Glass Jaw

Chapter 15 - Landon

Landon

How the fuck had I gotten myself roped into this one?

Fucking Tatum. I should have known when he had called to say there was an emergency that it would be bullshit. Now I was stuck babysitting Ryan until her high wore off, which could be a fucking while.

I just didn't know how to talk to someone like her. Well, I didn't really know how to talk to anyone except my friends—but especially Ryan. Her sunny outlook on literally everything was not something I could easily relate to.

Not to mention her favourite topic at the moment seemed to be my hatred for her.

It's not like I couldn't see why she'd think I hated her. It made sense. I couldn't say I particularly liked her... at least at the beginning. But it wasn't hate.

If anything, I thought it was fear. This little blonde scared the absolute shit out of me almost every time we were together. Sometimes it was the sheer amount she could talk without stopping that scared me. Other times it was the comfortable way she'd just slipped into my friend group to the point where everyone expected her to be around now. More than once I was genuinely fucking scared by my reactions around her. I did shit that just didn't make any sense.

Or sometimes it was the look she got in her eye around me.

Pretty much since I had hit puberty, women looked at me like that. Girls at school would stare innocently; mostly batting their lashes and daydreaming about some guy that I definitely was not. Even housewives and shit would do it though. Their stares were much more suggestive; like they wanted me to know what they could offer.

I didn't think Ryan even realized when she was doing it. From everything I'd heard so far, I didn't think the girl had that much... experience. Whatever. Maybe she was a late bloomer. It obviously wasn't going to be from a lack of offers. It wasn't like I thought she liked me seriously. In fact, there were a few times I genuinely pissed her right off. But I could see it there still. The interest. The soft malleable trust that could so easily be formed.

Every time she did it, I had to force myself down. It would be so easy to lean in and take advantage of her naivety. A few nice words, maybe a real smile, and she'd warm right up to me. It's not like she wasn't attractive. She was more than attractive—she was interesting. She was so damn animated watching her was like its own show.

That was why I'd sat next to her in Geomorphology. It was a moment of stupidity when I'd caught sight of her. I guess I was a weaker man than I'd thought because one look at that short dress and wild hair had made me beeline for the spot next to her. It wasn't until I got too close to turn away that I noticed the nervous fidgeting and darting eyes. She was clearly not my type.

Men like me destroyed women like Ryan.

Ryan was so obsessed with why I wasn't nice to her... the nicest thing I could do was leave her the fuck alone.

But it wasn't like I could right this second anyway.

The doorbell rang as I was flipping through channels, trying to find a show to distract Ryan. A part of me hoped that the tv might make her tired because then she could sleep off the rest of her high.

"Pizzas here!" she sang as she stood up and raced for the door. I'd barely sat up and she already had it swung open and was beaming at the delivery driver.

The delivery driver, a kid who couldn't have been older than a senior in high school, did a double-take at Ryan as he read the receipt.

"Hey, It's twenty-one bucks with delivery," he said as his eyes boldly swept over Ryan.