Unexpected Love

chapter 4: Barbie.

Loren

My hand reached out to the drink Sierra gave me. I do not wanna be sober to talk about this. We sat on the couch of Avery's living room thankfully there were not a lot of people here.

"So are you okay lo?" Sierra touched my hand and I looked at her. Trying to see how can I explain this to her without making myself look weak.
I sighed and said "I'm fine it's just i didn't know college was gonna be hard."
She gave me a small smile and said "it's only hard if you let people like avery get to you."

I smiled back and looked down before finally telling her "idk how to say this but I've been bullied a lot when I was a child and I never could defend myself properly. As an adult i still sometimes struggle with that. Like I'll think of responses after the argument is over. And frankly sometimes i Just stay quiet not because I'm scared but because I don't wanna stoop to their level it's just better to not ruin your peace."
I looked at her and she was listening to me patiently with her brown eyes staring at me and her smile upside down like she was feeling sad for me.

She finally said " you're too good for this world lo." She touched my hand and said "these people don't deserve your time and energy. And you're strong man for not only having the guts to share this with me but also for standing up for yourself even if you're quite. You know what they say actions speak louder than words."

I almost teared up listening to her and she pulled me in for a hug "you ever find any avery like that take the high road but if you're feeling bold give them a piece of your mind too so they know not to mess with you. And I can help you in that. I'm here with you okay."

I chuckled and pulled back "Me too." I am so glad I could finally share this with someone it felt as if a huge weight had been taken off of me and i finally felt free.

🎀

I was finally feeling a bit better. I picked up another beer from the table i think this was my second shot. I leaned over the small table to take a sip the warm liquid burning it's way done my throat.

I looked around and i saw Ryder at another table also standing alone at one of these tables drinking alone like me. I wondered why he wasn't near his girlfriend or whatever.

He probably saw me staring and he also removed his eyes from the beer and looked at me. Neither of us moved instead we just stared at each other for a few mins and i realised because I was leaning over the table Ryder had the perfect view of my revealing top but he wasn't looking at my chest even once he was looking straight at my eyes until he finally started walking towards me.

I rolled my eyes when he started walking towards me as if i didn't want him to come here. I knew i shouldn't want him but I think the prospect of i shouldn't want him is making me want him more. It's almost exciting in a way.
"Are you this obsessed me?" I said

He raised his eyebrows at me and kept his hands on the table brushing with my hand. The feather light touch was enough to let fireworks in my arms.
"I'm not obsessed I'm concerned. There's a difference."
"And you wanna enlighten me on what you're concerned about?"
"You obviously." He said that and took a sip of his drink. I shouldn't look at his lips. Nope. Before i could reply he said
"So what's with the Barbie theme?"

Red crept into my face As i looked at my clothes it did indeed look like that. Exactly what Sierra said.

"Why? Is it too distracting for you?" I said it as a joke but Ryder Rothwell's cheeks became red. And I saw him swallow. He gets embarassed also? Omg this guy has emotions after all.

He waved his hands like trying to defend and said "no it might be distracting for other men tho."
When I rolled my eyes again he cleared his throat "you're not my type."

That part made me look at him and I said "well good to know because I would hate knowing the most hated person on the campus having a crush on me." I didn't believe my words after it came out. Maybe the alcohol was bringing out my bold side.

I heard a chuckle from his side and he looked at me this time with sincere eyes
"So you okay? You kinda looked like you wanted to kill me after I saw you in the bathroom."

I shifted myself cuz I was embarassed that he noticed that. I was still kinda mad that the whole reason I cried was because of his girlfriend. "I am fine it's just my hormones are going crazy."

His eyes got bigger and he said "oh. Um. Okay. But why did you cry though?"

Oh idk because your girlfriend thought it was a good idea to invite me to her party then insult me in the next 2 mins.
Am I seriously about to open my secret to Ryder Rothwell god what has my life becomed?
I mentally made faces and then i finally took a deep breath and said "idk someone said something to me and sometimes I'm just not able to defend myself and it sucks." He listened to me sincerely as i continued " I've always had this problem since childhood and Frankly i don't even know why I started crying" i almost thought i was gonna cry again and then suddenly i felt warm hands over my hand. He was holding my hand and he said " hey don't cry again. I want you to know that being emotional is a gift because you're gonna feel so much more than others but it also means that you'll live a life that is emotionally rich and beautiful."

We looked at eachother as he said that to me i might start crying again because that was the sweetest thing someone might have said to me. I never imagined him to have you know deeper thoughts than bikes, girls but wait I mean he did take psychology i forgot. I squeezed his hand as a gesture of thank you and smiled at him.

Suddenly I heard the sound of glass breaking that broke our moment and i came to my senses that why was I having a moment with Ryder. I removed my hand from his and stood up. I got chills in my arms when I started hearing my name from the same way I heard the sound of glass breaking.