Below The Belt

Below The Belt- Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“What?” I asked, stunned for like the fourth time in the last five minutes. “I’m nothing like you!”

Ryan laughed dryly, “You have no friends and think everyone in our school is just a dolled up Barbie. Am I correct?”

I carried on looking at him in shock, mumbling quietly, “Where are you going with this?”

Fidgeting with my hands I waited for his answer. “I’m just saying that you are different to them, you don’t care about all the fake stuff.”

“Why does it matter, it’s not like we’re anything like each other?” I said, watching the local shops trickle past slowly, the car covering ground as we got closer to Auntie’s house.

“No, we come from two separate worlds, but we have one thing in common at least,” Ryan grunted.

I didn’t saying anything after that, my fear of him still spiking through my veins as I didn’t want to make the mistake of arguing with him and getting on his bad side. To say I was scared would be too dainty a word to use; I was more like petrified or aghast.

We parked outside the house soon after, my eyes sweeping over the 18th century town house with large Georgian glass windows, and red stone bricks. It was a tall house, not a particularly wide one, with rooms only being just less than three metres in width, but it was cosy and comfortable nevertheless.

It dawned on me, when I opened the door that Ryan had known where I lived, which in itself was odd. Turning to face Ryan, I opened my mouth, begging words to form as they had done not three minutes earlier. What came out was nothing but an exhalation of air, my hand shaking on the car door.

Ryan watched me with a confused expression, his harsh face turning to one of confusion. “You’re scared of me,” he said, coming up with an answer, his head shaking once in acceptance.

I nodded my head, even though the very fact that I was admitting I was scared of him could mean that he pinned me as an easy target.

“I guess that can’t be helped,” he shrugged, as if the fact that I was scared of him pleased him in a way.

I shied away from him as he shrugged, getting this underlying need to run to my front door. Ryan was just that intimidating. I had been used to seeing boxers, especially due to my past, but Ryan was like a flash from my memories, the toned physic and square jaw line. I hadn’t seen someone with his looks for a long time.

Running my eyes warily over him once again, I concluded that he wasn’t a boxer, but by the impression I got from him, he was definitely used to having plenty of fights, and by the looks of the ugly deformed scars that ran along his hands they were very serious.

Ryan followed my gaze as I pondered over his hands, his eyebrows coming together, showing his apprehension.

With an abrupt shake of the head, I looked away from him, gulping down the saliva in my throat. Looking back at the house I sighed, there was no way for him to get home. What was I supposed to do about Ryan now?

Ryan turned off the car, looking at me expectantly.

Taking in a gulp of breath I tried to steady my nerves, “Do you, do you want to come inside?”

Ryan flashed me a cocky grin before reaching for the door handle and getting out. “Sure.”

I nodded my head, walking around the car and up the cobble steps to the door. Bringing out the keys from my bag, I felt Ryan lingering behind me.

Opening the door, I walked into the hall, taking off my shoes and shuffling myself to the kitchen. “Do you want a drink?” I asked Ryan, watching him take off his black trainers.