Because this book is now published, content stops after chapter twenty. Please proceed with this information in mind.
E i g h t e e n
As always, sleep was awkwardly positioned and uncomfortable, making my muscles ache in tension. I vaguely remembered falling asleep but as I gradually woke up more, I remembered. Feeling dirty and sticky lying in my bed, I shuffled and tangled myself further into the sheets. I felt the tug of Ryder as he stirred from next to me on the floor.
Glancing over, I saw him sleeping with his brow furrowed, eyes squeezed shut. An animal like sound erupted from his lips and his body jerked. Pearls of sweat had formed on his forehead, dampening his hairline. Ryder was having a bad dream. Placing a hand on his shoulder, I gently shook.
"Ryder, you're having a nightmare..."
His eyes flew open, wide glittering, orbs searching the room in confusion. His breathing was faster than usual but he tried to control it, running a hand through his messy hair. He tilted his head to the side and saw me, then cracked a small smile. Ryder ran a hand down his face and let out a sleepy groan.
"Morning," he greeted, tone slow and deep. He stretched –well, as much as he could, considering he was still chained to me- and glanced around. "What time is it?"
'It's... Crap!" Panic rose in my throat as I glanced at the clock and realised we were beyond late for school. It was already ten in the morning and second period would have been well underway.
On cue, Eve knocked and entered my room. "Oh, good, you're up now."
"Why didn't you wake us?" I burst out, trying to kick the sheets off.
"I knew you guys were tired. It's completely cool. I called the school in advance, told them you had an appointment and that you'd be at school around lunch," Eve explained, waving around a beef jerky stick.
"You lied to the school?" I was starting to really freak out. "Aren't we already in enough trouble with the authorities?"
My sister just rolled her eyes and started backing out of the room. "Calm down, Nora. God. I used to do it all the time. It's no big deal. Look, I just came up here to tell you that Patrick and I are going to the doctor for an ultrasound."
"Your baby must be heaps big now, huh?" Ryder said, nodding at Eve's prized-sized belly.
She placed her hands on her stomach and unconsciously rubbed; something she did whenever someone asked about her baby. I guess it was one of those protective gestures that emphasised the attachment and relationship between mother and child.
"Yeah," she answered, smiling, "but this ultrasound is for Patrick."
"Boys getting pregnant sound scary." I piped in, getting freaked about the whole idea of a hormonal Patrick.
Eve walked over and smacked me over the head with her packet of beef jerky. "It's a soft tissue injury." The sound of Patrick's voice drifted up the stairs as he called for my sister. Before leaving, she added, "Have a shower. Both of you. You're filthy."
Then with that, she left. Ryder and I exchanged glances and knew we both needed to proceed with our day. We had gotten increasingly better with the whole bathroom thing. When it came to showering, it was still pretty awkward, but anything beyond that, we coped surprisingly well. I supposed we were both just tired and figured the situation of being handcuffed was difficult enough so cooperating sounded like the most suitable way to tackle it all.
From our first awkward bathroom situation, we had fallen into a routine and a set of appropriate rules and guidelines had been silently agreed between us. Things like when Ryder had to go to the bathroom, I didn't burst out into another Hannah Montana song. And when we were at the sink, we were careful that I didn't shave off my other eyebrow and that Ryder cleanly shaved off all the stubble that magically freaking grows on his chin every night. Although these aspects of our bathroom routine were good, the thing I hated the most was peeing in front of him.
It was the most awkward and uncomfortable thing ever. As always, while I went on my morning pee break, Ryder had to squat awkwardly so that I could properly place my butt onto the toilet. After, there was the difficult wriggling and one-hand tugging as I tried to get my pants to roll down and then, there was the most awkward part of the entire thing: Me actually peeing.
Now, I don't know about you, but I'm seriously self-conscious about how I pee. I mean, it's not exactly a graceful thing to do. I can't just daintily do my business, particularly when there was a guy squatting awkwardly to the side. Especially a guy like Ryder Collins.
Oh my God... What if I'm peeing too loudly?
The same thought occurred to me and trying to casually block out the sound, I attempted a casual conversation, which was a fail, considering that there is nothing casual about having a friendly chat with someone while you're watering the garden or dropping raisins. And, as always, that morning wasn't an exception and I again tried talking to Ryder. However, I guess I had just about tried every single topic in the book of conversations so I was at a complete loss and I blurted out the worst possible thing ever.
"So... You have a pretty nice looking butt." The words were out of my mouth before I could even think about it.
"I have... I have a what?" Ryder asked, almost losing his concentration on maintaining his balance.
I knew there was no backing down now, so I decided to go with it. "You have... a nice butt."
Ryder was silent.
"I mean, I'd totally rate it a nine... Possibly a ten. You see, Mel and I have a thing where we rate guys butts. In fact, it was the reason why Mrs. Hanson voluntarily picked me to be a part of this demonstration. But yeah. You have a pretty nice butt... It's really manly and stuff..." I realised every word was making it worse, but I couldn't stop.
He probably thought I was a total weirdo, just sitting on the toilet, talking about how awesome his butt was. I nearly died of shame. My awkward tendency to make awkward situations even more inappropriate and uncomfortable was so bad, I was surprised it was even legal to let someone as awkward as me be anywhere other than a psycho ward.
Oh, God, Nora. Shut up. Just shut up.
~♥♥♥~
We were pretty much quiet after the whole bathroom situation. After we had exited, we entered the kitchen where Ryder was frying some eggs and toast while I stood to the side and tried to distract myself with Biology homework. It wasn't until there was a knock on the back door that I almost cried of relief. Finally, a real distraction.
Ryder was just about finished cooking breakfast so he switched the stove off, brought the pan out of the heat and together we headed for the door. I looked through the glass frame and saw Caine. He grinned and pointed towards the lock. Realising I hadn't made much of a move to open it, I mentally shook my head and reached for the door.
"Hey, cheers," he breathed, shrugging off his jacket once he was inside and dropping it onto one of the stools by the counter.
Caine was just the type of person who could enter a stranger's house and instantly feel comfortable with making himself feel welcome. Although I wasn't a completely stranger to him, I might as well have considered being one. Prior to the whole handcuff thing, Caine and I had never associated before and now that some chains had imprisoned me with his best friend, he started acting like we had been in each other's lives since the start of time.
"Oh, breakfast," Caine said, grinning as he pinched a piece of toast from a plate and took a huge bite. "Man, I'm starved."
"Aren't you meant to be at school?" Ryder asked, a little more accusing rather than curious. "How'd you know we were home?"
'After last night? There was no freaking way I was going to wake up at six in the morning and go to school," he answered around a mouthful of toast. "Hey, did you fry up some eggs with this?"
Ryder just snorted, slid the plate away from Caine and directed it closer to us. "Hey, hands of the food, man."
Caine held his hands up in surrender and backed off a little. When Ryder cooled off, Caine swiftly reached out and grabbed a side of bacon, grinning wickedly at his mate as he dropped half of it into his mouth. I watched as Ryder just glared at him from across the bench. I didn't understand why Ryder was being so tense and weird. I mean, I know guys are really protective over their food, but they didn't go all ice-queen when it was their mates trying to steal a bite.
"What's up with you?" Caine raised an eyebrow at Ryder, asking the question I was thinking of.
"Nothing, just what are you doing here?" he answered.
"Don't you want me around?" Caine didn't sound offended, just confused. "Are you feeling alright?"
Ryder didn't say anything; he just stared blankly at his friend, body stiff. The tension between the boys was suffocating and the longer the silence stretched, the more uncomfortable it became. Although I knew my attention shouldn't be directed at them, I couldn't help it and gradually, my appetite dimmed and breakfast didn't seem so appealing. It was none of my concern to just jump into all the testosterone but I couldn't tolerate their behaviour any longer.
"This is intense." It was probably the stupidest and most obvious thing I could say in that situation. When I received the oh-my-god-you're-a-moron glances, I clicked my tongue and dragged out a low whistle. "Intense," I repeated, feeling like an idiot but not knowing what else to do.
"Hey, you know what? Maybe I'll just head to school." Caine looked at us briefly, swung around in his stool and stood. He showed no sign of emotion and his tone was neutral. "See you guys there?"
"Bye..." I answered as he gave me a tight nod and slipped out the back door. I waited a minute or so, just to make sure he was gone before I whipped around and faced Ryder. "What was that all about?"
Ryder wasn't looking at me. He just picked up the plate full of food and stepped around me to the bin, throwing away the contents. "Nothing. I think he likes you."
I wasn't sure how to respond to that. I was glad Ryder was keeping distracted by throwing the dishes into the sink otherwise it would have been even harder to clear my head. This was way too much for me to absorb in the morning, so I did the only thing that I could: I dismissed the thought.
"Nah," I said, shaking my head for emphasis.
He paused and leaned against the counter to look at me but I tipped my head forward, letting a strand of hair fall to hide my eyes and pretended to be fascinated by a smudge on the floor. The heavy stare of his crystalline eyes studying my face was almost unbearable, so I coughed and looked up to slowly meet his gaze.
Ryder stared at the strand of hair with knitted eyebrows and the muscles in his arm twitched as if he were going to reach out. But he restrained and looked away, turning to the sink and picking up the sponge. The sounds of clinking glass echoed through the kitchen.
"Do you," Ryder paused for a moment, slowing the movement of the sponge against the surface of the plate, "like him?"
"Caine?" I questioned, almost barking out a laugh. "I hardly know the guy."
Ryder seemed to think about my answer. "I mean, would you give him a chance?"
Would I?
"I don't know," I replied honestly. "He seems like a player."
Ryder chuckled. "He is." His laughter faded as he turned the tap on and rinsed the soapy residue off the plate. "But I still reckon he likes you."
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, picking up a cloth to dry the wet plate. "You aren't trying to, like, hook me up with him, are you?"
"No!" Ryder burst out, a little more edge than I expected. His face hardened. "No," he repeated, in a much calmer tone. "I just don't think you should date him if he asks you out. He's not right for you."
I stopped drying and gave him a look. "You don't think anyone's right for me," I pointed out.
A smile formed on his lips as he turned and looked at me a moment. He held his gaze for merely a second though before turning back to the running water to rinse off the rest of the dishes. I watched as his hands moved over the soapy surface of the glistening cutlery. Sunlight shone through the window above the sink, specks of dust floating around him like flecks of glitter disappearing as they kissed his golden skin. His hair seemed a shade lighter, eyes brighter. And at that moment, I looked at him in a different way. I saw beyond the arrogant exterior and haughty attitude and saw him as someone...normal. Not the superstar senior who roamed the school halls like a lion in his jungle kingdom. But as someone who cooked breakfast and washed dishes and did normal stuff. It was wonderful. All ways I had seen him were wonderful. From his compassionate and caring side when I had my dating disaster, to protectiveness and courage when he stood up for me to half the footy team and to the vulnerability and fright after the fight at the beach. The more time we spent together, the more emotions he expressed and the more characteristics were visible; ones that weren't airbrushed with an artificial coat. It made me wonder if anyone else had seen this part of him...
...and if anyone else was falling in love with it too.
"I don't think everyone is bad for you. In fact, I know someone who is perfect for you," Ryder answered, snapping me out of my mental ranting.
"Oh, really? Who?" I rolled my eyes at his tone.
He turned the tap off and looked at me with seriousness. He looked determined and encouraged, then...scared. Like he doubted his answer, rethinking his response. He looked down, away from my and knitted his eyebrows in concentration as he calculated something. But that flash of questioning was replaced by a grin of arrogance and an entertained sparkling in his blue eyes.
"Fred Greenly."
I blinked. Definitely wasn't expecting that answer. "Isn't he gay? Gee, that would be a passionate relationship. He doesn't even like physical contact!"
"Exactly."