Passive Smoking

Chapter 12

Shay POV

I woke up with a killer headache and thirst from the hazy night I just had. I groaned and opened my eyes, realizing I was in my bathroom with sleepy Ryder next to me. I couldn't help but to look at him with a grin, admiring his fit body yet soft, cuddly nature. He truly was amazing, and I've liked him for as long as I could remember. He always just seemed so nice and no one ever had anything negative to say about him. But in staring at him, I almost forgot that today must have been Tuesday meaning we had school.

I looked around for a clock and saw his phone loosely hanging out of his jean pocket. I grabbed it and saw apparently the time was 11:21.

We were massively late.

I shook Ryder to wake him up. His eyes opened, showing off the beautiful ocean within them, I almost got lost in them, forgetting what I was about to say.

"R-Ryder, we gotta get up. We are late to school." I tell him.

"What time is it?" He says in a low, husky voice, making my heart skip a beat. I swallow hard.

"11:21." I said.

"Oh school's already in. There's no point in going." He objects. If it were anyone else and I wasn't so painfully hungover, I might have argued. But in this instance, I sided with Ryder.

"You're right." I finally say. He gets up off the ground we had apparently slept on and stretched, showing off his sexy, highly defined back muscles through his tight shirt. He looked back at me.

"You got anything for breakfast?" He asked, the grogginess beginning to fade from his voice.

"Uh yeah, in the kitchen." I get up too and lead the way. I walked up to a cabinet and opened it, revealing three cereals.

"Do you want Cheerios, Lucky Charms, or Frosted Flakes?" I asked.

"Lucky Charms." He said, back to a regular tone.

I grabbed what he asks as well as the Frosted Flakes for myself and head over to him when my head pounds. I become heavily disoriented; I grunt and hold onto the counter for support as my knees get weak. He rushes over and steadies me.

"You alright?" He asks, worry in his eyes.

"Yeah my head's just...ow." It pounds again and the room spins around me. Then it all stops and it goes back to normal, and by normal I mean still with the worst headache of my life.

"You got pretty hammered last night." Ryder chuckles.

"Thanks I couldn't tell." I grab the milk from the fridge and sit down at the table, passing him his cereal of choice. I pour everything in and begin eating. Then Ryder asks something.

"What do you remember about last night?"

"Absolutely nothing. I remember..." I strain my memory. "I remember dancing and throwing up."

"Why, did I do anything embarrassing?" I ask him.

"N-no." He suddenly goes silent and I question if he's telling the truth. Then he picks back up. "Though, your dance moves weren't great." He forces a chuckle.

"I was drunk okay?" I play along and laugh too. "Doesn't exactly help coordination." Then it all falls quiet again. I try to think about last night. What could I have done to make things so awkward between us? And just when I thought we were really friends as well.

He coughs, the kind of cough that proves the stale air floating around us. I stayed silent, thinking of how to address the tension. I finally muster up the confidence to ask him just that.

"What did I do last night?" I demand.

"What do you mean?" He stated. I couldn't but to roll my eyes and smile slightly.

"You know exactly what I mean.Things are awkward so I must have done something to warrant it."

"You didn't do anything.I promise." We stared at each other for a few seconds, a bit of a face-off, you could say.I could tell he was hiding something.

"You're lying."

"I don't lie." He says with a smile, but a hint of seriousness as well.

"You must do. You're Ryder Westbrook. With more girlfriends than your jersey number." I remember back to all of the girls hitting him up on his phone and the sick feeling from then returns to me even now. I shake it away and continue. "You have to have played so many girls."

"I don't lie to people. It's just not cool. Especially not to someone as great as you." He smiles charmingly. I was flattered.

Silence falls again, but a much more comfortable one. One filled with the clanking of spoons against ceramic bowls. It was nice; though, out of the corner of my eye I see how uneasy Ryder looks. He appears deep in thought and begins gazing down at his phone quite often like he's texting someone. I was about to ask him if everything is okay when he stands up.

"I, uh, have to go." He says sliding one arm down the other and avoiding direct contact., which I've noticed he does when he's nervous.

"Oh, okay." I say, as he grabs his keys with mild urgency. He opens the door out and I meet him at it to close and lock it behind him. He looks back at me with a smile.

"How about next time you save some alcohol for me?" He joked.

"Yeah." I beam with a giggle. He does a breathy laugh that fades slowly, but before it's gone he turns around and walks to his car. With him driving off, I remember one last thing about yesterday.

He didn't bring me Apple Jacks.