Instinctively, I give him a half hug. “Hey, what are you doing here,” I ask.
“Waiting for my brother,” he answered.
“You have a brother?” I ask too eagerly. “Brothers,” he corrects me and continues, “Connor and Toby.”
“That’s awesome. I always wanted a brother. Well that’s where my name comes in. I’ll tell you the story later as I promised,” I fake smiled as I felt pain in my heart and my body go numb like little needles dancing through my body.
I think he saw the pain in my eyes at the mention of it all because his smile disappeared and he said, “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“Hey, I made a promise and I keep my promises,” I let out.
“Hey, broski,” I hear a voice approaching me and Riley. A tall blonde, blue-eyed guy puts an arm around Riley’s shoulder. He looks at me and smiles, “Wait, are you the Ryland that Ri’s been talking about all day?”
Riley’s face turns red and he looks to the ground and slowly raises his eyes to meet mine, like he’s trying to read me. I laugh and said, “I guess I am? And you’re Connor, the guy who coughed really loud in that class we just had and woke me up from my mini daydream.”
“Oh, yeah. You know the professor kept looking at you because she saw you were zoning out,” the blonde said.
“Wait, what?! Was she really?” I freaked out.
“No, I’m just messing with you. It’s good to know that school is important to her,” he winks at me and elbows Riley.
I narrow my eyes and give him a nasty look, but can’t help myself and not stay mad at him. He’s just so charming like his brother.
“Yeah, not gonna lie, I kept staring back at you because you’re the prettiest girl in that class, but now that I know you’re already taken,” Connor elbows Riley, “she’s all yours bro.” I feel my face go red.
“Well that’s very nice of you to lie, my dear. I’m not even close to being the prettiest girl in that class, not even close to being pretty,” I say straight faced.
“Well one thing I don’t do, Ryland, is lie, so chin up, beautiful,” Connor winks at me. I smile back and whisper a thanks, though I don’t believe him. The intention and sincerity is there, I just can’t bring myself to believe the words though.
YOU ARE READING
When She Was Mine
FanfictionRyland is about to start her freshman year of college. The summer leading up to her first semester was the worst thing she ever experienced. She had her first major panic attack since she was 12. Diagnosed as clinically depressed at the age of 13, R...
