Meanwhile, my face is really getting used to turning pink. “No, not that…don’t get used to what I’m about to say…”
And then, bracing myself against Liam and taking a deep breath, I do the hardest thing I think I’ve done all week.
I give Liam Bryce a complement.
“…but I’m not ungrateful at all. This never, never, never would have happened without your help. So thank you…jerkface.”
And then, before I think about what I’m doing, I lift my face to his and touch our lips together, letting my hands enjoy the feeling of his body as he lifts me up off the ground and claims my mouth with his.
“I wish my boyfriend would do that to me.”
Pulling away from Liam, I look over at the waitress who just put out all the olive oil as he sets me gently back on the ground.
She laughs. “Sorry, I just wanted to let you know that the tables are set, the first batch of pizzas is ready, and we’re ready to open those doors as soon as the clock strikes 6.”
“Perfect,” I say, trying to pretend like I was overseeing all of that for the past five minutes instead of making out with Liam, “Do we think we can make sure everyone in line at least leaves with a slice?”
The waitress nods. “I think we can make that happen. We’ve got a second batch of everything on the menu in the oven right now, so it should only take another forty-five minutes to feed everybody.”
“Wow, you guys are good,” I say, “Well, let me know if you need anything, and I’ll go ahead and open the doors in—”
I look over at the grandfather clock just inside the front door.
“Three minutes,” I say, not realizing how fast the past thirty minutes or so have flown by until just now.
“Sounds good!” The waitress says, heading back into the kitchen.
Liam walks up to the front door and looks through the glass, his eyes following the line down the block.
“Well, shit,” he says, “You just might pull this off.”
“No thanks to you,” I say, the two of us sharing a look before I turn on my usual glare and grab his arm, leading him away from the door, “Now go have a seat somewhere I don’t have to look at you, and leave me alone with my customers.”
“Fine,” Liam says, whispering softly into my ear, “And then, a little later tonight, we can do something about those ungrateful little remarks.”
I bite my lip as Liam walks back into a corner booth and picks up a menu. And as I watch him go, I realize that I didn’t correct the waitress when she called Liam my boyfriend.
Which means that all of our co-workers probably think he’s my boyfriend, too.
And at this point…they’re probably not wrong.
I look over at the clock again.
One minute, thirty seconds until the grand opening begins.
I step up to the front door of Riley’s Pizza Kitchen, watching the young couple’s eyes light up as I approach. I smile at them, then look past them, trying not to look shocked at the size of the line. I’m pretty sure it’s gotten even bigger since the waitress saw it.
Sam’s in line, and she waves at me as she notices me through the glass. Matt’s right behind her, and Dad’s a couple people behind Matt. Apparently, once we close up here we’re heading back to Sam and Matt’s place on the beach for a massive grand opening party, and it seems like half of the line are people I know, some of whom I haven’t seen in years.
I look at the clock.
Forty-five seconds left.
Forty-five seconds until the place I spent my childhood laughing, crying, doing homework, daydreaming, and, of course, stuffing my face in, comes back from the dead.
Forty-five seconds until this crazy, stressful, messy chapter of my life flies out the open door and disappears into the night, and a new chapter begins.
A chapter where my new home is my old home, my new business is the one thing I thought I’d never do, and my worst enemy is my best friend.
I look at the clock one more time.
Thirty-five seconds.
Screw that, I’m ready now.
Throwing the door wide open, I step out onto the sidewalk, my breath catching in my throat as the whole block breaks out into a cheer.
“Hey everyone!” I say, “Riley’s Pizza Kitchen is officially open for business!”
The crowd cheers, louder this time, and the people in line start to file in and take their seats.
And just like that, one chapter ends, and another begins.
All I had to do was open the door.
Chapter 24: Liam
“You know what this reminds me of?” Riley asks, looking up at the festive lights strung across the top of Matt’s back porch.
Leaning against the railing next to her, I take a sip of champagne from the glass in my hand. “I would say your birthday, but people only put these lights up for real holidays—”
Riley cuts me off with a kick to the shin. “That’s what you get for making yet another stupid joke about my birthday on the best night of my life.”
Behind us, I can hear the grand opening party still going on in Matt’s living room. With so many people who knew Riley and I back in high school, it feels like we’ve gone back in time, and just like back then, I’m pretty sure they’re going to be partying until the sun comes up.
Which is probably why Riley, who’s been working day and fucking night to get the restaurant off the ground, stepped out here to get some fresh air, and it’s also probably why I joined her. I think we’re both ready to just crawl into fucking bed and not leave for a week.
For a couple different reasons.
“You know,” I say, watching the ink-colored waves break on the sand in front of us, “The funny part of the Groundhog jokes is how mad they make you. I wouldn’t make them if they didn’t make you angry, because you’re fucking adorable when you’re angry.”
Riley looks out at the waves for a few seconds, turning something over in her head. “Wait…so this whole time, ever since I moved across the street from you in sixth grade, you’ve been making me mad because you thought I was adorable?”
Shit, I didn’t really think about it that way. I run through my memories of playing pranks on Riley, yelling insults at her from across the street, trying to get better scores than her on tests just to watch her reaction…
Yep, completely fucking adorable. All of it.
“Huh,” I say, “Maybe I have.”
Riley looks smug, like she’s finally gotten the upper hand on me once and for all…and then her brow furrows in concern.
“Wait a second…” she says, “Is that why I was trying to make you mad?”
I can see her playing back memories in her head, her eyes widening as she does. Then, she gets kind of a calm look on her face. “No, but seriously, you know what this reminds me of?”
She gestures at the lights above us. “It reminds me of the back of that weird bar in Cabo, on our senior trip. With those Christmas lights everywhere?”
“Yeah,” I say, laughing at the memory, “The ocean’s right here, too. All we need is Matt walking back and forth on the beach talking to Sam.”
I look over my shoulder into Matt’s living room, where he and Sam are cuddled up on the couch, laughing with a couple party guests at a joke we can’t hear. “Shit, I guess we kind of have that, too.”
Riley shakes her head. “I really thought that was the last time I was ever going to see you.”
“Yeah,” I say, “It’s crazy, because that was also the night I found out your mom wanted me to come shadow her at the restaurant. And until that happened, I thought the same thing.”
Riley cringes. “Ugh, remember how you turned your head at the same time as me and our faces mashed together? That was so awkward.”
I shudder. “Fuck, don’t remind me.”
“But that was our first kiss, wasn’t it?” Riley says, after a couple seconds thinking about it, “I mean, at the time, I thought it was an accident, but thinking about it n
ow…”
Furrowing my brow, I relive the memory.
Huh. I never thought I’d say this, but Riley’s right. That was definitely a kiss.
I shake my head and laugh. “So does that mean we’ve been in denial and secretly in love this whole fucking time?”
Riley raises her eyebrows. “Well…isn’t that what a bunch of people have been trying to tell us all along?”
The two of us are quiet for a long time, caught between the sound of the party and the sound of the waves. But it’s not a bad quiet. I think we’re both just wondering what it means if the answer to my question is yes.
Riley breaks the silence first, trying to hold back a smile with a nervous, excited look in her eyes. “Okay…why don’t you stay out here and think about it, while I go in and get us both another drink. Then, maybe we can go out on the beach and talk.”
“Yeah,” I say, looking Riley up and down with a million fucking thoughts running through my head, “Sounds good.”
“I’ll be back,” she says, drawing cheers from the living room as she reenters Matt’s house through the back door and leaves me alone on the back porch.
I turn back towards the water, thinking about what just happened. Is Riley seriously about to go from a girl I can’t fucking stand to a girl I can’t wait to wake up next to in one night?
But that’s not true, is it? This has been going on for much, much longer than one night.
Ever since she got back to LA, we’ve been fucking inseparable. And before that, when we were living on opposite coasts, we couldn’t stop texting each other.
Every time something happens in my life, my first instinct is always, always, always to share it with her.
Does that seriously sound like someone I’ve always hated?
Or does it sound like the exact fucking opposite?
Man, I have a feeling that when Riley comes back out with our drinks, it’s going to be the beginning of a long night out here on the beach.
Because we’re going to have a lot to talk about.
It’s kind of taking a while, though. I figured Riley would have been back out here by now.
From behind me, another cheer echoes through the living room. I turn around so I can see what’s going on through the living room windows, and when I do I see Matt standing on the couch, reading something off his phone. Everyone else is gathered around him, clapping and cheering…except for Riley, who’s listening in the kitchen doorway with two glasses in her hands, looking like she’s a second away from crying.
This better not be what I think it is.
As Matt jumps off the couch, Riley steps back into the kitchen, setting her glasses down on the counter. Then, blinking back tears, she storms away.
Instantly, I sprint across the porch towards the back door, trying to reach Riley and see what the matter is before she leaves the house, but right as I get there, Matt steps through, running right into me and wrapping his arms around me.
“We fucking did it,” he says, “That was Anya’s uncle.”
Shit. It’s exactly what I thought it was. “At this hour? Seriously?”
“Yeah, I guess it’s early morning in Morocco,” Matt says, “But he says he’s cutting his vacation short and he wants to meet us in Miami tomorrow. He bought us plane tickets and everything.”
Fuck, this is bad. Breaking out of Matt’s hug, I open the back door and get blasted with a cheer from the entire party as I step back into the house. As I move through the crowd, someone starts talking about how nice Miami is, and someone else starts telling me how amazing it is that I’ve finally made it to the big leagues.
So why do I feel like I’m about to lose everything?
“Let’s talk about it later,” I say to a surprised looking Matt, before heading straight into the kitchen, where there’s unfortunately no sign of Riley.
“Do you know where Riley went?” I ask Sam, who’s pouring out a glass of champagne by the front door.
“Oh, yeah,” she says, looking confused, “She stepped outside right after Matt read out the email from your new investor. She looked like she was mad or someth—oh. Ohhhh.”
Sam gets a determined look on her face and puts the champagne bottle down. “Yeah, she’s out front. Probably calling a cab. Go catch her!”
“Thanks,” I say, throwing open the front door and running out into the street, where Riley is standing on the curb, looking down at her phone with tears running down her cheeks.
She wipes them away when she sees me coming, giving me the same smug look she always gives me when she thinks she’s one-upped me.
Well, not the exact same one. She normally doesn’t have that angry, hurt look in her eyes.
“So you’re leaving forever, huh?” she asks, “Good! I hope that guy in Miami doesn’t lose his fortune when Crave bombs over there.”
“I’m not leaving forever,” I say, “I’m not even—”
“That was crazy, huh? For a second there, it seemed like we were something else. Must have just been the stress, right?”
Riley silently curses herself as another tear falls from her eye. Meanwhile, a black and yellow cab pulls up on the curb next to us.
“Oh, hey,” Riley says, her voice breaking, “I guess this is me. Don’t worry about my stuff over at your place, and just make sure to scratch Duke behind the ears for me, all right?”
“Riley,” I say, holding my hand up to the cab driver, signaling for him to wait, “Listen, you didn’t get the whole story.”
“Exactly,” she says, “I didn’t get the story at all. That’s why I was a little confused back there on the porch. But hey…”
She shrugs, stepping back and opening the back door of the cab. “You’re not the only one who has an investor interested in their restaurant. I’ve got someone who wants to open up a Riley’s Pizza Kitchen in New York. So if you think you’re going to outsell me once you’re in Miami, think again. You’re never going to out-anything me again.”
I take a step towards Riley, but as I do, she ducks into the back seat of the cab and the driver instantly slams on the gas, speeding away right as she closes the door.
And as I watch her go, a couple people from the party spill out into the front yard, completely oblivious to what just happened. Someone inside turns the music up a couple notches, and someone else hands me a champagne glass filled up to the brim, champagne spilling over the sides.
“Congratulations,” she says, smiling from ear to ear, “You must be freaking out right now.”
“Well,” I say, “I definitely didn’t see it coming. Any of it.”
And then, I look down the road at the disappearing taillights of the cab carrying the girl I thought was my worst enemy far, far away from here, and I realize something.
If that’s what Riley looks like when her feelings are hurt, then I’ve never actually hurt her feelings before tonight. Ever. No matter how much I thought I was trying.
So that question I asked her back on the porch?
I think I just figured out the answer.
Chapter 25: Liam
I wonder how long it’s been since I’ve knocked on this door.
Riley’s old house still looks exactly the same. I used to knock on this door in high school and ask if Riley wanted to study with me for whatever our next big tests were. Then, when she came downstairs, I’d pretend I knocked on the wrong door and was actually looking to study with someone who was going to get a good score, and Riley would flip me off.
And then, half the time, we’d end up studying together anyway. We made a good team, even back when we weren’t trying to be one.
A light comes on inside the house, and Riley’s dad answers the door, taken aback when he sees who knocked. “Oh! Hi Liam, what’s up?”
“Is Riley there?” I ask, “I want to tell her something.”
He sighs and shakes his head. “No, no, she already left…she spent the night here, though. She was really upset about something, and she wouldn’t tell me what it was
, and this morning she packed a huge bag and just walked out.”
“Gotcha,” I say, “Well, if she comes back around, let me know, alright?”
“Sure thing,” Riley’s dad says with a nod, “But aren’t you leaving for Miami today? Riley did mention that.”
“Oh…yeah, but it’s just for a meeting. I’ll be back; I’m not moving there today.”
“Okay,” he says, “Well, yeah, I’ll let you know if I see her.”
“Great, thanks,” I say, before heading down the driveway and across the street to my family’s house.
I come in through the side door, and my mom doesn’t even look up from the kitchen table, which is covered in stacks of papers, probably related to the case she’s working on right now.
“Did you guys get the porch redone or something?” I ask her, “It looks brand new.”
“Two weeks ago,” she says, taking notes on a yellow legal pad in front of her, “And we found this huge, ugly-looking balloon underneath it that looked like some kind of sad, deflated whale. Any idea what that could be?”
Her eyes dart up from her notes to shoot me an accusing look.
I shrug and make an innocent-looking face. “Nope…I wonder how that got down there…”
Mom looks back down at her notes. “Never end up in court.”
“Well, uh, speaking of that, do you know if my passport is anywhere around here? Matt thinks the Miami guy might want to fly us down to the Bahamas while we’re there.”
Mom nods. “It’s under your bed, in a box of your old school papers.”
“You know what’s under my bed?” I ask Mom.
She cocks an eyebrow as she keeps taking notes on the paper in front of her, but she doesn’t respond.
Heading up the stairs and into my old bedroom, I get on the floor and reach under my bed until I feel the side of a flimsy cardboard box. I pull it out onto my bedroom floor, and sure enough, my passport is there, the eagle on the front looking at me like it’s judging me for keeping it at my parents’ house.
Meanwhile, underneath the passport, there’s a massive fucking nostalgia trip of old school assignments, yearbooks, and all kinds of other stuff. I rifle through it a little bit, and burst out laughing as I find a bunch of bright pink holiday cards lying against the inside of the box.
Screw You, Lover: An Enemies To Lovers Romance Page 14