Whisper I Love You

Chapter One: Riley

I was closing at the bar, like usual. I came out from cleaning the kitchen and leaned up against the bar next to Matt, the owner, and my best friend Adam. They were in the middle of a heated discussion about football while Adam finished the burger I had just made him. We were closing down in an hour, but we had been dead all night. It was unusual for us, being a couple blocks away from a college campus, and being one of the few bars in town, besides Applebee's across the street, we usually stayed pretty busy.

"What do you say we close down the kitchen early?" Matt asked, nudging my shoulder.

"Sounds good to me. It's already clean." I grinned, ahead of the game, as always.

Just then the front door opened and two girls walked in with their backpacks slung over their shoulders. The waitress working seated them up front, against the wall. She talked to them for a few minutes and then walked over to our small group.

"Sorry Riley." She said softly, trying to crack a smile.

"Always happens on my shifts. Always." I groaned, grabbing their order and walking back to the kitchen. It was simple enough, at least.

After I made their food, I walked back out to the bar. I casually glanced over to look at the two girls. One of them had sandy blonde hair, with unruly curls. Not my type, plus I was pretty sure I had seen her in here with her boyfriend before. But the other girl, she was something entirely different. She had long brown hair that almost went down to her waist, but that wasn't what caught my attention. No. What caught my attention was her bright blue eyes. I could see them, glistening from across the restaurant floor. I couldn't even imagine what they would look like up close, how intoxicating they must be.

"Dude! Are you with us?" Adam practically yelled.

It caused both girls to look over. The blonde just laughed and went back to whatever she was doing on her laptop. The brunette's eyes met mine and I was mesmerized. I couldn't look away. Her cheeks flushed, and finally she looked down at the table, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"Riley?" Adam and Matt questioned together.

I broke away and looked up at them.

"What?" I questioned.

They both stared at me for a second. Adam turned to see what had caught my attention and smirked.

"Seriously?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"What? No! Nothing!" I fumbled for something to throw out that had caught my attention besides the two girls, like a game on TV, anything, but Adam knew me to well.

"Dude, you are so pathetic." He laughed as he took a swig of his beer.

"What is going on here? I'm lost." Matt spoke up, glancing back and forth between us trying helplessly to connect the dots.

"Riley was eyeballing the two girls that just came in over there." Adam offered rather quickly.

"Woah! How long has it been since you even looked in the direction of a girl?" Matt asked, instantly pouring me a beer from behind the counter.

"Awhile, and it doesn't matter. Because I wasn't eyeballing them." I objected Adam's words.

"Oh, yeah you were, it took us like five minutes to get your attention." Adam laughed, holding out his hand for Matt to refill his beer.

"And so what if I was?" I challenged.

"Oh, nothing. The blonde is taken, I know that much. But her friend, she's new to town. I have her in my math class, she's super smart. Everyone likes her, every guy in that room wants to bang her, even the professor, I'm sure." Adam smirked a little bit.