Dance in the Rain

D.I.T.R. - 23

“Des, what were you planning to do to finish school?” Chase asked from next to me on the couch, a plate of pizza resting on his lap. We were watching some boring TV show because there wasn’t much on. It was only Chase and I home tonight because everyone had gone out somewhere and Chase had offered to stay home and help me with Cole, Daniella and Penelope, my niece. They were all happily asleep upstairs and Chase and I were listening out to the radio that had a microphone in the kid’s room.

“I have no idea.” I answered truthfully. I turned to look at him from the screen that was now playing adverts, “I was thinking of finishing my classes online. I’m not sure what to do next year. I really want to finish school and go to uni and stuff but I don’t want Danni and Cole growing up in child care.” I sighed and grabbed mine and Chase’s empty plates, putting them in the kitchen to rinse them. I heard Chase come in behind me and open the fridge, probably to get another beer. I heard bottle clanking and was right; Chase was holding one out for me when I turned around after putting the plates in the dishwasher,

“Come on, just one drink. I know you’re only seventeen but when has that ever stopped you?” Chase had his eyebrows raised and nudged me with the stubbies neck. I sighed and grabbed the bottle, opening the lid and taking a swig while giving Chase an ‘are you happy now?’ face. He just smiled and walked back into the living room, his beer in his hand. I walked into the room and sighed when I heard Penelope crying through the radio thing,

“Don’t worry about it, I got it.” Chase said and walked out of the room and up the stairs. My phone rang and I walked over to it. I picked it up and saw that it was Ryan calling. Huh, he hasn’t talked to me since that day Hayden got arrested and taken to prison. He had showed up without anyone knowing and when Dez got knocked out, he wouldn’t let me call the cops. Luckily Drake had punched him in the face. After that, they took Ryan to the station to get him checked out but they had no evidence or anything so they let him go with a mild warning. Thinking of Drake didn’t hurt like it did nine months ago when he’d left and cut all contact.

I answered it, “Hello?”

“Hey, Dez, it’s Ryan. I was just wondering...” He trailed off, “Do you wanna meet up somewhere? I need to talk to you about something,” It sounded as if he changed his mind from wondering about something to wanting to meet up.

“Yeah, sure,” I answered hesitantly. I’m sure you’d be hesitant too if someone who claimed to love you stopped you from calling someone when someone gets kidnapped. And then he up and leaves for almost ten months with no contact.

“Are you busy now?” Ryan asked eagerly.

“No, not really but don’t you think it’s a little late?” I looked at the clock on the wall above one of the couches, saying it was eight thirty.

“Well do you want me to come over? I heard you’d moved houses. Text me the address and I’ll be there as soon as possible.” He replied.

“Okay then,” I sighed and hung up, texting him our address.

I went back into the living room and saw that Chase was asleep on the couch, Penny sleeping on his chest. They looked adorable and I couldn’t help but go to Benny’s room to get his massive expensive photography camera. I snapped a couple of pictures of them and they didn’t turn out that bad. I decided to take a couple more pictures of stuff around the house and what seemed like seconds later, the doorbell rung. I put his camera away before I broke it and ran to the front door, opening it to see Ryan looking completely different.

His blonde swept hair was short and kind of spiky. He’d dyed it black and it suited him a lot. His boyish features had matured and he looked manlier than he did before. He smiled at me, showing his perfectly white, straight teeth and pulled me into a hug,