Chapter 17: 17: Fourth First

17: Fourth First

There was a definite mischief glinting on Ryder’s dark eyes.

I wasn’t one who would notice people’s eyes. Most of the time, I squirm when I saw eyes, because they were too peculiar, too much of an alien. Too emotional.

I’m not good with emotions.

But Ryder did have a set of really expressive eyes, and even though he didn’t say anything, I could already tell what he wanted just from the look on his eyes.

And right now, all he saw was Red.

He wanted a war.

“Where’s your brother’s room?” he hissed.

A war with my brother.

Again.

To be honest, at this point, I should ease myself into it; accept that seeing Ryder and Quentin trying to screw with each other’s peace as one of life’s natural occurrence. They had been doing it for years now, and with them meeting way more often than what was good for their health, the intensity of their hatred grew.

“W-What are you trying to do with my brother’s room?” I asked him back, trying my best to avoid his gaze.

Ryder made it difficult for me to maintain a steady heartbeat by keep trying to look into my eyes. Even though I was all wet and sweaty, he had no recognition of my critical status of anxiety.

“April, come on,” he pleaded. His voice somehow softened to the point where it was almost as mellifluous as listening to Sherlock ripping apart people’s backstory. “I won’t hurt him. I just want to do a little… something.”

I looked around me, I looked at the ceiling above me, at the cabinet, at the table. Anything. Anything that would keep me from staring right at his brown eyes. For a moment, I regretted my decision to keep him in my room. I thought that by doing this, it would assuage my needs of humanity and up my chance to get into heaven when it was my time. But then, after knowing how much of a sport Ryder was to my whole body, I felt like I might need to take away his right to climb straight into my window like he belonged here.

He didn’t. He was directly responsible of the stifle of balance in my perfectly static life. And I swear if I died before I reached the ripe age of 30 because of heart-stroke, I was going to haunt him for the rest of his life.

“You can’t punch him,” I said to him, still looking at the ceiling, trying to focus on that little lizard at the corner of my room. “Quentin will have a date this weekend. Look bruised he won’t want to.”

“You’re still yoda-ing over me?”

“Intense you’re looking at me,” I struggled to keep my sentence structure grammatically correct. “Blame me you don’t.”

“Oh, come on, Kitten.”

Now, that last bit made it worse.

Since I didn’t want my speech impediment gain me another embarrassing moment with him, I only pointed to my right; Quentin’s crib. As soon as Ryder’s face lit, I hated myself already. Quentin was my brother, and yet I guiding his enemy into the sacred lair that was his crib.

I was such a horrible sister.

“He’s not inside, right?”

I shook my head, and the hatred for myself grew. I wished I wasn’t pinned on the wall right now. I wished I still had the freedom to converse with Mr Teddies and watch my DVDs and write silly fanfictions about my favorite characters. I wished that my life was still normal.

Quentin was out with his friends, that was all I knew. After today’s mishap at football practice, he and the rest of the football team was called once again to the principal. Somehow, they got away because they said that ‘roughing Ryder up’ was part of the team ritual all along. Either Mr. Trask was a poor gullible fella or he had done some ‘roughing up’ himself at his younger years.

I guessed the latter.

“I’m going now,” Ryder said, and without any sound, he got out from my room.

I waited anxiously at my bed, my bottom lip were now hurting because I’d been chewing on it whenever I was stressed. I grabbed Mr. Teddy #21 because he was the sweetest looking of all, and he was also the fluffiest when I hug him.

Or maybe that was due the fact that I kept smashing him with my bones that he became squishy and limp and all that.

Not five minutes later, Ryder came back, his face a little red and his breathing fast. Nevertheless, he looked triumphant. Never had I ever seen him look that happy, never had I ever seen him look that euphoric. It was almost as if light radiated off him as he was walking on a rock concert.

“That will knock Quentin’s socks off,” he gloated.

“What? What? What? What?” I meant to say ‘What did you do to my dear brother’s sacred room? Please don’t be too mean to him because even though Quentin looks like a big bad meanie and a bully, he’s actually very nice and a big softie inside.’ Instead, since everything was so jumbled up inside my head, the only thing that came out was, “What?”

Fortunately, Ryder seemed to understand my real question, after all. “I moved things around. Just a little bit. That Megan Fox poster? It was now at the right side of the wall, not left. The Xbox is on the third cabinet instead of second. I also rearranged his t-shirts so that the printed ones were on the bottom and the plain ones on top. Only the little things, but knowing Quentin, it’ll be enough to drive him crazy.”

I was actually moved at how much insight Ryder had towards Quentin. Nobody never really realized how anal my brother was when it came to his stuff. He wasn’t that much of a neat freak, but give him time, and I was sure that he’d eventually become one. I knew that it was his destiny the moment he freaked out regarding Ryder wearing his t-shirt.

“That.. Is actually quite brilliant,” I told him honestly. I could feel my heart beat in excitement, and somehow my hands were now at the air, pumping and swinging around. “My Stars, Ryder, that is really brilliant!”

“It’s a petty revenge, alright,” he seemed pleased with himself. “But I just can’t let him get away after all that torture at the football practice.”

“It’s a prank!” I just realized this. “Holy Fruity Loops, it’s a prank. I’ve never pulled a prank before. Am I part of the prank? I’ve never pulled a prank before.”

Ryder’s smile softened. “Yes, you’re part of the prank. You told me where his room was. You’re the integral part of the prank.”

The fact that I was ‘integral’ to this brilliant plan made me very giddy. I was near to the point of jumping on my bed, but I tried so very hard to relent myself. It was the first time ever I’d ever pulled anything like this to my brother. Most of the time, I wasn’t that creative to do things like this. I just didn’t know how. People could do mean things to other people and they would laugh at it. As for me, I was too used at people laughing ‘at’ me, not ‘with’ me to really understand the concept of pulling a prank successfully.

“So now tell me where’s the stash of chocolate is,” Ryder said.

I gulped. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Neighbor,” Ryder went back to Nickname basis #1. “We’ve been sleeping side by side for 10 years. I know that you’ve got a stash filled with all kinds of expensive chocolate hidden somewhere here.”

I tried to lie my way through it, but I knew better than that. I had never been a good liar, and Ryder was too good of a liar to spot one. Sighing in defeat, I groped the tile under my bed and pulled a box.

Ryder looked way too happy to see it. “That’s it. There’s the good girl.”

And there goes my midnight snacks on weekend.

“If I ever get into your room, you will need to point out the stash where you put your romance novels,” I pouted at him.

Ryder blushed a bit, but the smirk on his face still grew. “You’re interested at learning about the art of copulating, huh?”

I shuddered at the word. “No. I was trying to embarrass you back, but it doesn’t seem to be working.”

“Oh, you,” Ryder scooted closer to me, and I reacted naturally by backing away from him. “It’s cute when you try.”

I failed to see what was so amusing about it, and I expressed it by pouting at him as best as I could.

All of a sudden, though, everything felt different.

I didn’t know when ‘comfortable’ started to subside and ‘tension’ started to build. There didn’t seem enough line for me to actually differentiate between the situations. All I knew was, out of the blue, Ryder was staring at me intently and he did his thing with his mouth where it was slightly open and he had his tongue lightly licking his lip.

God, please help me.

“April,” Ryder whispered, his voice suddenly became low and hoarse. I gulped again at the intensity of the situation, suddenly breaking into sweat and backing away from him.

“Y-Yeah?”

“Do you remember my text about Kittens earlier?”

It took all of my willpower to nod.

“That’s how I feel about you right now,” he kept whispering, which made everything felt even more ominous than before. Plus, it made me harder to hear him.

“Why are you whispering all of a sudden?”

Ryder only smiled at my question and answered cryptically. “So you’re feeling it, too. The chemistry.”

I started biting on my lip again. “I’m-I’m bad at chemistry.”

“I can be your tutor. I might not seem like it, but I’m also a straight-A student.”

I nodded, almost painfully. “T-That’s part of the reason why Marcy and Corrine are so obsessed with you.”

“I don’t care about Marie Curie-“

“Marcy and Corrine.”

“Point is,” Ryder had to put a stress in his words to keep me from straying from the topic. “You never replied to that text.”

He waited for me to answer, and I was in the middle of looking for my cellphone, when I heard that sound.

That critical, lethal, imperious jiggling of keys on the room at my right.

Quentin was home.

Ryder and I looked at each other, and I was so sure both of us were holding our breaths, because none of us moved as we listened to Quentin shuffling inside his room. The moment the door slammed shut, Ryder seemed to find the cause to breathe again, although anxiety hadn’t fully left him. After a while, though, he started to smile in heaps of childlike zeal.

“Wait for it,” he whispered, to no one in particular.

I found myself holding my breath, too. I reached for Mr. Teddy #21 because I needed something to squeeze. The first time I ever helped someone to pull a prank, and already I was in the verge of combusting.

“Wait for it,” he repeated.

We were impatient, I was aware. We wanted something to happen, we wanted the prank to be noticed. But then I had to admit that when I heard Quentin slamming his door again, indicating of him getting out of his room, I nearly jumped in shock.

It was happening. It was happening. It was happening.

Ryder’s movement was fast as he, in a fashion that he’d done  before, slipped under my blanket and curled himself beside me. The moment his dark hair was wholly covered with bedsheet, my door was flung open.

At the same time, my whole skin was consumed with goosebumbs because Ryder’s fingers were placed on my legs.

“April!” my brother called me out.

I was floating around the state of apogee and thus it was almost impossible for me to answer to him properly. “Oui?”

“Did you go to my room before?” Quentin asked.

“I haven’t done such thing,” I said in a monotone.

“Really?” Quentin scratched the back of his head, confusion couldn’t be anymore palpable on his face. “Did Mom or Dad called them maids, then?”

“They haven’t done such thing,” I repeated.

Quentin was frowning so much I nearly symphatized with him, if only my whole mind wasn’t occupied with the fact that Ryder Black was hiding under my blanket for the second time in this month. He was quiet and unmoving, but then his warm breathing tickled my thigh and the way his hand clasped so casually on my knee nearly drove me insane.

“That’s funny,” I heard Quentin mumbled, before then he got out from my room. Ryder decided that he still wanted to torture me by not getting out of the blanket. Not long thereafter, I could hear the sound of Quentin shuffling things, most probably back to their original places.

I could feel Ryder’s whole body shook, before then he finally pulled the blanket away and sat on the bed. “That guy has a serious case of OCD!” he said in between his snickering.

Now that I was free of Ryder’s toxic hold, I could slowly find my sense of humor again. I started to giggle, too. “Oh, my poor brother.”

“Congratulations, April Hale,” Ryder offered me his fist. “You’ve just pulled your very first prank.”

I didn’t know what to do with his fist, I thought that a handshake was supposed to be with two open hands. But  I grabbed his fist and shook it anyway.

Ryder seemed amused by it. “That’s not how fist-bump work, Kitten.” And then, without even asking for my consent, he enclosed his hands around mine and curled it gently into a fist.

He didn’t seem to realize that his action and most importantly, his hand-work was making me losing my breath.

“You’re always doing this to me,” I said to him quietly.

“Do what?”

“Make me gasp for air…”

Ryder’s hands hadn’t left mine as he looked up and caught my eyes. His lashes were long and thick, and he looked at me from under it. “I do that?”

“Your presence is a great disturbance to me,” I said. “I can never breathe right when you’re around. Sometimes I can’t even talk right. All the lectures material vaporizes, and even though I keep trying to think about Star Wars, I keep failing to remember what I’m supposed to remember.”

Ryder was quiet.

“I’ll pause to let you process,” I said. “So that you know how much of a bad influence you are to me.”

“April,” Ryder began. “April,”

“Plus, there’s this… thing. This supernatural thing inside my stomach. And it keeps gnawing at my innards whenever I look at you.”

“Supernatural thing?” Ryder cocked his head.

“I believe it’s one of those flesh-eating monster that you’ve given to me via kissing.”

“Flesh-eating monster?” Ryder’s lips began to stretch into a smile. “Oh, April. April. April.”

“What? What? What?”

“You like me,” he said, and his words hit me on the core. “You like me so goddamn much.”

I stared at my lap, at the place where our hands joined, because looking at his face was too much of a chore to do. I couldn’t handle looking at his face. I couldn’t handle looking at the sea of chocolate that was his eyes. It was too much. Too much.

“April,” slowly, one of Ryder’s hands were removed from my hand and traveled to my chin. He tilted my head slowly so that I was facing him. “Can I kiss you?”

My brain felt like it had just exploded. It was a wonder that I was still able to reply. “Are-Are you sure that it's me-"

"Yes."

"W-Where?”

“I want to kiss your forehead.”

I nodded, and slowly, gently, Ryder placed his lips on my forehead. It left a burning sensation, it made me feel goosebumps all over again. Ryder sure took his time kissing my forehead. But right after his lips left it, he asked another question. “I want to kiss your left cheek now.”

This wasn’t a question now, but more of an announcement. Just after he’d said it, his lips travelled down my face and settled on my left cheek. The same soft sensation tingled there, and I nearly closed my eyes because at how very surreal it tasted.

“Your right cheek,” his lips moved on my skin.

I shuddered again as he moved to the other side of my face and kissed my right cheek. It was even more burning than before, and this time I closed my eyes, because the weight of all of this was too much to handle for me. I leant onto him, and his strong hands caught my shoulder before I fell.

“Your chin,” he whispered, before then he went there too, and planted a kiss there. I thinned my mouth as I felt his lips so dangerously close to mine. The hotness of his breath fanned my face, and I almost nearly cried at how intense everything was.

Right now, Ryder was leaving behind trails of kisses on the side of my face, patiently inching closer and closer into my mouth. “Too much?” he breathed.

“Too much,” I whispered back. By this time, I absolutely had forgotten everything there was to know about life. Except maybe that Ryder’s kiss left scorching fire on my skin. “But it’s okay.”

At this, I could feel him smile. “I want to kiss your lips,” he said. “Can I?”

And I said yes.

And when his lips touched mine, everything was different and yet the same. My mouth fit his mouth, and we shared the same breath, the same life. As I closed my eyes, I saw nothingness, and yet I could see everything that was beautiful. Every single inch of my body burned, and yet I felt cold at the same time. His hands found mine and we intertwined fingers, and even though this gesture nearly killed me, I accepted it, I savoured it, because it would definitely kill me if I didn’t hold his hands.

And now I knew why people kiss. Now I knew why they, while fully knowing that this basically counted as swapping spit, didn’t mind at all. Now I knew how much I’d missed out. Now I knew. Now I knew. Now I knew how much I liked Ryder Black.

And how much of a relief it was to finally know that there wasn’t any flesh-eating monster inside my body.

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*waggle eyebrows* Aaa? Aaa? How's that for a first kiss?

I meant to add a mini section for 'The Bad Boy Lives in My Room', but then I didn't want it to subtract the ending of the chapter. Next one will definitely have it, though.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I did this with lots of love <3 And Fourth First refer to the kiss. Ryder already took 3 of April's first (chap 11). Now he also took her first kiss, hence, the fourth first.

peaceout, demonicblackcat