Obvious

Ryder

I sat inside the car as she ran out and ran to hug her parents. They were already waiting for her outside the house.

She looked so happy to see them. Her mom was crying of happiness and her dad had a look of relief on his face. He looked calm.

"Didn't you miss your parents?" Gordon asked. He was sitting on the passenger's seat next to me.

"I did, but I think they wouldn't want to see me"

"Don't be dumb. Come on let's go with Amara and then you can go greet your parents too"

"Okay, it's whatever" I said and got out of the car after Gordon.

"Ryder we missed you" Mr Tanner said smiling. Amara's mom was still hugging her, but she let her go to greet me.

"Wow you missed him and not me" Gordon commented. His dad smacked the back of his head lightly and hugged him. Amara' mom was still hugging her.

"Hello Ryder, it's nice to see you again" She smiled wiping away her tears

"Your parents must want to see you" Mr Tanner said.

"Let's invite them for dinner! We haven't done that in years" Mrs Tanner said, excited.

Amara gave me a hopeful smile. Her eyes were gleaming. I couldn't resist that face. I couldn't say no to that face.

"Okay" I said and Mrs Tanner clapped her hands and went inside the house, probably to call them even though they lived right next to their house.

"Thank you" I heard Amara saying as she looked up at me.

"For what?"

"For everything" She said with a subtle laugh, "If it wasn't for you I would be married to someone I am not even attracted to and I would be in a dangerous place. Not saying Jason is bad-"

"I know" I chuckled.

Jason had woken up and he was okay. Mary and he had some family business to take care of.

"I would never let you marry another man" I said and leaned in to peck her lips, but she moved her head to the side and my lips landed on her cheek, "What?" I asked raising my eyebrow.

"They don't know. What if they see us?" She whispered.

"Why do you care?" I asked, "Dont you want them to know?"

"I-I don't know"

I was speechless.

Why wouldn't she want them to know?

"Just don't be too close to me like that. We can tell them some other time"

"Too close to you?"

I was used to being close to her. Showing her affection was like second nature to me now and she was asking me to stop it. I respected her decision, but it would be a hard time for me.

"I'm sorry, I just don't know if I'm ready to tell them yet" She said putting her hand on my chest.

"Okay I'll try" I murmured.

"Thank you" She smiled and gave me a kiss on the cheek before heading inside.

________

"So what happened to Amara's fiance?" My mom asked during dinner.

I scoffed.

Amara's fiance.

"He's not her fiance anymore" I said.

"That's a shame. He seemed really nice" She said.

My own mother against me.

"I'm so happy we're finally together like this after so many years" Amara's mother changed the subject.

They all kept talking about all kinds of things that I wasn't really interested in. I rested my hand on Amara's thigh without really realizing it until Amara gave me a weird look and looked at her thigh.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing" she said laughing it off.

Why did she feel so uncomfortable with me showing her even a little affection.

After an hour or so it was about time we went home. My mom convinced me to stay home. She said she missed having someone around other than dad. Plus, Amara wouldn't let me sleep in the same room as her. She said they would suspect that we're, I guess together. She didn't really say "together", but that's what she probably meant.

After spending some time with my parents, watching TV and talking I decided to head to bed, but mom stopped me before I could go.

"Ryder, can I talk to you for a sec?" She asked.

I turned around and walked towards her, "Yes, of course" I said.

"In private" She added and gestured for me to follow her.

"What is it?" I asked when we reached an empty room.

She gave me a smile, "How do you feel about seeing Amara again?" She asked.

I didn't know what to say. Actually, I didn't know if I could say. I couldn't be completely honest since Amara didn't want them to know about us.

"It's great I missed her. She's changed a lot" I said trying to keep myself from smiling.

But this was the woman that gave birth to me and raised me. I should've known I couldn't hide.

"You're smiling" She pointed out with a smile.

"Yeah, I just missed her. That's all" I said.

"Fine, I'll leave it at that then. Good night honey"

She turned around and walked away.

Thank God.

I headed to my room and got in bed. It was already pretty late, but I couldn't sleep. Something seemed off to me. All the things that happened with Amara were making me really protective over her. I felt uneasy being away from her.

I looked out the window. The light in her room were still on.

Maybe she will let me in.

I stood up and walked to my window before opening it.

I knocked on her window and in a afew seconds she opened it with a confused face.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"You"

She rolled her eyes, "Why are you awake?" She asked.

"Just let me in, silly" I said with a smirk.

"No"

"Please" I whined.

"Fine" She said and moved over so I could get in.

I sat on her bed happily and waited for her to close the window.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I felt uneasy being away from you" I admitted. I wasn't going to hide my feelings from her. There was no point. It was obvious.

She gave me a subtle smile that I loved and walked towards me. I patted my lap for her to sit on it and she complied.

"We spent all this time away from each other because of those fuckers constantly trying to take you from me and now you're not letting me show you affection this is torture" I said burying my face in her neck.

She smells so nice.

"I'm sorry I just didn't want to explain today" she said, her finger tracing circles on my back. She was so good at making me feel relaxed.

"You don't have to explain anything. I think it's pretty obvious" I chuckled.

I left a few kisses on her neck as my hands traveled to her back inside of her t-shirt.

Wait a minute.

"Hey that's my old t-shirt" I said looking at it.

She looked down and played with the ends of the t-shirt.

"Did you take my clothes when I left?" I asked with a smile.

I wasn't mad at her, I was actually really happy. I found it endearing.

"Yeah" She murmured.

I chuckled and leaned in to kiss her lips, "I love you" I said and she looked up at me in shock, "-but you probably already know that" I smiled.

"I love you too" She smiled shyly.

"Amara, I mean I'm in love with you" I said not believing her.

We grew up together, of course we loved each other, but what I was feeling was more than that.

"I know, silly" She smiled.

"Are you sure?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Of course" She chuckled.

I was so happy to hear that, that I didn't even want to question it. I trusted her. I knew she would never lie to me. She wasn't a good liar either.

"Well, in that case-" I leaned in and kissed her, "We're telling them tomorrow. You don't mind right?"

"I don't" She said and buried her face in my chest, "You smell nice" She murmured.

"Let's go to sleep, princess" I said and leaned back on the bed.

_______

"J-just do something" She said.

"You want us to act surprised? Oh My God, I am so shocked my daughter is dating her childhood crush"

"Dad!" Amara yelled making me laugh.

"Childhood crush?" I asked her.

"He doesn't mean it" She said looking down.

As I said, terrible liar.

"I'm very happy for you guys" Amara's  mom said smiling and went back to cooking.

"I already knew it" My mom said.

My dad didn't say a thing, he wasn't surprised at all. Seemed like he didn't even care.

"I mean I could you both being all lovey dovey in the house. We lived together, I knew shit before it even happened" Gordon said.

"See, I told you" I told Amara.

"I guess it really was obvious" she laughed.

"I mean Ryder's jealousy gave it away last night" My dad finally spoke.

Should've kept his mouth shut.

"I'm not jealous of Jason"

"The important thing is, you two are finally together and we really hope you end up happy with each other" Amara's mom said.

I'm sure we will.