Our Divergent Life

Ch. Three: Ryder Bauer & Penelope Renolds

Ryder Bauer:

“Ry, can you come over later?” I hear a high-pitched voice drone into my ear, as two small hands snake around my toned stomach. I smirk and look over my shoulder and see a petite, blonde girl named Allison looking up at me.Her lips were in a puppy dog pout and her hands slowly crept their way down south to hook onto the belt loops of my well fitted black jeans. I chuckle at how forward she is and I turn slowly, bending my head down so my face was mere centimeters away from hers. She had a hopeful look on her face, I smiled slowly and brushed my lips against her ear, “Sorry hon, already have plans. Maybe next time, if you get your cute, tight ass to me a bit sooner.”

Her lips move into an even more obvious pout and she tries to run her hands up my stomach as I step away. “But Ry- Ry,” Her loud whimper made me wince as I remove her hands from me.

“Babe, I gotta go, can’t keep Christina waiting.” She opens her mouth, ready to protest, when I cut her off. “Please don’t whine anymore, it’s attracting dogs.” Allison turns and stomps away from me and all I can do is chuckle, she will be back tomorrow, no doubt.  

I continue in the direction I had originally planned on, before with my hands stuffed in my pockets and my famous smirk plastered on my face. Multiple looks were thrown my way, looks of lust, love, hatred, but mostly jealousy and that gave me a warm fuzzy feeling on the inside.

“Ermm, Ryder?” I turn around slowly on the heels of my work boots, my eyebrows rise up into arches. The voice wasn’t high pitched and whiney, so it couldn’t be one of my many desperate fan girls, and no other person usually approaches me. “Do you remember me?”

I snicker and step towards a tall, lanky man with a bad case of bed head, a familiar case of bed head. I shake my head and glance up and down at the male, “Why would I?”

“Well, I actually didn’t think you would remember me, we’ve only met once, and that’s when you were beating the shit out of me.”

“I’m sorry, you will have to be more specific, I beat the living hell out of people on a daily basis.”

“Well, it was when you cornered me and continuously threw punches at my face. If that is any help let me know,” the gangly man shrugged.

“Oh my! Wow thanks, that cleared it up perfectly, because I obviously don’t punch people in every other fucking fight I have done in my life.” I cracked my knuckles, preparing them to get some use.

“I forgot how big of a douchebag you are, I’m the one you fought the day that…” A sigh escapes his lips and his hand scratches the back of his neck, “The day Gunner died.” Those words make something snap inside of me. My bright, blue eyes grow dark and glaze over, as I turn and lift him up by the collar of his stupid polo shirt.

“Don’t you dare speak of him. Unless you want a repeat of the last time we fought, you better shut your goddamn mouth.”

“Ryder, I didn’t mean to offend you. I jus-”

“Why the hell are you here anyway? Get out of here, you left for a reason, now leave.” I begin to feel defensive. What if he knows something about Gun? I would kill to know the answers to my questions. My eyes squint at him, before shoving him away from me.

“Ryder hold up! I only came here to protect you.” His hand touched my bicep and I instinctively threw my arm back and pinned him against the wall. “Ryder, you are in danger.”

“To be completely honest here, you seem to have a little bit more to worry about at the moment.” My grip started to loosen as exhale slowly. “Just leave.”

He nods and starts to walk away, but then slowly turns around, “You are Divergent, I think your brother was too. That’s why he was killed, and you will be too if you’re not careful. I’m Graham, and probably the only Erudite member you can trust right now.”