Protected (Book 1 in the Ariya Adams trilogy) Page 7

  To my surprise, we were almost the last ones to lunch. I guess seniors aren’t expected to stay in class for a full period anymore. I scooted in between Riley and Caroline. Lunch was a blast. We spent the entire time reminiscing about funny stories from our summers and talking about the first hockey game coming up.

  It was set for Friday night and the boys were more than a little excited. It was fun to watch them talk about their upcoming games and the season. Apparently having James on the team was going to be the difference and this year, the championship was theirs. After lunch, Caroline and I decided to go over to the campus bookstore and pick up some new Timberwolves great to wear to the game on Friday. Riley said he wanted something new, also, and decided to tag along. The three of us said our goodbyes for the day and we headed out.

  Before we could leave, James got up and said he might as well get something, too, since he didn’t have any Timberwolves clothing yet. Caroline nudged my arm and smiled at me. I needed to catch her up on where I was with the whole James thing, at least the playing it cool part. The ‘James’ topic hadn’t been discussed the previous evening when she’d returned home from seeing Nick off.

  Riley came up beside me and threw his arm over my shoulder. “So, are we getting matching shirts or what, hun?”

  “Oh, yes dear, of course,” I joked right back.

  I was going to miss having him there all the time. He was always there for me and Caroline. Anytime a guy was a jerk, he’d be there. Anytime we were stressed, he’d be there. He wasn’t like the other guys when it came to Caroline and me. I never really understood, but he would literally drop everything to come whenever I needed him. I couldn’t even begin to count the texts and calls I’d sent him, needing a friend or someone to talk sense into me. He’d seen me cry, pout, yell, almost every emotion imaginable. He still would come when I needed him. Not many guys were like that. He truly was a special friend.

  Freshman year Caroline asked if I was interested in him. I wasn’t really and I can’t remember ever feeling like there was anything there besides just a good friend. I just hadn’t thought of him like that. Once when he was hammered at a hockey party, he tried to kiss me, but we’d laughed it off the next day and things were fine. He’d never tried anything since then. He really was my best friend besides Caroline. I was blessed with the two of them. I caught myself realizing how emotional my internal monologue was getting and tried to bring myself back to reality. I kept thinking about losing everything at the end of the year, but that seemed to be something crazy to think about. I wish I could get a grip.

  I glanced over at James, who was studying me. When we made eye contact, he side-smiled and looked back towards where we were walking. Maybe James was a tiny bit interested. Could it be he got jealous when Riley and I were joking? Or not. He was more likely just observing, since he was the newbie. He wanted to get a feel for the group dynamic. Could he be shy when it came to girls? If he needed encouragement, maybe I would give him a little bit of help. That couldn’t hurt if it was just a little nudge. I stopped to “tie my shoe” and when I stood up I was walking in sync next to him.

  We got to the bookstore and made our purchases. James asked for my help picking something out.

  “What’s the cool thing to wear around here? Tell me it’s a sweatshirt because it is freezing. I’ve lived in cold places, but this, this is absurd once the sun goes down.”

  I smiled. “It’s only fall, James. Just wait until winter actually rolls around. You’ll be wearing those hockey skates for quite awhile.”

  I started holding up different options and he made faces at the ones he thought were dumb.

  “Be nice, or you’re on your own.” I teased.

  I was proud of myself and thought I was doing an extraordinary job of playing it cool just like I had agreed to do. When we all finally decided on what we wanted. Caroline and I paid for our purchases. While we were waiting for the boys, we got shooed off. They were planning something, I guess, at least that is what it seemed like. Caroline rolled her eyes, took my arm, and we went outside to wait.

  Autumn in Mineral Point really wasn’t all that cold. It was probably like winter in some states further to the south. It was the kind of weather that a light jacket would be enough if you were making a quick run somewhere. But, you couldn’t stand still for too long without freezing. Winter was bone-chilling, but fall was just chilly. The boys walked out with bigger bags than I thought they would have, and we all said our goodbyes.

  “What was that about do you think?” I asked Caroline.

  “Who knows? They’re boys, we’re not supposed to get it.” We laughed.

  When we got back to the apartment that afternoon, we sat down and planned out the rest of the week. Lunches, afternoon activities, everything was set so that we could hang out as much as possible.

  “Excited for the hockey game? You get to see James in action!” Caroline punched the air like a superhero, which made me snort.

  “About that…” I started.

  “You have got to be kidding me? Your hating boys phase is over. Flirty, lover girl is on! Come on, I want something to gush about. So don’t even think about saying you’re over it,” Caroline scolded me.

  “You have something to gush about! NICK, duh! He’s handsome, huh?” I said, attempting to change the subject.

  “No changing the subject, you brat. Come on, I thought we were all for James.” Caroline, being Caroline, was not going to back down until she got the answer she wanted, so I decided to play to her feminist side a bit so that she would drop it and try to understand.

  “It’s been confusing. I’m not dealing with spending all my time wishing some guy would pay attention to me. We hung out alone and he didn’t try anything. He hasn’t asked for my number and we have no plans to hang out again. Until he shows some interest in being something more than friends, I don’t want to waste my time. You should love this! You’re always pro-independence from men. I’m finally listening and learning your ways.” I sat, eyebrows raised, daring her to challenge that logic.

  “But, you’re always the hopeful one. Fairytales, true love. Come on, Ariya, give me something to work with here. Besides, what alternate universe have we entered where I’m the boy-crazy one and you are the strong, independent one?!” That made me laugh. She always could calm down my worrisome thinking. “It makes sense, though, I guess. I’m proud of you. I still think there’s something there. Just keep your options open and don’t you dare revert back to your attitude from last year. I can’t handle my hopeful anchor miserable about some idiot guy.”

  “I will, I will. Hence the plan to keep away, until I get something more out of him.”

  And as much as I tried to play off the tough girl persona, everything in me wanted James to take a chance and come after me. Some things would never change, but I could put on a daringly independent female face if I had to. I have no idea what was making me act like this and why I was feeling so certain James was someone important for me, but I couldn’t help it, and so I’d try to pretend and hope that it would calm down eventually. Maybe once this stress wore off and I was back to my non-overly emotional self, things would seem clearer. I looked forward to getting to know him better, though. At least I knew he’d be a friend, which I guess was something.

  Caroline had declared Wednesdays to be Wino Wednesdays way back in our freshman year. It was tradition, so when the first Wednesday of our year rolled around, I had a wine glass pre-poured and waiting for me when I walked in from classes that afternoon.

  “Ah, my dinner.” I smiled at Caroline, who looked like she was already halfway into the bottle.

  Running to my room, I threw on a pair of pajama pants and a sweatshirt and hopped over the back of the couch. I had almost curled up in a comfortable spot when the doorbell rang. I glanced over at Caroline, and she just lifted her shoulders to shrug.

  “You invite anyone over?” I asked.

  “No.” She refilled what she claimed was her first glass
.

  I opened the door and found Riley, standing on our porch with a pizza.

  "Surprise!" he shouted when I opened the door. "I come bearing gifts."

  "By all means then, come on in." I smiled at him since he hadn't waited to be invited in before heading towards the living room. Riley was someone who easily made himself at home anywhere, which was fine by me.

  “What should I do with this?” He held up a bottle of red wine.

  “Wine? When have you ever had wine, Riley?”

  “Um, it’s Wino Wednesday, hello?” he said in a girly voice, making Caroline and me laugh. “This is my last chance to give this tradition of yours a try. I attempted to get Johnny to come with me, but he said he’d stick to beer, so it’s just me.”

  “I’ll pour you a glass. We have white wine, too, if you don’t like red,” I told him.

  “I like red!” Caroline yelled. I looked over at her, surprised.

  “We always drink white, though. I didn’t know you liked red wine.”

  “It is so much better. The white cold stuff is what you like, so I suck it up.” She laughed at what I guess she had thought was a joke. I didn’t get it, but chuckled at her anyway.

  “You should have told me! We could have each just had our own bottle.” She laughed again.

  I distributed the wine to Riley and Caroline and picked up my own glass to raise in a toast.

  “To Riley’s first Wino Wednesday.” Our glasses clinked together. I picked up a slice of pizza and sat down cross-legged on the floor by Riley's legs.

  "So, how's the first week, girls?" he asked, knowing very well how it was going since we had seen each other every day.

  "Good," I said, with my mouth full.

  "Such a lady,” he 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 Human 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 all 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 hockey 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 peopl
e 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!” Caroline 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.