Rise by Stefne Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

know if you should say ‘yada yada yada’ when you’re referring to words from the Lord. That kind of sarcasm could get you in a lot of trouble. And technically, isn’t he always right?”
    “Unfortunately.”
    Riley’s shoulders slumped. “I’m afraid I feel a life lesson coming on.”
    “I hate it when that happens.”
    My heart sank as our sad eyes locked on each other, and we sat in silence. But slowly, a smile crept onto Riley’s face. “Do you wanna go for a walk?”
    My mood instantly brightened. “A walk outside?”
    “Yeah, a walk outside.”
    I jumped off the couch and started running for the door, but he caught me and pulled me out of the way so that he could make it out the door first.
    As soon as he crossed the threshold, I jumped onto his back, wrapped my legs around his waist, and perched my chin on my arm, which was thrown over his shoulder.
    “Where to?” he asked.
    “Um … ” I pointed to our right. “That way.”
    He bounded down the stairs and toward the end of the driveway, and within minutes my entire body was trembling as Riley broke out in laughter.
    “What’s so funny?”
    He shook his head.
    “What?” I thunked him on the head with my finger. “What?”
    “I just pictured you standing outside the bathroom in your cheerleading uniform.”
    “You think I looked silly? You should have seen yourself sitting in that beanbag chair with your hand over your eyes. And don’t think I didn’t notice you peeked a few times.”
    “I couldn’t help it. You looked amazing. Slutty, but amazing.”
    I unwrapped my legs from his waist and jumped down.
    “Whoa, where are you going? Come back. We’ve barely started our walk.”
    “Do you ever wish I was different?”
    The skin between his eyes crinkled in perplexity. “Different how?”
    “You know, different-different.”
    “Different, different?” He stopped walking and lightly grabbed my elbow. “What do you mean by different?”
    “Easier. More wild. You know, sexy and adventurous.”
    “You’re adventurous. You’re the catfish wrangler, remember?”
    “I’m serious, Riley. You liked it when I was a little more sultry yesterday morning. Do you wish I were like that all the time? Easier?”
    “There’s a difference between being easy and being sexy. You don’t have to be one to be the other.” He scratched his head. “Come to think of it, I don’t think you can be both.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “What makes you sexy is your self-confidence. The way you carry yourself. A girl who’s easy usually doesn’t have self-confidence; that’s why she acts the way she does. She thinks that if she acts that way, guys will like her, and that will give her self-confidence. A girl that has self-confidence doesn’t have to act or dress like a slut to get a guy’s attention.”
    “But yesterday morning—”
    He reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “Yesterday morning you weren’t easy; you were impossible, and that’s hot.”
    “Oh.” We started walking side by side. “But girls like Tiffany don’t seem to have any problem getting boyfriends.”
    “Tiffany has a lot of dates, but she hasn’t really had many boyfriends. Not that I know of, anyway. Trust me; guys want girls like her for one reason and one reason only. Once they get to know her, there isn’t much there to be attracted to. Look at the way she’s treating you. No guy who knows about it is gonna find that attractive.”
    “You did.”
    “I caught on pretty fast. Even if you hadn’t shown up, I wouldn’t have gone out with her again. And really, I was just going out with her because all our friends thought I should … and I was bored.”
    “That’s mighty shallow of you.”
    “I’m a guy. Shallow’s what we do. Or what I did before you. Now I’m deep.”
    “More like digging yourself a grave. You should stop while you’re ahead.”
    “Trust me, what I was thinking wasn’t that bad. It sounded worse as it came out of my