Beside You

An Unwelcome Proposal

I wake up to the sun streaming through my blinds the next morning. I stretch, not opening my eyes. My bed is so warm and comfortable, but I reluctantly open my eyes. The TV is still on from the night before, displaying the Netflix menu. I grab the remote from my bedside table and turn it off. I lay in bed for a few more moments until my phone suddenly starts to ring. I grab it and look at the screen. It's Maddi. 

 "Hello?" I croak, still tired. I turn to look for Poppy, and then last night's events come back to me. After Ryder asked me for a ride home we got carried away watching the TV and we must have fallen asleep. I quickly get out of bed. "Um, hey Maddi? Is this important? Because I kind of have something that I need to deal with." That's putting it a bit lightly. 

"Yes, it's really important, it's about Brody." 

 "Oh?" I ask. Ryder begins to move and I walk farther away, hoping that it will make the problem disappear. 

 "Yeah, I don't know how to tell you this..." she stalls. 

 "Just say it, I don't have long to talk." 

 "Well... Arya and I kind of saw him kissing Ryder's sister at the party last night... and then we heard him tell her that he was going to take her to the spring formal instead of you.." she takes a deep breath, "and that you never mattered to him." She stops and we are both silent for a couple of moments. "Hadley?" 

 "Yeah?" my acknowledgement is barely even a whisper. 

 "Are you okay?"

 "Yeah... yeah I'm fine." 

 "Are you sure?" 

 "Not really, but I don't want to talk about it right now, okay?" I hang up before she has a chance to argue. 

 I now have no choice but to face the music. I turn to Ryder. He's looking at his phone. "Damn it my mom is pissed." I don't respond, I simply stand in the middle of my room in shock. He must notice, "Hads, are you okay? This isn't because of me, right?" he asks cautiously. 

 I snap out of my frozen state, which only causes my eyes to tear up. I shouldn't even care this much, Brody and I weren't actually dating or anything.I turn to Ryder and shake my head. "No, it's not because of you, believe it or not you're not the worst of my problems right now," this attempt to break the tension doesn't work on Ryder. "Come on I'll drive you home now, before my brothers see you."

 "No you won't. You're clearly upset, what's wrong? Are you sure it's not me?" 

 And that's when I break down. The tears stream down my face. Ryder quickly stands up and and wraps his arms around me, and I tuck my head under his chin. He doesn't push me to talk anymore, and I know that he's waiting for me to be ready. A few heartbeats later his phone vibrates. He doesn't let go of me as he checks it. 

 "I'm sorry Hads, my mom's here to take me to work, I have to go." I look up to see regret on his face. I'm not surprised. He probably wishes he had never even come to our house yesterday. Instead of hanging out with Grayson and Mitch he managed to get stuck comforting me after accidentally staying the night in my room. That boy must have really bad luck.

 After he leaves I spend most of the day holed up in my room. I try to focus on my homework but I'm too distracted. My phone vibrates constantly with calls and texts from Arya and Maddi, and Grayson comes up to talk to me but I send him away. I don't feel like talking to anyone. Around 6:00 I surrender to my hunger and go downstairs. I look out the window to see that my brothers' car is gone. They must have gone out with some friends. I make a sandwich and go in to the living room. From my vantage point I can see the front yard, and notice a car pull into the driveway. 

 The car parks and I see Ryder get out and come up to our front door. When I open the door Poppy rushes out behind me and weaves around his legs. She's always liked him. I sit down on our porch swing and gesture for him to sit as well. He bends down and scoops up Poppy before sitting next to me. I notice that his dark blond hair is damp, and the smell of chlorine is faint. He must have gone home and showered after his shift at the pool.

 He shifts nervously before beginning to speak. "Listen, about last night-"

 "No, it's okay you don't need to say anything. I know I should have just driven you home. I'm really sorry. I promise I didn't mean for any of it to happen." 

 "Oh, um, it's okay." He almost looks upset. He's probably just super uncomfortable. I know I am. "I heard what happened last night, at the party I'm sorry. I had no idea about Addie and Brody." 

 "I know you didn't."

 "Are you still upset?"

 "A bit. Mostly just because now I won't be able to go to the dance on Saturday."

 "If you want we could go together. I'm not going with anyone."I start to get upset again. I don't need anyone, and definitely not my brother's friend, to take me to the dance because they feel bad for me.

 "Yeah, no thanks. I'd rather not go and watch the guy who was supposed to be my date dancing with your sister. I don't need your pity." I go back in to my house and slam the door.