “what’s up?”

            “Not much. Taken captive by Maria, chillin’ here with you guys for the weekend,”

We were quiet after that, the air thick with the awkwardness.

            “Jesus guys, talk or something,” Maria said as she walked into the room with another boy, someone I had never seen before, “Alie, this is Jeremy. He’s a friend of mine from drama,”

Jeremy was an ok looking guy. He had wavy blond, surfer hair with deep green eyes. He was tanned and had dark freckles speckled across his face. He looked really kind and had a large smile on his lips.

            “Nice to meet you Alie,” he said, shaking my hand.

            “Nice to meet you too,” I smiled at him.

            “How about we go swimming first?” Maria smiled as she pulled me off the couch and up the stairs where our room was.

We all dressed pretty quickly. Maria made me dress in a skimpy little bathing suit that barely covered me and didn’t cover my arms at all. I decided to get one of my sweatbands, something that I wore all the time, and pulled it up to cover my most recent cuts. It covered perfectly and I smiled as I grabbed my towel and went out back to the pier.

I was the first one out there. Not wanting to just stand there awkwardly waiting for people, I sat down at the end of the pier and touched the top of the water with my feet. It wasn’t too cold, the perfect temperature for a hot day like today. Today felt odd, in a good way; my phone was off because I didn’t have to worry about Dimitri texting or calling me at all hours of the day, I had told my mother not to bother me all weekend, and for once I didn’t have homework. It honest to god felt like the universe wanted me to relax.