Young Blood

Chapter Ten

Waking up without Ritchie next to me was quite a shock. I had just realized I loved him, and he loved me too. So where the hell was he?I had felt so safe cradled in his arms, like nothing dangerous would ever harm me. Now I was scared and alone, feeling nauseous again like yesterday before Ritchie showed up. I was back to where I started from.

  I sat up in my bed, looking around to make sure he hadn’t fallen off the bed or something while were sleeping. At first I laughed, thinking I made just made a bad judgement and that Ritchie was still next to me. But the man wasn’t anywhere in sight. He wasn’t on the bed, under the covers, on the floor, or anywhere near. I began to panic, tossing sheets everywhere in a desperate search for my lover. Had he just up and evaporated while I was sleeping?

  After about five minutes of sleep-infused behavior I decided that Ritchie had left me. He obviously hadn’t wanted the kind of commitment I gave him and therefore no longer wanted me as his boyfriend. I was heartbroken, but I figured it’d be for the best if I at least tried to climb out of bed and do something productive. I didn’t bother to get dressed, instead staying in my warm, comfortable pajamas and wandering out into the hallway and to the living room.

  Our living room was sort of connected to the kitchen. There wasn’t a doorway that separated the two, and I didn’t even consider them two different rooms. Our living room consisted of one large couch and a similarly designed one of smaller proportions next to it. There was a small TV and coffee table in front of them, where sometimes we’d all watch a movie on one of the few channels and John and Paul would cuddle to the point of annoyance to me. Not even four feet from the edge of the couch was a kitchen island with cabinets above it, and next to that the rest of our kitchen. We lived in a very close-knit house.

  I stumbled down the hallway, my hair probably a mess and my clothes ruffled. I nearly tripped over my own two feet multiple times and had to hold onto the walls along the sides of me. I heard the familiar buzz of the telly from the other room, the clanging of pots and pans signaling that someone, probably Paul, was cooking breakfast. Or lunch. I didn’t even check what time it was. When I finally stepped into the living room I saw three heads turn from whatever they were gazing at before to look at me. Among them was Ritchie.

  “Oh, thank God,” I sighed of relief. Ritchie was sitting on the larger couch, and Paul on the smaller. For a change, John was the one doing the cooking. “I thought you left.”

  Ritchie chuckled. “You thought I left?” He smiled reassuringly. “Why would I do that?”

  “Well, I… I thought…” I stuttered, “I thought you didn’t love me anymore.”

  Even John stopped whatever he was doing in the kitchen to look up at me. 

  “You thought I…?” Ritchie burst out laughing. “No, I still love you. Come here, sit down.” Ritchie motioned on the couch next to himself, and I smiled weakly and obeyed. I walked over to where Ritchie was seated but instead of letting me sit next to him, he stretched out his legs so that there was no room left on the couch for me. Instead, Ritchie gestured toward his lap.

  I smiled awkwardly. “You want me to sit on your lap?”

  From on the other couch I could hear Paul holding back giggles.

  “Of course. Where else would you sit.”

  I smiled, not really knowing what else to do but to crawl on top of Ritchie’s lap and sit down. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the cheek, resulting in another fit of immature giggles from Paul.

  I blushed, making myself more comfortable on Ritchie’s lap and taking one of his hands in mine. I wasn’t feeling as bold as I did that one day where I showed up to school looking like a rocker, but I was feeling pretty close. When I was with Ritchie I always felt so adventurous, and it made me do things I otherwise never would have the guts to do.