It Was Supposed to Blossom

CHAPTER TWELVE

Ryan POV

I coaxed Lilly's fingers to twine with mine, and we walked out of the corridor together. I didn't hear cheers as expected, but I heard laughing and talking. And there was another voice. Sweet, lively, modulated...

Arden.

"Hi Ryan!" Arden smiled and waved at me. She was wearing a spaghetti-strap, V-neck cream crop top with four big sunflowers at the hem, and a pair of ripped denim shorts, high cut so it emphasized how long her legs were. Her nails shone with immaculate polish the color of midnight. She smiled at Lilly too, but it seemed slightly strained. Arden glanced at our clasped hands questioningly, and Lilly quickly pulled her fingers away.

I reached for them again, but Shawn interrupted to say, "Arden just stopped by to drop off a gift for you. She heard you were in hospital."

"Oh," I say, discomfited. "Well...thank you, Arden."

"No problem." She beamed as she brought over a cumbersome basket, filled with get-well-soon cards, thin books, jars of soup with ribbons tied on the lids, beautiful flowers and even some bakery items that were so tempting I nearly ripped through the cellophane to grab one. I read the card attached to the handle. Dear Ryan, can you go back to making videos soon? YouTube isn't the same without you xx -all your friends from YouTube

I eyed up the wicker basket. How could they go to so much trouble? I wasn't even in hospital anymore.

"Thank you so much, Arden," I graciously set the basket on the side table. "It was a present from all of us. No worries." She smiled and sat back down. Lilly and I followed suit.

To stop a silence from filling the air, Shawn held up his phone. "I'm ordering Taco Bell on Postmate. Anyone wants anything? Might take a while though..."

"Me!" shouted Liza enthusiastically. "And me," Lilly added mildly. She was trying to sound upbeat but was quieter than usual, not that anyone else noticed. Liza leaned her head on Lilly's shoulder, and they shared a smile.

"Arden, why don't you stay for lunch?" Derrick asked kindly. "We're planning on taking a break from filming anyway."

Her eyes flicked towards me, and within those charismatic irises of night sky I saw something I couldn't quite decipher. "I'd love to," Arden smiled out.

I saw Lilly staring at us, but her eyes quickly pulled away when she noticed me looking at her.

While everyone gave their orders to Shawn, I sat there motionlessly. An inevitable mental comparison between Lilly and Arden whirled through my head. Arden was a great girl. Beautiful, but...typically. There was that aura of charm, her charisma that drew people in, including me if I was honest. She carried herself in that quiet, demure way, almost like she was unaware of her own beauty, or if she was did not show it. We got along, and there was something between us that I was sure did not extend beyond just being platonic.

Then, there was Lilly. She was unapologetically herself, tirelessly hardworking, honest, and one of the funniest people I knew. Her beauty was an uncommon one, boyish and gamine, one that was rough around the edges, but she looked breathtaking when she went all out. Her eyes, her smile, the way she laughed...need I say more?

Bold, honest. Graceful, charming. Which was right for me?

"Ryan? What do you want?" Shawn asked, snapping me from my thoughts. "Um...a Beefy Five-Layer Burrito please. And an upsized Spiked Lemonade Freeze."

"I don't think I should really be getting this," Arden fretted, referring to her Soft Taco with Shredded Chicken. "Why don't they have salads...I'll just have to get it then. And a Mountain Dew." She made a rather big show of sighing loudly.

Behind her, Lilly silently imitated her sigh to me, pouted lips, heaving shoulders and all. First world problems. Oh, poor me. I try and fail to suppress a smile.

"Well I'm just going to get a Spicy Potato Soft Taco. It may be the only vegan thing on the menu." She smiled my favorite smile, the kind that showed she was calm, bright, happy. "And a Blue Raspberry Freeze."

"A 12-pack of cinnamon twists too, Lilly? You don't want to starve." Liza grinned and Lilly joined in. "I mean, I'm on a diet, so make it 24!" They laughed the kind of laugh that brought about an effortless warmth.

Arden did not think the same. She raised an eyebrow. She was probably judging Lilly and Liza's nonexistent diets and calories counts and their order of a 24-pack (a whole 24-pack!) of cinnamon twists while she was actually trying to watch what she ate.

Personally, I think Taco Bell cinnamon twists are great.

When the food came, we sat around the kitchen table. I made to sit with Lilly but Liza paired up with her to share out the cinnamon twists, and David (I almost forgot about him, he spoke so little today) was talking to Derrick and Shawn animatedly. So Arden slid into the seat next to me and we talked about her upcoming show, a possible collab, but then the subject turned into something slightly more controversial. Well, in Lilly's case.

"Shawn!" She turned to call out to him, and in the process, grazed my shoulder with hers. Everyone turned to the conversation at hand. Lilly lowered her eyes, pretending not to notice. "Do you remember when we shot Agents of Secret Stuff?"

"Yeah!" He brightened up. "It was such a fun shoot!" And that set us all off, well, me, Arden and Shawn. A load of stories, inside jokes, snippets of memory flowed like a waterfall. Heartened to see that David, Lilly, Liza and Derrick were genuinely listening and smiling and nodding along with the story we continued. Until Arden brought something else up.

"Also, you remember that scene we had together, Ryan?" Arden's full pink lips curved into a knowing smile. "Hm?" I asked absently, chewing a bite of dough. Lilly sucked at her straw and Liza was folding the wrapper neatly around her mostly eaten burrito.

"Remember? The kiss?" She touched my arm and grinned teasingly. "Don't tell me you forgot."

Maybe it's my imagination, but I hear a guttral sound from Lilly's throat, choking on her Blue Raspberry Freeze.

"Oh? Right..."

"Remember?" Arden pressed. Urgh, why couldn't she change the subject? "We talked about it for so long afterwards. How it was so much easier than we thought it would be for our first on-screen kiss. How we had such a natural chemistry."

"Did you now?" Lilly smiled out tightly, baring her teeth in a forced way. "I'm sure you guys make a nice couple."

"Don't you think so, Ryan?" Arden turned to me and asked sweetly. I conveyed that I was sorry in my eyes to Lilly, but the look in her eyes was hard, unpenetratable.

Arden's arm lingered on mine, her fingers travelling up to rest softly on my shoulder. She bit her lip, and smiled at me knowingly.

I grabbed Arden's wrist, immediately pulling myself away from her grip. "Let's talk in my office, shall we?"

I hustled her away from the kitchen, led her down the hallway into my office and slammed the door hard as she swished past the frame.

There was clearly a lot to talk to Arden about.