The only thing standing between you and me,
Is reality.
.\.|./.
Ryan Falls
We spend our days on the road, Crystal driving me around and showing me the very identical sites in Alaska. Sometimes we park at the end of the road, walking up the mountain tracks to have a clear view of the beautiful plains and the clear lakes. Other times, we sit on the grass, my laptop open on my legs as I catch up on my work.
Crystal talks, mostly about what she doesn't like about Alaska. I never knew that she doesn't like the snow, saying she would move to a warmer place if she ever got the chance. I suggest LA, and she shrugs.
"Maybe one day," is her answer.
I think she's like me, wanting to run from everything that connects her to pain. I ran from LA to it's opposite, and she wants to run to LA for how different it is from Alaska.
At one point during our adventures, we see a bear drinking at the shore. I've never seen a bear before, and I have to say, the big, brown, thing looks kind of cute. As I raise my phone to take a picture, Crystal grabs my arm, steering me away from danger.
"You really have a death wish, don't you?" she snaps, looking like she would rip me apart if the bear didn't. "That's it. We're never leaving your house again."
The way she says it makes me smile, not to mention putting an idea in my head.
When we get back home, and Crystal still hasn't talked to me, I ask her to stay over for the night.
Her eyes widen as she takes in my expression, and though I have no underlying motives, Crystal doesn't think so. Her answer is no, not in the blunt way but rather in a subtle excusive way. It doesn't beat me, though, as I repeat the same question to her every evening.
Crystal -- being Crystal -- somehow shakes me off every time, only to return the next morning, breakfast ready in hand.
It's one morning some time after the end of our second week together -- which is a joke, considering I never even get to kiss her, afraid of pushing her away -- that I drop by her house. She opens the door to find me standing there, two men behind me.
Not rapists, but plumbers.
"What ...?" She trails off, her eyes taking in the big dudes behind me.
"House maintenance, ma'am." I tip an invisible hat, taking Crystal's hand and moving her out of the way before leading the guys through her door.
She doesn't speak as I instruct the men on what to do. Her sink is clogged, and termite has begun eating at the wooden cabinets in the kitchen. I noticed a leakage in one of the walls, and one of her stoves only works on one side. Her refrigerator sometimes grumbles like an old man, and the toaster burns everything you put in it. Not to mention the lightbulb in the bathroom has a tendency to blink multiple times before settling down to illuminate the tiny space.
It isn't until I have set the men to work that Crystal takes hold of my arm, leading me into a corner and whispering in urgency.
"What the hell are you doing?" she demands, looking close to breaking down.
"Getting some work done," I state the obvious. "Seriously, Crystal, this house is a death-trap. And I thought I was supposed to be the suicidal one here."
I give her a solemn look, and now she looks close to breaking my nose.
"Ryan, I ... I can't pay for all this," she finally blurts out.
"You don't have --"
"No," she says firmly. "I'm not going to let you buy my groceries and get work done and --"
YOU ARE READING
Mending Ryan Falls ✓
Romance|the true story of a girl falling apart a boy falling for her| Crystal Monroe is falling apart at the seams, being torn to shreds by the picture-perfect, abusive boyfriend she has surrendered herself to. Ryan Falls is trying to be a better man witho...
