The Bad Boy's A Softie

XI

There I was, walking down the street at 2 am, the smell of liquor lingering off my clothes. My teeth chattered as I held onto my arms, trying to warm my drenched body off with the little heat radiating off my hands.

Not even seven hours earlier, I had just entered my first high school party. I didn't expect the night to end as badly as it did.

SEVEN HOURS EARLIER

Matthew, Braylon, Rachel, Cole and I all walked together onto the property of Ryder's house. I nervously glanced around, taking in the surroundings. There was loud music coming out from all the open windows of the house, loud enough to break all the closed windows. Already drunk teenagers were spread across the lawn, talking, making out, and dancing.

Matthew decided to walk faster, making the rest of us trail behind him awkwardly. I felt a hand land lightly on my shoulder, making me flinch and turn my head to face whoever touched me. My eyes met Braylon's and I sighed, my heart slowly going back to its normal beat.

"You okay, Willow? You look a bit nervous," He said, glancing down at me with concern in his eyes.

I sighed and nodded my head, giving him a reassuring smile. "Yes I'm good, don't worry. Just kinda feel like a fish out of water at the moment."

"Hey don't worry either. I'll be here the who-," Braylon was cut off by a loud hollar coming from ahead of us. "Matthew, dude! Finally you show up!" I looked up at the doorway and saw Ryder standing there, in all of his 'glory'. He had a beer in each hand, both from a different brand. He was clearly already drunk, even though the party had only just begun.

"It's literally 7:07, dude. Your party started 7 minutes ago," Matthew said, walking inside. We all followed along behind him as he continued on his conversation with Ryder.

"Well that's seven minutes that you missed out on, bro! Think about everything that could happen in seven minutes," Ryder said to Matthew, giving him a wink.

          He turned his attention to my friends and I, glancing at all of us. "I see you brought company." Ryder said, scanning us all one by one. His voice hitched in his throat when he got to Rachel, so he quickly looked away. His eyes landed on me and I saw them slightly widen at the sight of me there.

"Well well well, if it isn't the one and only Willow. Haven't seen your pirky smile up close in a while. How long has it been, 4 years now?" He asked. This is the nicest Ryder has been to me in about 4 years.

I nodded in reply, giving him a small smile. "Yes, I think it has. You're house is beautiful by the way. Very spacious." I said, looking around at the place. It would honestly be prettier if it didn't smell of sweaty teenagers and booze, but I wasn't about to say that to him.

Ryder grinned after hearing that. "Thannkss dude!" He turned back to Matthew and pointed at me. "Yanno honestly bro, why did you stop hanging out with her? I mean, look at her she's really hot," he said as he turned and scanned me with his eyes before turning back to Matthew. "And she's nice." He looked at Matthew for a few seconds, waiting for an answer until his eyes widened. "Wait a minute is it because of what happened to Noelle? When yo-"

Matthew shoved Ryder to make him stop talking. "Okay bud, that's enough." Ryder fell back a little but quickly regained his step after a few seconds. "Well if you ladies don't mind," Ryder said looking at all of us, making Braylon roll his eyes and Cole scoff. "I'm going to be stealing Matthew away for a little."

Before Matthew could object, Ryder was pushing him across to another room of the house. Matthew turned his head to me, mouthing the word 'sorry' before disappearing through a doorway.