I Hate You Too, Princess

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The party at Justin's house was actually going pretty well. Well, before Ryan decided to ruin it, that is.

"Hey, Reeker," I heard Ryan say behind me.

I turned to see him walking toward me, Tyler, Hannah, and Kyle, holding a red plastic cup in his hand.

"Hi," I said flatly before turning back to my friends.

"Hey, Hannah. Kyle. Tyler," Ryan said Tyler's name like it was a disease.

I glared at him, "What do you want, Ryan?"

He shrugged, "Just coming by to say hi and chat. How's it going?"

"Like you care," I said with an eye roll.

"What's the matter, Lex?" he smirked.

That's it. I grabbed his arm and yanked him away from the others. I dragged him around to the opposite side of the house where I could yell at him alone.

"Will you stop being such a jerk?" I exclaimed when we were alone. "What is your problem?"

"My problem is you," Ryan narrowed his eyes at me.

"Why? What'd I do?" I asked even though I already basically knew the answer.

He shook his head, "I'm not doing this here."

He tried to walk away, but I grabbed his arm and said, "Yes you are. We're getting this out of the way. Go ahead, say whatever it is you want to say to me."

Ryan looked at me for a second then he totally lost it.

He threw his hands in the air, "You're the one who's been a jerk! You left me for that new guy!"

I scrunched my face up, "Excuse me? We weren't together. If you wanted to be with me that badly then you should've asked me out. You never even actually told me that you like me! So don't be mad just because I was interested in someone else. I was trying to decide who I liked better, but it was hard. And the sad thing is this, even though you started to be a total jerk to me again, I still liked you more than Tyler. Tyler is a great guy and all, but I wanted to be with you, Ryan. Now? After tonight? Now I'm not so sure."

I turned to walk away, but it was Ryan's turn to stop me, "Lexi, wait."

I faced him again and waited for what he had to say.

He looked at his feet then met my eyes, "Okay, I'm sorry. It's just, seeing you with Tyler made me mad and jealous. I really like you and care about you, Lexi. So it was painful for me, seeing you like another guy. I'm sorry. But I really do want to be with you. Look, I know Tyler's great and all, but he isn't the guy for you, and I think you know that."

I looked away from Ryan. He was right. I knew Tyler wasn't for me. I liked him. He was amazing and everything a girl could possibly want. But he wasn't Ryan.

But part of me still liked him. A lot. And really, truly cared about him.

And another part of me still hated Ryan.

This whole thing just confused me even more.

"Look, Ryan, I-" I didn't have time to finish what I was saying because the next thing I knew, Ryan's lips were on mine.

Ryan was... Kissing me?

I didn't kiss him back at first because I was too shocked, but I quickly realized what was happening and kissed him back. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he did the same with his around my waist.