Foolish Games Read online

  A bell jingled announcing our presence when we walked through the door. The room was filled with floor to ceiling book shelves. Large, wooden tables filled the span of the room all the way to the back where a counter was stationed. A man in a bright yellow tie behind the counter greeted us with a warm smile.

  Examining the spines of the books, I realized that they kept the history, psychology and other non-fiction selections on the first floor. I walked the length of the room and swung around to my left where a wooden staircase curled to the second floor. Venturing up the steps, I found the fiction section. Lizzie hung closely behind me out of boredom, but Riley lingered at his own pace. Just then the bell on the door jingled again while I looked along the mysteries. I didn’t fully realize how much sound traveled in the old building until I overheard, “She said that when she took a hit from him, that we were all taking a hit.”

  I froze with a book in my hand. “I can’t believe that they’re just letting her put him down like this on their own website.”

  Riley climbed the steps while mouthing, “Oh, my god.”

  “Well, I hope that I get the chance to meet her,” the sassy one said. “I have a few things I’d like to say.” We glanced over at Lizzie who was leaning against a nearby table with her arms crossed while looking thoroughly bored.

  “What?” she asked, clearly clueless.

  “Where do they keep the fiction?” the girl asked as Riley and I bugged our eyes out at each other. I covered my mouth to stop myself from laughing as we both grabbed up a bewildered Lizzie and started to escort her down the stairs as quickly as possible.

  “What the hell, you guys?” Lizzie complained as the girl swung around the front of the steps. We came to a startled stop three-fourths of the way down, but the girl’s attention was still back on the rest of her friends. We regrouped into a single file line, with Lizzie in the middle, and continued down the rest of the stairs. I had time to notice the girl’s navy blue prep school uniform. If it wasn’t for the diamond stud nose piercing, I would have wondered how she could possibly be a fan of the band. We made it down the rest of the stairs and passed the first girl, but another one rounded the corner and looked at Lizzie quizzically. “Wait, isn’t that the girl?”

  Lizzie, who had enough of being dragged around, whipped her arms out of our grasp. “What the hell is wrong with you guys?”

  “I can’t believe it.” The sassy one narrowed her eyes with the realization. She rushed toward us as Riley shook his head and murmured, “Oh, shit.” I continued to walk towards the exit so Lizzie would follow, which worked at first.

  “Hey, you!” she shouted at Lizzie. “Not Stalking Hawkins!”

  Lizzie turned around to look back at the girl. “Are you talking to me?”

  “Do you hang out with The Grimm Brothers Band?” She whipped her scarlet red hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms.

  “Yeah?”

  She looked at Lizzie, who was wearing a loose, white tank and low rider, washed-out denim shorts paired with knee-high boots. “Well, he was right,” she said condescendingly while looking Lizzie up and down. “You do look like a hooker.”

  “Excuse you?” Lizzie adjusted her expression from thrown to pissed.

  “We were just leaving.” Riley went to pull Lizzie away.

  “No, wait a minute.” Lizzie broke away from his grasp. “Did you hear what that bitch just said to me?”

  “Ah, yeah.” I buried my face in my hand. “Every word.”

  “You don’t represent me or any other girl.” Miss Sassy Pants pinched her face up with another disapproving glance down the length of Lizzie.

  “I would seriously hope not.” Lizzie half laughed. “You’re pasty white, in need of a serious dye job, and you’re so short that it might technically be called a disability. I’m not even sure if that stud in your nose is real.” The girl instinctively reached up to touch her face, but stopped. Lizzie glared down at her navy blue prep uniform. “Besides, it can’t be good for business when you’re eating all of the cookies that the other girls are trying so hard to sell from door to door.”

  “You’re right I don’t represent you or any other girl,” Lizzie said dismissively as she turned and exited the bookstore with us right behind her.

  “Whoa, ho!” Riley snickered as he came up behind us. “Tell us what you really think, Lizzie.”

  “What was that all about?” Lizzie asked accusingly.

  “The short or very long version?” I groaned.

  “The one that gets to the point,” Lizzie snapped.

  “Joie’s review made it on the website,” Riley filled her in. “Hawkins retaliated by tweeting a response. Joie posted a comment to his tweet on the message boards which has had about ten thousand hits by now.”

  “Really?” I asked, stunned by the growth since yesterday.

  “Yes, really,” he replied as we walked down along the strip of stores.

  “What does this have to do with me and that little midget back there?” Lizzie said, cutting to the chase.

  “Joie uploaded your photo to go along with the comment so now everyone thinks that you are her,” Riley explained.

  “Why did you upload my photo?” Lizzie asked me.

  “Umm.” Riley and I looked at each other, trying to be as sensitive as possible since Hawkins dissed her.

  “Oh, I get it.” Lizzie looked like something was slowly dawning on her. “You didn’t want to upload your own photo.”

  Stopping with my hand raised, I took a minute while absorbing the comment to make sure she meant to insult me. As she continued to just stand there and stare at me, I realized she meant what she had said so I let her have it. “No, Lizzie, I uploaded your photo because Hawkins tweeted that he didn’t want you hanging around them at the hotel.” Crossing my arms, I thought so much for being sensitive.

  “He what?” She blinked at us.

  “He dissed you so we uploaded your photo to show the world how clearly his judgment was off, but the website thought that I was sending them a picture of myself and put the picture with my comment.”

  “How many hits?” Lizzie asked Riley.

  “Last time I checked it was over ten thousand,” Riley explained. “But it’s not showing any sign of dwindling down.”

  “And they all think that it’s me?” Lizzie smiled with the realization.

  “You should look over what’s been written before you enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame,” I warned her. “It isn’t flattering.”

  “I know everything I need to know by that little fight you had with Hawkins last night.” She laughed.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I haven’t seen so much pent up sexual frustration since the night that I lost my virginity.” She smiled while looking dreamily ahead as we continued to walk past the stores. “Ten thousand hits?!”

  “Yes, Lizzie,” Riley and I groaned in unison.

  “So when are you writing your next comment?” Lizzie asked me while clearly delighted with any fame that may come her way no matter how bad.

  “The next time he posts anything unflattering about me.”

  “And when he does,” Riley interjected like he had been waiting for the right moment to spring this on me. “My boss is willing to offer you a job to blog about your experiences with Hawkins. I still get to keep my job writing the reviews. You’ll just be in charge of ‘behind’ the scenes action now.”

  “And you said yes?” I asked in a moment of horror.

  “If he bashes and you respond, I thought you should at least get paid for it.” Riley grimaced.

  “This is a big opportunity for me, Joie,” Lizzie sang.

  “Oh, no,” I murmured while turning to head back down past the trinket shops in the direction of the van. This was supposed to be the fun part of the trip, at least for me, but this conversation was ruining it.

  “What’s the problem?” Lizzie’s long legs doubled back to me in seconds.

  “Just don’t want
to be part of a marketing strategy,” I said. “And besides, I promised Hawkins.”

  “Wait a minute, so he called you a prostitute and you feel like you owe this guy something?”

  “He called us prostitutes.” I looked at Lizzie. Did she really know what it would all entail? Did she realize the drama that I knew would surely follow after another one of my blogs?

  “That Girl Scout back there is just the tip of the ice berg,” I warned her.

  “Then I should have some say in your decision making,” Lizzie countered. “I vote yes, Riley?”

  “This isn’t a democracy,” I said, turning the last corner of the building before making it back to the parking lot. “This is my life.”

  “Which is ironic considering that you’re trying to figure out what you want to do with it,” Lizzie offered.

  “Blogging on a website isn’t going to help me and I’m not doing it anymore unless there is a real reason to, like if Hawkins humiliates me again,” I said with “the voice.” The voice I used that warned them to shut up or it was about to get very heated. Not that I owed Hawkins anything, but unlike Lizzie, I didn’t like the drama that came along with this.

  Once back on the road, we followed sign after sign towards the venue only to sit in concert traffic for over an hour before we parked. Riley and I got out to stretch our legs before we shut the doors and came around to the side of the van. We sat on either side of Lizzie and tailgated with all the other concert goers. Everyone else was in their folded out chairs at the end of their vehicles basking in the hot sun. They drank, talked, and scoped out the other fans that were walking by. “Have It Your Way,” a song by The Grimm Brothers Band, could be heard blaring out of a green Jeep Wrangler a couple spaces down from our van. We had a few minutes before we needed to be in the venue so I looked on the internet for a book to download since my Sony Reader had a light which made it perfect for the concert. After I was finished, I tucked it into the back of my jeans before pulling my tank top over it.

  “What are you doing?” Riley asked.

  “I’m going to try to get it past security,” I explained.

  “You’re going to read at the concert?!” Lizzie shrieked.

  “No, I would rather watch Hawkins all night.” Rolling my eyes, I said, “It’s fine, no one’s going to notice.”

  “This is so embarrassing.” She exhaled loudly.

  “It’s not that much bigger than a BlackBerry.” I held it out for her to see. “What’s the big deal?”

  “We don’t even have the kind of time it would take to explain,” she quipped as we left the van and started to follow the crowd towards the amphitheater. Lizzie looked hopeful that I would get caught with the Sony Reader in security, but once the lady saw it at the check point, she gushed, “What are you reading?”

  Lizzie slumped down from her normal tall stature and rolled her eyes. Tucking it back in my jeans again, Riley led the way past the t-shirt stand. As much as I hated Hawkins, I knew I should get a new t-shirt. I think I took the “pack light” terminology too literal. I either needed a few more clothes or we needed to stop at a laundry mat soon. Maybe I could get a Larks t-shirt? Though, I seriously didn’t need to press Lizzie right now. Riley approached the staff that greeted us at the entry to the lower pavilion. We showed them our tickets and headed across the aisle to our seats.

  “By the way, no one has enough to call dibs on Hawkins, right?” Lizzie asked.

  Silently, I pleaded the fifth.

  “Then we agree that he’s fair game?” she asked.

  “Maybe you’ll have better luck with him.” Seriously, maybe I should get that Larks t-shirt.

  “I don’t need luck. He’ll be like putty in my hands.”

  We continued to venture down to our aisle when I noticed a few girls eyeing Riley further down the row. He motioned for us to inch along behind him. The girls quickly picked up their drinks and got up for us as we passed by them. Riley was in his own world (shocker) which made him come off as the typical arrogant guy, though I knew better. They looked at Lizzie and then at me as if they were trying to figure out the relationship scenario. It was just a hunch, but I think I got the little sister role next to Lizzie. That was until Riley wrapped an arm around the back of my chair after we had gotten comfortable in our seats. Just for my self-esteem I aimed a smirk in their direction.

  “Did you notice your fan base over there?” Riley chuckled.

  Looking to my far left, I saw two girls dressed in shirts that read, “Stalking Hawkins.”

  “Wonderful.” I rolled my eyes.

  “I guess at the end of the day you didn’t get through to anyone,” Riley smirked, “but Hawkins.”

  “It would seem that way,” I agreed.

  The venue erupted into loud cheers as the members of The Larks crossed the stage. Lizzie was already flirting with the guy behind us as Ryan picked up his drum sticks. The band played as the sun started its decent over the horizon. Lizzie tried to look thoroughly bored as Riley and I bobbed our heads along with the music. At the end we all stood up, except for Lizzie, and applauded them as they walked off the stage.

  After the sun set I felt safe to pull out my Sony Reader. I saw the muscle in Lizzie’s jaw twitch from the stress my behavior was causing her. Karma sucks, I thought. At least now she’d know how it felt to be on my side of the embarrassment for once.

  Everyone started to stand in anticipation for the band, but I was already immersed in my book again. So when the band finally crossed the stage to the immense pleasure of the crowd, I stayed down in my seat. Who was seriously going to notice? My friends should just be thankful that I drove them here. Did they forget that I was only here to avoid my mom? Lizzie tried to get my attention by slapping my shoulder, but I just pushed her hand away. Gosh, she’s paranoid. Looking back down at my electronic book, I felt Riley nudge me this time.

  “I can’t believe she’s reading a book,” someone said sharply behind me.

  “Put the book down!” another person snapped. There were a few boos around me when I finally looked up. Lifting my eyes without moving my head, I said a quick prayer that everyone was seriously not staring at me. My eyes focused on Hawkins who had his palms out like he was animatedly reading an invisible book before he licked his finger and flipped the page.

  Nonchalantly I rolled my eyes and slowly got up. Tucking the Sony Reader in the back of my jeans again, I exaggeratingly clapped my hands, but he just continued to look down at me intently. I held my hands out like, what? Looking up at him, I then glanced over at Lizzie who was fuming and then to Riley who wouldn’t even make eye contact with me.

  “Let us borrow just a moment of your time,” Hawkins said sarcastically into the microphone as the crowd roared to life.

  “Anytime!” I heard a girl yell behind me while I bit my lip nervously.

  “Whenever you’re done reading the chapter,” he held up his hand like take your time, “we’ll start the concert.” With a quick flip of my wrist I gave him the middle finger. He threw his head back and laughed.

  Smiling at me, he turned around to face Blakely. He cocked his shoulders back to adjust the strap of his guitar and paused to compose himself before he hit the first chord. The lights on the stage flashed up above and the crowd roared excitedly again. Hawkins grabbed onto the microphone and sang, “Love in an elevator, livin’ it up when it’s goin’ down.”

  Riley nudged me and mouthed, “Oh, my god!”

  “What?” I mouthed back over the loud music, but he just widened his eyes at the stage then looked back at me.

  I looked up at Hawkins, who locked eyes with mine as he sang, “Love in an elevator, lovin’ it up, til I hit the ground.”

  There was an edge of sarcasm in his voice as he sang the song when it suddenly hit me that he was singing about our elevator ride. It didn’t exactly sound like love in an elevator as much as it sounded like pure torture. I didn’t understand why he would make such a big deal out of this? What happened to forgive
and forget?

  Lizzie darted a sideways glance over at me as Hawkins continued to give me his undivided attention. I swear it was the only time the girl had ever sized me up though I wanted to laugh because Hawkins was really only up to his usual belittling antics. She definitely must have thought it was serious since she discreetly took both backstage passes with her at the end of the night. After the concert was over, she assured us, “Don’t wait up.”

  “So that was some elevator ride, huh?” Riley swung an arm over my shoulder as we exited the amphitheater.

  “It was really not that big of a deal.”

  “Hawkins seems to think otherwise.”

  “He was just trying to irk me like usual.”

  “Yeah, sure, so what really happened?” Riley teased as he tugged my shoulder. “Huh?”

  “Nothing, I promise you. We just made an agreement.” If anything, I remembered feeling a little harassed in the elevator, not exactly taken with him.

  “Sounds like Hawkins has a little crush,” Riley continued.

  “I don’t think Hawkins has a chance against Lizzie. When she decides that she wants something or someone, Lizzie doesn’t let anything get in her way.”

  “I’m not so sure.” Riley looked at me with a crooked little grin across his face. “A guy like Hawkins is looking for the exceptional.” He winked. “Someone to keep him intrigued, a girl with substance.”

  As enthralling as Riley’s theory was, I had been down this road before with Jake. Hot, arrogant guys remain arrogant and the hot factor slowly disappears because of it.

  “Where’s our next concert, again?” I tried to change the subject.

  “Oh…possibly in your bedroom,” he started to sing. “Love in an elevator.”

  “Shut it.” I playfully slapped him.

  “Ah, huh,” he said to himself. “I can’t wait to see how this all plays out.”

  Two seconds later, I heard a loud beep before he flipped open his phone and looked down at the text. He snapped the phone shut. “Lizzie’s going to their hotel.”

  “Wow, that was quick.”

  “With Warren,” he emphasized. “Next time I’ll just pretend that it’s me he’s singing to. You know his real fan base. Don’t be surprised if I get one of those Stalking Hawkins t-shirts.”