Free Rise by Stefne Miller Page A

comfortable as Riley contemplated whether or not he wanted to incriminate himself.
    He turned off the water, flapped his hands in the air to dry them, and then jumped onto the counter and wiped them on his jeans. “What’s all this about?”
    “We’re conducting research,” Marme said.
    “What kind of research?”
    “What do girls do that annoys boys kind of research. We really want to know. Just boy and girl interaction type stuff, not generalities or anything.”
    “I can’t speak for all guys.”
    “Then just speak for guys like you. The good guys. The kind a girl like Attie would actually want to get attention from.”
    “I don’t want her getting attention from other guys.”
    “Stop being difficult,” she snapped. “You know what we mean.”
    I could almost see his brain turning in his head as he stared into space. “Well … calling all the time, texting every other second … ”
    Marme and I looked at each other and shared a grin.
    “ … acting too needy for attention. Most guys don’t like that. And then, as a general rule, stalking would be a definite no.”
    Marme leaned forward. “And by stalking you mean what?”
    “Following them around school, driving by their house, asking people for information about them all the time. You know, stalking-type stuff. I mean, let’s be honest, how many girls who acted like that actually landed the guy they were stalking?”
    “Probably not many. Go on,” she said.
    “Talking real loud and shrieking to try to get a guy’s attention—that really drives me crazy. Basically, I think girls just need to act normal. I don’t know of any of my friends who are attracted to a girl that tries too hard.”
    “So you want them to play hard to get?”
    “Not necessarily hard to get, but there’s nothing attractive about easy to get. If I like a girl, which of course I do … ” He looked at me and winked. “I’m gonna let her know.”
    “That’s true. You did tell me.”
    “See.”
    “And what about once they get the guy? How should they act then?” Marme asked.
    “The same as they did before. Why should it change?”
    “I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you.”
    “Nothing should change. Attie didn’t change how she acts.” He looked over at me again. “Did you?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “I mean, if I liked you enough to ask you to be my girlfriend, why would I want you to change once I got you? It wouldn’t make any sense. Are we done now?”
    “Why? You don’t like all the questions?” Marme asked.
    “I just don’t see the point. Attie’s got me. Why does she need to know how to get me?”
    “I don’t need to know how to get you. I need to know how to keep you.”
    His forehead creased. “Why are you worried about that?”
    I shrugged.
    “Charlie, I’m not gonna go anywhere. If you haven’t scared me off up to this point, why on earth would you think you would now?”
    “I don’t know.”
    He jumped off the counter and sat in the chair next to me. “Mom, give us a sec.”
    Without saying a word, Marme left us alone in the kitchen, and I got the sinking suspicion that our impending conversation wasn’t going to be a good one.
    “Okay, I thought of something you do that annoys me.”
    “What?” I regretted asking him in the first place and most certainly didn’t want to hear what he was about to say.
    “You doubt us all the time, or at least me and my feelings for you, anyway. That I don’t like, and if you do it enough, it could cause problems. Insecurity is not attractive, especially coming from someone who has nothing to be insecure about.”
    I felt my face start to crumble.
    He softly rubbed his thumb on my forehead as if he were trying to erase the lines caused by my emotions. “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”
    “You’ve never come right out and told me something you didn’t like about me before.”
    “First off, you asked. And second, it’s not something I don’t like; it’s something