She had turned around after her tirade over Damien, to find me wiping down my tables. She had given me a sugary sweet smile, followed by a fake “Hiya, Riley!” before flouncing off to her own section. But I could see her face color with mortification at having me overhear her tale of dating gone wrong.
So, whatever had happened between him and Jaz, he was now sniffing around my skirts more than he ever had while we were together. It must be my magnetic I’m-moving-on-with-my-life perfume. Apparently it made me irresistible.
“Really Mom? Is that why you called? To snoop around in my love life? Because I can assure you, it’s about as interesting as watching paint dry,” I commented as I pulled up to a red light.
“Oh come on. Are the two of you still not back together? I thought you were absolutely perfect together. Riley, people make mistakes. You can’t hold grudges. It’s not good for your karma,” she lectured.
I listened as my mom started to regale me with the ways I could cleanse my energy. I typically tuned out at this inevitable point in the conversation. The loud thumping of bass caught my attention. Why do people have to listen to music at internal organ shutdown levels? Particularly when it was seriously crappy music?
I debated on blowing my horn at the jerkoff sat beside me in traffic. I could only see the back of his head because he was facing someone in the passenger seat. The windows of my car were vibrating and I could feel the thumping in my bones. I noticed the blonde hair of the passenger and realized it was Gracie. She must have felt my eyes on her because she started waving, her mouth moving as she spoke to the driver, pointing in my direction.
The driver turned back around in his seat and glanced at me and I was glad I wasn’t driving because I would surely have crashed. What the hell was Gracie doing in Garrett’s van? My hands gripped the steering wheel. My mouth fell open in absolute and complete shock. I felt sick at the realization that Garrett was most likely playing “tag that ass” with one of my friends. Because everyone knew it wasn’t that difficult to get Gracie to agree to a naked meet a greet.
As soon as our eyes connected, I looked away and was thankful that the light turned green so I could speed away, squealing my tires in the process.
Shit.
What if Gracie slept with Garrett!? Aside from the fact that it meant Gracie and I were now intimately familiar with the same person, I couldn’t help but feel supremely dejected. Okay, and maybe a tad bit jealous.
Only a tad, I swear!
“Riley!” my mom yelled and I realized I had completely forgotten she was still on the phone.
“Sorry, Mom. What were you saying?” I asked, feeling distracted and out of sorts. My mind was too busy inventing horrific scenarios of Gracie and Garrett together.
Having sex together.
Oh God!
My heart squeezed painfully and I told myself it had everything to do with the uncomfortable idea of Gracie Cook and Riley Walker sharing bed partners. It had NOTHING to do with any sort of emotional connection I had felt with our particular bed partner.
No way!
Garrett Bellows was nothing to me. Just some sad, regretful mistake I had made in the heat of some serious self-pity.
“I was asking whether any other boys have caught your fancy. You’re entirely too serious and focused. You need a little fun, sweetie.” My mother’s question coming on the heels of seeing Garrett and Gracie together had me ready to duck and cover. Shit was about to get ugly.
“No, Mom. And I’ve got to go,” I said hurriedly, whipping into a parking space outside my apartment building. Without waiting for a goodbye, I hung up the phone.
“Is Gracie sleeping with Garrett?” I asked as soon as I entered the apartment. Maysie and Jordan were sprawled out on the couch watching TV. Under normal circumstances I would have made a snide comment about confining their excessive PDA to behind her bedroom door but I was feeling a bit frantic.
Maysie looked at me in surprise and Jordan lifted his head from its resting spot on his girlfriend’s chest with an expression of complete confusion.