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grinned at my rambling. “Maybe I should take you home.”
    “Oh. No, no, no,” I slurred. “I have a car. I’m seventeen. I have a car.”
    His smile grew. He played with a lock of my hair. “You’re in no condition to drive.”
    “Well—” Even as I tried to protest, Aiden helped me to my feet and walked me towards the exit, then, surprisingly, out the door.
    Once out in the dark parking lot, I did have to admit, I felt sort of funny—dizzy and unsteady. Good thing Aiden was here to hold me up.
      “You’re into guitars, right?” Aiden said conversationally as he dragged me along. “I have a guitar. Want to see it?”
    I looked around the secluded parking lot, amazed. “Is it here?”
    “No, itw RoTs at my house. Hey,” he coaxed as I started to stumble towards my car, “don’t go over there. I’ll give you a ride home.”
    “Awww. That’s so sweet of you.”
    Coming to think of it, he had been sweet all night, making me non-alcoholic drinks, whispering in my ear, playing with my hair, and now he had his arm around me, holding me tight as he steered me toward his car.
    Then, from out of nowhere—
    “Hey, Aiden, I got her.” Riley was at my side. He pulled me from Aiden, wrapping his arms around my shoulders to keep me from falling.
    “You bought us an air conditioner.” I smiled up at Riley, snuggling into his warm shoulder, all affectionate and dreamy and slightly dizzy, totally amazed he was suddenly here, beside me, holding me. How cool.
    Aiden slinked away, looking shamefaced for some reason.
    “Aiden was being so sweet,” I told Riley. “He made me drinks and was going to give me a ride home.”
    “Yeah,” Riley sounded like an adult counseling a small child, “you probably shouldn’t let Aiden give you drinks—or rides home. You should probably stay away from Aiden.” He helped me into his car, fastening my seatbelt, then muttered under his breath, “Shouldn’t be too hard, since Aiden’s not going to be working here anymore.”
    “Oh.” That made me feel sad, but only for a second.
    Riley was being so sweet. I wanted to tell him that. But suddenly I was so tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
    I started to drift off, but blinked, just realizing something—why I felt so woozy. “Hey, I think there might have been alcohol in my drinks!”
    Riley raised his eyebrows, giving me a sardonic look. “You think?”
    That epiphany was it. All I had left. I instantly fell asleep, and probably snored, only waking when I suddenly felt sick.
    My head was spinning, my stomach too. The whole world—spinning. So bad. I knew what was going to happen, but it was too late to do anything about it. I puked in my lap. And all over Riley’s fancy car.
     
    ***
     
    Me puking in Riley’s car probably had nothing to do with him buying a new one only a few weeks later, but you never know. In any case, he was very pleased with his new purchase. He showed it off to all of us when he came in to work the next day. It was actually the first time I’d seen him happy since Ava dumped him. It was weird that a car could have such an affect on a guy. But I was glad to see Riley happy.
    And, speaking of cars having affects on guys—Riley’s car had Finn drooling.
    When Riley came to pick us up for The Wave concert in it, Finn stopped talking in mid-sentence to salivate.
    “Man, I wish I was rich,” Finn sulked.
    I nudged him, teasingly. “Money can’t buy everything.”
    “No, but it can buy a lot.”
    “Like back stage passes to meet The Wave!” Courtney, Riley’s date said. “Woot!”
    Courtney was nice. I wished Riley liked her, so he could be happy, since she obviously adored him. But I could tell he wasn’t that into her. I mean, he was friendly to her, and flirty and attentive and all that stuff, but his eyes didn’t get that spark, not like when he looked at Ava.
    Then again, I wasn’t sure I’d like Riley to get that spark when he looked at Courtney either.
    Gah! It was