Sealed with a Kiss ✔

Chapter Sixteen | Sealed with a Kiss

"What... What's going on?" Ryan asks. The way Ryan's looking at us with an open mouth and questioning eyes, it's as though Levi and I have just been caught red-handed in the midst of a crime scene. It feels like that too.

A feeling of dread churns through my stomach and makes everything turn cold; the feeling has a stronger impact due to the sudden shortness of breath I'm feeling. It all feels horribly familiar, the impending feeling of something awful- the panic that surrounds it...

I urge myself to take deep breaths and keep calm. Yes, I've just been seen hugging Levi by Ryan, but it was platonic. It was just friendly.

I force this idea into my head try and begin to explain myself. "I... Nothing's going on-"

"Is this what I think it is?" Ryan interrupts, his eyes flitting between Levi and I. My heart begins thudding erratically at his increased suspicion.

"No!" I cry. "I swear it isn't-"

"What the hell were you two doing, then?" Ryan demands and I turn quiet with shock. I've never seen him like this; he's never lost his cool so quickly. Ryan stares at Levi and I accusingly, his gaze cold and hard and anything but trustworthy. "Why did you just come home with him?"

"Nothing happened," Levi intervenes, taking a step forward and speaking the words I'm finding so difficult to say.

Ryan's eyes narrows as his words fill the air and the surrounding air feels tighter, as if our atmosphere's increased in pressure. "I didn't ask you," Ryan states quietly, his voice sounding startlingly dangerous, "I'm talking to her." I flinch at the way he says the pronoun, he's never spoken to or about me like this. I can't even remember a time his voice was so icy.  

"You don't seem to be listening to Ruby- she's already said nothing's happened," Levi says and I can't decide if I want to tell him to stop interfering or if I'm grateful he's defending me. I lean towards the latter.

"Are you speaking for my girlfriend?" Ryan asks, his voice taking on a whole different tone, its decibels drop and the quiet, slow quality of it sounds... menacing.

"What if I am?" Levi asks and I notice him straightening, drawing himself up to his full height as his jaw clenches. His voice too has changed; it now has a sharp edge to it and the air's still, as though it's waiting for something to happen.

"Ryan," I say, stepping closer toward him, I don't know if it's in an attempt to console him or to try and come in between the sudden aggressive stiffness between the two young men before me.  "Don't get mad-"

"I want you to listen," Ryan says, stabbing a finger in Levi's direction and ignoring me. "I'm already pissed- you just drove my girlfriend home from God knows where and I want answers-"

"Maybe it's you who should be listening, mate," Levi says, the last word ringing with contempt and making it sound like an insult rather than a term for a friend, "we've both said nothing happened."

Ryan's fists ball up and he knocks me aside as he comes to stand nearer to Levi in an attempt to intimidate him. "I'm not your mate," he spits angrily.

Levi laughs mockingly. His posture is strained and tense and I realise with a rush of alarm that it looks as though he's ready to start a fight.  "That's lucky for me-"

"Stop it!" I cry, staring at them both. Ryan's face has flushed a blotchy red and he looks just as ready to throw a punch and I can't comprehend why. I get he's angry but this is going completely beyond anything I was expecting.

Levi exhales heavily before looking away from Ryan at me. He swallows and I see his stance relax a little. He opens his mouth to say something but I get there first, "I think you should leave." I voice the decision before I've even really thought of it but that doesn't detract from the sense of it. I need to explain things to Ryan and Levi's presence is going to make that impossible.