||Carmen Anders||
He was only joking.
Obviously. But my whole body still reacted as if he wasn't. My eyes widened slightly, my palms started to feel moist and I was sure my heart not only skipped one beat but several.
I hated myself for reacting the way I did but that didn't help my now clammy hands.
"You're gonna love it, get in."
"I'm not going on a date with you, Ryder." I managed to say.
He rolled his eyes. "I was only kidding, C. We're just going out to dinner. Now get in."
Not really knowing what had changed my mind, I finally gave in and got in. Maybe it was his new nickname for me.
C.
He closed my door and jogged over to the other side, quickly hopping in.
"Where to?" I asked.
"Dinner."
"At MayFord's?" I asked hopefully.
"Really wanna go there?" He asked as he started the car.
"Yes." I said nodding.
I honestly just wanted to eat something simple. A large milkshake and fries sounded just fine.
"But I-"
"Pretty please?" It was kinda strange, this conversation. Never in a million years would I have thought that I'd be sitting in a Ryder Byers's car, almost begging him to take me out to MayFord's Diner.
Not only had it kinda grown on me but I actually liked it. The basketball players hadn't been over there in a while so I really didn't mind it. But even if they had, if you went over there with the right person, then you'd have a good time.
And I guess Ryder was the right person.
He sighed. "Okay."
Smiling, I turned on the radio and it blasted Taylor Swift, causing the both of us to cringe.
"Oh God, no. Turn it off." He demanded.
I personally didn't really enjoy Taylor Swift, but knowing that it annoyed him gave me a reason to like her.
So I turned it down, not off, just down a little pinch.
"Carmen!"
"I don't know 'bout you!" I sang on the top of my lungs.
"I said turn it off!"
"But I'm feeling twenty-two!"
"Carmen!"
"Everything will be alright, if you keep me next to you!"
"I actually hate you!" He tried screaming over me.
I laughed but still continued singing happily because I knew he really didn't.
I knew Ryder Byers really did like me.
~*~.
The dinner was almost empty which was no surprise seeing as it was a Thursday night.
Ryder and I purposely chose to sit at the booth in the far corner because that was where we'd all first met. It was funny thinking about that day. How I had despised the whole idea of coming here only to end up having a good time.
Kyle, Parker and Ryder were a bunch of hooligans when they were together and back then I'd have hated them for it but now it was endearing.
"Bringing back some memories?" Ryder asked with a raised eyebrow.
I nodded. "It's only been a few months. But I mean, a lot has changed."
"And a lot will changed." He added as he picked up his menu.
He said it so easily, like it was nothing but it really was something. He was right, a lot would change but we really wouldn't know what if you asked us.
Things could change for the better, or for the worst. We wouldn't know.
But I didn't say anything of what I was thinking, just picked up my menu and pretended I was looking for something appealing when I already knew exactly what I wanted.
A tall boy approached us with an apron and a notepad in his hand. He didn't look any thing older than 17 so I assumed he went to WestShore.
"Hello, my WestShore peeps. I'm ya'll's waiter tonight so if you need anything just call on me." He spoke too enthusiastically.
I smiled at this knowing he really wasn't that happy about being our waiter and was only doing his job. I had a babysitting job down at EastShore some time ago so I knew the struggle of feeling shit tired but still having to act like you're happy and full of energy.
"I'm sure you two aren't ready to order but how about some drinks? What would you like, lady?" He asked averting his green eyes to mine.
"I'll just take a vanilla milkshake." I stated.
"And you?" He asked Ryder, his eyes on his notepad as he wrote something down.
"Coke." Ryder said cooly.
He nodded and dropped his notepad in the little pocket on his apron. "I'll be right back."
Just before he left, my eyes traveled down onto his name tag and I smiled to myself.
"Hey Ryder, guess what his name is?" I asked.
"Don't really wanna know. 'Kid obviously has a thing for you. "
I rolled my eyes, ignoring his last statement. "Andrew. It's Andrew."
"Oh God. Don't remind me."
I laughed. "C'mon, your uncle's the bomb."
"You can take him if you want."
"I'll take him gladly, you know. Might even take your mum too."
"Nah, I need her."
"Of course. Who else would change your diapers?" I asked casually as I sat back.
Carmen - 1
Ryder - 0
"I'm sure you'd love the job." He said smirking.
Carmen - 1
Ryder - 1
"Me? No. I quit babysitting years ago."
"Why?"
"Some of the kids just didn't like being suffocated with my love and affection." I said with a knowing smile.
Carmen - 2
Ryder - 1
"Well I don't mind that type of suffocation if it's with the right person at the right time, you know?"
The look on his face made it apparent that he thought he'd won, that he thought he'd threw me off.
"Kinky?" I asked.
"Only with you." He winked.
Now he'd thrown me off.
Carmen - 2
Ryder - 100,000,000
Our waiter returned with our drinks before I could even speak and I'm glad he did because Ryder's attention was no longer fully focused on me.
"Thanks." Ryder said as he placed our drinks in front of us.
"Tell me how you don't look even the slightest bit hungover?" I asked taking a sip from my milkshake.
"Well for one, I wasn't drunk."
I gave him a flat look. "You had three bottles of beer without a second break inbetween."
"I'm not that easily intoxicated, C."
"Obviously you were."
"I wasn't drunk on alcohol per say. I was drunk on happiness."
"Happiness? You can't be drunk on happiness, Ryder."
"You can, you just don't know because you've never been."
"I've never been drunk, alcohol just isn't for me."
"I've seen you drunk before."
"On what? Boredom?" I joked.
"No, worry." He said in a more serious tone.
I didn't say anything, waiting for him to continue.
"The first time we met you were drunk on worry. It was like you were having a panic attack, the way you moved. It was scarier than watching someone who was actually intoxicated because I didn't know where your head was at, what you would do."
"I'm sorry." I muttered.
"What happened?"
"It was only Jason, I guess I just let him get to me too much." I looked down.
"What's with Jason?"
I blinked. "What?"
"I'm not stupid, you know, I've kinda caught on to the fact that Jason's a weird topic. You never talk about him and every one looks like they're walking on shells whenever he's brought up and you're around."
"N-nothing's up with him." I said hoping he'd missed my stuttering.
"Where is he?"
"College, he graduated."
"Carmen, I saw his picture hanging up in school, in the hallway. I never got the chance to fully read what it said but I have a feeling it wasn't anything
too good."
I didn't say anything because I knew exactly what it said.
"In memory of Jason Anders.
A truly outstanding WestShore High School student.
1997 - 2014."
If Ryder got the chance to read it, he'd find out and that kinda made me feel sick. Would he be mad? No. He couldn't. How can you be mad at a dead person's poor little sister? He'd look at me like the rest of them.
With pity. Simply pity. And, gosh, I couldn't stand that.
"Ryder, I-" I started but got cut off by the sound of his phone ringing.
He pulled it out his pocket and his face fell when his eyes landed on the caller ID.
"One minute," he muttered to me as he got up and headed out for privacy. I nodded, too scared to say anything.
He stood right outside the door and I couldn't help but stare at him through the glass. His body language made me begin to worry. He ran his hand through his hair so hard it was like he was trying to rip it out.
His head snapped in my direction as if the caller had mentioned me and his eyes lingered. I quickly turned away hoping he hadn't noticed my staring.
I didn't dare look again until he came back. I noticed his whole face was pale as if it was drained of all it's blood.
"Is everything okay?" I asked casually as if I didn't notice his odd behavior.
He didn't say anything for a moment. "No."
"What's wrong?"
His eyes darted around worriedly and I placed my hand on his, forcing him to bring his eyes back onto mine.
"Ryder?"
"We need to leave." He said as he pulled his hand away from mine.
"What? We haven't even ordered yet."
"That's fine, let's go." He said as he got up and dropped a wade of cash on the table.
I quickly got up and followed him. He looked so scared that I wasn't going to question him.
The ride home was silent but when we got there, I didn't get out. I just sat there trying to understand the situation. I was confused as to what was going on but I knew not to leave Ryder alone.
"Stay with me." I let out.
"What?"
"Stay."
"Carmen-" he started.
"You don't even have to stay the whole night. Just for a bit. My mum's not home, I could use the company."
I wanted to make it seem like he was doing me a favor by staying but I just really didn't want him to be alone drowning in his thoughts.
If he wanted that then he'd have to drown in them with me.
He looked at me and then nodded.
We didn't say anything as we got in. I dropped my things on the floor and we headed upstairs into my room.
He took off his jacket and we both slide under the covers of my bed. I felt him put his arm over me and I sunk deeper into his chest.
Sometime after, a tear rolled down his cheek and although I was worried, I didn't say anything.
I just wiped the single tear away and placed a kiss on his cheek right where it'd stopped.
~*~.
A/N: 21 more days.
HEYYY!
This was a pretty long chapter. Over 1800 words so sorry if it felt like it dragged on but there was some important conversation topics needing to be mentioned... *hint* *hint*
Oh and I actually updated pretty early. Can I get a high five? Like improvement or nah?
Anyway, I realllyyy hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please don't forget to vote and comment!!!
Question(s): Who do you think was on the phone? And what do you think the person told Ryder?
~ Cookie (M)