Free At First Sight by Catherine Hapka Page B

reacted to the girls he thought were fakers. What if he thought I was one, too?
    I’ll be doing him a favor by telling him,
I thought, trying to psych myself up.
If he knows he’s found the real Planetarium Girl, it’ll be way easier for him to blow off all the others, like the girls on Facebook and the ones at the club… .
    That finally convinced me. I had to do it. For Riley’s sake. It was practically an act of charity.
    â€œListen,” I said, setting down my spoon. “I want to tell you some—”
    He wasn’t paying attention. Suddenly he jumped to his feet, waving his own spoon over his head like a signal flag.
    â€œYo, Marcus!” he shouted. “Guys! Over here!”

Eight
    A bunch of people had just burst into the ice cream place and were waving and calling out greetings to Riley. At first they were milling around so much, shrugging off jackets and weaving their way between tables, that I couldn’t tell how many of them there were. But eventually several crowded into the free seats in our booth, while the rest dragged over more chairs from nearby, and I could see that there were three girls and two guys.
    â€œSo how was the Maybe Who Gives a Crap show?” one of the guys demanded with a wide grin. He was a little shorter than Riley with sleek black hair, mischievous dark eyes, and a lean, tanned body that never seemed to stop moving. I also couldn’t helpnoting with approval that he was wearing a superstylish Marc Jacobs printed shirt.
    Riley laughed and rolled his eyes. “Remember how I was telling you my friends don’t appreciate the Beast?” he told me. “Marcus here is the president of the anti-fan club.”
    â€œHey, what can I say? They suck.” The guy glanced at me, taking in my MTIAB T-shirt along with the rest of me. “Then again, if a hot girl like this actually tolerates them, I might have to rethink my opinion on that. Hello, beautiful. I’m Marcus.” He stuck out his hand.
    As I shook it, one of the girls let out a loud snort. “Don’t fall for his Mr. Charming act,” she advised me with a sly glance at Marcus. “He’s a total hound.”
    â€œTrue,” Riley said with a laugh. “Guys, this is Lauren. She’s a fellow Beast fan I met on Facebook. We ran into each other at the show. Lauren, these are my friends—you already met Marcus, and that’s Rachel.” He gestured to the girl who’d spoken, a stylishly dressed redhead with a pointy chin and an intelligent face. “Over there is Jake, that’s Haley, and, um …” He stopped as he glanced at the last of the girls, a petiteblonde with her hair pulled back into a perky ponytail. She was wearing a pink spaghetti-strap tank that barely contained a truly impressive set of knockers.
    â€œNice to meet you, Lauren,” Rachel said, while the others added hi’s of their own.
    All except for Marcus. He’d just jumped out of his chair and rushed over to the nameless blonde’s chair, looking excited. “Dude,” he said to Riley, reaching down and squeezing the girl’s bare shoulders. “Surprise!”
    â€œUh, what?” Riley looked confused and a little wary.
    Marcus laughed. “Don’t look so suspicious, bro. It’s good news. See, I finally tracked down the one and only Planetarium Girl for you! Voilà!” He stepped back with a sort of bow, gesturing dramatically to the girl in front of him.
    She giggled. “Hi, Riley,” she said with a cute little tilt of her head. “Nice to see you again. I didn’t get a good look at you there in the planetarium, but I’m glad to see that you’re just as cute as I thought.”
    Riley looked startled for a second, but he recovered quickly. “Oh, wow,” he said. “Hi there. What’s your name?”
    â€œI’m Chelsea,” the girl said. “But youcan call me Planetarium Girl