The Trouble We Could Get Into (Jack Barakat 11)

It had been a week now since the boys' fight, and Riley had been avoiding Jack and Alex like the plague. Unfortunately, that meant staying home with her mother, since she didn't exactly have anything to do in Lutherville.
Susan was in the middle of showing Riley her collection of oddly shaped brass brooches when Riley's cellphone began to ring. She picked it up, squinting at the small screen in confusion. She didn't recognize the number.
"Who is it?" Her mom chirped.
"I dont know," Riley said, opening the cellphone. "Hello?"
"Riley?" The excited voice on the other end of the phone belonged to Jack.
"How the hell did you get my number, Jack?" Riley moaned. She motioned to her mother that she'd be in her room. She didn't like people listening into her calls.
"I asked your mom for it," Jack replied.
"Why didn't you just call the house number if you wanted to talk to me?" Riley asked while simultaneously wondering how her mother had gotten her cellphone number.
"I wanted to have your cell for future reference." She rolled her eyes.
"Whatever." She rubbed her temples in frustration. "What do you want?"
"We're going to see a movie. Do you wanna come?"
"There's a movie theater here?!" Riley was stunned.
"Of course there is, silly," Laughed Jack. "You wanna come?"
"You and Alex aren't going to start smashing each other's skulls in, are you?" Riley asked nervously.
"What? No!" Jack spoke as if it never happened. "We're good now."
Riley smirked. "Did you kiss and make up?" She teased. She could hear Jack wretch.
"That's gross!" He exclaimed amid Riley's giggles. He let her laugh for a few moments, then spoke up once she stopped. "So, do you wanna come?" He asked a third time.
"God, maybe if you stop asking." She looked over at the clock. It was six-thirty. "Ok, I'm in. Let me just get ready."
"Do you want us to pick you up?"
"I'm right next door, there's no need for that."
"Yeah, but it's the gentlemanly thing to do."
"You're acting like this is a date," Riley laughed. "Should I dress up?"
She could practically hear him blush like a maniac. "It's not a date. What kind of a person would bring three extra people on a date?"
"You're assuming you and I would be on the date." Riley smiled.
"Well," Jack sounded a bit taken aback. "Who else would you date out of us?"
"Oh, I don't know," Riley said in a flirty voice, twisting a lock of her hair. "Zack's pretty cute."
"That'd work, but there's this girl named Monica who, like, stalks Zack. She's in love with him. Every girl he ever tries to date, she runs her off."
"Well.." Riley flopped onto her bed. "Rian's nice."
"Rian has a girlfriend." Jack deadpanned.
"I guess that leaves Alex, then," Riley said softly.
"Please," Jack moaned. "I'd rather see you with some bum off the street than Alex Gaskarth."
"Why is that?" Riley said, her flirty overtone fading away.
"In addition to him being the world's biggest prick?" Jack asked.
"Yeah," Said Riley impatiently.
Jack sighed. "Alex doesn't exactly have the greatest track record when it comes to treating girls well," He admitted.
"Really?" Riley said. "How-"
"Let's not talk about it." Jack quickly cut her off. "How about we pick you up in twenty minutes?"
"Alright," Riley agreed. "See you then."

After Nina had pulled up and she'd joined the boys, they began in the direction of the theater. Riley smoothed out her red skirt nervously. She wondered why she had decided to wear a skirt.
"You look nice," Jack said softly, smiling at her. Riley gave him an uncomfortable smile back.
Alex, who was driving, looked back at them and smirked. He rolled down the window and leaned out it.
"Jack and Riley, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!"
Zack and Rian burst into laughter, while Jack (and Riley, to her dismay) turned bright red.
"Shut up, Alex!" Jack picked up an empty soda bottle from the floor of the van and chucked it at Alex's head. It bounced off the dashboard and hit Zack in the passenger's seat. He grabbed the plastic bottle and threw it back at Jack, accidentally missing and hitting Rian.
"Hey!" Rian yelled in protest. He was about to throw it back when Alex put both his hands up in the air.
"Alright, alright, truce." He said, as Nina started to swerve dangerously on the road. "Let's not-"
"Grab the wheel, Alex!" Everyone in the van chorused in unison. Alex quickly grabbed the wheel and straightened Nina out, narrowly avoiding an accident.
"Like I was saying," He continued once everyone had caught their breath. "Let's not argue again. We agreed to be gentlemen in the presence of the lady here." Alex winked at her in the rear view mirror, and for a moment he seemed human.
"Well, it's about time," Said Riley, a small smile growing on her face.

The cheap, green neon sign on the theater read Lutherville Cinema. It blinked a few times. It had an eerie, cheap horror movie-like glow in the fading summer sunlight. The building was a drab shade of grey, and the bricks looked like they could crumble at any moment. It was small- it looked far too small to be a movie theater. There was only one ticket booth in front of the theater. It was painted black, but very faded and strewn with graffiti. This didn't look like any theater Riley would ever want to visit back in Vegas, but it was packed.
"They know us by name here," Said Zack as they climbed out of the car. "It's one of the few decent hangouts in this town."
Decent? Hardly, Riley thought. But she only nodded to Zack as the group headed towards the theater.
"Evening, ladies," Alex said with a smirk to a clump of girls in the front of sprawling line of people outside the theater. "Mind if we take our place in line?" The girls giggled.
"Sure, Alex," The pretty redhead who was in the very front stepped aside.
"Thanks, love." He gave her a wink and blew a kiss, then herded the others into place. The boy working the booth finally showed up, and they got their tickets and headed into the lobby.
The lobby was lighted dimly. The walls were painted a dark purple, and the floor was the same unfortunate grey as the outside.
"I want some candy," Announced Rian, digging in his pocket and pulling out a wad of sparse bills. He counted, then waved the cash trimuphiantly in the air. "I've got enough to get us all food. Anybody want some popcorn or something?"
"Popcorn!" Zack squealed, hopping up happily.
"Movie popcorn makes me sick, you know that," Jack said matter-of-factly to Rian. He grinned.
"Of course. How about you, Riley?"
She shook her head distractedly, busy trying to hide her face. Someone in this theater could recognize her. Riley vaguely wondered if there were papparazzi in Lutherville.
Before Rian even had a chance to ask Alex, he was off strutting towards the girls. Rian sighed dejectedly.
"Guess it's just you and me, Zack." The two made their way towards the snack counter.
Riley leaned uneasily against the wall, watching Alex. "He sure has a way with the girls in this town," She muttered. Jack chuckled.
"It makes sense. He's slept with half of them."

Riley didn't know what movie they were watching- some bad action flick. All she knew was that she was bored as hell. She wasn't the only one, either. Nearly everyone in the theater looked glassy-eyed. More than a few people were fast asleep. Jack and Zack were busy throwing Rian's candy at the screen. Riley gave a bored sigh and crossed her arms. She peered over at Alex. He was scanning the crowd.
"I need someone to make out with," He said to no one in particular. None of the girls from earlier were in this movie. He looked over at Riley, and for a moment his eyes lit up. But before Riley even had a chance to react, something seemed to change and he looked away.
"Guys, let's ditch." Alex said finally, leaning over Riley. "This movie blows." Riley hopped up in agreement. Jack and Zack nodded and followed suit. They were nearly out of the theater when Zack stopped them.
"Wait!" He said suddenly. "Where's Rian?"
Rian was glued to his seat, enthralled by the movie. His eyes were as big as dinner plates. It took all four of them to pry him from his seat and drag him, whining, out of the theater.
"Guyyyyssss!" He moaned. "That was a really good movie!"
They ignored Rian's protests and got into the van. For a moment, the five of them sat there dumbly.
"What should we do now?" Asked Zack confusedly. They all seemed to look up at the sky through the van windows at the same time as it began to rain huge, heavy drops. Everyone sighed in near unison.
Alex started up the engine. "We'll just go home, I guess," He said dejectedly, easing Nina out of the parking lot and creeping her down the street.

Picture in results.

*giggle*
rate/message/cbox love/banner meh