Our Little Deadly Secret

Time to Move On

Not even a couple hours later, he showed up. Bag of clothes in one, bag of food in another. Backpack on his back of all things he needed.

He opened the door with the key I had told him would be under the mat of the front door. I didn't bother to greet him at the door. Instead, I heard all the commotion from where I sat on the floor, in the middle of a random empty room up on the second floor. I waited for my name to be called out, but nothing happened.

Steps came from the staircase as they crawled up to the top of the flight, before turning. I looked over at the door, hoping that wouldn't be able to detect where I was, but that proved pointless as the door swung open gently, revealing his face from around the corner.

He walked into the room and sat down on the floor, next to me, but faced the opposite direction from the way I was sitting. He wore dark grey sweats and navy blue nike that held a touch a white on the soles and the checkmark for the logo. For a shirt, he wore a plain black tee. No jacket.

"So how did you end up with my number?" He asked me. "Wait... lemme guess. One of your friends asked me for it and then gave it to your cousin to hand to you."

I sat quiet. I was too afraid to talk and make a fool of myself.

"Uh... word has it that you may or may not be kicked out of both scenery and drama club if you don't show up tomorrow.." he then replied.

"THEY BETTER NOT!!" I replied finally, upset with the news.

"I was just seeing if you were paying attention to what I was saying or if you were ignoring me," he laughed. I smacked his arm lightly.

"You better be, Ryan Weston," I replied, adjusting the blanket I had thrown atop of myself to keep me warm while I waited for his arrival.

"So what happened? Cause we're all worried about you. I'm shockingly worried about you..."

"Come on...! You've come over to my house with the girls while I was at home to drop off homework and pick up assignments. You could see I was okay... to a degree."

"And I don't believe that."

"Oh...?"

He spun around to face me before encouraging me to face him. His blue eyes stared directly into my empty soul as I tried to find some way to change the subject, but epically failing at it. He gently grabbed my waist as he slid me closer to him, closing the gap between the two of us to disappear.

"I know for sure that something was messing with you inside, and whatever it was, it didn't want you to do anything but think about it."

"And how would you know if that's the case?"

"I do. My mother is a councillor at one of the middle schools. My father's a psychiatrist. I'm forced to know the signs."

I sighed before telling him about Noah. About the cheating, the months of agony, and how I was ready to finally move on. And then the whole thing with the house being broken into, how I stayed at Maac's place without actually teling Ryan it was Maac's place, getting into a fight with Maac, and running off here to meet up with Noah after getting back in contact one last time with him.

And then I told him everything that was spoken between Noah and I. And how I have now come to the conclusion that no matter what I do or say or believe, I'll never be over Noah.

"And that led to a week's worth of staying home cause I couldn't bear to walk out the front door of my own house to possibly run into him with this girl that makes him forget about me... I don't remember why you even agreed to come see me. Or why you're listening to me rant. Like you don't even know me," I whispered softly just to him.

"I'm here cause if I didn't then who knows how you would react. So it's a good thing," Ryan laughed, bopping me lightly on the nose.

I smiled a real legit smile for the first time in the past week.

"So what about you? Any girl troubles you wanna share? Cause apparently now that you've been forced to join our social group, you can't hide anything from us."

"Me?" Ryan asked in reply. "I don't have any girl problems."

"How! You're like good looking and all that... I mean... uh... everyone has dating troubles."

"Well, let's put it this way: there is a girl that I would love to get to know better. Just one problem, however."

"What's that one problem?" I questioned, knowing that I prob alt shouldn't dig. But I had to. I had to know for the girls' sake.

"Hmm... well, the first day I met her, she tried to kick me out of what she called 'her seat' even though I personally believe that there are no assigned seats in high school. Granted, I've never been to a high school where there were assigned seats in the classrooms."

I raised up an eyebrow. Was he... talking about me?

"BUT! But, when I saw her in the school way after hours, doing what I didn't know at the time was scenery work for the scenery club, and finding out important information from her about the drama club that she also is involved in, I got to interact with her more. And it peeked my curiosity."

He IS talking about me. Oh. My. God. What the hell do I do now?

"So when she disappeared for almost a week with no trace, I kinda got a little upset. And I thought she was just a figment of my imagination. Until the day I went to go see her to check up on her with her friends. And when I saw her, I was happy. But then once again sad, cause she was not the cheerful her that I had grown to love so quickly in one day."

What!? This kid is crazy! He barely knows me and he's talking about how he felt sad cause I wasn't myself! But... this feeling. Inside me. It feels warm and whole. Huh?

"So I knew that the second she needed someone to lend an ear, I would be there. So..." he stuttered off, looking up and down, from my eyes to my lips.

"So...? Now what will you do? With the girl? Cause I mean... you have to ask her out if you like her that much, but you barely know her so... how does that work?" I stammered out, shaking slightly in fear of what he would reply with.

"I mean... I was gonna ask her if it was okay if I got to know her better. Before anything serious happened between her and I. But I don't think that that will happen. Especially since I now know she thinks I'm good looking."

Show off...

"So I think that it's been made clear to me that I'll just have to ask her what she wants to do. Cause I'm at a loss on what to do."

I fidgeted with the sleeves of the grey off-the-shoulders sweater I was wearing between my fingers. What was I suppose to reply with? He's literally talking about how he really likes me.

But what if I'm not ready to start new. What if I can't unlove Noah?

I knew, however, that with every end there's always a new beginning. And maybe this was my beginning. And maybe it was being handed to me.

"I think she would be okay with that... with one condition."

"And what would that be?"

"Take it at her pace. If she shuts down, jut stay with her. Don't leave even when you think she doesn't want you around. And if you ever fall in love with her, don't ever let her forget. And I can promise you she will show the same back. It may not be right away, but she would eventually."

"I can do that, but with one condition."

"Oh? And what would that be?" I replied.

"To let me maybe kiss her once? Right now. Because if I don't get the approval, I may just do it anyways."

I didn't have to respond. I leaned in, placing my lips upon his. The warmth from him fled throughout all my body.

It felt like I had made the right decision. But only time would know when enough was enough.