Reaching for Rebecca

Chapter 51

REBECCA'S POV

"Hey beautiful, it's time to get up." I heard Ryan whispering in my ear but I was trying my best to ignore him just to sleep a little longer.

"Come on Becs you have to get ready. We're leaving in an hour." I felt him poke my cheek and I couldn't help but flinch. "I knew you were awake you faker," he joked.

"I don't need an hour to get ready Ryan," I mumble and clench my eyes shut tighter.

"I know you don't but if you want hot water you have to get up before Alex." He continued to coax me by lightly tickling my sides until I threw the blanket off in a huff.

"I'm up, I'm up."

I hear Ryan chuckling as I walk towards the hall and into the bathroom where I take a long, fifteen-minute shower before returning to my room. Thankful that I'd gone shopping last weekend and now have more clothing options, I throw on a pair of skinny jeans that I roll up on the bottom. I pair them with my new tennis shoes and a white cami then walk to Ryan's room to grab the team shirt he was talking about yesterday. When I arrive in his room, he's just getting back from his shower and only has a towel slung low around his waist. My eyes travel down his body all while taking in the delectable abs and v-line.

"Done staring?" My eyes snap up, regretfully (you know where I was looking,) and take in his adorably sexy smirk.

"Not yet, could you give me a turn?" I joke but gawk when he actually does a slow turn for me. I think I was blushing before when I got caught but now I knew it for sure. Thankfully, Ryan snaps me out of my daze when a t-shirt smacks my face.

"It might be a little big but it's a few years old so I was smaller then," he explains while I'm throwing the shirt over my head. It was still big but nothing compared to his clothes now, at least this shirt didn't go down to my kneecaps. I quickly tied the side of it in a knot and roll the short sleeves a little bit so they don't go down so far.

"How do you do that?"

"How do I do what?" I look at Ryan in complete confusion.

"That," he motions towards my whole body, "you take that shirt that's ten sizes too big and make it look like it was made for you."

Blushing again, I scoff before responding. "You're ridiculous. I'm just trying not to look like a drowned rat in all these oversized clothes."

"Well you do a good job. You look the exact opposite of a drowned rat."

"What's the opposite of a drowned rat?" I giggle.

"I don't know, a dry mouse?" he states awkwardly and reaches a hand behind his head to grip at his neck.

I laugh harder at his gaucheness. "I don't know if either of those are compliments."

"Sure they are! You're little like a mouse so that makes sense; maybe I should have said cute mouse? Is that better? You don't look like a drowned rat; you look like a cute mouse!" He was seriously floundering now.

"Thanks, I'll take the compliment although for future reference I don't really like being associated with rodents."

"Duly noted," he says dorkily. "Now scram little mouse, I'm dropping this towel in about 3...2..." and that's when I ran out of his room and slammed the door behind me. I mean it isn't like I don't want to see Ryan naked because I definitely do, but I'm not ready for the next step in our relationship yet and I know that would force me over the edge. The top half of his body is so gorgeous that the 'secret' parts would probably make me have an embolism.

~~~

The ride to the game was not my cup of tea. I spent the entire time literally squashed between Ryan and Alex in the back of their parent's teeny ford focus. Steven was driving so he insisted we take his car instead of Sheila's SUV and only God knows why. Although Alex isn't as buff and wide as Ryan, he is still a big guy: especially when he's crammed into a backseat meant for three small children.

"Finally!" I push my way past Ryan to get myself out of the cramped car and into some fresh air.

"Jesus Becs, where's the fire?" he jokes. I know he didn't mind the car ride because I was pressed up against him the entire time but I mention what he is forgetting.

"Just remember that as much as I was squished against you, the same went for Alex," I taunt. He suddenly becomes very serious.

"Hey that's not funny Becca."

"Oh! No nickname? Did I make the big guy cranky?"

"Quit fooling around you two, we have to make it to the gate so Matt can give us our tickets," Sheila scolded.

I wound my fingers through Ryan's and dragged him along behind the rest of our group.

"You can sit in the middle on the way home if you want," I offer, although I know it physically wouldn't be possible for such a large man to sit in the middle seat of such a compact car.

"Are you done yet?"

"Ryan," I say and stop walking, "I'm just joking around. I'll stop if it's making you so grouchy."

"I'm not trying to be grouchy Becca I just don't appreciate you gloating about being pressed up against some other guy." He still held my hand and we started walking behind his parents again but his hold was rigid.

"That 'other guy' was your little brother which basically translates into him being my little brother. Why are you getting so upset about this Ryan?"

"Becca I'm not..." I cut him off.

"Becs. You call me Becs not Becca. I don't like it when you call me Becca." He cracked a miniscule smile.

"Becs, I know but I don't like it when you joke about that." His body relaxed a little bit so I took that as a good sign.

"I apologize then," I whisper and lean into his arm while we're walking but he abruptly stops.

"No don't' apologize. I'm just being a dick." I smile and pull his head down so it's a little closer to my level.

"I will apologize because I wouldn't like it if you were all up against another girl. You're mine."

He grins widely so his dimples appear. "That's right. I'm yours and you're mine." His gray eyes are now filled with happiness and he leans down a little more for a kiss but we get interrupted.

"Quit making out! Ma's waiting for us at the ticket line!" Alex shouts from the next parking lot over.

Ryan rolls his eyes and quickly kisses me anyways. He grabs my arms and turns around while latching them around his neck. Then he picks my legs up and wraps those around his waist. I squeal in surprise so he turns his neck to half-look at me.

"Piggy back," he says cutely and then uses his long legs to get caught up to his family.

~~~

"Ryan! Put her down!" Matt freaks out as soon as he sees us. Ryan hurriedly follows his directions and has me sliding down his back. "Are your ribs feeling better?"

My boyfriend's face goes slightly pale. "Shit Becs I forgot. Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry..."

He kept profusely apologizing until I clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Be quiet you dork, I'm fine. To answer your question Matt: they feel perfectly normal. I had to take a break from riding Landon's bike but since then it's been great."

"I'm glad to hear that. Have there been any other issues? I see your nose has healed nicely." I'm confused until I remember the incident with Izzy a few weeks ago in gym class when she threw a basketball at my face.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. But yea my nose works so that's good," I say awkwardly. Ryan notices my mood and steals me away from his brother.

"That's enough questioning for now," he orders nicely.

Steven passes us our tickets and we move through the gate to get to the special area marked off for relatives and friends of the players and it's a really swanky area. There're high-top tables, a lounge area, and a bar with multiple televisions even though you have a great view of the field up here. I was surprised when Ryan told me not to bring a jacket but it's understandable now because the entire field had a roof that could close over it. If we were sitting outside that'd be great but like I said, this place is swanky and we are in a closed off type of private area that's all indoors anyways.

"What do you want to eat?" Ryan asks, snapping me out of my gawking.

"What do you mean?" He chuckled.

"You get all you can eat with the bracelet."

"What bracelet?" I look over and he's holding up a paper wristband which he straps on me hastily.

"Do you want to eat up here or go out to concessions?"

I'm completely taken off guard by the lavishness of this all that I can't think. "I don't care."

"Well if you don't mind, I'd rather eat some burgers than this fancy shit," he reaches out so I can put my hand in his much larger one and leads me out of the fancy room.

Once we're in the regular arena I feel more at home.

"I'm going to run to the bathroom quick. Do you want to grab me two burgers and a soda?" He waits for me to process what he just said and smiles. "Concession stand is right there. I'll be out in a second if you want to wait for me, otherwise I'll meet you there."

~~~

A pretty tan girl with long brown hair and brown eyes steps up to the counter to help me.

"What can I get for you?" Her voice is soft and she seems too shy to be working in a job where you have to be personable.

"Uhm, I'll just get three cheeseburgers and two Pepsi's please. I have this magic band that's supposed to get me free stuff apparently," I add in awkwardly because I'm not sure how this works.

The girl, whose name tag says Bentley, smiles and nods. "Yep I like that. The magic band." She grabs my food and brings it back to the counter. "I just have to punch it in the system and say you have a wristband. The total should go down to zero then; sorry, the 'magic band' people don't come down to the concessions that often." She seems a lot more outgoing now that I acted more awkward than her.

"Oh no problem," I say and wait patiently as she looks at my food and to the register again. When she motions for me to take my food I nod but stay in the same place. She gives me an odd look so I feel the need to explain. "I'm waiting for my boyfriend to get out of the bathroom. He's meeting me here."

"Well, I don't have any other customers so you can keep me company then!" She adds a smile and reaches a hand out. "I'm Bentley, in case you didn't read the nametag."

I shake her hand. "Becca. Do you go to school around here?"

"Kind of close, I just moved so I'm starting at Rochester High next week. I'm only working here until I find a new job."

"I go to Rochester!" I'm excited that I may have potentially just found a friend all on my own.

"No way! That's awesome! I've been nervous about starting out. I move around a lot and hate meeting new people."

I chuckle. "I was the same way but I've been to Rochester for a few months now, my new record by the way, and have met some cool people. Here let me give you my number so you can text me on Monday. I can show you around and stuff."

"That would be amazing. Thank you so much," she hands me her phone and I enter my number in. I give it back and notice Ryan lurking a few feet away with a sly smile on his face.

"Looks like my boyfriend's back. It was nice meeting you Bentley. Make sure you text me!" She nods as I grab all the food and head towards Ryan.

"Who's your new friend?" he asks cheekily. He knows I'm horrible at meeting new people so it was probably a shock that I was exchanging numbers with someone I just met.

"Bentley. She just moved to Rochester and is starting school there on Monday," I explain and he nods, smiling wider. "Alright stop with the dopey face. Let's eat," I order while walking towards a picnic table with our food.

~~~

The game was great even though I didn't watch too much of it. By the time Ryan and I finished eating and walking around it was the fifth inning. Mike was a really good player from what I'd noticed. I always liked baseball because it was easy to understand, football had more rules and seemed trickier to me.

The ride home was a little more enjoyable because Ryan had his arm slung around me so that gave me a few extra inches of wiggle room. His hand kept brushing up and down my arm, giving me chills but I liked it at the same time.

When we finally got home, I wasn't in much of a rush to get out of the tiny car since it was so warm and cozy. Ryan eventually got me out with promises of snuggling on the couch and watching Netflix.

"Hey, I thought tomorrow we could get some paint if you wanted to paint your room. I got the okay from my mom," he whispers in my ear.

"We don't have to do that. I'd feel bad painting her clean, white room."

"Becs, we want you to feel more at home here. I know that room sucks; that's why we made the blanket to add some color and now I want to paint the walls with you." Ryan was such a sweetheart and I will never understand how I got so lucky as to be with him.