Just a Little Crush(81)
I hung up. My throat tightened. I could get over my trip being ruined, but how did I tell Mason? Maybe he could ride home with Leena and lend me his car. My eyes stung. I sensed Ryder staring but I couldn’t talk just then. How would I explain to everyone why I had to leave? They’d all find out. Everyone would know my mom was a drunk. My lip trembled.
“Brinley?” Ryder said my name with such tenderness it broke me.
Tears rolled down my cheeks. I buried my face in my hands and tried to stop them.
His arm went around me and he pulled me against his chest. With a gentle hushing sound he tried to soothe me, but more tears fell.
Anger, embarrassment, resentment, hopelessness all coursed through me, battering my insides.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Mom.” I sniffled. “She’s fine. Just hurt herself. But she’s drunk. The hospital won’t release her. I have to pick her up.”
“I’ll drive you.”
“You can’t do that. I can’t make you leave. Mason will lend me his car. I’m just so frustrated. I—I don’t even know why I’m crying.” With the palm of my hand I dried my eyes. “It’s stupid. I’m sorry. Please don’t tell anyone. About any of this.” I sat upright and blew out a puff of air. “I feel like such a spaz.”
“I’d never tell anyone. And you’re entitled to be upset. I’m driving you.” He wiped my cheek. “Tell me when you’re ready, and we’ll go.”
My eyes welled again. “Dammit.” I fanned my face. “I really don’t want to ruin your spring break. I’m fine. Honest. I can drive back.”
“The only thing that would ruin my spring break is you leaving. I wasn’t even looking forward to this trip until you showed up. I don’t care where I spend it. If you want to come back after your mom’s out of the hospital, we will. If you’d rather stay there, that’s fine too. Now, if you just don’t want me around…”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Positive.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Patting my cheeks, I asked, “Is it obvious I’ve been crying?”
“A little. If you want, you can tell everyone I was reciting moonlight beach poetry and it got you all choked up. I think they’d buy it.”
I laughed. “Hmm, not sure.”
“Okay fine, how about we tell everyone we had mind-blowing sex that left you in tears. They’d definitely buy that one.”
My face warmed and I was glad it was too dark for him to see. “Or we could just say you reduced me to tears with your really bad suggestions.”
“Ouch. I thought the last one was a winner.” He grinned and grabbed my hand. “Come on. You don’t look like you’ve been crying anymore. You do, on the other hand, look like you’ve been blushing.”
I pulled my hand free and shoved his shoulder.
He laughed and stood, reached out, grabbed both my hands and pulled me up. “So what should our story be?”
I stared at him, taken back four years.
“I—uh—” He ran his hand through his hair.
Laughter burst from my lips. I dusted sand from my dress. “Wow, we’ve really come full circle, haven’t we?” I tugged his hand and started walking toward the beach house. “We can just tell everyone that my mom is sick. You offered to give me a ride.”
With an overdramatized huff, he said, “Well, I guess if you want the easy answer.”
“I just figured it was the most believable. Though the mind-blowing sex was a close second.”
Ryder’s deep laugh sent warm trickles down my body. “You have no idea how glad I am the bottle landed on you that day.”
The ocean breeze brushed over me. “In a weird way, I am too. I could have lived without the high school nickname, courtesy of that party, but I’m glad you were my first kiss.”
We’d neared the bonfire. He pulled me to a stop. “Wait, you’d never kissed anyone?”
“Wasn’t it obvious?”
“No. Not at all. Man, how did you know what the hell you were doing? My first kiss involved bumping heads and I think someone might have gotten bit. And not in a good way.”
I shrugged. “I had this little obsession with the Unity of Opposites theory. I applied it.”
Ryder raised an eyebrow.
“It’s like the theory of oneness. One thing’s existence is dependent upon the other. Like if there was no up, we wouldn’t have down. Basically, this balance unifies everything. So for every sensation, every move, every action, there is a counteraction to balance it. Inhalation. Exhalation. Push. Pull. Over. Under. In. Out.”