Mysteries

Chapter Four: Lela

"Let's get this party started! Why are you just standing there? Move, fat ass!" Jake yelled, pushing Ryland through the door. The others followed him in. Jake looked around and whistled. 

"Wow, L. Nice place," he said, touching our marble countertop. 

"Thanks. Follow me," I responded and motioned for them to follow me downstairs to the basement. I heard a collective gasp as we entered the movie room. 

"Oh, Lela, you're rich rich," Kelly exclaimed, immediately plopping herself down in one of the reclining chairs. 

"Hey, guys!" Veronica said from her spot behind the bar. Brandon's eyes widened. 

"Pizza!" he cheered, grabbing a box and sitting beside Kelly. I moved to sit on the couch, Ryland right behind me. He sat a reasonable distance away from me, which I was thankful for. 

After we all settled in with our food, drinks, and blankets, Tracy hit play and started the movie. 

It was halfway through 'A Quiet Place' when I felt myself moving towards Ryland. He was staring straight ahead at the movie, shoving popcorn into his mouth. However, he was also scooting closer to me. Eventually, we were right beside each other. I looked around the room to see what everyone else was doing. 

Tracy was knocked out, seeing that the movie she wanted to watch was over. Veronica, Jake, and Brandon were staring at the screen intensely. Kelly was on her phone, and Celeste was drifting to sleep, her head beginning to bob. 

I turned my attention back to Ryland who now was looking at me. Even in the dark, his eyes glowed in interest. Something made me lean my head on his shoulder and almost instinctively, he wrapped his arm around my back, pulling me closer. 

Normally I ignored his advances but something about today made that difficult. I decided to just let it be and snuggled closer to him. 

I should at least enjoy this because tomorrow, I was going right back to rejecting him. 

Or at least, that's what I kept trying to tell myself.

~ 

I woke up feeling extremely warm. I realized that I was trapped in a barricade of arms. Ryland had his muscular arms wrapped around me, and I was trapped against his chest. I yawned and looked up at the screen to see the time. 

8:15 am. Hm. Five more minutes. I was super comfy. 

Wait. It's Wednesday. WE HAVE SCHOOL! 

I shot up, breaking Ryland's arms from around me and waking him up in the process. 

"Everyone, wake up! We're gonna be late for school!" I started smacking people with pillows. Everyone groaned in protest. 

"Hello??? School starts in thirty minutes! Move it!!" I yelled. Everyone got up groggily and began folding their blankets. I showed everyone where the bathrooms were so they could brush their teeth and change their clothes. 

I ran up to my room to take a very quick shower. When I was done, I walked into my room to look for some sweatpants and a hoodie. Today was a dress down day for sure. 

"Well, this is a wonderful way to wake up this morning." I shrieked and almost dropped my towel. Ryland was sitting on my bed, flipping through one of my photo albums that I kept in my room. 

"How did you find my room?" I asked. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at me with confusion. 

"I don't know. I kind of just... knew, I guess. Anyway, look at you! You were so cute!" He held up the book to show me a picture of me in the bathtub with bubbles everywhere. I rolled my eyes and pointed at the door. 

"Out, mister! We're on a timer!" He laughed at me and got off the bed. 

"Fine, fine. I'm going," he mumbled, taking one last look at me before closing the door. I let out a sigh of relief before putting my clothes on quickly. 

Hm. He said he just knew where my room was. That's strange. 

No time to dwell on it. 

I headed back downstairs to see everyone ready to go, munching on pizza. 

"Alright! Head out!" I demanded like a drill sergeant. Everyone looked at me weirdly before grabbing their bags and heading to their cars. When Tracy and I got in the car, she looked at me and wiggled her eyebrows. 

"You and Ryland were pretty close last night," she said, smacking my leg a couple times. I frowned. 

"You saw that?" She nodded vigorously. Damn. 

"Nothing happened. Let it go," I warned. It didn't look like she believed me. 

"Hm, okay. Fine. Your birthday's coming up soon," she reminded me. I thought about the date. October 5. My birthday was in two days. 

"Yeah. I'll finally be eighteen! Yes!!" I started doing a happy dance in my seat, making Tracy giggled. 

"You're so lucky! I have to wait a whole month!" I smirked at her and she stuck out her tongue. I was a month older than Tracy and I always made sure to remind her. 

"Haha, child!" I mocked. She smacked my arm as she pulled into the school parking lot. 

I had the urge to find Ryland. What was wrong with me? I just saw him ten minutes ago!

Tracy looked at me knowingly. 

"You want Ryland, don't you?" I shook my head and scoffed dramatically. 

"Uh, no! Why would you think that? Oh well, gotta go to class! Bye!" I turned and ran into the school building. How did she know? Was it that obvious? I didn't want to like him but there was something about him. I was just afraid he was going to break my heart. 

"Hey, love," I heard his voice say as I stormed past him. I had every intention to ignore him but he reached for my arm, pulling me towards him. 

"What's wrong?" he asked and I didn't know how to answer. How do you tell the guy who had your mind and heart in a million knots that you're pretty sure you were getting feelings for him? Especially when looking into his eyes, he genuinely looked worried about me. Why? Who gave him the right to mess with my emotions? 

"Nothing. I'm gonna go to class now," I said quickly and pulled away from him, running away like a coward. That's what I was. I didn't know what was happening to me and so I ran away like a chicken. 

Sure, I've had crushes, but I've never felt like this before. This was different. I wanted to do everything for him. I wanted to be with him all the time. I was willing to change myself for him.  Logically, my brain was yelling at me. I've only known him for two weeks. What was I doing?

My heart was telling me to go back to him, to be with him. I scolded myself. I was done listening to my heart. That's what put me in this predicament. If I hadn't cuddled with him yesterday during the movie, I would still be feeling annoyed by him and everything would be okay. 

Everything was okay until Ryland Blackwell entered my life. I didn't have the greatest relationship with my parents but I didn't have to. I was finally content to just move on with my life with my two best friends and then it was invaded by five strangely beautiful people. 

Tracy came and sat beside me. I avoided looking at her. 

"Did you forget we have first period together? You can't avoid me," she said. I didn't respond. 

"You don't have to be afraid of liking Ryland. It's a harmless crush. Besides, you know he likes you back so what's the problem?" I raised my head to look at her. 

"How do I know he means it? What if he's just flirtatious in nature? What if I let him in and he just breaks me? How do I handle all this, Trace? Because honestly, this isn't just some little crush. I find myself giving in to everything he says. I'm scared," I rambled mindlessly. I ended up saying a lot more than I intended. She patted my back in a comforting manner. 

"I think everything will work out. Just give it a couple days. You don't have to say anything now."  I nodded. 

I guess that was a good idea.