Chapter Seventeen â Returned
Ryder said this morning that he was coming back around mid-day, which meant that he wasn't going to make it in time for school. That made me wonder if I was even going to see him today. We had never actually ran into each other out of school. Our meetings were usually planned beforehand, so I would have no idea where he would be.
Therefore, just like every day for the past week, I get a cupcake instead of his presence.
To my Cupcake. . .
Because I missed you.
Love, your sugar daddy.
I notice the past tense in the sentence with a smile, a flutter of excitement rising in me at the possibility of seeing him again today.
Okay, I definitely have a small crush on him.
I fold the note in my hand, knowing it'll be the last one and take a bite of my cupcake in joy.
Except my joy is short-lived.
I end up almost having a heart attack when both the cupcake and the note are snatched from my hands. By Sean.
. . .is this boy trying to get himself killed? You don't steal a short person's food. We're closer to the ground, which basically makes us closer to hell.
He takes a bite of my mother-freaking cupcake while reading my note casually, as if stealing someone's food and invading their privacy is an everyday thing. I'm fuming as I grab everything back, shoving the rest of the cupcake in my mouth so he can't take it again.
"Cute note," he mutters as I try to swallow the massive chunk of cupcake in my mouth. "I can see why you didn't want me to read them."
When the cupcake is finally gone, I look at him in apprehension."I know how it looks, Sean, and before I say anything else, I'm going to be honest with you," I take a deep breath, "I like him. . . but I also like you. So, I completely understand if you don't want to get into a relationship with me, because it's selfish of me to even ask. I wouldn't want to be with someone who had feelings for somebody else, because I deserve better. And you do too. I know I'm probably not convincing you to go out with me, but I actually think it's for the best if we didn't. I'm not saying this because I like him more or anything, I just think we should stay friends until I sort my feelings outâ"
"Hey, it's okay," he says softly, lifting my chin with his finger so that our eyes meet, and effectively cutting off my rambling in the process, "I admire you even more after hearing all that cute rambling, because you were honest with me. I appreciate the fact that you told me all this before it got out of hand, so thank you for not possibly leading me on."
I nod with some difficulty because my face is still in my hands, but then a thought occurs to me and I pull away. "Why didn't you ask me to be your girlfriend by the way? We went on three dates."
"Honestly, I thought Ryder would kill me."
"Oh. " I nod. "Probably."
He winces.
"And Sean? If you ever steal my fudging food again. . .I'll fudging kill you." *
⢠⢠â¢
Nobody's outside when I leave the school. Not even Wes. I had a free period instead of my last class, so I decided to spend the rest of it waiting in the parking lot. I sigh. Just as Ryder said, he wasn't at school today. I wonder if he got back yet orâ
Quicker than I can process it, I'm being turned around and pulled into somebody's arms.
Ryder.
He's holding me as tight as he can without hurting me, which usually would have been fine, but due to the bruises all over my body, it did end up hurting a little. Thankfully he doesn't see me wince though, as he's currently nuzzling his nose into my neck and breathing me in. His warmth surrounds me, and his scent, a wonderful combination of soap and something indescribable that's unique just to him, is the only thing I can breathe.
"God, I missed you." His voice is husky and raw and I feel myself melt in his arms, the tingling sensation between us driving me wild. I lift my hands up and wrap them around his neck, gently gripping his hair in my fist. "Angel," he groans against my neck, "can I kiss you?"
". . .probably." Yes. Right now he can do more than that.
He immediately lifts his head and tries swooping in for a kiss, but I ward him off. "Wait, no. I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry."
He hangs his head disappointment, but places a small kiss on my neck anyways. When I don't respond negatively, he does it again in a different spot. I almost shiver. "I'll take what I can get with you, you little minx."
I laugh and he pulls away to look at me. "What are you doing here? You said you wouldn't be at school."
"Well I wasn't. I just came back a half-hour ago and I had to see you." His eyes are devouring every inch of me, like he was starving from the small amount of time we were away from each other to see my face.
"So you came here just to see me?" He nods. "Have you been waiting here the whole time?"
"Of course," he says, brushing his hand against my cheek. Butterflies take flight in my stomach. "Why don't you text Wes that I'll take you home? That way you'll be mine for the rest of the day."
"I'd like to, but I already have plans with him."
"Okay," he says, although I can see how crestfallen he is. His hands drop from me and I feel terrible because he came here just to see me.
"Why don't you join us?" Like I flipped a switch in him, his face lights up.
"Can I?" I almost laugh as a sudden vision of a dog wagging it's tail at me pops into my mind.
"Yeah. We were gonna get lunch." "OK, let's go."
So we drive to the place where Wes and I were planning to eat and I text him to meet us there.
"When did you plan the whole cupcake thing? You told me you only found out you were leaving the same day that I did."
"Well after I dropped you off at your place that night, I still had some time left before my flight and the idea just came to me, so I just started writing them," he smiles. "I went to the bakery before they closed, chose the cupcakes I wanted for you, and dropped off the notes. Apparently, the girl who was giving them to you works at the bakery and goes to our school, therefore it worked out perfectly."
"So you wrote all of them yourself?" I was happy even if he didn't, but I felt like it would be more special if he did it, rather than having someone do it for him.
"All except one," his smile is wicked, "and I'm sure you can guess which one that was."
I had a pretty good idea. The note where he called me delicious had slightly different handwriting than the others, like someone had tried to forge it. Plus, the note was a hint to the conversation we had after he already left, so there was no way he could have known to write that before.
"Well thank you. They really made my day."
"I'm happy to hear that. Anything for you, Angel."
Wes finally came fifteen minutes later.
He was still wary about Ryder, but I think he didn't push it because he knows how much time I've been spending with him.
It's also probably because he's scared that Ryder will hurt him if he tries to keep us away from each other.
It's funny how all the guys in my life seemed to be a little bit scared of Ryder, yet I saw him as a big, soft teddy bear.
Anyways, after the initial awkwardness, they got along pretty okay. I think the main problem Wes had now was that Ryder couldn't keep his hands off me. In other words, he was now worried about my heart rather than my safety.
And as for Ryder, I figured his touchiness was due to the fact that we'd been away from each other for longer than usual, and he was just making up for lost time.
Or in his case. . . lost affection.
Although he never shies away from touching me, this time he's doing it a lot more than he usually would.
And I enjoy it.
Any other person and it probably would have annoyed me, but with him it felt so. . .
. . . natural.
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Did anyone catch my Supernatural reference? *
Okay so that's kind of a weird place to end it but this chapter was a pain to write.
I was writing all day Saturday only to erase practically everything I wrote, because I hated it so much. So that's why I'm uploading this a day late.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed! If you did, click that cute little star button for me? Thank you.
Oh and I always forget to say this, but feel free to tell me about any mistakes! I know my writing isn't perfect, so bare with me, but if you see anything I spelt wrong, let me know.
XOXO (y'all better not comment Gossip Girl).