take me home tonight

2 // ride home

Kim POV

"Fuck," I mutter, angrily locking my phone and throwing it on my desk.

Of course Joey can't pick me up tonight.  In my car, no less. Why I even let him borrow my car, I don't know. What I do know is that it's 8pm, I'm stuck at MRN studios, and it's storming outside. Fantastic.

The last thing I want to do is Lyft (I'm not trying to get murdered, thank you very much), but it'll probably come to that if I can't get a ride home from anyone.

I've tried scouring the office for people I know, but everyone that I work with has already gone home and the people that are left are one's I don't feel comfortable asking. Shit.

I'm about to order a Lyft when someone approaches my desk.

"What are you doing here so late?" a familiar voice asks, startling me.

I look up and see Ryan standing there, half-smile on his face.

Thank god.

"Suffering. What are you doing here so late?" I ask smiling, genuinely happy that someone I know is here.

"Meeting went over. But seriously, why haven't you left yet?" He asks.

I sigh and close my eyes. "Joey needed my car for some reason tonight, so he came and took it a few hours ago. I let him, because I had—have—a lot of work to do, and I thought I'd get it done, but I'm still here, my work isn't done, it's storming, I don't wanna take a Lyft, and he can't come and get me. So."

I was annoyed earlier, sure, but now I'm just downright pissed. I desperately want to be home right now to deal with the migraine I've been rapidly developing over the past couple hours.

"Oh, geez. Well I can take you home? I wish you would've texted me earlier—you don't live too far from here, I could've picked you up before my meeting or something," he tells me in a manner that's very: duh? why didn't you just tell me?

And you know what? Duh. Why didn't I just ask Blaney?

I mean, I know why. It's...different than asking like...Chuck or someone. Because Ryan is...well, he's...hmm. That's a thought for another time.

"Hello? Earth to Kim?" Ryan says, waving a hand across my face.

"Shit, sorry. Yeah, I don't know why I didn't ask. It didn't even cross my mind," I say sheepishly. "But are you sure? You don't have plans or anything?"

As much as I want a ride home, I don't want to put him out. Although he keeps his private life close to his chest, I know that boy gets busy.

"Do you even know me? All I do is work and play video games with Chase and Bubba," he says to me, rolling his eyes.

Uh huh. Sure. I need this ride, so I better not piss him off, but I honestly can't resist the temptation.

"Right. That's 100% a lie, but okay, thanks," I say, standing up from my desk and gathering my things.

As we're walking down the hall Ryan turns to me. "What did you mean by that's '100% a lie'?" he says, narrowing his eyes.

I roll my eyes. He's really got to stop acting like he doesn't pull girls.

"What? DM's dry lately?"

Ryan abruptly stops walking.

Oops.

"Kim," he cautions.

Damn, I must've actually hit a sore spot there. You know I really need to shut up before I end up having to camp out in this damn building.