Unrequited

Feud

Okay, so let me tell you about the past couple of weeks. Ryder and I have been amazing. Like have I mentioned I can't friggin believe how lucky I am to be with him? We just keep getting closer and closer to each other. Since that night at the hotel, I just can't stop thinking about being with him in that way. Maybe I wasn't ready then, but I feel like I'm really close to being ready now.

He's just so sweet and caring and it makes me want to be closer to him in that way. We seem to be the only people getting along though. Marley and Jake haven't been sitting next to each other lately and she gets extremely defensive and weird when I ask her about it. Jake, on the other hand, won't talk to me at all when I try to check in on him. I just catch him staring at Ryder like he wants to hit him. I honestly have no idea what that's about.

Meanwhile, Finn has been losing his mind over this fight with Mr. Schue. Apparently, he kissed Ms. Pillsbury before the wedding and that might be why she ran off. I understand that Mr. Schue has the right to be mad about that but he's just being unnecessarily nasty towards Finn. This is gonna end badly if they don't work it out. It's so bad that some of the seniors decided to make the assignment for this week about musical feuds so they can work through it. That's not gonna go well.

Anyway, I'm walking through the hall with my head down as I answer a text from Bash. He called me a couple weeks ago to thank me for his friend Valentine card. We talked for a couple hours and I caught him up on how his plan actually worked and he's surprisingly not phased by listening to me talk about Ryder. Of course, I didn't tell him about the whole hotel room thing. We've been texting back and forth a little bit since then.

I finish sending a reply and stick my phone back into my pocket. When I look up I notice Unique approaching Ryder down the hall. The conversation looks heated and it ends in Unique actually shoving him. After she leaves, I approach quickly.

"What was that about?" I ask worriedly as I touch his arm.

He takes my hand in his and leads me down the hall. "It was nothing. I just told him that he's a dude and he got mad," he explains.

"Unique is a girl, babe," I state as I turn my head towards him.

He stops and looks at me confused. "Then why doesn't he always dress like one," he asks.

"Because her parents asked her not to do that anymore. She was getting bullied. She's breaking her parents' rules every time she does," I inform him because apparently, he didn't know.

He shrugs and we continue down the hallway. "Well, it confuses me. And he shouldn't have pushed me like that," he says plainly.

I subtly cringe every time he calls Unique a 'he.' It's not his place to tell her who she is. I don't know how to get him to see that. "Why don't you challenge her to a feud song," I suggest. "Then, after you guys can talk it out and be friends again."

"You are a genius," he says as he kisses my cheek. I smile as we go to class because I thought this was going to help. Little did I know that he was going to do the opposite.

Later in the choir room, I sit next to Kitty as Ryder and Unique prepare for their feud song. I lean over and whisper to her. "Can I talk to you about something tomorrow? I need your advice."

"Of course. We can go to your house so we'll have privacy," she agrees instantly. I smile as we loop arms and the song starts.

I stare at Ryder as he sings and plays the drums. God, he looks hot when he's mad. I glance over at everyone else and see Marley finally sitting next to Jake. I'm glad they worked out whatever was bothering them.

Ryder looks at me while he's singing and winks. I giggle as I bite my lip, leaning forward so I can listen more intently. Unique hands out tiaras to everyone, so me and Kitty place them on each other's head with a laugh.