Copyright © 2010 - 2012 Kirsty Moseley
Chapter Three
The following week passed in a blur. Clay and I were completely back to normal, there no awkwardness at all, which was great. I loved my new school. Rachel and I had become close friends, and I started hanging around with her group of friends too. Everyone was nice to me at school because I was friends with Mr Popular. Clay was his usual charming and protective self around me; I had a feeling he was warning the guys away, but I was still getting hit on a lot. I turned them all down nicely.
Today was Friday again. I was perched on the bleachers with Rachel and Jeff, wearing Clay’s shirt again and we were happily tucking into hotdogs. I was really trying to watch the game this time. Clay had been trying to teach me some of the rules ready to watch, but everything was going so fast that I couldn’t actually keep up.
“Hey, you never called.” The bench bounced a little as someone sat next to me. I recognised his voice immediately - Blake. I tried not to look at him; I didn’t want to have to look at his hotness again. I needed to remember that he was too old for me. Him being too old for me doesn’t mean I can’t do a little flirting though…
I turned to face him and gulped as I looked at his face. His blue eyes were shining with amusement as he cocked his head to the side.
Oh dear lord, he is even hotter than I remembered!
“Hmm, I had better things to do,” I replied, waving my hand dismissively.
“Better things? What can be better than going out on a date with me?” His brow furrowed, as if he was a little confused that I’d rejected him again. I smiled to myself; he clearly wasn’t used to rejection, that much was obvious from his lost expression. Not that I was surprised though, with the way he looked he probably had girls falling at his feet every day.
“Washing my hair. Walking the dog. Cleaning the house. You know, that kind of thing,” I teased, shrugging.
“Well you don’t know what you’re missing out on,” he said, smiling cockily.
“Hmm, I could probably guess actually. There would be some crappy food and maybe a crappy movie, where you would insist on sitting in the back so we could make out. And then, depending on how well the date went, there may be a little action in the car as you dropped me off. Am I close?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
He laughed and shrugged. “Pretty close,” he admitted, shaking his head in amusement. He leant in closer to me; his breath blew across my cheek making my skin prickle. “You know, I really like a challenge,” he whispered in my ear sending shivers down my spine again.
“Well then you’re definitely in the right place. I can be quite challenging,” I whispered back, winking playfully.
“Hmm, I can see that.” He slung an arm around my shoulder casually. I elbowed him in the side quickly and stood up, not wanting to take the flirting to anything physical.
“Come on, Tom, move your skinny ass! That ball’s not gonna catch itself!” I shouted, giggling as he waved and shook his head at me. I really liked Tom, we teased each other constantly. He was a really lovely guy.
As I sat back down I was careful to put a little space between my body and Blake’s. But that didn’t seem to matter though because he moved up next to me again as soon as I was on the bench.
“You busy tonight?” he asked. I nodded slowly, fighting a smile. “And tomorrow?” he asked. I nodded again. “And I suppose the day after that?” He sighed dramatically. I nodded again and hid a smile at his playful annoyance. I could tell that he was actually quite enjoying the chase, especially if this was his first one like I imagined that it was.
“I’m not giving up. I’ll come here every week and ask you out until you say yes,” he vowed, running a lazy finger up my leg.
“Blake, honestly, you’re wasting your time. I mean, do you even remember my name?” I asked, looking at him sceptically.
He nodded his head and looked a little hurt. “Of course I do, Riley. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since last Friday.” He frowned, as if he was admitting a weakness.
I smiled a little inside. That was really sweet. Then I remembered what people said about him, that he was a player, and he just wanted in my pants, nothing else. “Look, Blake, I don’t know how old you think I am, but I’m only sixteen,” I admitted, shaking my head.
He gasped, his eyes widening from shock. “Oh shit! Really? I thought you were eighteen. You’re so close with Preston. I know he’s a senior, so I thought you were too,” he said, shaking his head slowly, looking at the floor.
“So, like I said, you’re wasting your time,” I repeated, shrugging and turning back to the game. I expected that to be the end of the conversation. It wasn’t.
“So, you just turned sixteen, or…” he trailed off, looking at me hopefully.
“Er, no. I’ll be seventeen next month, on the twenty-fifth,” I answered, confused.
His face brightened immediately. “Okay, well then you’re only a year off,” he said, winking at me.
What the hell does he mean by that? A year off of what? I gave him a quizzical look, waiting for an explanation, but he just laughed. “A year off of what?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“You know what I’m gonna call you from now on?” he asked, ignoring my question. I smiled, wondering what on earth this was going to be about. “Jailbait,” he smirked.
I laughed at that and shook my head. “Jailbait?”
“Yep. Because if you keep looking so damn hot you’re probably gonna get me thrown in there.” He wasn’t smiling anymore, in fact, he looked a little sad.
I frowned. “You’d better stop talking to me then,” I suggested, watching the game again, but I couldn’t get my mind off of his sad expression.
“Yeah, maybe I should,” I thought I heard him mumble as he stood up and walked away. Again, my eyes were instinctively drawn to his ass as he walked away.
A month later it was my birthday. I really hated birthdays, not the getting older part or anything, but I didn’t like the whole fuss that came with it - the singing, the cake, everyone knowing. I hated being the centre of attention and birthdays made sure you were exactly that. Today was going to be a bad day. I rolled over, just about to get out of the bed, but Clay wrapped his arms tighter round me pulling me back to him.
“Happy Birthday, Riley Bear,” he chirped in my ear. I smiled and he reached over the side of the bed and came back with a small rectangular present.
He had a huge grin so I leant over and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Clay. But you shouldn’t have bought me anything,” I insisted, taking the present he was offering.
He rolled his eyes. “I know, I know, you don’t like birthdays. But I like buying for your birthday, so suck it up.” He laughed. I laughed too and tore off the gift wrap to reveal a rectangular red velvet jewellery box.
I looked at Clay. “Tell me you didn’t spend a lot of money,” I pleaded.
He sighed dramatically. “I didn’t spend a lot of money. Just open it.”
I took a deep breath and opened the box. Inside was a beautiful gold bracelet. Hanging near the clasp there was a small gold heart with what looked like a little diamond set in it. I couldn’t speak. It was so beautiful, it was just perfect. I felt my eyes filling with tears.
“Oh shit! You don’t like it? I can change it. Don’t cry, Riley Bear,” he groaned, pulling me to him and rubbing my back.
I pulled back and looked at him. “Of course I like it. I love it! Thank you, Clay, it’s beautiful. It’s just so perfect, so, me. Thank you,” I said, kissing him on the cheek.
He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, great. I thought you’d like it. I saw it and I just had to get it for you. I actually bought it about three months ago, I wanted to give it to you then,” he replied, blushing a little.
I smiled and pulled the bracelet out of the box holding it out to him. “Will you put it on for me?” I asked, grinning happily. Hopefully my thoughts about this being a bad day were going to be totally wrong, because my birthday was off to a fantastic start so far.
He put the bracelet on me, his fingers lingering around my wrists. I could feel heat coursing up my arm as my breathing sped up. I looked at him; he had his jaw clenched tight in concentration. I held my breath and looked away from his beautiful face to try and stop my hormones from going crazy.
Why can’t I just stop lusting after my best friend? Things had been strained recently, not awkward or anything, but I just couldn’t stop looking at Clay in ways that I really shouldn’t look at him in. I also kept getting jealous whenever he would kiss other girls in front of me. I really needed to get a grip of myself; we were friends, nothing more than that.
He clipped it on and then moved away from me quickly as if I burnt him. “I’m gonna go make you some breakfast,” he stated, climbing out of the bed, not looking at me.
“Why don’t we go out for breakfast? I’m in the mood for a chocolate doughnut.” I smiled as he turned his nose up in disgust.
“Jelly doughnut!” he countered, smirking at me. This was an old argument that no one ever won, so I just laughed. “And, seeing as it’s your birthday, I’m buying,” he added as I got up to shower.
After a long and hard day of lessons, I walked out of the school only to see a large group of girls all standing around gossiping near the door.
“I can’t believe it! He is sooooo hot!”
“I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
“Mmm, he is yummy.”
I rolled my eyes and tried not to make any sort of scoffing noise because they were obviously fawning over a boy. They were all staring in the same direction. Out of interest, I flicked my eyes that way too. I assumed that Clay or one of his friends were standing there, because they usually warranted the same kind of reaction from their little fan girls at the school. But instead of Clay or one of his friends, I saw Blake leaning against his car. He was wearing a white T-shirt, black leather jacket, low slung jeans and his black boots again. I felt just like one of the little girls that were going gaga over him seconds earlier. He looked so hot that my mouth actually started to water.
I shook my head at myself and walked out to go find Clay. He was at a long football practice tonight so I had over an hour to wait for him.
As I crossed the parking lot and headed towards the field, Blake shouted me. “Hey, Jailbait!” he greeted, jogging to catch up with me.
I turned and smiled. “Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked politely, whist trying to discreetly check him out again. I could see the planes of his chest and abs through his T-shirt. The wind blew his spicy, manly scent towards me, making my stomach flutter. His hair ruffled up in the breeze so he raked a hand through it, somehow making it even more stylishly messy.
“I wanted to wish you happy birthday,” he said simply, smiling his sexy smile.
“You what? How did you know it was my birthday? We’ve only met twice.” I looked around quickly to make sure no one heard that it was my birthday today. No one was close enough hear our conversation though, so I breathed a sigh of relief.
“You told me last time I saw you,” he explained. He shoved a hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out a small red material bag with black swirls on it.
“You remembered that? From a month ago?” I asked, my mouth hanging open in shock.
He laughed. “I can remember things you know. I’m not just a pretty face,” he replied sarcastically, winking at me.
“And who said you had a pretty face?” I asked, narrowing my eyes trying to hide my smile.
He laughed. “Here, I got you this.” He held out the little bag to me.
I gasped at his thoughtfulness. “You got me a present?” I asked, stepping closer to him to take it. He nodded and watched me as I opened the string at the top of the material bag, and then tipped it up into my hand. A little red metal rose fell out onto my palm. It was really cute. It had a string on one end; I turned it over to look at the back.
“It’s a charm for your cell. I know it’s a bit lame, but girls like that kind of thing, right? And I knew you didn’t have one, so…” he trailed off, seeming uncomfortable as he shifted on his feet.
I smiled gratefully. I couldn’t help but think that him being all sweet was a direct contrast to the rumours that I’d heard about him around school. “It’s great. Thank you, Blake.”
“Here, hand me your cell,” he instructed, holding out his hand for it. I gave it to him and he took the little charm too, threading the string through the hole at the top of my phone, looping it. He passed it back to me, and I smiled at how cute the little charm looked with my red cell phone. It suited it perfectly. “Maybe now when you use your cell it’ll remind you of me and maybe you’ll call me,” he suggested, tipping his head to the side.
I smiled again and stepped closer to give him a hug. I wrapped my arms around him a little awkwardly, and he did the same. “Thanks,” I whispered.
I felt him shudder against me. “Careful there, Jailbait,” he joked, pulling away a bit sheepishly. I laughed and rolled my eyes playfully. “So, what are you doing for your birthday tonight?” he asked, looking at his feet.
“Not much really. Clay’s coming over and I think my mom and stepdad will probably bring out a cake or something.” I scrunched up my nose up in disgust.
“You don’t want Clay coming over, or you don’t like cake?” he asked, laughing.
“Oh come on, who doesn’t like cake?” I replied, smiling.
“Oh, so you don’t want Clay over,” he countered, waggling his eyebrows.
I slapped his arm. “Shut up! I just don’t like the whole birthday, cake and singing thing.”
“Why not?” he asked, looking genuinely curious. I sighed; I really didn’t want to talk about the whole being the centre of attention thing, so I just shrugged instead.
“Thanks for the charm, Blake, that was really nice of you. I should go though,” I said, turning to walk to the field again.
He grabbed my hand to stop me walking. “You need a ride home?” he offered.
“No thanks. Clay’s driving me; I just need to wait for his practice to finish.” I shrugged, turning to leave again.
“What, you have to wait until four thirty?” he asked, with wide eyes whilst looking at his watch.
“Actually, five. They’re going over some new plays or something, for some big quarterfinal or something or other.” I shrugged, putting my hands up in a ‘I haven’t got a clue’ gesture.
He laughed. “You really don’t know anything about football, do you?” he teased, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards his car.
What the heck is he doing now? Is this boy crazy? “What are you doing Blake? I said I don’t need a ride home,” I mused as he opened his passenger door for me.
“Okay, that’s fine. But I can take you out for an hour and a half then drop you back at school before practice finishes,” he countered, smirking as he took my bag out of my hand and threw it on the backseat.
I knew I shouldn’t go with him, I hardly knew him, and he had a bad reputation. But he honestly seemed so sweet and not like what I’d heard about him from Clay.
He must have sensed my indecision. “I promise I won’t try anything on you, Jailbait. Scouts honour. I just want to buy you a milkshake for your birthday.” He motioned for me to get in the car, a dazzling smile stretched across his full lips. I took a deep breath and got into the car. He shut the door with a chuckle - he obviously liked getting his own way.
He drove us in silence. His car was nice, I had no idea about cars so I didn’t know what sort it was, but it was clean and smelled like leather and his aftershave. I actually felt quite relaxed considering that I was alone in a car with an older guy that I knew hardly anything about. I tried not to let my mind register what a terrible idea this was. I tried not to think about the fact that I had just gotten into his car and no one knew where I was or that I was with him.
After a few minutes he pulled into the parking lot for a little diner and stopped the car. We got out and headed up to the diner. He pushed the door open and held it there, motioning for me to go first.
“Wow, very gentlemanly,” I complimented, actually impressed that he had done it.
“I can be a gentleman when I want to be. I just don’t want to be that often,” he replied, grinning cheekily. I rolled my eyes at him and sat in one of the booths.
He sat opposite me as the waitress came over and gave him an exceptionally seductive smile. “Well hello. What can I do for you?” she asked, looking at him through her eyelashes.
“Hey. I’ll have a chocolate shake with extra ice cream. Jailbait?” He looked at me, raising his eyebrows, waiting for me to order too.
The waitress dragged her eyes away from Blake just long enough to sneer at me. “Er, I’ll have a strawberry shake, please.” I shrugged, trying not to show how uncomfortable I felt under her intense gaze. The woman actually looked like she wanted to stab me or something.
“Put extra ice cream in hers too would ya?” Blake requested before turning back to me and smiling. “Trust me on this one.” He winked at me, grinning. The woman smiled at him again, but he was too busy reaching across the table to notice.
He took my hand, and I just sat there in shock. This guy is way too old for me, and he’s incredibly hot - so what on earth is he holding my hand for? I pulled my hand back putting it in my lap; he looked a little hurt but smiled to cover it up.
“So what did you get for your birthday?” he asked.
“Well, aside from a new charm for my cell, my mom and David got me a new iPod. And Clay got me this bracelet,” I replied, jiggling my wrist to make it shine when it caught the sun. He reached out and took hold of my wrist, gently bringing it to him so he could look at it.
“It’s pretty,” he muttered, taking hold of my hand again. I tried to pull away again, but he frowned and gripped my hand a little tighter. “Please?” he said quietly.
I looked into his eyes and could feel myself being drawn in. I stopped struggling and let him hold my hand. It actually felt nice, though very different from when Clay held my hand. When Clay and I held hands it was just natural, normal, like breathing. But this felt nice in a different way; his hand was warm and slightly rough to the touch.
The waitress came over and placed our drinks down, giving me another dirty look as she walked away. I took a big swig of my milkshake and moaned in appreciation. It melted on my tongue, the extra ice cream making it thick and creamy. “Wow, I think that’s the best milkshake I’ve ever had,” I admitted, taking another pull on the straw.
He nodded. “Yeah, I thought you’d like it.”
“So how old are you exactly, Blake?” I asked, grabbing a spoon so I could eat the ice cream that was floating at the top of my milkshake.
“I turned twenty-one just over two months ago,” he answered, frowning, looking a little upset about something.
“So what’s with the face? You don’t like being twenty-one?” I asked, giggling. Maybe he thought he was getting old or something.
“I don’t mind the age. It’s just that I waited a long time to find someone that I liked and when I finally do she’s so much freaking younger than me it’s not even legal!” he huffed, stabbing his straw into his milkshake forcefully.
I smiled but quickly hid it. He likes me? The thought made my stomach flutter with excitement, but the thing is, there was nothing we could do about it. If I had sex with him then he could be charged with statutory rape due to my age.
“Oh, you like someone? Do I know her?” I teased.
“It’s not a joke, Riley,” he snapped, shaking his head. Oops, okay temper! “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. It’s just so frustrating,” he apologised, squeezing my hand gently.
It was quiet for a minute; I didn’t know what to say, so we both just stared at the table. “So tell me some more about you,” he suggested, looking up with an easy smile.
“What do you want to know?” I asked, sipping my milkshake again. I was secretly glad for the conversation because I hated uneasy silences.
“Well, what kind of music do you like? What do you like to do in your spare time? What’s your favourite colour? That kind of thing,” he suggested, waving his free hand around.
“Well, I like R&B stuff mostly. I like to dance and go to the movies. And, I know it sounds boring, but I love to read. My favourite colour is pink,” I said smiling, answering all of his questions in turn. “What about you? Are you in college or something or do you work?” I asked,
“At the moment I’m working at Old Joes over on East Street. It’s a scrap yard, but I don’t really want to be doing that so I’m always looking for something else.” He shrugged.
We chatted for about an hour and then he paid for our drinks. When we were ready to leave, he took my hand and helped me out of the booth in another gentlemanly gesture - which gained me another glare from the waitress. She stepped in front of him and put her hand on his chest. “So, can I get your number?” she purred sexily, trailing her finger down his abs.
He laughed and raised our intertwined hands. “Seriously? You think you have a chance when I’m holding her hand?” he asked, shaking his head and pulling me to the exit. I was stunned. I almost choked on my laughter, quickly putting my hand over my mouth and turning it into a cough. But I’d done it too late; she’d seen me laugh. She gave me a death glare before stomping off. He didn’t seem fazed in the slightest, just pulled me out the door and over to his car, opening the passenger side for me.
“Jeez, did you have to be so rude? I thought she was gonna stab me or something,” I scolded, laughing and shaking my head.
He chuckled. “I wasn’t rude! What was I supposed to say? You would rather I gave her my number to be polite?” he replied, grinning at me cockily.
“No. But you could have just said no thanks or something; you didn’t need to bring me into it.” I slapped him playfully on the arm which just made him laugh again.
We arrived at school with five minutes to spare; he pulled into the almost empty parking lot. “So, do you think I could get your number?” he asked, seeming a little nervous about it. He looked really sweet and vulnerable, not like what I had been told about him at all. He hadn’t even tried to kiss me, and he turned the waitress down not even paying one ounce of attention to her.
“Blake, what’s the point? This can’t go anywhere,” I countered, shrugging.
He sighed. “Please can I have your number? Let’s just see, please? A date that’s all. I really like you,” he said, scratching absentmindedly at his jaw.
I chewed on my lip and thought it through. I guess it can’t do that much harm. He’s only asking for a date, it doesn’t mean I have to sleep with him. My mind flicked to Clay, he would go crazy if I went out with Blake. I forced all thoughts of Clay out of my mind. Why was I thinking about him again anyway? He was just my best friend; I didn’t need his permission to go on a date with a guy.
“Jailbait?” Blake prompted, snapping me out of my mental debate.
“Er, yeah okay, I guess,” I agreed, taking the cell phone that he was now holding out to me and punching in my number. He had a huge smile on his face, showing all of his perfectly straight white teeth. I couldn’t help but smile back. This had been fun so the date would go okay too. Or maybe he wouldn’t even call me in the first place; maybe he would drive away and just delete my number. Maybe he was asking just to see if he could get it, like a challenge or something. “I’d better go, Clay will be out soon,” I said, climbing out of the car.
“Okay. I’ll call you,” he vowed as I shut the door.
It had turned cold so I pulled my jacket tighter around me as I walked to the field. Suddenly, my cell phone started ringing in my pocket. I looked at the screen seeing that it said Blake on it. I frowned, confused as to how I got his number, then I remembered that he’d stored it in there the first night I met him, at the game.
“Hello?”
“Just checking you gave me the right number,” he replied and laughed before hanging up. I laughed too as I snapped the phone shut. I looked at the little rose charm and smiled as I put it back in my pocket.
“Hey, Riley Bear!” Clay called as I reached the field. He jogged over to me and went to throw an arm around my shoulder so I quickly jumped away.
“No way, look at the state of you,” I cried, horrified, looking at him distastefully. He was covered in mud, sweat, and grass. He looked down at himself and laughed, suddenly his head snapped up to look at me with an evil glint in his eye. I gasped, immediately knowing he was going to cover me in something nasty. I turned and ran as fast as I could. I could hear him chasing behind me, laughing. Within a few feet he grabbed me from behind and rubbed his face in my hair. “Ew! Clay!” I whined, giggling.
He just laughed and threw his arm over my shoulder, leading us off of the field. “Sorry you had to wait for me. It’s lucky you waited inside though, it’s getting cold out here,” he mused, pulling me closer to his side.
I opened my mouth to tell him I’d been with Blake, but nothing came out. Oh just man up and tell him, Riley! I took a deep breath, knowing he wasn’t going to like the fact that I’d just spent an hour with the guy he told me to stay away from.
“So what movie do you wanna watch tonight?” he asked just as I was about to speak.
“Um, I don’t mind. How about New Moon?” I offered.
He groaned. “Jeez the shifter again? Haven’t you seen enough of him already?” he whined.
I grinned and shook my head forcefully. “No way. You can never get enough Taylor Lautner in your life,” I replied, smiling as I pushed him towards the locker rooms to shower.
Just as I thought they would, my mom and David pulled out a cake after dinner, and they sang happy birthday to me. I looked over at Clay, he wasn’t singing because he knew that I hated it. He never sang happy birthday to me. But he did sit there with a huge smirk on his face while I grimaced and wriggled, uncomfortable with the attention. They even made me blow out the candles like a five year old.
After, we watched New Moon again and Clay, sweet boy that he was, didn’t complain once - even though I’d made him watch it about six times already. Just as we settled into bed to go to sleep, my cell phone beeped. I looked at the screen: 1 new message from Blake. I pressed read:
‘Hey, just wanted to say goodnight. Maybe I could take you for a crappy dinner and a crappy movie tomorrow? Blake ;)’
I laughed because he’d used my words that I’d once said to him. “What’s so funny?” Clay asked, putting his arms behind his head, settling himself into my bed like he owned the place.
“Er, nothing, it’s just Rachel that’s all,” I answered, unsure why I was lying to him. I snapped my phone shut and laid next to him as usual.