Fragile | ✓

1.9 | The Silver Ring

19 | The Silver Ring

→ The best are the simplest

→ Only the best for the perfect girl

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MY EYES STAY fixated on the television as daddy lays his head on my lap. I play with the hair sticking up near his forehead, mindlessly smoothing it out under my fingers. The characters of my favorite show run around the screen singing. The unrealistic actors in huge costumes and cardboard sets only make the show a million times more entertaining.

A blue dinosaur wearing a costume of yellow spikes shrieks to the pink hedgehog before another song starts playing. This show could all well be a musical. The teapot grows legs within seconds and joins in the chaos. As unbelievable as these shows were, they always managed to keep me on line.

"And a happy happy ever after," I joined in, having memorized the ending from several television marathons.

Daddy sits up abruptly as the television screen turns black. He takes the remote gently from my hand and places it on the glass coffee table in front of the couch we were laid on.

"What do we do now?" I ask, always curious to get going. The curls on my hair bounce along with me as I stand up on the couch and start jumping.

"You just finished T.V., angel. Sit still for at least a minute." My face twists at his words but I still sit. Folding my arms in my lap and staring in front of me, I start counting the same way we learned how to in school.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6..." The speed of my counting: about a million words per minute. Daddy shakes his head with a chuckle. I continue counting in a need to prove my point.

"-59, 60." I exhale, tired from all the numbers. School made me do enough math and numbers and I didn't want to do it at home too, but it had to be done. "Done! Now what do we do?"

Daddy rolls his eyes playfully before brushing off his jeans and standing. "Now... we make dinner," he announces, walking to the kitchen to start dinner, with me trailing along. 

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I stretch my legs out on the couch and rest my legs on the perch. A yawn escapes my lips as I scroll through my phone.

"You tired?" Eli asks, his eyes shifting over from the screen to me. I hum in response. He chuckles, placing a hand on my legs before going back to the film playing on the flat screen television.

My grounding sentence was just about over and winter break would be over in two days. My phone vibrated in my hands and my eyes flew to the notification that popped up. A text.

Will you go on a date with me? It was a short text, straightforward and right to the point. I didn't have to look at the contact to know who it was from.

Ryan's contact was with the profile picture we had taken at the bowling alley. He had been posing with Tyler but I had caught that his eyes stayed on me while I snapped the picture. The mischievous yet happy glint in his eyes was one that could hypnotize.

I stare at the text, unable to move my fingers to type out a response. It was the first time Ryan had texted me since the kiss. I had gotten in trouble already once and broken my brothers' trust not too long ago. I couldn't do it again- especially after all they had done for me. But I couldn't bring myself to type out those words. I refused to click on the text, fiddling with the charms of the bracelet on my wrist. If I clicked on it, Ryan would know I read it and I would have to respond.