Short Story Beginning

Riley sat in her 1995 Volkswagen Jetta and watched the windshield wipers move the rain from side to side. The weather reflected her mood, yet she knew she would have to pretend there was sunshine tonight. She was off to a bar to celebrate the engagement of her two good friends, Carla and Jeremy. She glanced at the small gift with a silver bow sitting on her passenger seat and felt the sting of on-coming tears in her sinuses. "Stop it Riley," she said out-loud to while she began to dig around in her much too large purse. "Where the hell is my cell phone?" She found the small pink device and flipped down the mirror on her visor as she moved the phone to her ear. While she was gently dabbing her tear ducts to make sure her makeup was still perfectly in place, someone picked up on the other end. "Becky. I’m outside."
"I’ll be right out!" Becky replied, more cheerful than ever.
"Great," Riley replied sarcastically, hoping Becky didn’t catch the tone.
Riley’s glance moved to the large, sand-colored, stone house with the perfect wrap-around porch that her car was idling in front of. "Can’t wait to see her new outfit," she said with a sigh. Becky had been Riley’s best friends since the fourth grade and a rich girl since she was born. Though Riley loved her, she’d been putting up with Becky’s, "Oh my God, I need a new outfit! Did you see the car my parents bought me?" attitude for 14 years.
Even worse than Becky was her older sister, Carla. Carla the queen, prom and homecoming that is. She was the type of person who would never have even spoken to Riley if they hadn’t grown up together. Carla now lived in a beautiful condo that her father, a contractor and most likely the builder of the new cond developments, bought her as a college graduation gift. Her fiancé Jeremy was in the process of moving his things.
Riley’s train of thought was startled to a halt when her passenger side door swung open. "Hey hun," Becky sang cheerfully as she leaned across the car to give her a kiss on the cheek. The large bag she was carrying seemed to fill the car instantly, tissue paper spilling out all over. It was definitely filled with something big and expensive.
"Oh no! You sat on my gift!" Riley’s realization panicked her.
"It’s fine," Becky replied as she reached under herself and pulled out the small present, silver bow detached. "I’ll fix it, don’t worry. Why do you seem so stressed out? Tonight is going to be great. Relax."
"Yeah, it’ll be perfect. It’s bad enough that I could barely afford a gift, now it’ll look like I wrapped it in my cardboard box on the curb." Riley looked at Rachel’s face and immediately realized that she’d made a mistake. She let out an awkward little "I’m just kidding" chuckle as she flicked her car into drive.
"You know Carla and Jer don’t care how much money you spend on them, they appreciate anything," Becky said with the surprised expression still glued on her face. Riley couldn’t quite understand why Becky seemed so shocked. They always joked about Riley’s "poorness," so why was this time any different?
"Jeremy would, but your sister isn’t happy until she sees a brand name," Becky knew she went too far again with that comment, but she was almost curious to see how Becky would respond. There was silence and Riley knew she ruined the sunny mood that Becky possessed earlier. Now they were both upset and they drove the rest of the way to the bar without saying a word.
As the Jetta chugged into the parking lot of the "bar" that looked more like an up-scale lounge, Becky broke the silence. "Look Ri, I’m not stupid. I know you have some sort of issue with Carla and Jeremy getting engaged, but can you please drop it. Just for tonight at least?"
"I don’t have a problem. I’m fine."
Riley then realized that her right arm was getting wet. "God dammit!" Riley yelled, louder then she thought because Rachel Jumped. "My moon roof is leaking. Again! This car is such a shit hole." Riley grabbed the ancient crank that opened and closed the moon roof and tried to tighten it shut, but it didn’t work.
"I told you I’d drive," was the only thing Becky said as she watched Riley frantically try to remedy the situation. Riley was glad to have the subject changed now, and she was also glad that she wasn’t sitting in Becky’s brand new Nissan Altima hating her life even more. Riley knew that Becky had no idea what the extent of the issue she had with the engagement was and she just wanted to drop it.
Riley grabbed the sweatshirt that was sitting in her back seat and stuck it on the arm rest. "I don’t plan on drinking, that’s why I drove. You know that. As the future Maid of Honor you should enjoy yourself tonight." She hated being nice about anything that had to do with this wedding and she clenched her teeth a little. "The sweatshirt should deal with the leak for now, let’s go in."
The two girls gathered their purses and gifts and hurried toward the awning under the front door. As they walked in past the door man and the coat-check area, Riley realized how out of place she felt. She wished more than anything that they were walking into Ted’s instead. It was the hometown bar that she loved so dearly and, as cheesy as it sounds, that bar made her feel like she lived in the show Cheers. At Ted’s, everyone really does know her name. She felt comforted just thinking about Ted’s and was thrust back into her unfortunate reality when she heard Jeremy’s voice. "Beck! Riley! Over here!" If possible, Riley was now even more uncomfortable looking at Carla and Jeremy sitting at the table hand-in-hand. She stuck a large, awkward smile on her face and walked over to the couple, giving fake hugs and kisses to all.
The girls settled down at the table across from Jeremy and Carla, "Who needs a drink?" Jeremy asked.
"Oh, it’s ok, I’ll get it myself." Riley responded as she attempted to stand up and make her way to the bar. "Besides, I’m just having seltzer."
"Get it yourself?" Carla sounded appalled. "Don’t be silly!" She whipped her head around, "EXCUSE ME?" She sounded like a drowning dolphin. A classily clad waitress in black walked over and Riley felt embarrassed. She was just so used to the way it was a Ted’s. "A seltzer and 2 glasses of Pinot Grigio please. That’s what you want, right Beck?" Carla usually talked fast and her thoughts jumped from one thing to another quickly. "Thank you! Oh. I went dress shopping with mom yesterday. I’m so excited! Lisa’s here with Sam!"
As Carla blabbered on, more friends arrived, and Riley slowly lost her cheery persona. She zeroed in on Jeremy, studied his hands, his smile, and the slightest movements he made. He was so beautiful to her, just as he always had been, and Riley’s thoughts floated off as she took a sip of her seltzer.
Riley had known Jeremy for as long as she could remember, her brother Chris had been his best friend since the two boys were in preschool. He was always around when she was younger and he has been a constant in her life ever since. His green-brown eyes were ingrained in her brain and the deep dimple on the left side of his face, which was now more rugged looking on his older, sun-weathered skin, could make her smile even if every bone in her body had just been broken. His dirty blonde hair was shorter now, but the same beautiful color it was when he was just the baby-faced boy with a bowl cut who she fell so desperately in love with when she was just 7 years old.
(To Be Continued)