Falling From the Sky (24 page)

There’s something about a love triangle that can sober someone up. Maybe it’s the panic, the fear, and the imminent anxiety attack, but I feel much less hung over and much more sick from my triangle than the alcohol when I step onto the court. Coach Bennett must know what he’s doing after all because there isn’t a single player bothering to block me, and with my lousy shots earlier, I can’t say I blame them. The ball leaves Terrence’s hands, flies over the heads of the two guys defending him, and hits my hands just long enough for me to shoot. The ball swishes through the net, and Terrence slaps me a high five on the way back down the court.

Micah is already gone when I exit the locker room. I scan the gym again, even though I know I won’t find him.

“Looking for someone?”

I nod in response as I watch the last few fans clear from the bleachers.

“Well, I’m right here, dork,” Samantha says, wrapping her arms around my waist. She pulls away as quickly as she grabbed me. “You’re all sweaty.”

Typical Samantha. “I thought you’d be happy to see me even if I am sweaty,” I say, trying to keep the joking tone in my voice. It’s not as easy as it used to be.

“I thought
you’d
be happier to see me than you are,” she counters. She tugs at the bottom of my jersey.

I grab her hand to make her stop. “I’m still in shock. You were the last person I expected to see here. And you just had to come to the shittiest game I’ve ever played in my life,” I say.

“Yeah, well, we figured one of us needed to come at least once this summer,” she says. “I thought they were supposed to improve your basketball skills here.”

“Who is ‘we?’” I ask.

“Your mom and me,” she says, studying her manicure like her cuticles are way more fascinating than I could ever be.

“So, what happened? You lost the coin toss and had to make an appearance?” It comes across much harsher than intended. I pull away from her when she reaches for my hand.

“I’m kidding,” she says in that teasing voice of hers. “I know you were just nervous because I showed up. It’s hard to play like a pro when you’re distracted.”

She reaches for my hand again. I ignore her because I don’t want to be reminded of Micah and how his hand feels in mine. It’s pointless because everything reminds me of Micah. “I need to go shower. I feel gross,” I tell her.

She nods, and I’m shocked that it’s this easy to get rid of her.

“Can I wait in your room?” she asks.

I don’t know how to tell her no, and I don’t know what I’ll do if I get caught with her in my dorm room. I’m sure I’m not the first guy to sneak a girl into the dorms. If I am, it’d be one hell of an ironic case since I’m the guy who’s been dating another guy all summer. I don’t know how I feel about her or Micah or anything else, and right now isn’t the time to figure it out.

“I’ll have to sneak you in. Just do what I say,” I tell her.

Samantha runs her hands through my freshly washed hair and presses her lips against my neck. The taste of watermelon and glue lingers on my mouth, and I don’t know how I ever liked the taste of her lip gloss. It’s just a sticky mess now, and it’s moving down my neck. Her lips aren’t the only thing moving south either.

She fumbles with my zipper, and I’m glad I decided on jeans after my shower because she’d have already pulled off gym shorts if I was wearing them. She sits up, straddling my thighs, and unbuttons my jeans.

“C’mon,” she whispers. “It’s been all summer.”

“I can’t,” I say.

There probably isn’t a straight guy on the planet with a list as long as mine of reasons not to have sex with a gorgeous girl. But I don’t want to be with her. I’m in love with someone else. I can’t get that someone else out of my head. I’m not even turned on. But these are all reasons I can’t give Samantha.

She stares at me with those blue eyes sparkling under a layer of mascara and glitter. I rack my brain one last time for a line that I can feed to her.

“I don’t have a condom,” I lie. I have the one from Aaron, and there’s a box of them in Aaron’s top drawer. “I didn’t really have a reason to be stocked for the summer. You weren’t going to be here.”

I shrug and give her the best apology face I can muster. That line has to score me a few points.

“You’re sweet,” she says. She pulls the zipper back up but doesn’t bother with the button. She leans down on my chest and kisses my lips with a brief peck. “Let’s go shopping.”

I never shop with Samantha, but I’m more than willing if it gets me out of being a real boyfriend. A knot forms in my stomach while she talks about this great mall she heard about here in Bear Creek. I lie when she asks if I go there much.

“Only once, just to buy shoes for basketball,” I say.

She suggests taking her car so we won’t have to transfer her shopping bags when we get back to campus, and I take her up on the offer – just because no one knows her car. Micah never works on game days, so today is safe for shopping with the girlfriend.

I know exactly how things will play out before we ever reach the mall. After one store, I’m proven right. Samantha grabs more jeans than she can hold to try on, and I’m forced to stand outside the main entrance to the dressing room so she won’t lose her room.

I get awkward stares from other girls for lingering around the women’s dressing room holding glittery tank tops and skinny jeans. I just smile and nod at them as they go by until Samantha barks out that she needs a size smaller and tosses her jeans at me. I overhear one girl tell her mom that I’m the kind of boyfriend she needs while I dig through the racks for a size five for Samantha. Oh, if she only knew.

Somewhere in the midst of size five, the pink or white tank top debate, and “Do you like this belt?”, I realize this would be so much better with Micah. I wouldn’t mind digging through racks of jeans to find his size, and I wouldn’t mind holding all of his stuff while he tries on clothes. But I could actually go into the dressing room with Micah instead of being forced to wait at the border. Micah’s the type who would strut up and down the dressing room hallway giving me a free fashion show and doing his best Zach Perry imitations.

Five shopping bags, eleven tank tops, two belts, and too many pairs of jeans later, I find myself cramming everything into the trunk of Samantha’s car.

“Hurry, people are looking,” she says.

If she’d been smart, she’d have cleaned out her trunk before coming to visit, but she swears if she puts anything in the backseat, it’ll get stolen. Right…because so many people want her Markham Wildcats dance uniform. I slam the trunk shut without any evidence remaining that she’s bought out half of the mall.

“Great,” she says. “Now we can shop the other end.”

I seriously wish that was a joke on her part, but she truly does have half of the mall left to look through. She’ll simply drag me along like that Chihuahua fashion accessory Zoey was talking about. I’m useless and meant to look cute on Samantha’s arm.

We enter at the food court next to the arcade. I look inside as we pass and wonder if M. Youngblood still has the highest score on
Zombie Raiders 2.
If that rabbit’s foot he gave me had really been lucky, I wouldn’t be walking through the mall with Samantha right now. I wouldn’t still feel like death from that hangover. And I wouldn’t have sucked in today’s game.

The candy stand is up ahead, and I pray Samantha doesn’t stop. I recognize the girl who is working, and I don’t want any blue rock candy questions. I don’t know how I’d explain my usual order when I don’t even like rock candy. Luckily Samantha doesn’t notice it – or doesn’t care about it – and we continue on. But my luck fades to dust when Samantha notices the spinning horses.

“Oh my God, Ridge! We should totally ride the carousel!” She grabs my arm and nearly runs toward the horses, smiling like the excited little kids already on board.

I spit out refusals as quickly as I can. I won’t even look up at the damn thing. The carousel is a ‘Micah and me’ thing. There’s no way in hell I’d ever ride it without him, even if I am just another Taylor.

“Look at that one. It’s really pretty,” she continues on.

I don’t know which one she’s talking about. Probably Yellow Flowers Horse or Angel Horse. Maybe even Royal ‘Graffiti Kings’ Horse. I continue to object while she gives me those stupid girlfriend lines that are supposed to change my mind just because she says them. “Just do it for me.” “Please, just this once.” “But it’ll be fun.” “I’ll love you forever if you do this.”

And in the instant I look up to tell her there’s no way in hell I’m getting on the carousel, I see my worlds collide. Micah is working.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Samantha smiles at the little girl standing next to her in line at the token booth. The little kid tells her how much she likes the gold ribbon in Samantha’s hair. I keep my head down and refuse to hold her purse while she rides. Even if Micah didn’t see me, he’d know Samantha just by her stupid shirt that broadcasts where she’s from and explains why she’s here – me.

“Stupid dollar,” she mumbles much too loudly. “Ridge, c’mere and see if you can get this thing to take it.”

My original plan of lingering around the bench while she bought her token and then disappearing around the carousel has failed. I walk over and straighten out her dollar for her, like she couldn’t do that herself, and ram it into the money slot. The token booth spits it right back out at me.

“I wish you’d ride with me,” she whines again. “It’s not like you know anyone. It can’t be that embarrassing.”

I ram the dollar even harder this time, hoping to jam the machine so she can’t ride and we’ll have to leave. I also hope Micah sees my frustration and knows I’m taking it out on his carousel.

“Can I just give you a dollar?” Samantha turns and asks Micah.

He puts his hand out, refusing her money. Instead, he hands her a token. “You can ride free, just because your boyfriend sucks.”

My entire body breaks into a sweat, and my knees knock against each other. I think I’m going to collapse in the floor. This cannot be happening.

“Awww, thanks,” Samantha says in that voice someone only uses when talking to a baby. She turns and sticks her tongue out at me before going through that black railing that I’ve crossed behind too many times this summer. She disappears around the carousel, and I wait to make sure she doesn’t circle back around before speaking.

“Don’t start anything,” I say under my breath to Micah.

He gives me an evil eye. “You’re in my territory.”

“Not by choice,” I say through my teeth.

I don’t want it to look like I’m talking to him or possibly know him. Not with Samantha here. I’ve woven a big enough web of lies, and so far, I’ve been fortunate not to get caught up in the messy strings.

“You have some nerve even coming in here,” Micah says.

Heat burns my cheeks, and I won’t look at him. The loud cling of the carousel sends a chill through me as I wait to see which perfect memory Samantha has tarnished.

Yellow Flowers Horse. Dance recital. How typical of her. But my memory flashes from the recital to that silly picture of Abby hugging my leg, both she and Jade wearing their yellow flower costumes. And Micah, spoon feeding me that first bite of ice cream and wishing for just one night that I was his.

Samantha waves each time she comes around, and I believe in my heart that Micah is letting this ride last longer than usual just to torture me. When the carousel jerks and slowly spins to a stop, I turn and scan the food court with my eyes, hoping to look like I’m interested in something in the distance so I won’t have to look at Micah.

I’m able to sneak away without having to make eye contact or acknowledging his existence. Once Samantha and I are down the mall, everything in me wants to turn around and run to him and tell him I’m sorry for being a jackass and explain why I did it.

But Samantha and Taylor stop me. I can’t explain it to her, and I refuse to be him.

I do all I can to keep Samantha’s attention while we’re venturing back through the food court. The double doors are in sight, and we just need to leave. She mentions being hungry, and I ramble off places we could go. We just don’t need to stay in the mall any longer than necessary, especially near the carousel.

“Hmmm. Wonder if that barbeque place is any good,” she says.

I hesitate to reply. I know it’s good, but I wonder if I should tell her it’s terrible to keep her moving along. I don’t want any questions since I’ve apparently only been here one time to buy shoes as far as she knows.

“Let’s just eat here,” she says, bringing all of my nightmares into reality.

Where’s that damn dreamcatcher when I need it?

She drops her bags at a nearby table and sits, telling me what she wants and expecting me to go order it for her. She’s made up her mind, and there’s no changing it, so I move as quickly as my body will let me to order food. The quicker I order, the quicker we eat, and the quicker we eat, the quicker we flee.

I grab the tray once our order is up and hurry back to where Samantha was sitting, but she’s gone. She’s three tables over…talking to Micah. I wish we had come in my car. I’m supposed to know my escape route. I wouldn’t think twice about leaving her here. Not now. She waves me over, and I walk the plank to my death.

“Ridge, this is Micah. He works here, and he agrees that you suck,” Samantha announces as soon as I’m within earshot.

I do my best not to slam the tray onto the table. My appetite is completely gone.

“That’s great,” I snap back.

Samantha rolls her eyes in that dramatic girly way and jabs a plastic knife into her barbeque sandwich. I poke at mine with a fork just to pretend I’m going to eat. Micah sits on the other side of my girlfriend twirling blue rock candy around his tongue. Damn him.

Table manners come easily for Samantha. In between every bite, she gives me the low down on her new friend.

“Micah’s family owns the mall, and he runs the carousel,” she explains.

I want to laugh in her face and tell her she doesn’t know a damn thing about Micah Youngblood. She probably doesn’t even know his last name.