“I’m in like with you. Not in love with you, quite yet.” Natasha Bedingfield
Religions class was boring, as ever. Ryan didn’t say anything to me and I went back to doodling in my notebook. At the end of the period, he got up and left before the bell finished ringing.
In drama, it wasn’t much different. Of course, we were forced to talk to each other, but it wasn’t anything more than our lines. He wouldn’t even look me in the eye. Everytime the bell above the door would ring at work, I would look up, hoping that he would walk through with Charlie and Sydney. But he never did.
The week went by like that. It wasn’t like Ryan was acting much different then he did a month ago. But that’s the problem, I let him in. I opened up to him and he left, just like my parents did.
It was my birthday and I was at home alone. Cathy had stopped by earlier with a cake and we had a small celebration. She was, after all, at my birth and thought it was a time to celebrate, unlike my parents. They had left this morning for work and put money on the table for me to get some presents. I quickly added that to my college fund. I took the day off from the yogurt shop and Alisa gave me a break from Suzy.
That left me alone on my sixteenth birthday. I sat on my bed, digging into some ice cream I bought, and watching Sixteen Candles. Cathy practically forced me to watch it when she said that “it was the movie that was playing on t.v. when your mom called”. Guilt, it does a lot to a person.
Just as the dork was making out with the popular chick in the movie, there was a knock at my door. No one stops by at 9 pm on a Saturday. Actually, no one stops by period. I pause the movie and open the door to see Ryan there banging his head against the wall. He didn’t see me, I guess, since he hadn’t turned when I appeared. I stood there in the doorway watching him, continuing to eat my ice cream. A minute or two later he finally stops and looks back at the door. I guess he thought I wasn’t going to open it before since he did a double take when he noticed me standing there.
I finish licking the chocolate wonders off the spoon, “need some ice for your head?” I ask.
Ryan stood there staring at me, still shocked. I shrug and take another scoop of ice cream, walking back into my apartment. “you’re actually home.” He says finally, following me into the kitchen.
“was I supposed to be out?” I ask. I set down the tub of ice cream and open the freezer, pulling out an ice pack.
He takes it and sets it on his head, “I don’t know. I thought you’d go out on your birthday.”
“not exactly a day I celebrate Ryan.” I say. He shifts a little on the stool and drops his head a little. It was then that I saw the present he had in his hands, or lap now. I bite my lip, regretting the words I just said. “But that’s because I’ve never had anyone to celebrate with…”
His face lights up a little and it causes me to smile. The cake that Cathy had brought over was still sitting on the counter and I saw Ryan eyeing. I laugh, “you want some?” I ask, motioning toward the cake.
“have you ever heard of a guy who turned down cake?” I just laugh and take out two plates, putting a slice on each. “who gave you the cake Miss ‘I don’t celebrate my birthday.’”
“Cathy, she, uh, was at my birth and makes me a cake every year.”
“Mrs. Shaw?” I nod, “I’ll have to get used to you calling her Cathy.” We both take a bite of the cake.
“so, how has your birthday been?” He asks.
There were many answer I could give, but went with the one that would put a smile back on his face. I owed him that much, “better now that you’re here.” I say. He smiles, like I hoped. “what did you get me?” I ask, reaching for the wrapped gift.
Ryan grabs my hands before I touch the package, “uh-uh, you don’t get that yet.” He says, taking the gift and setting it farther away from me.
“did you have a plan when you came over?” I ask finally.
“well, you weren’t exactly supposed to be home.”
I narrow my eyes at him, “really? Because if I recall you were standing next to my door muttering ‘stupid’ while hitting your head against the wall.”
“you should forget about that.”
“well, since you don’t have a plan…I still have a movie to finish in the other room.”
“what movie?”
“Sixteen Candles.” I say. Ryan looks at me as if he can’t imagine me watching that film. “I know, it’s a long story though. You watching or not?”
“sure.” We walk into my bedroom where I had, finally, folded my bed up into the futon it was supposed to be by day. “it’s a futon?” I nod, “wow, I never would have thought that.”
“I sometimes forget to fold it back up.”
“why is the nice TV in your room?” Ryan asks right before I press play.
“because, my parents don’t deserve it.” I reply and press start before he can ask more questions. I didn’t want to talk about that tonight. Tonight was my night, I can tell him about my parents later.
About fifteen minutes later, the movie is finished with a corny kiss. “well, that was a waste of two hours.” I mumble, turning off the player.
“lets go out.”
“where exactly would we be going?”
Ryan thinks for a second as I put the DVD back into its case, “there’s Club 360”
“me? At a club? That’s a joke.”
“come on, it’s your birthday! Live a little!”
I knew he wouldn’t stop until I gave in, so I saved us some time. “okay. I’ll go.” Ryan smiles, “if you can find an outfit for me to wear. Because honestly, I wouldn’t know where to start.” I open up my clean and organized closet, giving Ryan the go.
“you must have some party dress.”
“Ryan, the last time you saw me in a dress was in like fifth grade. I don’t really own any. Like I said, if you can find something from that, then I’ll go. I’m not going in jeans and a sweatshirt though.” With that I walk out of the room and set all the dishes in the dishwasher, starting the load.
Ryan was still in my room, going through clothes when there was a knock on my door. Okay, I must be going crazy now, it’s almost ten for christs sake! I open it and see Stan standing there with a bag in his hands.
“uh, hey Stan!” I say, slightly confused on what he’s doing.
“Hey Sky. You know my wife, Charlotte.” I nod, “well, she’s making me give you this.” He hands me the gift bag in his hands and I take the tissue paper off the top to reveal a fairly nice digital camera. It was just a simple, sleek camera, probably costing around $200. I look up at him, shocked. “I got it when I started photography as a hobby and haven’t used it in months. Charlotte thought you’d get a lot more out of it.
“thank you!” I jump up and hug him. And then pull back, “really Stan. This means so much!”
“you deserve it Sky. Happy birthday.” He turns to leave.
“tell Charlotte thanks too. I’ll be sure to stop by soon.” He nods and heads down to his floor.
I close the door and set the bag on the table, examining the camera. Ack! I got a camera!!!
Ryan appears holding some hangers and then notices the camera in my hand. “who got you that?” he asks.
“Stan. One of my neighbors. Isn’t it pretty?” I say, still looking it over. It was a nice red and barely had any scratches on it.
Ryan laughs, “sure, it’s pretty.”
“so, got an outfit club approved?”
“I think so.”
He held up a long shirt/short dress thing I got at Ross about six months ago. It was black on the top and then the skirt was red and black plaid. He paired it with black tights and a pair of black heels. Yes, I have heels. I wear them too, not often, but often enough.
“okay then.” I set down my new camera and grab the items out of his hand, walking into my room and closing it so that I could change.
I walk out in the outfit he chose and instantly I heard a click. “hey!” I yell when I realize he took a picture with my camera.
“to celebrate your birthday, we’re going to need pictures.” He explains. I stick my tongue out at him and he snaps another picture. I grab a small clutch nearby and start toward the door. I wobble a little walking down the stairs, but nothing I couldn’t handle. “you look great by the way.” Ryan says as we reach his car.
“you did, afterall, pick it.”
“I didn’t even know you owned a pair of heels, that was quite a surprise.”
“they aren’t exactly everyday shoes to me.” I grab the camera and take a picture of him driving. He glares at me for a moment, “memories.” I mock.
Club 360 was a club in town for 16-19 year olds, and now that I was 16 I could go. When there wasn’t some big party to go to, it was usually where the teenagers were.
There was a long line outside the doors but Ryan ignores it, grabs my hand and walks straight up to the bouncer. The bouncer recognizes Ryan, I guess, and immediately lets us in. That’s the plus to being with a football player.
It was dark inside the club, and the music was pretty loud although there were areas where it was quieter. Ryan dragged me toward a room where it said V.I.P. Really? This is a club for teens, not some rich adults. But then it hit me that these teens were rich too. As in Ryan.
The back room that we were now in was a little lighter and much quieter. There were some people I recognized from school, but not many. Ryan gets a table in the corner and I sit down across from him.
“we go to a club to sit in a dark corner of a V.I.P. room?” I ask, “seems quite pointless.”
“man your impatient. We just got here.”
“yeah, yeah.”
“I’ll be right back. Want anything to drink?”
“you know what I like.” I reply.
About 7 minutes later he came back with two drinks. I take a sip of mine and smile. It was a Cherry Cream Blue Sky.
“okay, there are other drinks out there besides this one.”
“I’ll stop serving you Blue Sky when you stop giving me a pink sprinkle.” He negotiates.
“never!” I look over at the dance floor and watch as the people so call ‘dance’. Ryan must’ve seen my reaction because I hear him laugh. “what?”
“your looking at them dance like it’s foreign.”
“well it is foreign.”
“your telling me you’ve never danced?”
“I took ballroom dance classes when I was nine. That though, that’s not dancing.” I point back at the crowd.
“I would agree that grinding isn’t exactly dance.”
“grinding?” I raise my eyebrows. What kind of dance is called ‘grinding’? what happened to Waltz and Tango?
Ryan laughs and leaves it at that. I take a few more glances at the dance floor before going back to my drink. Ryan got up at some point to go talk to some guys from the team I suppose and then comes back over to our table, “come on.” He says, having his hand outreached for me to grab.
“come on what?”
“we’re going to dance now.”
I gulp. I was supposed to grind up against Ryan??
“you know. I’m actually good now.”
“Sky, it won’t hurt you to learn some modern moves.”
I glare at him. “fine. But only with you. no other guy gets to touch these hips.” I say, grabbing his hand. He leads me out to the dance floor.
I try to copy what other girls were doing which made Ryan bend over and laugh. “let’s start from the beginning.” He says, still laughing. He pulls me so that we’re facing, “now, just move your hips to the music.” Ryan instructs and I try a second time. This time I guess I was doing it right because he was smiling.
His hands moved down until they rested just above my hips and pulls me a little closer. I can’t completely complain. Between his touch and our closeness, the whole thought of what exactly I was doing disappeared.
After a few more dances, some slower than others, the DJ paused. “Okay everyone! This next one goes to the birthday girl out there! Give it up for Sky Reynolds!!” I glare over at Ryan who has a big smugly grin on his face.
The song started and it was one of my favorite songs to dance to. He grabs my hand and drags me to the center of a circle that had formed. “I hate you.” I mutter as I place my hands in their right places.
“you’re the one who wanted to dance.” Ryan smirks.
I stayed silent since we were dancing by then. My short skirt spun up many times, but I didn’t care, it’s not like I was naked underneath it. I noticed that no one else was dancing, just staring wide-eyed. Great, now everyone will know my name. At the end, Ryan dips me and leans in close, just barely brushing his lips against mine. The kiss, if you could even call it that, shocked me. But in a good way. A good shock.
Ryan dropped me back off at my apartment and walked me upstairs. He didn’t come in this time, but did wish me happy birthday before leaving. I unlock the door and sigh. Tonight wasn’t too bad. I close and lock the door, setting my clutch, camera, and keys on the table. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have noticed the gift wrapped, sitting on the stool. It was the one that Ryan had.
I carefully pick up the wrapped box and set it in my room so that I could change. After getting fully ready for bed, I sit cross legged on my futon and slip my fingers under the tape, slowly unwrapping it.
There were multiple items wrapped individually in different colored tissue paper. I pick up the yellow one and unravel it. A noodle necklace, like the one I’d make in kindergarten came out. I smile, thinking it would’ve been from Sydney. Next was a small box that had a sterling silver charm bracelet in it. There were only three charms on it, one a small pink line, sprinkle, another an ice cream cone and the last one a Blue Sky soda can top. That was obviously from Ryan. Rick and Lydia, I assume, got me the necklace with three letters hanging from it, forming ‘Sky’. Scarlet got me gift cards to many different stores and has insisted that I go shopping with her so that I can help her with her outfits. Didn’t know my style was so great. Their parents got me these amazingly gorgeous earrings that I am almost afraid that I’ll lose.
I thought that was it, but at the very bottom there was a book sized item wrapped in blue, Charlie, how could I forget? I carefully undo the tissue paper and see a black frame, inside it was a picture of Ryan and I on the couch, sleeping. His arm was wrapped around me securely and I was tucked into the nook of his shoulder. It was cute, really, but also makes me wonder. Why would Charlie give this to me?
There were notes at the very bottom, all in separate envelopes. The biggest and first one was from Ryan.
I open it and read from the top. There wasn’t even a “hey” it just got straight to the point.
Don’t kill me. I was walking around the mall with Scarlet when I saw the charms and had to get them. Then when I was wrapping it everyone asked who it was for and I said you and they INSISTED on getting you stuff. I swear. I don’t even know what they got you.
I’m sorry about what happened on Halloween. You were right. But, well that doesn’t mean what I said isn’t true…Mrs. Shaw, uh, Cathy kind of threatened me. Saying that I had to be your friend no matter what or something. And if I didn’t she would turn one of my A’s into a B. I don’t think I was supposed to tell you that. Anyways, here I am basically begging for your forgiveness…
Right. Just for the record, Football players should not be allowed to write letters.
-Ryan
Oh, and happy 16th birthday.