Chapter Eighteen
Sofia
I’m in a daze.
The whole way back to the house, Amelia goes on and on about how incredible Moon is, but all I’m doing is imagining Ryan’s lips on mine.
Good Lord, they’re better than I thought.
“His real name is Chandler! Isn’t that amazing? Like from Friends. You’ve watched that, right? Crap, you probably haven’t. Adding that to the list,” she rambles on, pulling her phone out to add to the list of stuff I haven’t seen. Meanwhile, I don’t give two shits about Moon or Chandler; I’m fully focused on Ryan Justice. He kissed the shit out of me, and it wasn’t gentle like I thought my first kiss would be.
Or even sweet.
It was insanely fucking hot.
I don’t know if I’ll recover.
Honestly, I don’t know what happened. I was under some sort of spell. It had to be his hips or his hands or…shit, it was him. And next thing I know, I’m up on a rooftop, looking out at the beautiful Tennessee sky, spilling my life story to the one person I was trying my hardest to ignore. Obviously, that isn’t going to happen, so I might want to accept it.
Accept that I might be dating Ryan.
Shit.
“He was so funny. You should have seen him. I just sat on his lap like it was nothing, and it actually wasn’t. I couldn’t find anywhere to sit, and I don’t get how my aunt walks in these fucking shoes all the time. I can’t wait for you to meet my aunt. She’s funny and spunky and oh so fashionable. You’d never know Posey was her kid. That girl is the epitome of a tomboy,” she laughs, while I can’t help but grin like a fool as I’m terrified at the same exact time.
What the hell am I going to do? Do I have a choice? I don’t know!
“Anyway, his eyes were like quarters when I sat down, giving him my come-get-me grin, and he was done for. He’s so amazing, so funny, and I want to get him naked so damn bad.”
I wouldn’t dare judge her. So she wants to have loads of sex? Her body, her choice. Unlike me, who has been clinging to her V-card like a damn life preserver. But then again, that’s not true. I just didn’t have time. Problem is, do I have time now?
“So where were you?”
My mouth goes dry.
“I saw you with Ryan, dancing it up, both of you guys grinning and enjoying it very much, and then you were just gone. I was too busy finding out what Moon was majoring in and admiring his sexy lips. Then stupid Willy ruined it all. It pissed Moon off, and then he left, and then I was pissed, but then you found me, and here we are! So yeah, where did y’all go?”
I bite my lip, crossing my arms and tucking my hands under them as we head up the stairs to our room. “On the roof.”
“On the roof? Of the house?”
“Yeah, he had this little setup, chairs and Oreos. Oh, and coffee.”
“Really?” she giggles, shaking her head. “That’s sorta romantic.”
“Yeah, it was.”
She leans into me, waggling her brows at me. “So, what happened?”
My face burns as I shrug. “I don’t know… We talked and ate Oreos. It was sweet.”
“What did y’all talk about?” she asks as she puts in the key, pushing the door open and letting me in. When she kicks off her shoes, she grins over at me. “Did he like your hair?”
“Eh, not really. I think he wants to see it curly.”
“Aw, I love your hair. I was gonna offer to do it more often.”
I make a face. “You burned my scalp twice.”
“You have baby hairs! I had to get them.”
I shake my head, knowing damn well there will not be a meeting between me, Amelia, and her hair straightener in my future. “Whatever,” I say, falling back on my bed before toeing out of my shoes, my mind returning to the little quirk in Ryan’s jaw when he smiled. Or how his eyes seemed to get darker right before he kissed me. Wow, he kissed me.
And I really liked it.
I hadn’t given much thought to my first kiss, but I never pictured it being on a rooftop with someone like Ryan Justice. He’s so hot, and while I’m aware I’m pretty, I’m muscular. Guys don’t want girls who are stronger than they are, but Ryan doesn’t seem to see that. He sees me, and he’s so easy to talk to. Oh, I’m in trouble.
When Amelia falls onto my bed with me, in only a T-shirt and panties—this girl has no modesty whatsoever—she leans on her hands. “So, what did y’all talk about?”
I roll my eyes, moving my hair out of my face. “I don’t know. Stuff. He’s so easy to talk to.”
“He is,” she agrees. “He’s got that talk-to-me face. Even when I wanted to shut down and hide, he was there, and I just had to talk to him.”
“Yeah, but he’s your brother.”
“I know, and Shelli is basically my sister, yet I couldn’t talk to her when my dad died. She loved my daddy, and she was in as much pain as I was, but Ryan was honestly the only person I could talk to. When he would come in the room, he didn’t want to talk about anything but what made us happy. I don’t know, that probably doesn’t make sense, but he just knows how to be there for someone.”
“No, I get it,” I say softly. “When my mom first got diagnosed, I couldn’t talk to anyone, not even her, and I think that messed me up a bit.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” she sympathizes, shaking her head. “I wish I had been there.”
“Me too,” I answer, leaning my head into hers. “It would have been a lot easier, and it would have been really nice to have someone like you on my side.”
We share a long look, but then she says, “Though, I don’t think we’d have been friends. You were probably too focused.”
I grin. “I was favored to beat Gabby Douglas for a spot on the team.”