I'm No Cinderella

Chapter 18

A/N:- Hi, how are ya doing? Thanks for reading this far. Do you like this story? I'd love to hear your comments.

As I waited for Ryan to park his car in my apartment building’s parking lot, I got out of my car and ran over to the passenger side, opening the door. He smiled at me curiously.

                    “I thought you wanted to drive us today?” he asked as I nodded my head.

                    “Yes I do,” I replied, “When a guy takes a girl out, he opens the door for her, drives and pays for the food. Since I’m already driving and paying for the food, so it should be incomplete if I didn’t open the door for you.”

                    “Oh okay,” Ryan said, laughing, “I can play along with that.”

                    I smiled as he got in the car, and rushed over to the driver’s side and got in.

                    “This is a lot for me to live up to,” he said as I put the gear into drive.

                    “Huh?”

                    “The next time we go out, there’s a lot of things that I need to live up to, don’t you think?” he said.

                    “Oh, you don’t have to take this as a benchmark of how you should behave the next time,” I replied, driving away to the park, “Everyone has their own style and flair.”

                    He merely chuckled as we eased into a comfortable silence. I turned on the radio and sang along to the song that came up. The trip wasn’t long – just over twenty minutes. I parked along the parking bays provided and got out of the car. As I walked around to get on to the pavement I realized that Ryan was still in my car. I turned to look at him curiously, to see him grinning at me. Oh, how could I forget – my chivalry? I opened his door with a little curtsey as he got out, smiling.

                    “We’re here,” I said.

                    “Thank you,” he said, holding out his arm. I looked at him weirdly and put my hand through the crook of his arm.It felt so normal to be walking with Ryan, my hand securely tucked under his arms – it’s like it was meant to be. I sighed. Sometimes, I really wish there was something more going on between us than just friendship. You can’t be just friends with someone you’re madly in love with. Am I madly in love with him, or is it just a childish infatuation?

                “I’m hungry,” Ryan said, using the back of my hand to rub his belly. I froze. Once again, doesn’t he realize that simple things that he does makes my heart race? It may seem like a simple gesture for him – something he does with everyone – but to me, it means so much more.

                “Let’s get something to eat,” I said, barely able to control my voice. Thankfully I am so used in controlling how I feel when he’s around; it wasn’t much of an effort to act like it didn’t bother me.

                “What should we eat?” he asked, looking around the stalls, “I have no idea.”

                “How about some hotdogs,” I suggested as he looked at the stall that I pointed at. Shrugging his shoulders, he followed my lead. I ordered to large hotdogs with extra special cheese sauce, just the way that I liked.

                “Don’t you think that’s a lot of cheese?” Ryan whispered into my ears, making my belly tingle.

                “That’s what makes it special,” I said, not looking at him, instead I was watching the old man concoct his special hotdog. I paid for the hotdogs and passed one to Ryan, “Let’s sit over there.”