Masked Facade

Chapter 34: Keeper

Alice's POV

Six years ago...

The curve of a smile on my face never once left since the day I confined into Ryan a few months ago. It was engraved in my mind that if I let others see my fears then it'd just complicate what I had with them. Turned out, I was so wrong about it.

Things were falling into place with every passing day. Zach had found the mutual ground with Ryan and now they are back to being friends like in the past, but a bit more trusting on each other's part. Sometimes they gang up against me and irritate me to no end. As far as Emily was considered, she couldn't wait a second before breaking the new to Stacy, which in turn saw the doorstep to Stephanie and Daniel's.

My dad was the only one oblivious to this newfound fact, but it was my place to tell him about Ryan. In-person, that too. I was meaning to meet him when I decided to host the Thanksgiving dinner and invite Thea, Jeremy, Ryan, and his dad.​ We were disappointed a bit that no adults could accompany us, but then the rest of us took matters in their hands and hade one hell of a dinner. Did I mention the food fight?

December rolled on in a blur and we were approaching New Year's Eve already. Expect from the weather, everything was warm for me. Things have never been better between me and Ryan. We weren't the over-possessive kind but spent enough time together almost every day.

In the past month, we have had too much fun doing pranks on each other and also on our friends. And today is another day I'd be initiating the prank war verbally​​. We'd say stuff to humiliate the other person in front of a potential audience.

My phone vibrated with an incoming text message from Ryan asking to have lunch with him. I dodged him saying that I have some assignment to catch up on. This way he'd be sharing the lunch table with his team and friends. Unable to control my grin, I made my way towards the lunchroom after exactly fifteen minutes. I just marched in the direction of Ryan's table. Locating me in the crowd, he gave me a wink and smiled softly. I made a beeline for his chair and without giving him any time to process, I planted myself between the table and him, pushing his tray a few inches away with my hand and looked down at him.

Amusement crinkled in his eyes. Smiling innocently at him, I said, "News is you were caught masturbating by your dad in your kitchen."

I was quite loud for the entire table to hear me. Snickers and howling rose around us, while I had Ryan's undivided attention.

Alice - 1. Ryan - 0.

His eyes narrowed at me, and just for a split second, I thought I might have crossed the line this time. The color drained from my face when his lips curled into a sinister smile. I heard his silent challenge. He swore to me at that moment that he'd get me.

I'm so doomed!

******

"Hey, babe?" At that, I threw a glance up at him and the mischievous smile on his mouth was enough for me to go frozen in his hold with my eyes as wide as saucers. "Can I get a quickie in the janitor's closet?"

One second, I was fuming with rage and the next, Ryan's head flew backward with the impact of the fist that landed square on his nose. Turning around I inspected Ryan for any supposed injuries and much to my relief there were none. Patting his cheek, I blew a kiss in his direction and winked in triumph.

Alice - 2. Ryan - 0.

Turning around, I convinced Zach that this was all a stupid prank kinda thing and ushered him to his next class. Once the coast was clear, I turned to get to my class when Ryan pulled me back to him by my elbows and embraced my entire form possessively.