home.

Chapter 6

I was in my room for past forty five minutes. I had build walls around my heart to protect it. I was strictly opposed to the idea of marriage, relationship or love etc even though I can't run from all this. I had never seen someone happy after marriage or in any relationship. I just couldn't let him walk in my heart as if he owned it.

Someone knocked on my door. "yeah" I said, Piper and Katie walked in. I smiled at them as Katie sat on my bed and patted the space near her. Piper and I sat with her.

"What's going on between you and Ryan?" Katie asked. "nothing's going on between us, and what about Will and Pipes? Huh?" I asked confidently. Piper smiled. "apparently you were right, it seems like he has a crush on me. I thought I was the biggest flirt but then I met Will. He is such a good flirt, but he only talks to me. I've notice it myself and there's this girl in my class who was talking to her friend that 'William Stanley is so hot, but he looks like he's got an attitude. He doesn't even talk to anyone' and he's completely different with me" she looked really happy about it.

"he's totally head over heels. Since the first time he looked at you and he was like damn! This is it!" they both laughed at my statement.

"Katie? Found any cute girls across the campus?" she laughed and said "totally, so many cute girls, it's hard to choose." We both laughed. "boys must have prepared dinner by now, we shouldn't make them wait for us."

We went downstairs, William was washing plates, Zack was on his phone with his girlfriend maybe, and Ryan was sitting on one of the three two-sitter sofas. William brought plates and Piper followed him with dish in her hands. They both sat together for the obvious reasons. Katie sat on another one.

I went and sat beside Ryan. There was space beside Katie but I wanted to sit near Ryan. It felt good. We all had dinner and as usual after dinner William and Piper went for a walk. Zack and Katie went to there room early. I helped Ryan in kitchen.

"You like cooking?" I asked. "yeah! I love cooking, my mom used to cook the best food in this whole world." He replied. I noticed he suddenly became excited because he was talking about something he liked. He looked cute like a kid. I think he didn't know the effect he had on people, effect he had on me.

In my dorm, Piper liked William, Katie was into girls. It was only me who was dazzled by him all the time. I had seen in our class and in cafe, he had all the attention of girls.

"How many siblings do you have?" he looked up, a little surprised at my question. Then replied "I have two brothers and a sister." I looked at him as if please I want details. He laughed and further said "first Niall then Ryan then Bryan and then my little sister Hope." He said lovingly.

So he is a family guy I thought.

"what are they like?" I literally sounded curious. "Niall is the musical guy, then Bryan, he is a total sports junkie and Hope is my best friend and she is the coolest." I had many more questions but instead I said "we should head to our rooms, its pretty late and we have tomorrow."

If you're not bored with me.

He nodded happily and we walked to our rooms together. I was happy after talking to him about himself. I took my bag of toiletries and my towel and hurried to bathroom, it was already late. I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth and wore a blue t-shirt with black pyjama. I went to bed but I couldn't sleep. My mind was only thinking about Ryan. The way our knees touched each other. He felt really warm. My always cold body due to nervousness and awkwardness felt so good against him. I was nervous with him but it was different, it was like having butterflies in my stomach.

Happy butterflies.

He looked confident in front of others but I don't know, he looked nervous when talking to me. He was shy and really cute. I had noticed whenever he was nervous, he brushes his hair with his fingers. And when he was embarrassed or shy about something, he rubs his neck with his hand in a very cute way. Scarlet blush looks so lovely on his neck that I wanted to touch him. Feel his skin against mine.

But that's impossible. He won't like it at all. In all these thoughts somewhere I drifted to sleep. I woke up fresh in the morning, I brushed my teeth, washed my face. Went to my room, wore a deep blue boat necked sweater with long loose sleeves. And wore a black jeans with black shoes. I went downstairs, ate breakfast that Zack made for everyone. Ryan was already gone. I hurried to my class, it was boring as usual. Ryan had chosen different subjects so he couldn't be with me.

Why would he be with me? He must have friends other than me.

School passes really slowly but I was excited to go to library because it was Friday, and kids came to spend some time with books. I reached late to library because I tripped and hit a girl which resulted in me helping her pick all her papers from the floor.

I put my bag on the table and headed to meet kids. When I saw them, they were not alone. Ryan was playing with them, and the youngest one who comes with his sister could barely walk named Louis. He had him picked up in his arms and Louis was ruffling his hair and touching his face playfully.

Damn lucky kid.

Ryan looked so cute and adorable playing with them. I had a whole next level crush on him. He looked at me and then bashfully left Louis there and walked towards me.

"I was just randomly playing with him-" I smiled at his shyness "-and he is the cutest thing on this planet."

I doubted that.

"his name is Louis, and don't worry I also just play around here with them." He looked at me differently in a way I couldn't read. "if you're free, we can play with them together" he agreed to my offer and we played with them. A few times our fingers brushed each other and again a shiver came. He blushed again.

"Ryan, will you come tomorrow to play with us more?" a girl named Emily asked, he looked at me. "they come here every Friday and Saturday." I told him. "of course-" he looked at me unconsciously then said "-I like spending time with you."

I blushed and that's when he realized what he did and blushed harder than me.
"Coffee?" I asked and walked outside, he followed me. We both sat in the same spot where we last sat. "so you told me about your siblings last night. What are you like?"

I asked while drinking my coffee. It was hot, I burned my tongue. I hissed and Ryan furiously said "be careful!" and he wiped coffee from my lip. I stared at his face, he was so beautiful, and he was at the moment caring for me. He looked straight in my eyes and I looked away and we both blushed.

"what are you like?" I repeated. He was still looking at me, after a second he replied. "what do you mean? I am just a normal guy who likes music, a little sports."

He's multi talented.

"And what about your parents?" he looked sad at my question, and I suddenly wanted to comfort him. "my dad is a businessman, and my mom...she died when I was nine." His hands were rested on the table, I touched his knuckles with my finger and traced it. He looked at me, a little surprised. "I don't know what to say..."

I was still tracing his knuckles, it was really warm just the way I expected. He was now looking at our hands, smiling a little. "when my mom married my dad, she brought her younger sister, my aunt...Merlia. She is the mother figure for me and my siblings. She also helped my dad a lot from the trauma."
He was looking at our hands while he was speaking. "Now tell me about your home?" he asked smiling at me.

Home!

I laughed at the word. "I've never had a home..." Ryan looked really confused. "or we can put it as I never felt home at my house. I have a super messed up family. My sister Zodiac plus mom vs dad. I am not close with anyone in my family. I grew up not sharing my problems with my parents or my sisters. And that's when I got really close with Monty and Alex. I don't know how it feels to be home. Or to feel home with anyone."

I had stopped tracing his knuckles. "I don't know why I'm telling you all this." I said a second later. He was tracing my wrist now to comfort me. I looked at him and he smiled.