A Summer Romance

Chapter Forty - Ryan and Skylar

Chapter Forty - Ryan and Skylar 

"Summer romances begin for all kinds of reasons, but when all is said and done, they have one thing in common. They're shooting stars, a spectacular moment of light in the heavens, fleeting glimpse of eternity, and in a flash they're gone."

-The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks

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Ryan

I watched Genesis and Adam leave and Skye turned around. My eyes met hers and I had to bite my lip at the pain that shot through my heart.

My hand cupped her cheek as the tears streamed down her face. “This isn’t fair. I’m hurting everyone that I love.” She bit onto her quivering lip so she wouldn’t break down. “It isn’t fair!” she buried her head in my chest and that damn near broke my heart.

And I just held her in the parking lot.

We just stood there in the darkness of the night, even after she stopped crying. When she pulled away a few minutes later, she sighed and wiped her mascara-stained cheeks, “Well, we should probably get home so I can finish packing.”

And when she turned toward the car, I was filled with a panic; this was it. She was really doing this. She was really leaving. I grabbed her wrist, making her turn toward me with furrowed eyebrows. I cupped her face with my hands and said the one word that I’ve wanted to say for the past week.

“Stay.”

Her eyes widened, and I rushed my words out; “I don’t care that this is selfish and that you deserve this more than anyone else, but I can’t stand the thought of you leaving. I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay. Here. With me.”

She gave me a disbelieving look and I was afraid that I had made the wrong choice and that she wanted to leave and didn’t want to stay. But then she smiled her breath taking smile and gave me the one word reply that I had dreamed of;

“Yes.”

I shot up in bed, panting like I had just run a marathon. My hand came up and ran across my forehead, wiping away the sweat. Skylar sat up beside me and ran a hand down her face, “Ryan, what’s wrong?”

I let out a shaky breath and tried to shoot her my best smile, “Nothing. Just a bad dream.”

But it wasn’t a bad dream. It was a good dream. The best dream that I had ever had. She sighed and laid back down, “Well, I’m right here. Go back to bed.”

Yes, but you won’t be here for long.

Ignoring my thoughts, I laid back down and tried to fall back asleep, but it wouldn’t find me. So instead, I mentally planned out how Skye and I would spend our last day together.

* * *

“Another surprise!?”

I shrugged and gripped the steering wheel. “Maybe.”

She groaned and looked out the window, “I’m getting really tired of all these surprises.”

“Trust me, this is the last one.”

There was a long silence that followed and it made me uncomfortable. Things were getting awkward again. We both realized that today was our last day together. Tomorrow Skylar was leaving…maybe for good.

When I pulled up in front of the park, Skylar smiled slightly. “Aww. You took me to the park?”

I shook my head and she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. I just smiled and got out of the car, walking to the trunk. She followed suit, and I grabbed the bag from the trunk and shut it. I reached my hand out for Skylar’s, and she instantly smiled, intertwining our fingers together.