The Moment

Chapter Forty-Four

His lips brushed mine and I knew I should have stopped him but there was something telling me not to. He was the one who was always there...he's the one who's still here. My hand found his neck, pulling him closer but what happened next shocked me the most.

"I'm sorry." My hand fell from his neck as he pulled away, stepping away from me. "I don't know why I thought that was a good idea. I um-"

"Ryland, it's okay, really-" I explained, trying to reassure him as I took his wrist in my hand.

"No, it's...not." Pulling away, he made his way to the doorway as he spoke, "We should go, Cross, we don't want them to suspect anything." Watching as he left, I couldn't help but mentally slap myself in the face. What was I thinking?

"Ryland?" Letting out a sigh as I reached the doorway, I knew exactly who had caught us. Looking at Casey's surprised face, I knew if she had never caught us together, she would have never figured it out.

"Ryland." I repeated. I honestly didn't feel the need to explain myself, as it seemed things between me and Ryland were going to be left in the past. Heading back out to the pool area, I stood next to Jaden and Nick in the circle and waited for the music to begin.

"Alright! The rules," Tayler shouted, getting everyone's attention. "We're going to start with Josh, when the first Thunder comes up, Josh will begin drinking until the next Thunder comes up, in which he will stop and Nessa will start and then so on and so forth. This game is designed to get you fucked up, so if you're not on that level, we go again until you are! Start!" The music began playing and everyone began singing along and I just knew it was going to be a wild time.

---

Sitting down on the pool chair, I brought the can to my lips as I mumbled against it, "So after all that, we're just going to ignore each other again?" He hadn't spoke to me since the kitchen and honestly, I thought we would've just been able to have a conversation out in the open, as it felt like we were in a good place.

"You ignored me, Cross."

"And now you're ignoring me. Does it really matter?" I asked, not understanding why it mattered who ignored who first. Deciding to ignore the fact that everyone was around us and would probably, at some point, clue into the fact that we were having more than just a causal conversation, I turned to face him, crossing my legs in the process. "Do you remember, it was at some random party at Hype, when everyone was so fucked up and you and I actually spent the entire time together? We weren't worried about people seeing us or wondering what was going on; it was just...us."

"Regan, it was you," Looking away as my first name left his mouth, I knew what happened...well what almost happened in the kitchen was really getting to him. "who was worried the entire time. You know how many times I sat in a room full of people and I wanted to just blurt it out? You know how many times Fletcher asked me if I was seeing anyone and it killed me to say no? I hated keeping you a secret; to me, it downplayed how much I actually cared about you. I wanted to kiss you, in the kitchen. God, I wanted to kiss you so bad," swinging his legs to the edge of his chair as he faced me, he took my hands in his as he continued, " but it wouldn't have done either of us any good. There's something about Noah that you're holding onto and there's something about you that I'm holding onto. The only difference between us is that I know what it is; you don't. Talk to him...forgive him...figure it out." Leaning over to me, his right hand found my cheek as he pressed a soft kiss to the other one. before getting up from the chair. "I'm not going to say it again, Regan, cause it's not my place but I don't think you should go and I think you know that too."

Looking down towards my phone as he walked away, I knew there was really only one thing left to do but the question was...did I have the balls to do it?

A/N: Has anyone actually played Thunderstruck? Cause I have and oof, it really does get you! But it's a good time so if you haven't, (and you're of age) try it out with your friends, when it's safe to do so!