"I"M FREE!!!" Nora and Ruxie shouted at the top of their lungs as the three friends ran out of school. It was finally the day they got to be free from their studies, at least for a little bit.
"Only for two weeks," Ryan reminded them as he chuckled to himself.
"Since when were you such a party pooper?" Nora grumbled, staring at him pointedly. "We still don't have any exams until March at least, which means, I get to hang out with Drew!"
The blond boy rolled his eyes and glanced sideways, meeting Ruxie's gaze for a split second before both of them chuckled to themselves. Ryan shook his head. He wanted to be happy for Nora, which weirdly enough, he was coming to terms with. But hearing how much time she wanted to spend with Drew when she and her boyfriend had in fact been spending every other day together was quite perplexing. So much so that he couldn't help but laugh.
"Y'all are attached to the hip than a pair of Siamese twins," Ruxie pointed out.
"I know," Nora sighed dreamily. "I just love him so much, y'know?"
"Love?" Ryan cocked his head, brows raised at the word. "You love him?"
Nora nodded instantly with a wide smile. "Of course," she stated. "I wouldn't be with him if I didn't."
For a moment that shocked Ryan. He always knew how much Nora adored Drew, and of course, he himself was in love with Drew as well. But he never thought that Nora was actually in love with the senior.
But he quickly got over his shock when he realized that loving Drew may not be such a difficult thing after all. And considering the fact that he and Nora were so similar in character, it was not surprising that she also fell head over heels for his charms.
"So, do you have any plans with him today... or?" Ryan dared to ask, unsure of the reason behind it. Nora's eyes widened at his question, seeming surprised by it as well. Since she and Drew got together, Ryan had gone out of his way to avoid being near the two, and every time Nora brought him up, it was quite obvious that her best friend did not want to hear about her love life.
Nora thought Ryan was a little jealous, but only because he had never had someone to call his own, and frankly, she did feel slightly bad for always talking about how sweet her boyfriend was to her.
"Do you actually wanna know or are you just asking?"
Ryan scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I wanna know, 'cause we planned to dye Ruxie's hair, remember?"
"Oh, right," Nora's eyes widened as realization dawned on her. "Yeah... uh, I'm not meeting him for about four hours so we're good. Do y'all wanna go to my house or yours?" She asked, turning to Ruxie.
"Let's just go to yours," they answered, sliding their hands into both Nora and Ryan's hand as they stood in between them. As the three friends walked toward Nora's car, a voice called out to Ruxie.
"Ru! Wait up!"
The three of them stopped and turned in the direction of the voice to see a tall handsome guy with dark hair jogging towards them. He had a pastel pink backpack hanging off his shoulder and wore a blue fitted t-shirt, black jeans and a pair of vans.
"Shit, that's Alex," Ruxie mumbled to their friends as the boy neared them.
"Alex? Since when did he get so tall?" Ryan blurted out, only to get pinched by Ruxie for being so loud. He winced, but straightened out when Alex stopped in front of them.
"Hey," the tall dark skinned boy greeted, smiling warmly at the three friends. "What's up?"
"Cool... cool, we're good," Ruxie answered before either Ryan or Nora could speak. "How about y'all wait in the car while I talk to him?" They asked and pushed their friends toward Nora's car without letting either of them answer.
Ryan and Nora both got the hint, smiling to themselves as they waited for Ruxie to finish with Alex. It was the first time they had seen him since the two broke up. The two friends watched intently as Ruxie talked with their ex, or rather listened to Alex.
"What do you think he wants?" Nora asked.
"Maybe he wants them back?" Ryan answered, shrugging. Though he didn't know much about Alex or his relationship with Ruxie, Ryan was aware of how much his friend liked the dark skinned guy when they were together. And though they didn't show it often, he knew that Ruxie missed him sometimes. But it didn't mean that Ruxie wanted him back as far as Ryan was aware.
"Huh... that could complicate things," Nora said thoughtfully after a moment, which made Ryan turn to her with raised brows.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure if Ru mentioned this to you, but they've had a crush on a guy on the swim team for like two weeks now. I don't know how far they want to take it, but they've texted already."
"Oh," Ryan nodded, taking in the new piece of information. He wondered why Ruxie never mentioned their new crush to him over the last two weeks as his eyes traveled to them and Alex who stood only about eight feet away. As he watched them, he couldn't help but wonder what his speculation would mean for Ruxie, if he happened to be right.
He didn't have to wait long for an answer though, because after a few more minutes, Ruxie and Alex hugged goodbye with Alex giving the former a sign to call him later to which Ruxie had nodded and waved him off. Once they came to the car, Ryan and Nora turned to them, ready to hear everything that was discussed.
"He... he asked me to join him at the cabin for Christmas break," Ruxie breathed out, face lighting up and if they were a lighter skin colour, they'd probably be red as hell.
"Oh my god?" Nora exclaimed just as Ryan asked, "He wants you back?"
Ruxie nodded, lips pressed tightly together as they fought to keep the smile off their face.
"What did you say?" Ryan asked them.
"That I'd think about it... I mean, it's not like I don't want to. That cabin is amazing!" They sighed dreamily. "I just don't know if I wanna be in a relationship with Alex."
"Because of your new crush?"
"Did you tell him that?" Ruxie's mouth dropped as they looked at Nora with a pointed gaze, somehow seeming unsurprised that Nora blurted that out.
"Well, he asked. I didn't want to lie," Nora shrugged, laughing.
Ruxie shook their head, chuckling. "Fine..." they breathed out. "But, it's not because of that. I mean, it's just a crush at the end of the day. Alex and I are... something more. I'm just not sure if he's right for me at this time."
Ryan nodded. He understood perfectly what Ruxie meant. It was that thing where you knew you loved someone, cared so deeply about them and wanted to spend every waking moment with them. But there was always something at the back of your mind telling you that you were making a mistake, or that nagging gut feeling that this person you liked so much didn't feel so strongly about you as you did them. He knew how that felt, in more ways that one.
Except that he was dealing with a much cruel truth of loving someone who would never be his, and that was something he had to come to terms with. His eyes met Ruxie's brown eyes, as if being pulled by an invisible force that wanted both of them to know that they understood each other. Ryan gave them a small smile which Ruxie returned.
"Come on, let's go home!" Ruxie exclaimed.
"Home? I thought y'all were coming with me to help me pick out a dress for my date tonight!" Nora stated, reminding her friends of the plans they had agreed upon earlier that morning.
Both Ruxie and Ryan let out exasperated sighs but said nothing as Nora drove them to her house, gushing about how excited she was for the date. "Oh my god, if you and Alex got together, we could go on double dates!!"
"Slow your roll girl," Ruxie laughed, but Ryan could hear the nervousness behind it as he felt them glance at him for a split second. "I don't think I wanna third wheel on your date with Drew."
"But you'll be with Alex. Come on, it'll be so fun!"
"Okay, assuming I get back with Al, which I haven't agreed to yet, what about Ryan? Do we just let him become a fifth wheel?" Ruxie then asked.
Nora seemed to ponder over that for a minute before breaking out in a wide smile, as if a bulb just lit up in her head. "I could totally set him up with someone. I know someone who thinks you're cute by the way," she announced.
"Who?" Both Ruxie and Ryan questioned.
"Zane!"
"Oh god," Ryan grimaced. "Not that guy again. Please, anyone but him."
"Wait... you'll let me set you up with someone?"
"That is absolutely NOT what I meant," exclaimed Ryan, somehow wishing he was not in the car at that moment. He would even take hanging out with Cain over the current conversation a hundred times over.
"Come on... It'll be kinda fun. It doesn't even have to be Zane. Maybe Cain, who knows?" Nora pleaded her case.
"No, and that's final," Ryan insisted, wanting the conversation to be over. He shook his head, feeling slightly annoyed by Nora's suggestion. Ryan knew that his friend meant well, but if there was one thing he never liked, it was being set up on a blind date. Though he had never had that experience, there was no way he would even try it. Just hearing the term alone was enough to make him grimace.
And Cain? The boy scoffed internally. There was no way... he chuckled to himself.
His phone buzzed in his hand and to get his mind off what had just happened, Ryan quickly turned it on to see a message from Drew. He frowned for a moment, wondering what it could be about. He was about to click on the tab when another message popped up, this time from Cain.
As if by magic, Ryan's mood instantly lifted, his blue eyes lighting up as his lips turned up in a small smile. He quickly opened Cain's message.
Thoughts? - Cain
The message read, and in a second, a photo of a white fluffy puppy appeared under the text. Ryan couldn't help but laugh.
Cute - Ryan
He sent in response as he looked at the puppy. Why did Cain want his thoughts on it though? He wondered.
Wanna go on a walk with us? He wants to visit Casey's cliff - Cain
Casey's cliff referred to a cliff protruding from one of the caves in the mountains that surrounded Redwood Valley which looked over the town. It was a beautiful sight, Ryan remembered when he had gone with Ruxie and Nora about a year ago. Without giving it much thought, he sent a response to Cain.
"Hey, let me get off here. There's something I need to do," he said to Nora.
"What is it?"
"Uh... " he blanked. Could he really tell his friends that he was hanging out Cain? That would mean he would have to explain his relationship with Drew to Nora and Ryan did not want to get into that right now. Instead, he only shook his head. "Just Dad and Dan. I'll text you later," he said and got out of the car once Nora parked on the side of the road. He waited until they were gone before rushing home to get ready.
For some reason, he felt strangely excited. Happy, even. He just wasn't sure why.
***
Do we love Cain yet? I think he's growing on me. What do you guys think?
Thank you all so much for reading. I really appreciate it.