"You came." Riley stated the obvious as I reached him. He was wearing a purple plaid shirt with grey skinny jeans. Skinny jeans on guys just looks...Weird. He flipped his hair again, annoying the heck out of me.
I crossed my arms, "What the hell do you want, Riley?"
His grin was ten times cockier than Colby's, which I once thought was impossible, "I want you."
I smirked, "Yeah, right. You had me, remember? You abused me then cheated on me." I nodded, watching his grin fade into seriousness.
"I was stupid back then, Katherine." He said,
"I guess some things never change." I grinned at him. "But I know one thing that has changed."
Riley smirked, crossing his arms, too, "Your feelings for Colby?"
My jaw dropped, "What?! No! Why does everybody think-Ugh, go to hell, Riley." I uncrossed my arms and walked past him. He grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me to him, about to try the same thing that Colby had done. I was a little bit prepared, mostly because I had the feeling of deja vu when he did it. I put my hands in between our lips, shaking my head.
"Boy, you're stupid Riley." I sighed, shaking him off my wrist, "Why did you call me here?" I glared at him, "Besides the fact that 'you want me' or whatever."
"Answer this first, Kath. Why did you come? If you didn't want me, too, you would have ignored Jake." Riley grinned, thinking he was right. If only he knew how wrong he was.
I rolled my eyes, "Because I don't trust you."
A look of confusion crossed his features, "What?"
"Did I stutter? I. Don't. Trust. You. I figured, if I didn't come, you'd hurt one of the people I love."
"Like Colby?"
I stared at him like he was crazy. My God. These people didn't understand anything! I knew Alina and Tina were only joking around with me, but others seemed serious. I didn't like Colby.
Yet.
No! Why did I have to think that word! Ugh, I was officially going insane. Someone, please, send me to a mental hospital!
"You have ten seconds to give me a good explanation before I slap you." I decided to say.
"Fine, fine, fine. Let's not injure my beautiful face, here." He said, causing my eyes to roll. "But fine. I'll tell you. I heard it's your birthday, so I thought if I took you somewhere, like I didn't when we were younger, you'd know I actually do want you back. So happy birthday."
I studied him, "Where are you going to take me?"
"To eat. You've gotta be hungry, right?" Riley asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. The off track side of me wondered how he could fit his hands into such small pockets. I mean, on most of my skinny jeans, I had to worry if my phone would get crushed or not constantly. It pretty much sucked. I narrowed my eyes at him before nodding slowly.
"Yeah, okay. But the place has to be public." I said.
"Of course. Private places cost to much." He stated as he turned and started leading the way to the food court. Wow. Costs too much? Cheap-o. I shouldn't have been surprised. The only that he had bought me while we were dating was a necklace. And it had only cost him a quarter. It ended up breaking when he tried putting it on me.
I frowned as we passed one of those advertisement boards. It was showing the ocean, which reminded me of Colby, oddly. Maybe it was just because of his eyes. God damn it. At this rate, I'll probably have illusions of other people's faces morphing into his like in those crappy TV shows!
Riley bought me Subway-but only a freaking six inch. At least I never had to worry about this guy spending loads of money on me. No, he would try to spend as little as possible. Which is funny because he's just as rich as Colby is.
"So..." He started to say, then trailed off, obviously waiting for me to say something.
I said the only thing I could think of "Hi!"
Riley frowned, "Uh, hello?"
I poked his cheek, rolling my eyes, "Man, you're boring. Even Colby-" I stopped myself. Okay, did every thought I have lead up to him? And why was I comparing everyone to him after one freaking day! This was starting to piss me off. I've done more thinking of Colby in the last 30 hours than I had in the last six years. I guess that's not saying a lot since the only time I couldn't help but think of him was when he was pulling some kind of prank on me.
"Why Colby? You're giving him a chance, but not me?" He asked. "Why?"
I shrugged, "I've already given you plenty of chances when we were together. Technically, I've never given Colby a chance before. It's only fair, you know."
He stared at my, his brown eyes full of annoyance, "But he's Colby remember? When we were together, you complained about him all the time! And now you're d-"
"I swear to God," I warned, "If you say that I'm dating him, I'll stick my foot so far up your ass that-"
"Okay, okay. But why?"
I figured he did have a point. He was only saying what I'd been convincing myself this entire time. But why did I need to remind myself? I should have been able to remember, even when I was looking into his eyes, even when we were both laughing, even when we were so close our shoulders were brushing. It made no sense to me.
"I...I don't know, Riley." I answered honestly yet hesitantly, staring straight past him from my seat. Part of me wanted Colby to show up out of no where, or anyone else to make this less awkward, but no one did. I couldn't even see anyone I knew from school.
Since I was blacking out for a moment, I was surprised to see Riley leaning across the table, his face nearing mine. I frowned at him, backing up in my chair.
"Aw come on, Katherine," he coaxed, "Just kiss me once. See if you feel that spark again."
He smiled at me, but I stared at him like he was crazy, which he probably was. He leaned closer, and I did the stupid thing. I just froze.
"Excuse me? Is this guy bothering you?"
I sighed in relief, looking up at the new man who'd walked up to us. He was about my age, maybe a bit older, with brown hair and green eyes. He looked pretty familiar.
"Thank you." I told him.
Riley grumbled, "Whatever. I'm going to get high, while you're all googly eyes with this freak. I've been sober for two freaking days." He stood up and was nearing the exit when the stranger called, "Sober's good." Riley only gave him the middle finger before going out of view.
I looked up at the guy, standing up myself, "Hey, I'm Katherine."
"Katherine?" he repeated, "As in Blakeslee?"
I nodded slowly, "Um...Yeah. Am I famous or something?"
"It's me, Jackson. Jackson Walker. Alina's ex boyfriend."
My jaw dropped. Alina used to love this guy! I couldn't blame her. He was good looking. He'd had to break up with her when he moved to Florida for a few years, but I remembered Alina telling me that he said he'd be back eventually. Of course, I knew that when he did come back, she would be gaga over some other guy. I was right, too. Blake was the current apple of her eye.
I asked warily, "Um...You came back to get Alina back? She's kind of falling for a new guy. Well, not really new, but I guess-"
"No, no, no. I'm over Alina. She was great and all...But good things come and pass." Jack told me, putting his hands in his pockets. "Besides, we were what? Twelve? Thirteen? We're eighteen now. Things change. People change."
"Dude, you sound like Dr Phil."
He snorted, "What? You actually watch that?"
"No," I admitted, "I just assume that's what he says. Don't correct me if I'm wrong, okay? But, aren't you gonna say happy birthday to the birthday girl?" I smiled at him, watching a look of confusion come and leave his face.
"Oh, right. November 23rd. Your birthday." He nodded then pulled me into a huge, warm hug, "Happy B-Day, Kat."
I pulled away, smirking up at him, "Oh, look, now you're taller than me. Aw. Now I can't make fun of your heighth anymore. So sad." I pretended to sniff and wiped my nose with my hand, "I think I might even cry."
Jack laughed, "I see you're still as weird as last time I saw you."
I gasped, "How offensive. I'm much weirder. Get your facts right. I try very hard to be weird." I sat back down, gesturing the the seat across from me. He took the hint and sat down.
"How's Alina anyway?"
"Good," I shrugged, "She's, like, counting down the days until the guy she likes asks her out. You remember Blake?"
He took a moment to think, "Blake...Blake Tozier? Brother of your enemy?"
"Yup. She's practically in love with the guy." I nodded, smirking. He didn't seem at all affected by this, so I figured it was okay. I mean, he wasn't cringing, wincing, pouting, getting all teary eyed, none of that. He was just staring at me, this huge smile on his face.
"What about you? You're with Riley?" He nodded toward the exit, though Riley wasn't over there, or at least, I couldn't see that he was.
"No. That happened in freshmen or sophomore year. Bad mistake. I'm...Not dating anyone, now that I think of it. Tina's with this kid named Skyler. Colby's little brother, Conan, has a thing for her, though. But, yeah, I'm single. I feel lonely. I'm gonna turn into a cat lady!"
Jackson patted my hand, "It's okay. You're only eighteen. You have plenty time to worry about your future with cats, okay?"
I nodded, tensing a little when I realized he wasn't going to pull his hand away. I swallowed, looking into his emerald green eyes. Yeah, blue eyes were better. Ugh, God damn it! What was happening to me?! Dark hair's cuter, too. I was tempted to punch myself now. That would look very odd, but still.
"So, why were you with Riley if it's not a date?"
I sighed, "He wants to ask me back out. He thought that proving he was serious would change my mind. Silly, silly boy." I snickered, crossing my arms.
"You know, I find it a surprise that you're still single," he said, "I mean, look at you. You're beautiful."
I blushed, rolling my eyes, "Yeah, whatever." Honestly, I thought Alina and Tina were much better looking than me. Courtney, too. And Ashley. Though, I guess I did know a few people who would argue with that fact. My parents, Alina, Tina, Courtney, Ashley, maybe Riley, and Colby. "If you think I'm beautiful, you should see Alina. Your jaw would, like, hit the floor. So many guys like her, including Blake, but she doesn't even realize it." I said. It was true, too. She wasn't like those girls who knew that guys were all over her. For all I knew, Alina didn't care. Which was one of the many reasons she was awesome.
I pulled out my phone, noticing someone had texted me.
Hey, U OK?
~Colby
I decided not to reply. Of course I was. He'd know that tomorrow. Assuming I saw him tomorrow. I was already planning on seeing him? No! I was thinking about him again! I'd almost gone three minutes without thinking of him!
I got up, "Well, I should probably go. It's getting late."
"Okay. Wait. Let me give you my number." Once he did so, I left.
Ugh. Did this mean I now had three men in my life to worry about?