Charlotte's Story

Love is a Funny Thing

Renee's POV:

Ryder stormed out, leaving me breathless, I repeated his speech over and over in my head.

My pulse had quickened while he told me he had loved me. His stance was leaning toward me, his face inches from mine as he told me exactly what he needed to. I knew he was leaving to go play poker or drink, once again proving he was not good enough for me, that he was broken goods.

But I knew differently, and I was not giving up on hope.

Life continued as if nothing had ever occurred.
Family lunches were still on Sundays. School had finally come to an end, my first year down; I had passed all my classes and was looking forward to what my second semester had to bring.

Summer was the year of many firsts for me.

Even though we both knew that he loved me, Ryder still acted as if we were only friends. He never brought any girls home, and I never knew if he had anything on the sides that I didn't know about.

He turned into my best friend; he took me parasailing, biking, taught me how to ride a motorcycle, deep-sea fishing. I didn't know how he pulled off getting the boat and the equipment or the crew, but it was an experience I never would forget.

I posted pictures of our outings and wrote about everything in detail; I started to explain how he looked at me or would come up behind me and touch my back, there were nights I would fall asleep on the couch, watching a movie with him, and I would awake to him staring at me with a smile. "you look so peaceful when you sleep" he had told me on multiple occasions.

My readers grew, and the comments were constantly coming in. Team Josh and team Ryder were finished, the readers had spoken, they wanted Team Ryder and Team Charlotte together.     

And then there was a day where everything had changed, my sophomore year of college.

Date: March 10, 2011
Title: Wow
Writer: Charolette

It happened.

The planets aligned, giving me my answer once and for all.

Ryder and I are supposed to be together.

I can not believe that we are supposed to be apart. We were sitting at a chick flick he had promised he would take me to see. I had let a tear slip out during the movie, the main character died (I will not reveal which movie due to spoilers). Ryder turned, watching me after seeing me dabbing at my eyes. The theater was empty besides six other moviegoers. "What?" I whispered at him, embarrassed he had caught me. "You are absolutely beautiful," he said, taking his hand and stroking my face; I leaned in, inhaling his scent; he rested his forehead on mine, looking into my eyes.

We both knew, things were changing, that he would no longer stop us from moving forward.

He placed his other hand on my face and leaned in.

His lips were soft and delicate; the kiss was patient, even though we had been building up to it for so long.

I wanted a million more.

He kissed me again longer, my mouth begging for more, and then he kissed my forehead, turning forward to watch the rest of the movie.

It was torture, not being able to run my lips across his as many times as I wanted to. He opened his hand on his lap, and I placed mine in his.

He didn't let go of it the rest of the night.

This is just the start.

-Charolette

As soon as we shut the door that night, my back is up against the door. His mouth covering mine, and he no longer kissed me patiently; it was urgent, almost as if he was giving himself a freebie, one night to love me and act like we would be together the next day.

"I've waited for so long," he says in between kisses.

His hands-on my hips guide me from the front door to the couch.

"I love you," he says slowly as if he was testing the words out. He was lying on the sofa, I was on top, my legs wrapping around his body. My lips were moving with his, feeling his finally.

What seemed like a lifetime later, he puts his hands on my shoulders. "Stop," he breathes out.

"Why?" I rest my forehead on his.

"Because I'm not going to be able to stop if we don't stop now."

"So?" I ask, my lips trailing his neck.

"I can't. I won't."

"But I want you too," I whisper in his ear, nibbling on the bottom of it.

He sat up, placing me in his lap.

"I am doing the best I can here, and you are not helping." He picks me up as I straddle his front as he walks me to my bedroom. He lays me on my bed; I scoot over for him to join me. Instead, he tucks me in with my blanket. "I will see you in the morning," he says, kissing me on the forehead.

I wait an hour, changing into my pajamas, combing my hair, brushing my teeth. I walk over, knocking onto his bedroom door. "Ren," he growls, "Go to bed" he was doing the best he could.

I climb into his bed; his arm was already sticking up, waiting for me. His arms fall over me. "This is all. You make any more moves, and you are out of here."

"Fine," I sigh, kissing his hand that was under my chin.

He leans into me, breathing in my hair. "I am no good for you," he says before falling asleep.

Two days later was Sunday lunch.

Ryder had been acting like my boyfriend, and I didn't know what we would do when his siblings came over. We didn't talk about it, but Ryder made it clear the second Josh stepped in. Ryder walked up to me, placing his hand in mine. He brought my hand up to his mouth and kissed my hand.

Josh was the only one to see it, and his eyes fell to the floor. He had never made any advancements toward me, but seeing the look on his face, I knew that he still had some type of flame burning for me.

Mandy noticed my hand in Ryder's next.

"About time" Mandy smiled, jumping up and down. "Oh good, now when we bring her to the Constanso's potluck for Thanksgiving, we can introduce her as your girlfriend."

Mandy walked up to me later after lunch. "You know he texted me about it two days ago. Why didn't you?"

"I didn't know what he wanted to do about it." I said, feeling guilty. Mandy texted me about every guy problem she had; she would call, or stop by to explain the latest news in her life. "I'm sorry, next time I will."

"There better not be a next time, I have never seen Ryder like this," she said, looking at her brother who had just winked at me. I laugh, knowing I had never been this way either.