Save Just One Life

Chapter 6

"You mean this was all a prank?" Alice asks in disbelief.

Neither Ryder or I can answer her we are laughing so hard.

"Ryder, you son of a Bitch, how could you scare me like that?!?" Alice screams at him, and then turns to me "And why you ever decided you'd go along with it, I have no idea, but I can assure you that if you're doing it because you like Ryder then you won't get further than one night. Ryder is the biggest player I know, even Anton says he is!"

Ryder stops laughing as suddenly as he started and I take the hint and stop too.

"That's right" Alice says triumphantly "Leave him now, you'll be better off."

"Shut up, Alice!" Ryder launches himself at her but she dives to one side and he ends up head butting the couch.

"Why?" Alice taunts "Because you actually like this girl? You don't want her to know that you're a player? Well trust me, you will always be a player!"

"What's a player?"

We all spin around at the sound of Alfie's little voice.

Alice turns back to me in shock and disbelief "It wasn't a prank?" She whispers.

"Hey, Little Tyke, you wanna go back to your room and Storm will be there in a second?" Ryder says to Alfie.

Alfie shakes his head and walks over to me. Ryder comes around and joins us.

"Was this a prank or not?" Alice hisses, practically seething.

"It was a prank" Ryder confirms. Alice's shoulders relax a bit.

"But who's that?" She jabs a finger in Alfie's direction.

"My new room mates adopted son." Ryder says.

"Oh" Alice bites her lip then whispers something to Anton, who I'm presuming is her fiance.

He grins and nods and Alice smiles at us.

"I'm sorry about my outburst." She smiles at me "It's a pleasure to meet you"

I start to say something back but before I can the door bangs open and two girls enter.

"I'm back, bitches!" One of them, the blonde one, yells.

"Oh God, she watched Pitch Perfect" Ryder groans.

"Not my fault" The girl with bright pink hair holds up her hands in surrender, then she sees me "Hey, who's this?" She asks.

Ryder starts to say something but Alice pinches his arm from behind and starts talking as he yelps in surprise.

"You'll never believe it, Natalie. She came to find him to tell him she needed money for her son, because apparently he is the father."

"Oh my God!" Natalie squeals "You have a son, Ryder! That's amazing! Now you can put all those commitment issues behind you and start-"

"He's not my son" Ryder says in an exasperated tone "He's my new room mates adopted son."

"Oh" Natalie looks utterly disappointed until she suddenly seems to get an idea "Can your new room mate join our group? And then I can baby sit her son whenever she wants, like when you two are out on dates and when you're doing stuff that isn't suitable for children and-"

"Natalie! My new room mate is right here!" Ryder cries, "And her son is- hey, where did he go?"

"He's really shy" I say "He'll be in his room."

"Oh, well, can I go meet him?" Natalie asks excitedly.

"Maybe later, he's been through a lot lately and is probably a bit overwhelmed." I glance at Ryder "I think I'll go check on him."