Protected (Book 1 in the Ariya Adams trilogy) (9 page)

"Such a lady,” h
e teased. "So what's this I hear about you and James hanging out?"

"Hanging out?" I asked after swallowing the bite of pizza that
 had almost gotten lodged in my throat. Riley wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"Seriously?
Come on, we haven't been back a week and I'm going to get harassed already?" I asked him. He flashed one of his All-American smiles he was so good at and continued.

"I don't know
, Ariya. I'm just keeping you up to speed on the latest gossip out there."

"You're a worse gossip than
any of the girls I know." Caroline snorted at the comment. "Some help please?" I looked over at her.

"They
 aren't 'hanging out.'" She defended in air quotes. "But, Ariya sure does think he's something else." She mocked me, which earned her a grimace from me.

"Oh
my gosh, you two are worse than thirteen year old girls. No, we aren't hanging out like
that
Riley. No exchange of numbers, no moves made on me, nothing. We don't have any other plans to get together. Okay?"

My whole being wished that
that wasn't the case, but I wasn't about to let these guys in on it. Yes, there were feelings I had for James that I hadn't experienced before with anyone else, but it was clear he was looking for just a friend. That's what I was going to be with him. The sooner I convinced the rest of my body of that, the better.

"Well
, you reluctantly would have my approval if you did.  He seems like a decent guy." Riley took another bite, and for a moment, I thought he looked sad. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Caroline jumped in.

"You haven't found a flaw? I'm shocked!" Caroline said. "You always have something wrong with the boys we talk about. What about Nick? Let's have it, what's his
flaw?"

Caroline changed the subject for me
, giving me a nod when Riley looked down to grab his beer.

"Nick seems pretty cool
, too. Man, I'm losing my edge if I can't pick these guys apart, huh?" He laughed.

"What about you
, Riley? Usually you've got at least two options lined up to pursue for the year. It has been what, five whole days of being back with everyone?" I joked. "Don't tell me you've run out of options!" I added in mock horror.

"Please, there
is a whole freshman class coming in." Caroline and I gasped at his comment.

"Ew!
Riley you're awful."

We all started laughing. As I grabbed another slice of pizza
, an extreme sense of melancholy came over me. I felt it in the pit of my stomach. I had just been laughing a moment ago. Where was this coming from? It must have something to do with my lack of sleep the past few weeks. I thought I had been sleeping enough, but I guess waking up from nightmares messes with your REM cycle. Wasn’t there something about interrupting REM cycles that I had learned in one of those general education classes we’d had to take?

Caroline was frowning at me
, so I plastered on a smile, and jumped back into the conversation. Caroline and Riley had been talking about his recent flames. I decided to focus on the conversation in front of me instead of dwelling on why my emotions had taken on a mind of their own. These feelings were not about to make me miss out on quality time with my two best friends. I’d get my emotions under control again, somehow.

The rest of the week was fairly uneventful and Friday was finally upon us. I couldn’t hide my excitement. Like I said, I love sports in general. Watching all of my friends play was even better. Plus, I could see whether or not James was any good. I really, really wanted to not care, but I was a daydreamer at heart. I always find it funny how those who are a bit more realistic perceive daydreamers. I tend to be a little too much of a daydreamer sometimes, and I like to think it’s just that I’m optimistic, that’s all. People who don’t have their heads in the clouds sometimes tend to think us girls who do are weak. I have never fully understood that, but it almost feels like some kind of disapproval. We aren’t weak.

When someone called Cinderella naïve and weak
, Walt Disney said, “
She believed in dreams, all right, but she also believed in doing something about them. When Prince Charming didn't come along, she went over to the palace and got him.” See, I think the poor daydreamers of the world get the shaft. We’re stronger than we look. I was allowed to daydream, and so I did. I just did it in secret.

It turned out that Hum
an Intimacy was the only class that had anyone in it that I knew from my core group of friends. The rest were friends from my major, which was Counseling. Wednesday and Friday had been smooth and almost boring in class. James continued to sit next to me, having little conversations here and there, so that was something to look forward to. He had picked up the conversations, but that could just be because I always made him start them.

During class that morning
, I had asked if he was excited about the game. He smiled and said he was and that had pretty much been it. Still there were moments when I’d catch him leaning into where I was sitting or glancing over. He would do that smile out of the side of his mouth, too, if I caught him. One week into my decision to be strong and I was already breaking. He was mysterious and handsome and the more I sat next to him, the more I daydreamed. Maybe this weekend he’d get some courage. I knew I’d see him almost the whole time between the hockey game, after party, and whatever the group decided to do Saturday night, so I had that going for me.

Caroline and I got home pretty early that Friday afternoon. We were figuring out our game plan for the night when we heard a loud banging on the door. Riley’s voice
came from the other side.

“Hurry up
girls, we’re on a tight schedule.” Caroline ran over and threw the door open.

“Geez Riley, is
the world ending or something?”

He smiled. I
peeked around the door and saw he wasn’t alone. James had come with him for whatever it was they were here for.

“Shouldn’t you a
ll be at the stadium?” I asked.

“Yes, but we
had an important errand first.”

James was full out grinning at me. I held my breath thinking that would stop the fluttering happening in my stomach at that sight.
Damn it, Ariya!
They took out bookstore bags and I assumed this was what they had been so secretive about while shopping Monday.

They yanked out two h
ockey jerseys and said “Ta-da” in unison. They were so excited it was adorable.

“We got you hockey jerseys for the games this
year. We wanted to make sure people knew you’re cheering for us early on so you aren’t considered band-wagoner’s when we start crushing everyone.”

Riley was so excited for the season and apparently extremely cocky. Normally cockiness would make someone less charming
in my eyes, but somehow he pulled it off and still looked gorgeous.

“Oh
, we wouldn’t want that,” I laughed.

Caroline grabbed the jersey from Riley’s hand. James handed me mine, which should
not have made me as happy as it did. It was just a jersey, for goodness’ sake!

“We’ll be wearing them. Now get to the game!” Caroli
ne pretended to shove them out.

“Thank you!” I yelled. “That was nice.” I turned to Caroline
, holding the jersey up to show off.

“Mmm-hmmm.
James got a jersey for you. It feels like high school,” she said, and started cracking up.

“At least their names aren’t on them.” I chimed in
, following her laughter with my own. It was a sweet gesture and the jerseys would be warm.

We
leisurely got ready and headed out to the hockey stadium a couple of hours later. The stadium was actually a pretty nice place for a small school like ours. It was indoors and reminded me of a mini version of a minor league stadium. The rumors were that the school got the funding from an alumni donor who thought that more students could play in intramurals than a regular team, so there should be a place to do it.

We headed towards the seats that were
closest to the ice. It was quickly beginning to fill up. Being the first intramural game of the year, it was to be expected. Intramurals at our school were how I imagined most schools’ main sports programs to be. We didn’t even play other colleges, just each other, and yet the games were just as packed every year. It gave everyone something to do. Of course, there were more students in attendance than alumni and donors like at the school’s real team games. The actual team didn’t have many fans since they were shockingly terrible, which was so backwards to me. The other sports at our school had occasional followers, but great athletes were not really looking to go to a small school in the middle of nowhere Michigan.

Both of the teams were
still warming up when we took our usual center ice spots. Riley skated up and banged on the glass. He gave us a big grin and continued to warm up.

“I love that kid.” Caroli
ne said.

“I was just thinking about the three of us today actually. You know
, I’m surprised neither of us ended up with Riley.”

“Well
, I always thought you would.” She said it so matter-of-factly that I was thrown off guard.

I turned to her.
“Ha, yeah right,” I snorted.

“
Yeah, I mean, after awhile I figured it wouldn’t happen, but at first I did.  You know he was in love with you.” My jaw dropped as she turned to face me. Her smile was replaced with a frown upon seeing my reaction. “Why do you look surprised?”

“Why is this the
first time you’ve said anything? I didn’t know you thought that.”

“Don’t you remember freshman
year at all? I knew it after the hockey formal. Lillian had just broken up with him after he caught her cheating. We decided to make him feel better. We’d get dolled up and both show up on his arm? But, I got sick. Only, I wasn’t really sick. I figured if I dressed you up and stuck the two of you together, things would just fall into place. I stayed in and when he came carrying you upstairs at 3 am because you fell asleep in his truck, he spilled his guts to me. You showed up at his dorm room door and that was it. At least that’s what he said then. He jokes with you all the time about getting together. He has already said it multiple times already this year and we just got back.”

“He jokes with me
, yeah,
joke
being the key word. This is a nice time to tell me that story. I thought you were team hang-in-there-for-James. And Riley is not in love with me,” I said as I pinched her arm.

“Ouch!” s
he yelped, rubbing at the spot I had just pinched. “What does it matter now? I thought you just wanted to be friends. Hence why I’d never brought it up before. But, with that comment, maybe you hadn’t thought about it. Have you really thought about it?”

Had I thought about it? Riley was my best guy friend. He was charming, kind, and ha
ndsome. He charmed everyone. It wasn’t like I was special and I had always just assumed I was treated the same as Caroline, but was she right? Was he in love with me?

I tried to think about how I felt about Riley. I would do anything for him. I told him almost everything. He knew almost as much as Caroline knew about me
. I confided in him and I know he confided in me. If he was really in love with me, I doubt he would have dated every girl on campus like he did. No, I wasn’t in love with Riley. Did I love him? Yes. Was I in love? No.

“I do just want to be friends. That’s all we’ll ever be, just best friends.” As
I said it, I felt strange. “Dang it, Caroline, now I’m going to over think everything! Why did you tell me this now? We’re about to watch a hockey game. This is a girls’ sleepover night topic, not something to bring up before a weekend with everyone!”

“I didn’t think it was a big deal. I didn’t think it was even something to think about. Ariya, do you not want t
o be
just friends
with Riley?” She was turned towards me now, trying to figure me out. Her eyebrows were raised inquisitively as if she was expecting me to give my final answer on the topic.

“I hadn’t even thought a
bout it any other way until now,” I said, quietly.

“Well, you don’t have to make a decision. Riley hasn’t tried to be with you like that
, seriously at least. Maybe he doesn’t feel like that anymore. I was just telling you he did a couple of years ago. Plus, James is in the picture now, so it doesn’t matter.”

I nodded.
She was right. I didn’t need to over think anything. Riley was my best friend and he would always be there for me. Besides, she was talking about something that happened three years ago. The chances of him still feeling that way were minimal, if any. It was fine and Caroline was right, it wasn’t a big deal.

“You’re right. It’s just weird to think about.” Caroline smiled
, realizing I’d made up my mind.