M L Sparrow

Excerpt

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Reaching the bus stop, he scanned the list of times and found he had twenty minutes to wait, so he sat on the bench, opened his math book and began working out equations. He couldn’t have been sitting there more than five minutes when a car pulled up to the curb and the music, which had been blaring, was turned off. At first he didn’t bother looking up, but then a voice called his name.

He knew that voice instantly and looked up to see Riley waving from the driver’s seat of a bright pink convertible, her eyes shielded behind a pair of dark sunglasses.

“Oh, hi Riley, I didn’t hear you pull up. How’re you doing?” His attempt to act cool made him cringe.

She smiled that bright, dazzling smile that made his heart jump in his chest. “I saw you sitting there and I thought you might want a lift somewhere.”

“I was just going to the mall to get new glasses, but I don’t mind getting the bus, you probably have somewhere you need to be.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he was kicking himself for his own stupidity. Every time she offered him something, he shot himself in the foot.

Luckily though, Riley laughed and leant over the passenger seat to open the door. “I’m heading to the mall, too, so it’s no trouble.”

Cam hesitated for only a second before jumping to his feet. As he did, the notebook slipped from his hand and fell to the ground, scattering loose pieces of paper.

“Joder!” he swore, stooping to gather them up and shove them into his rucksack.

When he finally got into the car, his ears were burning and he had to wipe his sweaty palms on his jeans. Riley was driving off before he’d even closed his door and he fumbled with his seatbelt as she sped down the road.

A few seconds later, he added something to list of things he knew about Riley Murphy: she was a terrifyingly reckless driver.

“So you’re going to get new glasses? I remember Drew’s friend Martin broke yours the other night. I have to say though, I’m loving the Harry Potter look, not that I’ve ever seen the film.”

He almost considered not buying new ones and keeping the glasses with the tape holding them together and the crack in one lens.

“Do you like music?” she asked, but continued speaking before he could answer, “I like the music on whilst I’m driving.” With the press of a button, pop music filled the car.

As they weaved through traffic and swung around corners, she sang along to the radio and Cameron gripped the door for dear life, the breath catching in his lungs every time she merrily endangered their lives. He touched the crucifix at his neck and sent up a prayer that they reached their destination alive.

Despite the awful driving though, he couldn’t help sneaking glances at her. With the wind whipping back her hair and those huge sunglasses obscuring half of her angular face, she looked like a movie star.

It brought back images of the American sweetheart she’d been barely eighteen months ago, her face splashed across various newspapers and tabloids. It sounded nefarious, but many of them were hidden in a box beneath his bed back home; he’d eagerly followed her spectacular gymnastics career once she’d left school, his crush undiminished by time, distance, or the fact that she didn’t even remember who he was.   

They reached the mall in under twenty minutes - he was pretty sure that was a new record – swerved into a parking space and stopped so abruptly that he jerked forward, the seatbelt cutting into his neck.

She waited until the song she was singing along to was finished before turning off the engine, the music shutting off with it, and turning her head to grin at him. “Here we are. Do you want ice cream? I want ice cream. Let’s go.”

With that she reached between his legs and his heart stopped before realizing she was retrieving her handbag from the footwell. A tinkling laugh and she swung open the door and jumped out, bounding toward the entrance of the mall, as excited as a child with a sugar rush.

Cameron blinked after her for a moment, before realizing she’d left the keys in the ignition, a fluffy pink ball hanging from the keychain.

“Riley,” he called after her, pulling them free and getting out of the car, locking it with a click over his shoulder as he hurried after her.

The top was still down, but it was unlikely to rain and they were parked in a relatively safe part of the car park, right outside the entrance, so he left it.

“You forgot these,” he said, catching up to her inside and handing the keys over.

“I’m such a ditz,” she laughed, squeezing his hand when she took them, “but at least I’ve got you looking out for me.”

Again that smile that cut him off at the knees, the one that had started this obsession in the first place. Sometimes he thought he should hate her for it, but that was impossible.

Riley pushed her sunglasses up to perch on top of her head, nestling in her windblown hair and even the sight of her enlarged pupils couldn’t make him dislike her, though it made him start, reminding him of his brother. Now the erratic behavior made sense, although she had always been like that.

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