When the bell rang signaling end of school-day, I told Julie about going to visit Ryan. I wanted to go immediately, but that wasn't possible since Julie and I had come in the same car. Going home to drop off Julie meant losing precious time with Ryan, and I didn't want to make him late for work. He wasn't on good terms with his uncle. I didn't want to aggravate that.
Jordan had ice-hockey practice, which meant he couldn't take Julie home. I was stuck with her.
She waltzed in with a solution.
"How about I drive you there and pick you up? It saves you time", she said.
"Genius!" I said. A bit of me was happy I didn't have to drive. The snow still deterred me. I felt like I would get the visions while driving because of the similarities of the scenes and just crash.
"Great. Buckle up. Next stop, hot guy station", she said.
I chuckled and blushed at the same time. As if on cue, it started snowing a few seconds after we left the parking lot. I watched as snow fell onto the windshield. It was light and pure white. It was really beautiful.
Julie drove smoothly, though slow. I was burning with anticipation so I was irritated. But I also knew it was for the best.
I remembered that Ryan had said to text him when I was coming. We were very close to his house when I did, after I had racked my brain on how I could forget something so important. What if he wasn't there?
"21...22...I think this is 23", Julie said as she counted the houses. She stopped in front of one.
We were in front of a nice two-storey house surrounded by a white picket fence. There was no one outside.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Julie asked.
"No!" I said quickly. "Just stay here. I'll tell you if you can leave", I said.
I got out of the car shortly. Snow fell on my head and jacket immediately. I looked like I had just been in a pillow fight. I walked to the gate and let myself into the yard. I quickly walked to the steps that led to the front door. I had no doubt Julie was watching my every move.
I knocked on the door slowly. There was a pause and the door opened. Ryan was standing there in his boxers and a sweater. He had a bowl of cereal in one hand. He had walked to the door without pants not knowing who it was. Typical Ryan. I loved how relaxed he was.
He smiled when he saw me. "That was fast. I..." he said and looked at his pants or lack there-of, "I was gonna take a shower".
"I'm sorry. I forgot and only texted you when I was a couple of blocks away", I said sheepishly.
"It's okay", he said.
He leaned in to give me a kiss. If Julie had binoculars she would have used them.
When he pulled back he said, "If only I didn't have this bowl in my hand. Come in and I'll give you a proper kiss".
I walked in and he closed the door. I was instantly greeted by warmth. The heater was on in the living room. There was a blanket on the couch and an empty bag of chips and chocolate bars on the floor. It looked like he had been lazing around. We stopped in the entryway.
I didn't even get a chance to see where he put the bowl before his lips swooped on mine. They were just as I remembered. His kiss was faster than the previous night and more intense. It was as if he was trying to make up for all the time when hadn't spent together that day in one kiss. I loved it. I loved it too when his arms wrapped around my waist. He occasionally caressed my back as we kissed.
I pulled back.
He raised a brow. "I just need to text my sister. She's waiting outside", I said.
"You brought Julie?"
"More like she brought me. We are from school. We used the same car so she dropped me off. I just have to tell her she can go", I explained while typing on my phone.
He smiled, showing the dimples I loved.
"Come to the living area when you are done", he said walking through the archway to the living area.
I pressed 'send' and went to join Ryan on the couch. He welcomed me in his arms, covering us with a blanket. He was lying on the sofa, so my head lay on his chest. The position was so natural to us. I didn't seem weird at all, considering that we had been 'dating' for just a few hours. I already loved being in Ryan's arms. His chest was so hard, yet so comfortable.
"How was school?" he asked.
"Mm. It was okay, nothing interesting happened. We have math homework and a chemistry assignment", I said, knowing fully that Ryan wasn't interested in any of that. "How was your day?"
He drew lines on my abdomen. He touched a very sensitive spot and I giggled lightly.
"It was alright. I don't actually miss school. I just miss you", he said.
I smiled. There was some comfortable silence.
"I told my friends about us", I said quietly. He'd said it was okay so I hoped it was still okay.
"Mm. And I bet Jasmine wants to castrate me", he said.
I laughed out loud. He'd said almost the same thing Jasmine said. They seemed to think alike.
"She will if you hurt me. Her words, not mine", I said. "I'm pretty sure it won't be painless".
"Then for the sake of my balls I better keep you happy", he said.
Was I happy? I didn't really know. I knew I felt comfortable with Ryan. But there was the Tristan issue. I was still scared that it would ruin things between us. I was still scared he wouldn't want to deal with it.
"Where's your aunt?" I asked.
"I have no idea", he replied moving his hand again.
My breath got caught in my throat by the movements. I loved the sensation.
"Does she know you are home though?" I asked.
He exhaled loudly. "Yeah. I found her when I got back. My uncle knows too. He wanted me to come to work right away, but I told him I hadn't slept at all the previous night and would come at my usual time".
"Did you talk to your aunt?" I asked.
I was worried about him. I wondered where he would have gone the previous night if I hadn't answered my phone. I knew his homelife wasn't nice and I wanted it to be.
"Not really. When I got back she called my uncle and that was it. And oh, she said something about where she was going when she left. I wasn't paying attention", he said.
I raised my head to look at him.
"Will she be okay with me visiting?" I asked, concern in my voice.
He brought me back to lie on him, resuming his hand movements on my abdomen. He seemed to enjoy doing that. His movements were slow and sensual.
"I don't really care", he said slowly.
"Ryan", I said.
"There wasn't a rule saying I can't bring friends over", he said. "By the way, I had breakfast at your house. I hope that's okay".
"That depends. If Julie made it home before mom, you are safe. If not and you didn't put things neatly afterwards, the house is probably being dusted for fingerprints as we speak", I said.
"Is your mom that much of a neat freak?" he asked.
"Yeah, and I admit, I'm one too", I said.
"Then you and I are going to have a problem", he said. He seemed to be thinking. "Or not. Would you like to tidy up my room for me? My aunt always complains about it".
"No, I don't", I said firmly, though I was smiling.
"Well, you better not be OCD-ish, because you are going to hate it. I am not the tidiest person", he said.
"I figured. I only had to look at this room", I said chuckling.
He shrugged. "It's a good thing opposites attract".
"I don't know about that. My parents are both neat freaks, though the other tries hard to hide it", I said.
"Funny, my parents were both messy", he said.
His parents! He had finally mentioned them. I wasn't obsessed about them or anything, but I really wanted to know more about him, everything about him. I knew why he had moved, but I still didn't know how it had gotten to that point, or why his uncle and not his parents had decided he needed change.
It dawned on me that he had said were. That implied that either they had changed, or they had passed away.
"You said 'were'", I remarked tentatively.
I was looking up at the ceiling so I couldn't see his expression, but his voice was cold and dry when he said, "They are dead. They died in a car accident last year, both of them".
I knew what the death of a loved one felt like so I instantly felt sorry for him. I knew what it felt like to have someone today only for them to be gone the next day. I wondered at what stage of grief he was at but I didn't want to push and interrogate him. His cold voice told me it wasn't something he wanted to talk about.
"Let's go up to my room. I really don't want my aunt to find us like this", he said, injecting cheer into his voice.
I smiled effortlessly as I stood up. He stood up too and put his arms around me from the back.
"Your hair smells nice by the way. Why do you have such good hair?" he asked.
I grinned as he kissed me on the neck. After a few seconds we went upstairs.