Moon Rise (Ryan Magee)

seven

hey, y'all. sorry this has taken so long. i'm going through what has possibly been the worst summer of my entire life. i'm feeling really low & unmotivated, but i finally put together this chapter over the course of a couple weeks. 

<ryan's pov> 

I'm waiting outside a semi-fancy restaurant in the nice part of town, checking my phone over and over again. Callie was supposed to meet me here 20 minutes ago. I take it as a sign from God that she's standing me up. For a moment, I feel relieved. I don't really want to be on this date anyway. I called and hung up six times before finally deciding to go through with it. Ding Dong and Julian basically blackmailed me. They said if I didn't go, they'd tweet pictures of me at my first frat party. Never again...

I start walking towards my car, only to be interrupted by someone shrieking my name.

"Ryyyyyy-annnnnn!" I turn on my heel and see Callie standing there wearing a short black skirt and a white lace shirt that stops a few inches above her belly button. I suddenly think of how y/n looked in her yellow top and jeans the night we went to the planetarium. 

I start thinking about y/n wearing the yellow t-shirt she wore the first night she spent the night at my house. It takes Callie screaming my name for me to come back down to earth. 

"Shit," I accidentally say out loud. Thankfully, she doesn't hear me and I'm able to turn around and force a smile. She waves and begins running towards me, the half-block-long 

"Heyyyyyy!" She calls in her signature whiney, high-pitched voice. 

"Hey, Callie," I reply warily. 

"You ready?" She asks, hiking her purse up onto her slender shoulder. I nod and approach the door of the restaurant, holding it open for her. 

"Such a gentleman," she purrs, punctuating it with a sickly-sweet giggle that makes me slightly uncomfortable.

We're seated after 10 minutes of awkward small talk and hair twirling (her, not me). Our table is in a back corner of the dining room, with an obstructed view of any exits I can use quickly if I need to. 

"So have you been here before?" She asks, putting both elbows on the table and resting her chin in her hand. I study her face before answering. I have to admit, she's beautiful. With eyes the color of pistachios with a ring of long eyelashes, why I haven't even developed the slightest of crushes on her is a bit confusing. But every time I look at Callie, I think of y/n. 

Once we've (finally) finished dinner, I walk Callie outside. I'm eager to get home and play Xbox with Ding Dong and Julian so I can tell them their plan sucked. But Callie admits she hoped I'd drive her home, so she took an Uber to the restaurant. I begrudgingly agree, opening my passenger's side door for her. She smiles and shimmies into her seat. 

"What's your address?" I ask, pulling up the GPS app on my phone. 

"332 Rose Ave. Building D." The second she says the number, my stomach drops. She lives in the same building as y/n. Y/n probably wouldn't know... she told me a few weeks ago that she doesn't know anyone in her complex. 

"Okay," I reply, pulling onto the street. 

I don't realize until we've reached the building that I didn't have to look at the GPS once.

<time skop>

I pull to the side of the street and get out of my car. It takes a full 10 seconds for me to realize that Callie is waiting for me to open her door for her. I roll my eyes and let her out. 

"Walk me to my door?" She asks, batting her eyes at me. I nod reluctantly as she leads me to her building. We pass the floor y/n lives on, and I almost hope she comes out and sees me. 

We finally reach Callie's door, and I realize suddenly that she's hoping I'll kiss her. The last thing I want to do is lead her on, so I put my hands in my pockets and take a step back.

"Alright, well... goodnight," I say, starting to turn around. 

"Wait, don't go so soon... wanna come in for a drink?" She fumbles around in her bag for her keys. When she finally unearths them, I'm shaking my head.

"I shouldn't... I've got an early class tomorrow." 

"Ryan... tomorrow's Saturday..." 

I laugh, mostly from nerves. I know for a fact that I don't want to go out with her again, but I don't want to be rude. 

"Look, Callie, I-" before I can finish, she grabs my shoulders and kisses me, hard.