I'd Rather You Lie

Ch 5: Ryan

Waking up after noon was certainly a privilege that Sophie didn't have often. Opening her eyes, she yawned before dragging herself out of bed. Kimi was still asleep in her room, and since they were up talking yesterday night, Sophie didn't bother waking her up.

Once in the bathroom, Sophie stripped of her cute polka dot Minnie Mouse pyjamas and stepped into the shower. The pajamas had been her favorite because she always loved Minnie Mouse, and she didn't want to feel like she was thrown into the adult world either. Turning on the shower, Sophie nearly screamed as a jet of cold water was sprayed on her. Hissing under her breath, she aimed the nozzle elsewhere until the water heated up, allowing it to wash away all her troubles.

After finishing, Sophie tried her naturally blond hair and picked out a nice outfit for the day. It was September so it was a bit cold in the mornings, but the afternoons were still warm. Picking up a pair of ripped high-waisted jean shorts and a nice white shirt, she dressed and went to the small kitchen to grab some coffee.

As she was pouring some into a mug, a tired Kimi stumbled into the room. Her bun was still on and she seemed to want to fall back onto her bed and sleep again.

"Morning," Sophie said cheerfully.

"Morning," Kimi muttered as she yawned. "What's for breakfast?"

"I'm just making some coffee," Sophie turned back to mix in some cream and sugar into her mug. "I'm supposed to meet my boyfriend today for lunch. There basically is no more morning if we keep sleeping like this." Kimi stood there, frozen.

"Your boyfriend?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"Eh... yeah, I have a boyfriend," Sophie said. She was still a little shy talking about Noah in front of others, but he had helped her get over it. He was good-looking.

"Ok," Kimi smiled. Sophie let out a soft sigh of relief. "Can you introduce me to him? I need to see what kind of boyfriend my best friend here is seeing. If he ever hurts you, I can always go show him what happens to people I don't like, ok?" The girls laughed at Kimi's threat.

"Don't worry, he's a nice guy," Sophie giggled, thinking of how embarrassed Noah would get with Kimi questioning everything about his relationship with her.

After Kimi finally let her hair out and finished adding hair spray, the two girls set out to the boy's dorms. They hopped into Sophie's pastel blue Chevy and drove over to where Noah was staying. Sophie had texted him beforehand, so he immediately opened the door when they arrived. His roommate however, was no where to be seen.

Sophie introduced Noah to Kimi. "Noah this is Kimberly Hillsdown."

"Just call me Kimi," Kimi interrupted and the two burst out laughing at Noah's surprised face at her hyperness. Kimi may have had snuck too many sugars into her own coffee. "I'm Soph's best friend, from before she moved." Something flashed by on Noah's face, like shock, but he replaced it quickly.

"Nice to meet Kimi," Noah said politely. "I'm-"

"I know who you are," Kimi said, raising an eyebrow. "You're my cute friend's boyfriend, right?"

Noah blushed. "Yeah," he replied. "She's my girlfriend."

Sophie was gonna say something else when the door to the bathroom opened up and Ryan came out shirtless in a pair of shorts with a shirt in his hand. "Seriously Noah," he sighed, faking annoyance, as he pulled the shirt on. "You promised me you weren't the type to bring home girls everyday," he joked.

"No, you got it wrong man, this is my girlfriend Sophie and her friend," Noah laughed.

Ryan looked up, his eyes widened when he saw Sophie. "Hey, Sophie." he greeted. "Nice to see you're so helpful on campus huh? It took me at least a hour to find this room." He turned back to Noah. "She ran into me on orientation yesterday," he replied. Noah nodded his head. Ryan's eye widened even more when he looked at Kimi.

"Kimi?" he asked confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too Ryan. Didn't think I had to see your face ever again," Kimi smirked, sarcasm dripping. Almost immediately, her smile returned and she walked towards Ryan. "Heya buddy, how you liking Cali?" she asked.

"Good," he grunted. "Could've been better." Kimi smiled at that. There was sympathy in her eyes. As if remembering they weren't alone, she turned towards us.

"You guys know each other?" Noah asked, confused.

"Yep," Kimi exclaimed. "Been stuck with this ass ever since elementary school."

"You wouldn't know but my ass is actually very nice Kim-"

"Ryan shut up," Kimi laughed. "Your ego's so big it could just fly away from you any second if you don't pay attention to it."

Sophie chuckled at that one.

Noah cleared his throat. "I'm supposed to have a cute little lunch date with Sophie here if you wouldn't mind-"

"So you're gonna leave us here and let us get lost," Ryan complained, putting on his best sad face. "Sophie, your dad runs the place doesn't he? And Noah practically knows where everything is too."

Kimi read the atmosphere quickly and joined in. "And you're gonna leave us newbies to fend for ourselves in a place we've never ever been before," she sighed really exasperatedly that I burst out laughing.

"Come on," I giggles, dragging Noah's hand in mine. "Let's help them just this one day. Our first time here was also not the best was it?" I remember that day when we came to visit my father. He asked us to go hand some files to other department buildings but we wound up completely lost. I put on my best puppy dog face before he could say no.

Noah sighed but smiled. "Fine," he said. "But I want lunch first." Noah picked up his keys to the Mercedes. "Get in the car guys, we're going to Panera's."