Another Tomorrow

Chapter 13

Thirteen

                “Elyse, are you staying for dinner?” Mrs. Jameson called from downstairs.

                I forced my lips to break away from Ryder’s to answer his mother’s question. “Sure, thanks!” I replied, feeling relieved that she didn’t decide to open Ryder’s door this time. I had no idea what she would say if she saw us kissing, especially while I was straddling her son’s lap in the chair we were on.

                I turned back to face Ryder, still unmoving from our suggestive position. “Do you feel bad that we haven’t told your mom anything?” I asked him.

                “No, there’s nothing to tell. We’re still just friends, remember?” he replied as he repeatedly looked down at my lips as a sign he wanted to smother them with his own. When his eyes glanced up at mine, he stopped himself from connecting our lips. “Why, do you feel bad?”

                I paused, thinking it over. Originally I felt a little dishonest in not telling anyone about my special kind of relationship with Ryder. But when I really thought about it, I decided that it was nobody’s business but ours. Plus, there wasn’t much to tell other than we were simply friends who occasionally made out when we had the chance to.

                I shook my head and smiled. “Nope.”

                “Good,” he said, practically against my own lips as he started kissing me again.

                Although I labeled all of my relationships in the past, for once it felt right to not label what we were as anything more than friends. Maybe that was why my past relationships were all failures. Perhaps I was doing it all wrong before. I’d just have to make sure not to screw this up with Ryder.

                “Okay, what are you thinking about?” Ryder asked suddenly, breaking away from me.

                I looked at him wide eyed. “Nothing,” I said. I couldn’t tell him I was thinking about him in terms of a relationship. I was already afraid that my feelings for him were much more significant than his feelings for me. Therefore, I didn’t want to scare him off by saying the wrong thing.

                “Just tell me, Elyse.”

                He was calm now, but I guessed that wouldn’t last long. “I was just thinking of what Trevor was planning. He wasn’t at school today, and he never misses school.”

                “He’s probably sick,” Ryder suggested.

                I shook my head. It was the Monday after his car was destroyed by us. I knew he’d be pissed to no end. There was no way he was sick today; he had to be planning something. And what if he knew it was us?

                “Do you think he knows it was us? What if he finds out? Things will get so much worse and—“

                Ryder cut me off with a chaste kiss. “You worry too much, Huntington. He doesn’t know it was us. It could’ve been any number of the students he bullies on a daily basis.”

                I nodded, trying to convince myself that Ryder was right. Knowing what Trevor might do in retaliation, I hoped for both our sakes that he was right.

                “Dinner is ready!” Mrs. Jameson announced loudly.

                I moved off of Ryder and started for the door, until he gently grabbed my arm and turned me to face him. He brought me close to him, so I was flush against his body, and rested his other hand on my lower back.