Bound to You

Chapter 14: Girlfriends

“Doritos?” “Check.” “Drinks?” “Check.” “Pizza?” “Still in the oven. So…check.” “Icecream?” “Vanilla for you, mint chocolate for me, cookie dough for Mack, and chocolate chip for Breanne, check.” Rydel beamed and looked around the kitchen excitedly. “I think we’re ready for tonight!” “And what’s tonight?” Rocky asked as he came strolling into the kitchen. “Ooh, icecream.” He eagerly reached for one of the four containers. Rydel immediately swatted his hand with the spatula she was holding. “We’re having a girls’ night with Breanne and Mack. And no, you aren’t invited.” She crossed the kitchen and opened up the oven door. She carefully lifted up the edge of the pizza with the spatula. “Golden brown. Darce, hand me a mitt please.” Darcy handed her an oven mitt and turned back to Rocky. “And no stealing Breanne away from us. This is my night to convince them that I’m head over heels for Ross.” She said sternly. Rocky sighed and hopped up to sit on the countertop. “Was this on your schedule thing or something?” he asked curiously. Rydel shook her head as she pulled the pizza from the oven. “No, this was Darcy’s idea. Breanne and Mack spend so much time with us they need to believe the story just as wholeheartedly as the rest of the world does. And since Darcy still has a long time left with us, she needs to feel comfortable around them.” Rocky nodded and looked back over at Darcy. “Smart. Very smart. Although it could just be an excuse to eat junk food all night.” He teased. Darcy shrugged as she popped a Dorito into her mouth. “Maybe.” Rydel laid the pizza down on the countertop and turned to Rocky. “Now, OUT. Mack and Breanne will be here any minute.” She smacked his leg with the spatula. “Ow! Dang Rydel, that thing’s still hot!” he cried. He hopped down from the counter and narrowly avoided another pop from the spatula as he ducked into the living room. “And if I see any of you touch this pizza you’re dead!” she called out to the rest of the house.  

**  

“Okay…first kisses. Breanne, you first.” Mackenzie said giddily. Breanne groaned and threw her head back to look at the ceiling. “Why me? Okay…I was 15. And it was with my first boyfriend Jackson. Who I’d rather not talk about because he was a jerk. Mack?” She turned to look at Mackenzie. Mackenzie looked shyly down at the carpet. “I was fifteen too. And it was actually with Ryland.” She said quietly. “Awwwh!” Darcy and Rydel chorused. Mackenzie blushed. “Oh hush guys. Darcy, your turn.” All three girls stared expectantly at Darcy. She toyed with a strand of her ginger hair as she contemplated her answer. She didn’t see any harm in being truthful. After all, Ross HADN’T been her first kiss. “Mine was with a really close guy friend named Chris. We kind sorta thought we had feelings for each other. We ended up deciding to stay friends after all and it was definitely for the better. And I was 17.” Breanne leaned forward eagerly. “So if you guys didn’t date, does that make Ross your first actual boyfriend?” she asked curiously. Darcy immediately slipped into her acting-mode. She knew when she could be truthful with the girls and when she needed to act. To put on a show. “Yeah, he is.” She said, smiling happily. Truthfully, Ross wasn’t her first boyfriend. If you weren’t counting the fact that he wasn’t actually her ‘boyfriend’ at all. She’d dated a couple of guys at Julliard throughout the few years she was there. Nothing serious though. She was still searching for that one guy. The one that would make her forget all the rest. The one that would give her butterflies with every touch. She was looking for…sparks. She immediately snapped back to reality when she realized she’d zoned out. Breanne and Mackenzie had turned their attention to Rydel. “So, Delly, are we skipping over you for this question? Or do you have anything you’d like to share?” Mackenzie joked. Rydel’s cheeks flushed pink. She looked down at her lap. “You can skip over me.” She mumbled. Darcy’s jaw dropped. “Rydel Mary Lynch…is there something you’d like to tell us?!” she cried. Rydel shook her head furiously. “No, nothing at all.” She said quietly. Breanne squealed. “Rydel! Spill it, right now!” she demanded. Rydel looked up slowly. She was biting her lip to keep from smiling. Darcy squealed as well and smacked Rydel’s leg excitedly. “Oh my God! It was Ell wasn’t it?! Wasn’t it??” Rydel couldn’t stop the huge grin that was slowly spreading across her face. “I can neither confirm nor deny-” she began jokingly. “OH MY GOD!” Breanne and Mackenzie chorused, cutting her off mid-sentence. Darcy scooted closer to her. “I knew there was something going on! When!? Where??” She asked excitedly. Rydel giggled and gestured for the other two to scoot closer as well. “Okay so it was about a week ago. We were just hanging out over at his place like we usually do, you know. Well I don’t know what happened but we were sitting on the couch talking and all of a sudden we just kind of…looked at each other. And the next thing I knew…we were kissing!” she finished giddily. Both Mackenzie and Breanne squealed excitedly again. “So what’s your…status? Are you guys together?” Breanne asked. Rydel shrugged. “We’re just waiting to see where things go. We don’t want to rush into anything we aren’t ready for. And nobody, NOBODY, knows besides you three so please don’t mention anything to Rocky or Ryland. Or Ross.” She added quickly, nearly forgetting that the other two girls thought Darcy and Ross really were an item. Darcy nodded solemnly, playing along. Truthfully if she were to tell anyone, it’d be Riker. They were pretty much together anytime she wasn’t with Ross, ever since that first night on the rooftop. She had bonded with him more quickly than she had any of the others, even Rydel. They had that connection that you only ever find with a few people in life. She wondered if it were too soon to consider him her best friend. She couldn’t think of any other title for what they had. They had only really been friends for a few weeks now, but she already felt like she could tell him anything. And she had. They’d spent many a night talking, just talking, after the others had gone to bed. “Wait…awwh!” Mackenzie said suddenly. Rydel looked over at her. “What?” she asked. Mackenzie gestured to the four of them sitting around in a circle. “Rocky has Breanne. I’m with Ryland. Ross has Darcy and now Ellington may have you, Rydel. But what about Riker? He’s going to be the only single guy in R5.” She said, looking genuinely concerned over Riker’s bachelor status. Breanne poked out her lower lip. “Awh that’s true! We need to set Riker up on a date. Poor guy’s probably so lonely, what with his brothers out with their girls all the time.” Mackenzie nodded excitedly. “Hey, what about my cousin Kayla? She’s about his age. And she’s a bit of an R5 fan too.” Darcy felt a tiny, unidentifiable feeling stir somewhere deep inside of her at the mention of Riker being set up on a date. She knew it was selfish, but she didn’t want to share. She liked that Riker was single. It gave him time to spend with her. And it wasn’t like she was being hypocritical; she was single too. Technically. She felt a gentle nudge on her arm. She snapped out of her reverie and looked over; Breanne was smiling happily at her. “So, Darcy, tell us about Ross! Since this is the first time Mack & I are actually getting to speak to you.” She said eagerly. Darcy laughed shyly and shrugged. “What’s there to tell? He’s…Ross.” She joked. Mackenzie rolled her eyes playfully. “Duh. Tell us about you guys! You’re so cute together.” She gushed. Darcy laughed again, frantically wracking her brain for something to tell them about her ‘relationship’. What was there to say?? “Umm…well Ross always likes to cuddle when we watch scary movies.” She lied quickly. Breanne and Mack both laughed. “It’s true. I think he asks to watch them just so they can snuggle.” Rydel interjected, playing along with Darcy’s improvised comment. Breanne smiled over at Darcy. “Well I’m glad I’m finally not the only one in the girlfriend club that’s older than my guy.” She said gratefully. Darcy gave her a puzzled look. “You’re older than Rocky?” she asked confusedly. Breanne nodded. “Oh yeah. You didn’t know that? I’m twenty-one. I know I don’t look like it.” She laughed. Darcy quickly held up her hand for a high-five, thinking on her feet. “Oh hey! Two year gap. Join the club.” She joked as Breanne reached over to slap her hand. Mackenzie extended her hand towards Rydel. “Not-a-cougar club, high five!” she teased. Breanne playfully smacked Mackenzie with the pillow lying in her lap. Almost as if on cue, Ross threw open Rydel’s bedroom door and came strolling in. “Sorry to interrupt ladies. Darce, I’m off to Ellington’s house for the night with Rocky. I’ll see you in the morning.” He quickly leaned down and pecked her lips. “Have fun!” she called as he jogged back across the room and out the door, leaving it swinging open behind him. “Oh so Rocky isn’t going to come give me a goodbye kiss?? I see how it is!” Breanne called out the door. Seconds later Rocky came running into the room. “So needy.” He teased as he yanked her to her feet. “Oh I’ll show you what ‘needy’ is when I don’t kiss you for three weeks.” she threatened. He grinned as he leaned in and pecked her lips. “You would never.” He said smugly before turning around and running back out of the room. She rolled her eyes as she sat back down on the floor next to Darcy. “I love you!” he yelled as he jogged down the stairs. “I love you too!” she called back. Darcy smiled at the giddy sparkle in Breanne’s eyes. It made her a tiny bit envious that she was only a fake member of the ‘girlfriend club’. She didn’t truly have what Breanne, Mack, and now Rydel had. Rydel gestured towards the door that was still swinging wide open. “Who wants to get up and shut the door? Not it.” She joked. Darcy laughed and quickly got to her feet. “I’ll get it. I was going to go down to the kitchen and get a drink anyways. She quickly crossed the room and shut the door behind her before making her way down the stairs to the kitchen. Riker was standing beside the stove, munching on a piece of the homemade pizza she and Rydel had made earlier. He quickly put his finger to his lips when he saw Darcy step into the room. “Don’t tell Rydel.” He whispered. She laughed and playfully crossed the spot over her heart with her finger. “Your secret is safe with me.” She assured him. She pulled a can of soda out of the fridge and hopped up onto the countertop next to where he stood. “So, fair warning. I think the girls may be planning to set you up on a date.” She said quietly, just in case anyone was listening. Riker stopped eating for a moment and turned to look at her. “Seriously? Who with?” he asked. She shrugged and took a sip from her Coke. “I think Mack mentioned something about a cousin. Or maybe it was Breanne. I don’t know.” Riker sighed and tossed his pizza crust into the trashcan. “I don’t like that.” He said finally. Darcy cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “What, the crust? I don’t either.”  Riker laughed and shook his head. “No, not that. Being set up. I don’t like it. There’s something so…forced about it. Not always, I mean one of Ryland’s friends asked him to tag along on a double date once with his girlfriend and her sister, which happened to be Mackenzie. That’s how they met. But I just…I don’t know. I kind of like the idea of meeting someone naturally. You know, bumping into someone on the street, meeting someone at a coffee shop. Or even when you’re friends first and you discover that you have that….that…” “Spark?” Darcy finished for him. He nodded. “Exactly. Sparks.” He said quietly. They both remained silent for a few moments. He finally turned back to look at her. “Oh by the way…I finally figured out what I’m going to do to make everything up to you. For being the world’s biggest jerk when you first moved in.” He grinned excitedly. Darcy smiled as well. “And what’s that?” she asked eagerly. He rested his arms against the countertop and leaned in closer. “How do you feel about surfing lessons?”