Bastiana has a loving family, two amazing best friends, and a secret.
Over summer vacation, Bastiana and her besties do their best to focus on their bucket list in order to distract them from all the secrets they're keeping from one another. When a...
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"Ry, you've got to relax about Jax." I tell him as we walk around the store after lunch with Tiana. "I know how you feel about Tiana, but unless you're ready to tell her, then you've got to stop being so possessive of her." Ry just continues to scowl as we walk down the aisles picking up supplies for tonight and dropping them in the cart.
"I can't tell her. You know that." He says after a few minutes. "It would ruin everything."
His eyes look a little sad and lost when I glance over at him. I know what he's saying. If he puts his feelings out there and she doesn't feel the same, they won't be able to go back to how things are now. Their friendship will never be the same. He'd rather suffer loving her in silence then risk losing everything they've built over the last ten years of friendship.
I know how he feels because I constantly have the same argument with myself.
Ry knows how I feel. We've talked about it before. As much as Ry talks about anything with anyone, at least. It isn't easy for him to talk about his feelings, but occasionally he opens up to me or Tiana about things.
After the first time we talked about our feelings for her, things were tense for a little while. Tense enough that Tiana thought we were fighting, so she locked us in a closet at school and made us talk it out. Eventually we realized that we both value the friendship between the three of us too much to tell her how we feel. We stopped fighting and relaxed into our new dynamic; the one where we are hopelessly in love with her and she has no idea.
"I just can't stand when other guys put their hands on her." Ry grumbles, breaking me out of my thoughts. "In any way, but especially aggressively. He shouldn't have grabbed her like that, man."
"Maybe not, but think about it, Ry. How many times have you grabbed her wrist?" I raise an eyebrow at him. He's quiet for a moment before he responds.
"Shut up, Ash. I'd never hurt her or leave a mark." He says gruffly.
"And neither did he. You saw that for yourself." I remind him. His tense jaw relaxes slightly.
"I guess you're right." He says. "I'd still like to pummel his ass for his stunt at the river. For a second there, I could have sworn he was going to spank her." he adds. "I would have killed him with my bare hands right there." He growls.
"In front of Riggy, Car, and Dil? No way." I laugh.
"Carter would have enjoyed it. Riggy might have let me if he had spanked her." He muses. "But no, not in front of Dil. I'd never traumatize him like that."
"Okay. Good." I laugh again. "Now what do we still need?"
We stop and turn to each other while Ry takes inventory of what's already in the cart.
