The Quirky Tale of April Hale (Quirky Series #1)

6. Being Inside the Friendzone is a Positive Thing, Right?

6. Being Inside the Friendzone is a Positive Thing, Right?

"That is a really nice bird," I couldn't keep my eyes off Ryder's chest. 

Ryder chuckled amusedly, and then, to my horror, edged closer to my direction.

"Whoa, man. Back off her," right before Ryder's elbow brushed against mine, Andrew yanked him on the shoulder. He jerked his hand immediately after he touched Ryder's shoulder. "Yuck. Have you ever heard of a shower?"

"Have you ever heard of a real fist-to-fist fight?" Ryder shot back. 

"And put on a shirt, goddamn it. You're making April uncomfortable."

I was actually pretty okay with it, since Ryder's tattoos kept me busy from freaking out over the fact that I was less than one meter away from a shirtless guy. But then again, I had this theory that Andrew would combust if I told him the truth.

"In case you're going blind, idiot, my shirt was gone when I was fighting." Ryder answered, his sides moved, giving an illusion that the steampunk gear tattoos inked on his skin was moving, too.

I stared, transfixed. Maybe if I begged hard enough, my mother would let me have a gear inked on my ribs, too.

"Eyes up here, Kitten," Ryder told me, his fingers pointed at his eyes and I bowed my head so low because I couldn't handle looking straight to his eyes at such close proximity. "So tell me again, how did you two end up in that place?"

Andrew's grip on the steer tightened as his face blushed red. It really was unfortunate to have Andrew's coloring because he blushed easily and his naturally pale skin allowed people to see how embarrassed he was at times, which embarrassed him even more. 

"We got lost," he said in a small voice.

"Were you two on a date or something?"

"No, we were just from school."

Ryder snorted a laugh, and after a while, he didn't bother suppressing the explosions of laughter at our blunder. "What the hell? Seriously?"

"Fuck you, Ryder!" Andrew started swearing again, another sure sign of his exasperation. "It's the first time I drive, okay? You don't need to be such a douche about it."

"How come you didn't know your way home?" Ryder asked me, but not before giving Andrew his middle finger.

"I have zero sense of direction," I answered truthfully. "And my phone died."

"How about you?" Andrew finally spoke without an ominous tone towards Ryder. "How did you end up in that place?"

"I thought word had come out that I'm an underground fighter."

"Show off bastard," Andrew muttered.

Maybe Andrew thought that being a fighter made Ryder 'hotter' than he actually was, but it did nothing to me. I didn't like violence at all. I was never a fan. I inched away from Ryder as once again I was reminded by his nakedness and the amount of bruises that his body sustained. There were more ink and bruises than skin on his torso, and although I knew a lot of girls dig this kind of look, I just felt weird about it. 

"It must hurt a lot," I observed the particularly huge bruise on his shoulder blade.

Ryder shrugged. "Not really."

"Okay, enough trying to look cool, Ryder," Andrew took a long exhale, before then he started lifting up his shirt. It took him a few tries because he was doing it in amidst of driving and for a moment there I thought that we were going to die because he took his eyes off the road for 2,89 second. I started stuffing fingers inside my mouth as Andrew's shirt was completely taken off.