Only Summer Loves October - Ryden

Chapter Twelve - The Answer's Still No

The phone rings for a third time and I can't ignore it any longer. Who the hell is calling me at this time, and what could be so important that they'll keep trying until I answer? I push Ryan away from me and stride towards the phone. "For fuck sake, if this is Pete I swear to God..." I pick it up and don't have any consideration for the person on the end of the line as I shout "what?!"

"H-h-hey. It's Sophie, is Ryan with you? I just need to speak to him, urgently, he's not at home and I really need to speak to him is he there?" She's practically panting down the phone but I can't hide my relief that it's not Pete.

"Oh, hey Soph, what's happened?" She starts to cry and tries to speak but I can't make out a word she's saying. "Calm down I can't understand you. Yeah Ryan's still here, I'll get him now." I turn to Ryan who's shaking his head frantically, but I just shrug my shoulders and hold the phone out towards him.

He drops his head and slowly walks towards me, taking the phone. "Hey Soph, sorry I fell asleep on the cou-". His throat makes a clicking sound as he's interrupted and cuts off the last word, I can hear Sophie's muffled voice babbling at the other end. Me and Ryan really need to start being more careful if whatever we have is going to carry on, I don't want anyone to get suspicious. As I'm trying to read Ryan's facial expression, he waves his hand at me as a hint to leave him alone. I know I shouldn't care, but I can't help feeling a little hurt to be pushed away so he can to talk to someone else in my own apartment.

I take a seat on the edge of the couch and try my best to listen in to Ryan's side of the conversation. "What are you talking about, how has this got anything to do with us?" Silence. "I still don't understand, he's just some crazy stalker. How does this justify dragging us to the police station at this time in the morning?"

Ryan's got a stalker? Why didn't he tell me about it? Why is he talking about the cops getting involved? He slams the phone down and looks back at me, as soon as I realize he isn't going to be forthcoming with an explanation, I decide to start interrogating him myself. "What's going on Ryan?"

He walks to the couch and I'm half expecting him to sit down and answer all my questions, but of course he doesn't. He silently picks his clothes up from the floor and rushes to put them on, gives me one final look and walks out the door, not even closing it behind him. I almost follow, but then I remember that Ryan lives by his own rules, I don't know why I ever expected anything different. I guess I'll have to wait until he's ready to find out what the fuck is going on.

As soon as he's out of sight I stand up and slam the door closed.

**

I'm watching Wheel of Fortune and getting really frustrated at the dumbest contestant ever when my apartment buzzer goes. Thank God, Ryan's okay and I can finally get answers to my questions.

Maybe we could even finish what we started this morning.

Wait, no, that's not important right now.

To my surprise it's not Ryan, but Zack. "Hey, we need to talk. Some serious shit is going down." He offers me a cigarette as he strolls through the door and already has a lighter held to my face by the time I've put it between my lips.

"Is this to do with Ryan? He left pretty early this morning after Soph called, and she sounded agitated."

"Why was he – never mind. Yeah it's Ryan. Him and his girlfriend have been receiving some weird stuff from a fan, and Ryan being Ryan, he didn't think it was important enough to mention it to anyone."

"What's happened?"

"We don't have time to get into it now but it's pretty fucking creepy man, I'm not going to lie to you."