The Marriage Contract

3. I Bet You Watch Paint Dry for Fun

I stared at the door for a couple of seconds after Ryland left, then slowly started to explore his apartment. Even though I hate to admit it, the living room was beautiful. A sleek black, baby grand piano sat in the back corner, adjacent a curving crème colored couch that faced the large high definition television that was mounted on the wall. To the back, a balcony that looked over the breathtaking New York skyline.

The only thing that was slightly off putting was that it was spotless...like literally. It looked like he had cut it out of a magazine - which in all honesty, he probably did - and smacked it right in his living room. I shrugged it off and continued looking around.

I went into the kitchen, and as I expected, it was modernized with all the appliances being either black or chrome. I left the kitchen and wondered down the hall, the first door I came to was a bathroom, but the second, was what I assumed to be his bedroom.

"Oh come on!" Just like the living room, it was spotless. The only thing that might be out of place was the pair of shoes and tie that was laid out across a brief case, and even those looked like they were placed with perfect precision. The walls were a plane off white and his bedding was black. Simple. Sufficient. Boring...yet still attractive. Yep. Basically sums him up. I shook my head then continued down the hall.

When I opened the next door, I was shocked at the beauty of the room behind it. The walls were painted a Charcoal gray with delecate tree like, floral patterns on it. The bed was white with black and gray bedding. The curtains were white as well as the majority of the furniture. I knew it was mine when I saw my tan stuffed dog, Clover, that I always slept with sitting front and center on the bed.

I opened the closet and, true to what Ryland said, my stuff was delivered and put away, along with a shit load of other clothes that still had the tages on them. I walked inside the closet and opened one of the drawers built into the shelf and was mortified to find pieces of skimpy lingerie in blacks, blues, and reds.

I dropped the piece of "clothing" and walked out of the closet. To the right of the closet, was a door that led into a bathroom. As soon as I saw the jecuzzi tub, I was in love. The entire room was made of tile that resembled stone. There was a open shower that had four different settings and was just perfect.

"It couldn't hurt to try it out.." I whispered to myself. I mean, I do live here now. Might as well get comfortable.

I turned on the faucet in the bathtub and withing minutes, it was filled and warm to perfection. I stripped off my clothes and slowly, stepped into the water. I sighed in content as my eyes rolled back.

"Oh, a girl could get used to this," I said to myself as I leaned back in the tub. I sat there with my eyes closed until the water turned cold. I pulled the plug and let the water drain out, then wrapped a towel around my body.

I walked back out into the bedroom and over to the closet. Cringing, I went to the drawer that held all of the lingerie. I dug around past all of the...skimpier pieces until I found a pair of modest, blue bikini panties. I sighed in relief, then put on a matching tshirt bra, but when I went to look for one of my sacred oversized t-shirts, none of them were there.

I was seeing red, but I took a deep breath and walked out of the closet. "I guess I will be stealing his then," I said in an evil voice. It was his fault that they got thrown away so he shall be sacrificing one of his.

I walked across the hall into his room and quickly made my way to the other side of the room to his closet, strangely paranoid that he was going to walk in and swallow me whole for being in his room, even though I knew he wouldn't be home for s few more hours - at least that's how long it took dad. It didn't take me long to figure out that there were no t-shirts in his closet. It was almost completelyfilled with suits.

I rolled my eyes and went on to look in his drawers. The first was filled with socks and underwear. I smirked to myself as I took a pair of the socks and slipped them on. Surprisingly, they almost came up to my knees! Continuing on in my search I finally found a white, Hanes tshirt. I pulled it on and made my way into the living room to, hopefully, find something interesting to do. That's when I remembered the beautiful baby grand in the corner.

I walked over to it, slowly running my fingers over the glossy surface. I sat down at its bench and started running my fingers over the keys. I was just making simple little tunes, at first but it eventually blossomed into a tune I recognized.

"Don't need permission made my decision to test my limits..cause it's my business God as my witness, start what I finish.."

I sang the song happily until I was interrupted when the front door slammed. "What the hell are you doing," Ryland snapped, loosening his tie.

I looked at him like he was stupid - which he was! "I'm playing the baby grand."

"I can see that. I meant, why the hell are you singing that?"

My blood started to boil, not that I even liked the song, but just the mere fact he was speaking to me at all. "Because I wanted to..?"

He rolled his eyes. "Well, at least I know what you do for fun, sit around and sing shitty music," he said, starting towards the hall.

I almost growled and stood up, following after him, "At least its better than nothing! I bet you watch paint dry for fun!"

He spun around, "Well, at least - is that mine," he said, cutting himself off, looking over my body.

I paused, crossing my arms over my chest. "Not anymore."

His eyes darkened and he turned away from me, walking down the hall. A few seconds later, his door slammed. Not long after, his shower cut on. I smirked to myself and went to my own room, content that I had just won this battle.

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Hey long time no see, I know, but at least its up, right? I know its a bit early, but this is a filler chapter, the next will have some significants.

Question: Do you think Ryland REALLY IS an asshole like Rory thinks, or is he just reacting to Rory herself, like Hayley thinks??