Free Fall Forever (Fall For Me) by Melanie Marks Page A

didn’t help my case. Grr!) How could I convince Riley that
that wasn’t going to happen ?— that I would never,
ever go back to Finn? Sadly, it seemed to be true: time was the only answer.
    At the soda machine, I edged beside Riley much closer than
was necessary. I stood so close my arm was brushing against his.
    Whoa, Zoey! Personal space?
    But just feeling the heat of his arm against mine gave me a
pathetic little thrill. And sent little sparks running through my body. It was,
yeah … pathetic. Totally. But delightful. So, though I
cringed at my utter pathetic-ness, I was also slightly satisfied—just by
his arm against mine.
    You’re such a goner, Zoey!
It’s sad. It’s quite possible the guy doesn’t even like you anymore.
Maybe he didn’t like your kiss. Maybe while you’ve been pining away, dreaming
about his, he’s been gagging about yours!!
    The way he’d been looking at me all night from the corner of
his eyes made me doubt it. But still, I liked to torture myself. Apparently. Because though his eyes told me one thing, my brain told me quite
another. It kept saying: If he
really wanted to be with you Zoey, he would just be with you. He’d snatch you
up into his arms and make you his girlfriend.
    Unfortunately, it seemed Ava had soured him on the whole
girlfriend idea. Well, her and Finn’s mom. (Grr!)
    I sighed. Hopefully, he just needed time .
    Time to sort out … everything. The Finn is his best friend
issues, and the me— his best friend’s girlfriend
issues. And the Ava clinging to him and not wanting to let him go issues.
    Face it , the boy had issues .
    Let him breathe, Zoey! Just
stand back and let him have some space.
    So, I did. I stepped back. Away from him. As though I’d just stumbled up against him accidently or something. Though as
I’d edged up to him his lips parted slightly, and his eyes had flickered with a
spark. Like maybe, perhaps (possibly) he’d gotten pleasure from my simple touch as well. Or, well, did I
imagine that? (Sadly, sadly, oh-so-pathetically possible.)
    He eyed the space I’d made between us. Eyed the space, then
me, then the space. He ran a hand over his eyes, quirking a sheepish grin. “My
arm misses yours, Jones.”
    Adorable!
    Just to keep my heart from exploding, I turned into a
jabbering idiot. “I have an old friend coming to visit for the
weekend—she’s coming by the restaurant after my shift.”
    Though my pulse was pounding, I tried my hardest to sound
casual. And breezy. Like I was just informing him of
this information out of idle chitchat. But really, it was my pathetic way of
saying, “So, don’t worry about me,
buck-o. I have friends. And plans. My life doesn’t totally revolve
around work and Finn.”
    I kind of felt desperate to prove that—that I wasn’t
falling apart without Finn … and that I actually had friends, since it had been
a long time since he’d seen me with any.
    I smiled when Riley lifted an eyebrow, looking way more
interested than a casual boss should. It made me gush out, “She’s really into
cool cars.” I raised my eyebrows playfully. “Can I borrow yours?”
    Riley shook his head with a grin. “No one’s touching my
car—not even you, Jones.”
    “I was just kidding!”
    I really was. I just wanted him to see I was impressed with
his fancy new car— though really I wasn’t. Not very,
anyway. I drove a beat-up old clunker. What did I know, or care, about
cars? Nothing. A high point in my life would be getting GPS. I was impressed
with Riley’s awesome guitar playing, and his swoon-worthy, delicious,
yummy-yummy kisses, and the fact he was incredibly cool yet sweet as could be,
everything about Riley, actually. But his car? I
wasn’t really into it. But he sure was. The others at the restaurant were
mightily impressed with it too. So, apparently, I’m just kind of out of it. Or
weird.
    But I tried to let him know his car was still “hot.” Since
Finn had bashed in its windshield and windows and