Some Kind of Wonderful (sequel to Give Me the Greenlight, Mr. Clifford)

Ch 18 - The Bad Guy

Prom preparations were under way in full force. Well, for Kenzie anyway. I had a dress, what more could I need? Thank goodness I had Kenzie for things like that because my non-girly ass wouldn't have made much of an effort. Apparently I not only needed jewelry, but I also needed appointments for a mani-pedi and to get my hair styled. Oops. Thankfully, Kenzie knew me well enough to assume I hadn't made any appointments for myself, so she made ours together.

"You mean I can't just put my hair in a ponytail?" I joked with Kenzie. We were at my house, wrapping up a studying session.

"Girl, don't you want to knock Mason off his feet?"

Um, no, I thought. But maybe Ryder would like it if I put forth a little effort."I don't care about knocking anyone off their feet. I kind of just want to get it over with." So Ryder and I can move on.

Kenzie still didn't know that Ryder and I were kind of sort of together. Or whatever. I hadn't told her because I felt guilty, knowing that she had a thing for him, and hated the thought of hurting her feelings. She had more than once reminded me that time was almost up for me to make my move. I silently laughed at her, knowing I was one step ahead of her. My plan was to talk to Ryder and ask him to politely turn her down and tell her the truth when the time came, so that I wouldn't be the bad guy. Well, it might work.

And speaking of being the bad guy, it was time to open up a huge can of worms and find out my true paternity. I wasn't the only one being affected by not knowing the truth. Ashton was, too. I had only known for a few days, and he had been wondering for over eighteen years. Imagine how difficult that had to be for him?

I couldn't believe he had let it go for that long. That was Ashton, though. He was such a peacekeeper and the most non-confrontational person to ever live. If he loved a person, he would do whatever it took to make them happy. Maybe that was it. Maybe he was in love with my mom when she got pregnant and he just wanted her to be happy, so he didn't interfere. That's what I was betting on, even though the thought of Ashton being in love with my mom was weird.

I had decided I would talk to Ashton first. That way, if I had somehow misunderstood what I had heard, then I could spare my mom the heartache of asking her such a question. Unfortunately, I was fairly sure that I had not misunderstood anything. My plan was to talk to Ashton while Ryder was occupied practicing with his band the next day.

When the time came, I was, surprisingly, not as nervous as I was afraid I'd be. I had thought of every possible scenario in my head and walked through it. I felt confident that I was doing the right thing, for both myself and Ashton.

That was the first practice since the wedding. I had texted with Mason a little bit, but only about random things. So I was a little anxious about seeing him. I was also anxious to see how Ryder behaved around him. Like Ashton, Ryder avoided conflict at all cost. I wasn't at all afraid that he'd confront Mason about kissing me. However, it secretly made me giddy to know Ryder was jealous.

When I walked in, Mason greeted me as he normally did, so I acted as normal as possible as well. It was difficult to not walk directly to Ryder and kiss him. As much as I tried, I couldn't help but want Ryder. Ever since that kiss, I couldn't get enough of him. We would sneak in a kiss here and there, but at that point we were still keeping it to ourselves.

We'd "go public" after the prom business was taken care of. We certainly didn't want Mason and Kenzie to be the subject of rumors because Ryder and I were together, yet taking other people to prom. It was best to spare them that awkwardness. Mason was the only friend that knew for sure. And I had a feeling he wouldn't be going around blabbing about it.

The guys got busy and I excused myself. I thought I was doing well until I walked into the house. My whole body started trembling. But I couldn't back out. It had to be done. I found Ashton and Mia watching television in the living room. He had his legs propped up on the table in front of the couch, and she was lying down, with her head in his lap. He had his head back, eyes closed, lazily stroking Mia's hair. They were so darn cute. I really hated to interrupt them.