Light Me Up

9: And Ryley's self confidence grew three sizes that day

"'Sup, Ryley?" he asks me, turning his body toward mine.

I shrug, "Not much." I offer him a smile, and he smiles back; but only for a second do I notice it, I'm immediately drawn back to his eyes.

"You want to hang out soon? Maybe just us?" Alex asks me, and my heart begins to pound inside my chest.

I grin, "Sounds fun."

He sits back in his seat, content with how it all went. I'm trying not to panic, so I decide that eating my lunch would be a much better idea than thinking about what just happened. I try to look like there's a lot on my mind, but I'm only thinking about how bad my lunch tastes. When Danny walks in with a blonde-haired girl, I absentmindedly narrow my eyes at her. Who is she? Does she like him? Does he like her? She waves goodbye to him before she walks in the opposite direction, while Danny continues on his way over here. I don't ask about it though, because I'm not supposed to care. Who says I did anyway?

"Hey, Ry," Danny plops down in the seat next to mine, and I bury those thoughts in the back of my mind.

"Hey," I reply, sitting my food back down on the tray. I sit up, straightening my shoulders while I fix my hair.

"Get asked out at all yet today?" he's joking, and I can tell by the smile on his face. I roll my eyes and shove his arm. Danny chuckles, shaking his head. "What's wrong with these people?"

"I know right?!" Beth exclaims from across the table. "I've never seen Ryley with anyone, and she's one of the prettiest people I know."

"Aww, thanks Beth," I say, a little embarassed. She smiles at me, and I hope the spotlight falls on somebody else soon.

"Do you like anyone?" Danny asks, and I feel my heart starting to pound. Do I say yes? Do I say no? I can't make up my mind soon enough, so I shrug my shoulders.

"Maybe."

"Who? Who!?!" Beth asks, her green eyes widening.

"Aw, Ryley likes someonee," Brooke says in a sing-song voice.

"Can we please just talk about something else?" I ask, my eyes wandering around the room, desperately searching for an escape or something else to talk about. "How about you, Danny, do you like anyone?" I smirk at him, proud of pinning the attention on someone that wasn't me.

Danny smiles at me, "You know I only have eyes for you."

"Get a room, guys," Beth shouts from across the table. I barely notice her, because I've locked my eyes on someone I've never seen before. His short black hair was covered with a gray beanie, and his brown eyes were smiling at anyone who dared to notice. Beth followed my gaze, and nearly spit her water all over the table. "Go. Get up, right now, and go." I felt my face becomming a tomato, and I felt it worsening when Beth got out of her chair. She pulls me up out of my chair, interlocking our arms so she can "more effectively" drag me over toward this boy.

"Beth, stop!" I say, trying to stop her, but I can't. "This is just embarassing. He's way out of my league, honestly, Beth, look at him!"

"He is not out of your league! Especially not today. Just because you hangout with Alex and Danny all the time doesn't mean they're good for you."

"So why do you push Danny and I together all the time?"

"Because even though he's not extremely cute, I think he really cares about you," she shrugs. "Those guys are hard to come by... And until we find you one, have fun with this one!" And like that she shoves me right into the mystery boy with the gray beanie. He turns around to look at me, confusion and possibly anger tangled in his beautiful features.

"I am so sorry!" I apologize, and it's sincere. Any anger seems to dissipate from his face, and a smile takes its place.

"No need to be," he says, holding out his hand. "I'm James."

"Ryley," I reply, shaking his hand. His grip is tight, but soft around my hand, and he pulls me a little closer to him before dropping my hand. "You're new here?"

"Yeah, from Cali," he grinned.

"So that's why I've never seen you before," taking a half step closer to him. James' grin seemed to turn cocky, but for some reason I wasn't nervous with him.

"Well maybe you should bump into me more often, Ryley," he says, deliberately checking me out.

I do the same, making sure he can tell, "Mhmm, I'll see you around." I bit my lip, taking a couple steps back before turning on my heel and walking away from him. I felt his eyes on my back, and then it was my turn to smirk. I can't believe what I just did, but I liked it. To be quite honest, I didn't want to see James around. I wanted to see him right now, and maybe for the next hour in a closet.

When I returned to the table, Alex was gone, and I had the overwhelming desire to find him. If he saw what just happened, and he definitely did, then that's the reason why he left. My mood was dropping from a massive high into a low deeper than hell itself. All over a boy who I thought I didn't like.