Red Is Your Color

CHAPTER 21: wonky feelings

At school on Tuesday was the day I came to the scary conclusion.

Did I want to fake date Ryder any more was the question I asked my self after.

The answer? No.

I know this seems like the weirdest way to come to the conclusion that you like someone, but... on Tuesday morning I woke up with the most pain and worst cramps I've just about ever had. I immediately decided there was no way I was going to school and my parents left for work and now I was here alone dying for an advil. Anything to try to help the pain. 

It's only when my phone rings followed by the doorbell is when I realize I'd forgotten to tell Ryder I wasn't tagging along with him to school. 

"Hey caramel, you sleep in my accident?" His raspy morning voice comes through the phone lightening my mood. 

"More like purposefully slept in, I'm not coming to school this week, shark weeks pretty bad..."

He processes what I said then whispers some sort of cuss and then says "can I come in?" 

I contemplate, "I mean you can but you need to go to school and I look-" before I can finish the phone hangs up and I hear the front door open and close. Followed by footsteps and my bedroom door opening up. 

How does he always look beautiful even at eight in the morning.

His face softens when he comes over to me and crouches down by his bed and brushes my hair from my face. "Hey princess how are you feeling?" I lean into his hand with a groan, "not great."

"How about I go grab you everything you need and come right back and we stay here and watch movies all day?" He grins.

I smile, "that sounds amazing but, you need to go to school amor," I take his hand from my hair and kiss the top of it. 

I can't help but notice the tinge of pink that shadows his cheeks, "don't worry about me, let me take care of you, okay?" 

I smile, "okay."

He kisses my forehead saying he'll be right back and I decide to at least wash my face and brush my teeth. He comes back into the room holding a glass and some advil, "thought I'd get you this before you left." 

I take it from him, "your the best."

"Anything yup for you, now go get your rest I'll be back," he tells me again and leaves this time. 

I'm not sure if it's because I'm emotional or that I'm genuinely thinking, I decided that right now is when I want to talk with Lane.

I sit up straight and take a deep breath and press on the unblock button and watch all the hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of messages come through. 

I click call before I can regret it.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

By the fourth ring I debate on giving up but that's when she picks up, "Caroline?" She says breathlessly.

"Hi," is all I manage to say.

"Are you okay? Your not at school nor is Ryder- did something happen? and your calling me...are you sure your o-"

"Lane! Breathe!" I say and she takes a long deep breath and lets it out. Lane used to ramble a lot any time she was stressed or nervous. I guess she still does.

"I'm sorry Caroline..."

"About what the rambling or..."

"Both, why'd you call?" She sounds nervous.

"I, I wanted to give you the chance to talk, I want to hear what you have to say, I want everything to be okay with me before I go further with my relationship," I release the words all at once.

"Yes, of course, okay, when do you want to meet?" 

"Tomorrow at five at the old creek," I tell her.

"Yes ma'am! I'll be there, bye Caroline, it's nice to hear your voice," she says.

"Bye Lane."

I hang up and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and sit there in thought for a bit. About seven minutes later I hear the door open and clothes followed by footsteps and there's he appears in the door way looking from the bags in his hands up at me with a worried smile on his face.

"hey beautiful are you feeling any better? I got you some stuff, well everything I could think of, I have a mom and a sister so I knew most of the stuff but if you need anything else just let me know okay?" He says coming over to me and I pat the spot next to me on my bed.

He sits down and holds open the plastic bags, "so I got popcorn, extra advil, heating pad, some water, and four types of chocolate I wasn't sure which you'd like more, so, I just grabbed some I'd seen you eating before and some others that looked good," he lets out a breath and looks at me, "do you need anything else?"

I grin and nod and I cup my hand on his jaw bringing his lips to mine, he's shocked but kisses me back softly. I bring my head away with a smile and rest it against his chest and hug my arm around his torso, "thats everything I needed, thank you, your perfect."

He freezes for a second and then wraps his arm around me and uses his other hand to turn a movie on my TV. "The notebook please," I ask. He obliges and turns on the movie then put his other arm around me and kisses the top of my head. 

...

The movies almost over when I hear a faint snore and pick my head up to look at his sleeping figure. I smile, I smile at how his brows and face look so peaceful as he sleeps, I smile at how his nose is so perfectly shaped, how his strong dimples in his face, and run my hand through his floppy brown hair falling over his face. 

His eyes flutter a bit before opening, I'm about to remove my hand when he holds it there, "it feels nice." I smile at him, "your feeling better?"

Truth was, I was in so much pain. But he numbed it. I nod and tilt my head, "how are you so perfect?"

He furrows his eyebrows confused, "what do you mean?" I grin, "I mean what I say silly"

"You seem happy for someone in so much pain," he says confused. 

I kiss his head then his nose then his cheek and finally peck his lips and look back at him with a smile, "it's you, you make me feel...wonky."

He gives me a boyish grin dimples and all, "I'm going to take that as a good thing seeing you kissed me four times."

And now I'm here. To the moment I've realized that I, Caroline Campbell, am entirely infuriatingly in love with Ryder Rhodes.