Hurricane Love

Twenty Three

I tapped my fingers on the table top repeatedly in anxiousness, watching the door closely, going over and over in my head the words I was going to say to explain. I was biting down on my lip so hard but too distracted by my thoughts to notice the pain. Finally, I took in a slow breath as I spotted the door open and I forced a smile onto my face.

'Hi,' Abbie said, as she slid into the opposite seat of the booth. 'Oh, you look so serious! This thing you want to tell me must be big.'

'Yeah, I guess it is,' I said, breathing out.

'So, what's up?' she asked.

Opening my mouth to speak, we were suddenly disturbed by the waitress appearing to take our order.

'We can quickly order,' I said, smiling at Abbie as I turned to the waitress and ordered the usual large, pepperoni pizza we always shared.

As the waitress disappeared, Abbie and I turned back to each other and I took another breath.

'I do have to tell you something,' I said. 'I'm a little nervous because I'm hoping you don't think badly of me.'

'Of course I won't,' Abbie said. 'Whatever it is, you can tell me.'

'Well, here goes,' I sighed. 'You know how I told you that I thought I was feeling something for Ryker?'

'Oh god,' Abbie said. 'I didn't expect this to be about him, but yeah, what about it?'

'Well, I am; I know that now,' I said, still feeling slightly anxious about admitting it out loud. 'The thing is...he feels it too.'

'I knew it!' she cried. 'Did he tell you? Oh my god, I can't believe he admitted that!'

'Well, actually, that's not really how it went,' I said, wrinkling up my nose awkwardly. 'You remember at Cassie's party when I left the beer pong table and went back inside?'

'Yeah,' Abbie said. 'And you came back outside acting all weird and I asked you if he had said something to you and you said no...but, did he actually tell you that he liked you then?'

'No,' I said, exhaling loudly. 'I went into the laundry room for some quiet and he followed me in. He asked me what was going on between us and I was a little surprised and caught off guard and then...well, he kissed me.'

Abbie's jaw dropped open as she stared at me in silence. Her face did not change from the wide eyed, wide-mouthed look for several seconds before her expression turned truly mortified.

'I don't know if I heard that right,' she said.

'You heard me right,' I replied.

'What the hell did you do?' she asked, her palms flat on the table as she crouched forward, still staring at me in disbelief. 'Did you slap him?'

'Well, I pulled away and I was all 'what the hell!' and honestly, I was completely taken aback and confused,' I explained, finally feeling some relief at being able to tell somebody.

'Well, good!' Abbie cried. 'Thank god you pulled away, I mean, if not that would have been like...it would have been soo...umm...why do you have that look on your face?'

Her brow arched as she looked at me, sitting biting down on my thumbnail as my brows creased up and my nose wrinkled, her words making me feel even more awkward about telling her the next part.

'I actually, ummm...I kissed him again,' I said, pressing my lips together as I waited for her reaction.

'You did what?' she gasped.

'Okay! Fine!' I cried out, giving in to it all. 'Yeah, I basically dived right back on him but it was impossible not to! It was those eyes, those fucking dark green eyes just...looking at me! I tried to walk away but he just gave me this look and I was just under his spell or something and yes, I kissed him back. God! Stop making me feel so bad about it, I know, I'm a terrible person, okay, but Jesus Christ, I couldn't help myself!'