Lost In Love | ✔️

7

~Clementine's POV~

The next day, I walked around the island aimlessly with Ryder following shortly behind me, as he had insisted on coming along. Barefoot, mostly because the only shoes I had here were a pair of flats, I walked through the sand.

"You know you could've used a pair of my shoes or something, Tiny. What if you step on something?" Ryder worried aloud, causing me to glance at him over my shoulder. I cocked my head to the side slightly and raised a brow at him, wondering why he was always so nice to me, though it wasn't as if I didn't appreciate it. "Your shoes would be too big." I said, giggling to myself as I tried to picture it in my head. "I'd probably trip on myself." I added. Besides, it wasn't that big of a deal to me anyway. It was just sand and I was completely fine walking in sand, in fact I actually liked walking barefoot that way.

Ryder's lips formed a small, sly smile that slowly grew bigger as he imagined it as well, clearly just as amused at the thought. I giggled with him, slipping out from the trees and turning on my heels to look at him as we now stood close to the ocean, the water lapping up onto the shore. "It'd probably be kind of cute." He said thoughtfully, his brown eyes flicking down to meet mine. I raised an eyebrow. "Cute?" I snorted, placing my hands on my hips as I leaned my weight onto one leg. "More like stupid." I corrected, and he grinned. "Yeah, probably a little bit of that, too." He agreed, chuckling. I snorted, turning around again as I continued walking down the sand.

When we reached a spot that I quite liked, as it had a big tree that provided good shade and the waves couldn't reach me, I plopped down in the sand and stretched my legs out in front of me. Ryder sat down just beside me, his forearm brushing against mine from how close we were. "As much as I wish we weren't stuck on this island, I guess we could be in worse places." I mentioned, and he turned to look at me, raising a brow. I felt my face beginning to burn and I turned away, staring ahead. "And I guess I could be stuck with someone worse, too." I added, biting on my bottom lip as I felt his gaze on the side of my face still.

"A worse place?" He repeated, and then he gently bumped my shoulder with his. The grin on his face was beyond handsome. "Be careful, Tiny. You almost make it sound like you are starting to actually like me." He teased, causing me to blush even harder.

It was obvious to me that he had seen the color in my cheeks, too, because he laughed softly. "Your blush is just making me think even more that I'm right." He stated, only earning a huff from me. A breeze came through, blowing my hair into my face, and I quickly pushed it back. "I just am tolerant of you." I retorted, refusing to look at him as I spoke. My words were meant to deter him from thinking anything otherwise, but he just chuckled as if it didn't bother him at all. Realistically, it probably didn't. Nothing seemed to.

"Yeah, I'm sure." He hummed, a smile on his lips as he finally looked away, staring out at the ocean. I hesitated for a moment before I glanced up at him, eyeing the sharpness of his stubble lined jaw and the length of his eyelashes from the side. He looked just as handsome from the side as he did the front. I doubted anything could make him look bad, honestly.

"You always get at me about staring, but look who's staring now." Ryder said suddenly, a smug tone to his voice. I giggled softly and shook my head, not bothering to take my eyes off him. "I don't stare anywhere near as much as you." I retorted, causing him to grin and turn his head. His face was very close to mine, the warmth of his breath fanning my face when he spoke. "There's no shame in it. You're allowed to be attracted to me, Tiny." He murmured, my heart beginning to pound as I tilted my head back a little more. I hoped it wasn't obvious just how much he affected me by doing nearly nothing.

"Tiny." I echoed, the odd nickname sticking out to me. It had since the first time he'd called me it. "You call me that a lot. I'm not tiny." I said, and he smirked in amusement.

"Have you seen yourself?" He chuckled. "You don't think you're tiny, but in comparison to me," He raised a brow as his gaze traveled down the length of my body, the look on his face one that I had seen on him more and more often. He looked at me like he wanted to eat me alive sometimes, and I wasn't sure if that idea made me nervous or excited me, but probably the latter. "I look at you and you look tiny. It's funny, your personality can be so feisty and yet you look the opposite."

"Is that a bad thing?" I wondered, cocking my head to the side curiously. He shook his head, a smile on his lips. "No, I like that." He admitted, surprising me a little. The utter honesty in his tone had been unexpected to me.

Ryder's eyes trailed over my face before finally landing on my lips, where his gaze lingered for a moment before meeting mine again. "I don't know why you're nice to me when I've been a bitch to you." I stated, watching as surprise flashed across his face. His brows furrowed. "It's not like I ever hated you, Clementine. The only reason we never got along before was because you hated me, and me holding that against you now won't change that." He responded simply, causing my lips to part. If I was honest, I doubted I could be as forgiving as him.

I bit on my bottom lip, guilt beginning to creep into my veins as I looked at him. "I'm sorry." I said softly, and he chuckled to himself with a shake of his head. "I don't need your apology, but it's okay, Tiny." He assured me.

He placed one large hand on top of my thigh, the sudden touch causing me to jump and immediately look down at his grip on my bare thigh. My dress had hitched up higher from sitting, and his touch was warm on my skin. I dragged my gaze back to his and tried to fight off the feelings that were rising in me, this fluttering in my chest and the nerves in my stomach. The tension that was between us was as high as ever, and I doubted that I was the only one who felt it.

"Can I ask you something?" Ryder murmured, the intense stare of his gave making me feel practically naked. It was like he was looking into my soul. "Yes." I nodded, not bothering to make him move his hand. Truthfully, I liked the way it felt to have his hands on me. "Do you still hate me, even a little?" He asked.

Taken aback, I just went quiet, my mind racing at his question. "No." I said quietly, looking down at my lap. I couldn't help but to examine his hand as it lay on my thigh, the veins in his hands that led up his forearms and how strong his hands looked. "But I...do have conflicting feelings about you." I confessed, silence settling between the two of us at the words I had just said. "Feelings like?" He pressed, probably beyond curious.

My cheeks burned as I refused to look at him, feeling flustered and embarrassed to the point that I couldn't find it in me to answer him. His eyes stayed trained on the side of my face as he waited, but when he realized I wasn't going to respond, he tightened his grip on my thigh and leaned closer. "Are you uncomfortable with me?" He asked, sounding genuinely worried. I immediately shook my head, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. "No, no. You just...sometimes make me nervous, but I'm not uncomfortable." I assured, glancing up at him from beneath my lashes.

Ryder frowned, clearly confused, but I didn't want to say anything more. Thankfully, he seemed to catch on because he just gave a hesitant nod of his head, then, to my dismay, he removed his hand from my thigh. "Is it something I do?" He wondered, furrowing his brows when I simply shook my head. It wasn't like I could tell him that I got nervous only when he was checking me out, when he was close or touching me.

The two of us then lapsed into silence, just as tension filled as the last one, and we sat there until the sun began to set, watching the sky grow dark.