Forever Yours

Till Dawn Do Us Part [20]

20. Till Dawn Do Us Part

Maureen

"Hey."

I smiled as I quickly walked into my room, shutting the door behind me. I pressed the cell-phone to my ear as I hurried over to my window seat.

"Hey."

I heard his low chuckle in response. "How are you?"

"Good." I said automatically; then I decided to be a bit more honest. "Today was strange without seeing you." I curled onto the soft pillows. Moonlight filtered through the window, playing on my skin. I sighed, staring out the glass window at the vastness of our estate, the perfectly kept stretches of green, which looked black in the darkness. Not telling him just how wrong and dismal the day seemed without him. He had had a college exam today so I told him to take the day off...even though I had felt my heart sink, thinking about going through an entire day without holding his hand, talking to him or spending time with him... He had agreed, but told me to call him that night so we could talk.

I didn't think he liked the idea of spending the day apart either.

"It was," I heard Ryan's voice answer. "In fact, it sucked."

"You're not studying tomorrow, right?" I tried to keep the want out of my voice

"No, I'm not. I'm all yours," he said teasingly. Warmth spread through me and I resisted the urge to giggle.

"All mine... sounds good," I returned, as I pulled my knees up to my chest to prop my chin on my flannel covered knees. The thought made me wish someone would've invented teleport already so I could crawl through the phone and into his arms.

He laughed, a warm, throaty sound. "Where are you right now?"

"My room. The kids just finished watching television; now everyone's in bed."

"Don't they have a curfew?" He asked, curiously.

"Yeah...but today's Friday so Mom lets them stay up past ten."

"Oh, they're lucky... Every night I had to be in bed at eight on the dot or Mom pulled the plug on my allowance. That didn't change until I was thirteen..."

There was a pause. "That's when you're dad left, right?" I asked tentatively.

"Yeah," Ryan said. There was no hurt in his voice, just resignation. He sighed.

'Do you want to talk about it?" I asked hesitantly, feeling like I was treading on eggshells. I wanted him to know that I was there for him; but I didn't want to dredge up the past if he didn't want to.

"I've never...really...been able to talk about it with anyone. Not even my friends. You're the first person I've ever spoken to about what happened," he said slowly.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, I didn't know Darren and Sasha and all them back then but when I met them...I just didn't feel like... like I could."

"You know you can tell me anything, right? No matter what it is..."

"I know," he said.

But he didn't go on.

"Do you want to talk about it now?" I asked hesitantly. I heard him sigh.

"I don't know..."

"You don't have to if you don't want to-"

"No... I do... I think - I just... I need to get my head together."

I felt a spark of hope. Wanting to talk about it was a sign of moving on, wasn't it? Or a sign of something at least. I waited patiently.