Sugarcane Chronicles Volume I: One and Lonely (ryden)

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My jaw dropped. "No."

"Yeah." He nodded, still smiling. "So Vic's like, begging, pleading, crying for Spence to take him back and he just says, 'bitch I got a new man' and slams the door in his face."

"No way," I scoffed disbelievingly. "I know Spencer's rude, but..."

"I may have been paraphrasing..." He shrugged. "But that doesn't matter."

"How long ago was this?

"A month or two."

"A month?"

"Or two."

"We really needed this date, huh?"

He nodded and reached across the table to hold my hands. "I'm just so happy we finally did."

I smiled at him. "Me too."

The waitress brought our drinks and took our orders, then left again.

"So, anything happen with your family?" Ryan asked, taking a sip of his soda.

"No," I answered, "my family is probably the most boring family ever. Everyone's healthy, everyone's happy. We're a dead patch of grass compared to the botanical gardens of your family."

He laughed. "I doubt it. I'd rather have a nice, boring family than a bad, interesting one."

"Yeah, but yours is nice and interesting."

"And that's why you fit in perfectly."

I smiled at him, then held up my glass and said, "A toast."

"Yeah, that one from Hitch about stealing and cheating," he said, raising his, "but only with moments and death or something."

"To stealing death and cheating moments?"

"Why not?"

We tapped our glasses against each others and each took a sip.

I laughed out of pure happiness. He was absolutely stunning sitting there smiling back at me. I told him I loved him and he promised it back. I knew then that neither of us could've meant it more.

"So have you gotten any new tattoos?" I asked after a while. "You know, since I've missed out on pretty much everything else."

"You haven't missed out on anything," he assured. "But the only thing is I got these finished." He held his fists up to display the cartoon-style animals across his knuckles. "The only problem is I don't know what to do with for this last one." I pointed to his pinkie. "And don't say Gerard. He may be family, but these are all-time favorites."

"Mikey?" I asked.

He gave me a warning look, but got over it quickly, asking, "Did you get any new ones?"

"I told you about this one," I said, holding up my wrist, "right?" I had gotten a small heart with a 'R' in the middle of it, in reference to the Ariana Grande song I performed in England. It was on the side of my wrist, lined up to my pinkie, kind of.

"Yeah, I was there when you got it," he replied.

"Right," I said slowly, remembering the day.

"Your face was so cute," he said, smiling, then imitated the face that I definitely(probably(most likely)) didn't make. He scrunched up his nose and hummed in a cute tone.

I rolled my eyes. "And you're any better? You sound like a woman giving birth."

"To keep from screaming," he defended.