Ryland Beckett was kissed by tragedy. She coped by blending into a sea of jocks and becoming one of the guys. At 17 she was a full on Tom Boy. By day her oversized clothing made her unremarkable but behind clothes doors, under the secrets of moonlig...
Just breathe. If only it were that simple. It would only be a matter of time before the entire town had a full view of my birthday suit. What if my mom saw it? Should I break the news? I shuddered at the thought. Air shoved its way in the back of my throat then barricaded its presence there. I felt Finn's grip tighten on me in a panic at the sound of my ragged breath.
It took every ounce of energy in me to wheeze out, "Can't...breathe." The corners of my vision clouded as Finn lowered me on my bed. He moved from my line of sight before returning with a notebook to fan me with.
The fear on his face disappeared as my eyes fluttered shut.
.(&).
Sunlight met me in the morning. I felt the weight of Finn's arm around my torso and tried to shuffle from under him without waking him. His grip tighten so I cleared my throat while shoving my elbow into his chest behind me.
Finn coughed in response then sat up slowly removing his arm as I shifted to look at him. "Sorry, I got nervous when you passed out again, I didn't want to leave until I knew you were ok, but then I fell asleep." His voice was rough and raspy. He cleared his throat before speaking again. "Sorry for the cuddling I gravitate towards warm bodies when I'm sleep."
A small smile was tugging at the corner of my lips. I noticed a pillow shoved into his lap and found a giggle bouncing off my tongue. I pointed to it while speaking, "And the pillow?"
"Hey, I'm human. I get excited in the mornings and I didn't want him to wake you before I did." He laughed and turned his head but I caught a glimpse of the tips of his ears turning pink. "Are you ok though?"
I didn't have an answer to that. We both jumped at the sound of my bedroom door opening. Despite the fact that nothing was going on between us Finn shot out of bed and I shoved my covers around me as if I were naked.
"Damn for real? Oh, you too busy to answer my texts cause you laid up with Finn? Typical." Marcus had busted through my door and was speaking in a voice a few octaves higher than his normal voice in an attempt to sound like a jealous girlfriend. He crossed his arms and rolled his neck before addressing Finn. "And you, what would Carly think?"
The color drained from Finn's face as if he had a slow realization of where he had just spent his evening. As if being with me was a problem.
Logically I knew that's not where my mind should of went but I couldn't stop the thought. "Uh, I'm just going to get ready for school." Finn scratched the back of his head then moved towards the door. "We can all go in together if you want." His eyes stayed trained on me for a second before taking my silence as a yes and leaving.
Marcus closed the door behind Finn then raised an eyebrow at me. A wave of embarrassment washed over me and I turned my back to him before speaking. "How'd you get in anyway I know my mom's not home." I began picking at my fingernails so that I could focus my attention on something.
"I found your hide-a-way key. It took forever might I add. You should definitely teach the McGregor's a better place for theirs anyone can just walk in." I felt the bed dip behind me as Marcus took a seat. I couldn't feel his eyes on me so I assumed his back was turned.
"Marcus..." I had no idea what I was going to say to him or how I should even ask. Judging by how he blew up my phone yesterday I know he had seen the video. He had already suspected the photos were of me and I lied to his face about it. "Are you mad at me? You know, for lying?"
"No, I get why you did. But I wish you had told me someone was holding this shit against you. I would have offered to beat his ass before he leaked it." I felt the bed dip again then his hand on mine. His fingers were warm and almost twice the size of my own.
I let my eyes meet his. "For the record I didn't send that to anyone. Someone boosted my phone and leaked it. I... It was for me and no one else. I take it you watched it."
He offered a lopsided grin, "You want the truth or a lie? Beckett I'll give you want ever you want." I couldn't tell if that was a sexual innuendo but I rolled my eyes anyway.
"Marcus this isn't funny."
"Fine. Yes, I watched it. Ok and maybe I might have gotten off to it, which is a compliment, that shit was kind of hot—"
"Marcus!" I shot out of bed and began pacing around my room. "That's disgusting and nothing I want to hear." I felt a wave of awkwardness and suddenly I didn't know what to do with my hands or where I should focus my eyes in the room.
"Sorry if I made you uncomfortable Beckett, my mouth gets the best of me sometimes. But you do realize we have school in 45 minutes and if that made you feel a certain type of way, and again I meant it as a compliment, how do you think you're going to handle school?"
My body felt frozen in place as the gravity of his words sunk in.
"I-I'm not sure." I felt my eyes widen to the size of saucers. "I don't think I can." My words rested in the space between us as I closed my eyes.
"You can. At some point you have to face the world. It's your choice if you're going to be on top of it or underneath it. You're going to hear some things today, that much I can promise you. But I can also promise that if you want to dip out at any point I got you. And if anyone gets out of line and you want me to swing on 'em, I'll do that too."
Why hadn't I even seen Marcus as a friend? I feel like I had robbed myself years of having a genuine friendship.
"Thanks Marcus. Seriously." I looked down at myself and realized how much of a mess I probably looked. "I'll get ready."
Forty-five minutes later I was sitting in Marcus' truck with him and Finn and we were seconds from being completely late for class. Finn was texting away at his phone; I had left mine at home due to all the grief it had already brought me.
Marcus began tapping his fingers on his steering wheel as if waiting for me to give a signal that I was ready to get out of the car. I still wasn't.
After another 30 minutes of sitting in the car Finn had turned to look at me with an encouraging smile. "Ry, you ready?" Marcus joined in with a soft smile of his own and I found myself nodding my head despite it contradicting with how I feel.
I stepped out of the car and followed behind the two of them. They stood close enough together to act as a human shield as if their bodies could protect me from what would be coming my way. At least I had them as a buffer.
Here goes nothing.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Hey guys thanks for reading ! If you catch any mistakes feel free to comment! If you enjoyed make sure to vote!
What do you think of the photo above should it be the new cover or is it too suggestive?
