Her fingers traced the marble countertops as she stood and simply admired the beauty that was Ryder’s bathroom. She took her time applying her makeup and diffusing her curly hair. She tousled her curls into loose waves and slicked on some red lipstick. She not only wanted to look pretty that day, she wanted to feel pretty.
She exited the bathroom fully washed, dressed, and ready for the day, and saw that Ryder’s king sized bed was completely empty and made. She trekked down the hall to the living room area where Ryder was sitting on the couch on his laptop.
“Good morning, kid,” he said as he didn’t look up once.
“Hey,” she said.
“How are you feeling?” he asked. “Inquiring minds want to know.”
“Oh,” she laughed as she remembered all the beer she had downed the night before. “Actually, I feel completely fine. That Gatorade really helped I think.”
“Ha. I’m surprised you remember,” he said with a smile on his face.
“I was drunk, I admit,” she huffed. “But I wasn’t that drunk.”
“Sure,” he said as he looked up and winked. “I’m going to hop into the shower. We can go do stuff in a little bit. Help yourself whatever you want in the kitchen.”
He shut his laptop lid and sat it carefully on the coffee table next to his phone as he popped up and walked back to his bedroom. She heard his bathroom door shut and the sound of the shower turning on. She felt weird rummaging through his kitchen like she owned the place, but her stomach was growling and she was starving.
She opened cabinet after cabinet until she found where the cereal was stored. She saw box upon box of fruity flavored cereal in brightly colored boxes with cartoon characters on them.
Those have to be Zander’s, she thought to herself. She dared not touch them.
She found a loaf of bread, a toaster, and some peanut butter and made herself some toast. She wanted something that would stick to her ribs and keep her full that day. She had no idea what the plan was, but she didn’t want to be too hungry that day.
As she munched on the crunchy toast, she heard a door open and saw Zander, in nothing but boxer-briefs, stumble down the hall towards the kitchen. His abs were ripped and his torso was covered in even more tattoos than his neck. He grunted some sort of greeting as he clinked and clamored with dishes and bowls and silverware and poured himself an enormous bowl of Froot Loops. He took a seat on a bar stool and engulfed his entire bowl before Stormy was even done with her second piece of toast.
“So did you have a good time last night?” he asked. He was suddenly alive and coherent after ingesting all that sugary cereal.
“Uh, yeah,” she said. “I did.”
“Everyone thought you were pretty cool, so…”
“That’s nice,” she said. She didn’t know what more to say, but she was glad to hear she didn’t make a complete fool out of herself.
“What are you and Ryder doing today?”
“I have no idea. Any suggestions?”
Zander shook his head ‘no’ and hopped off the bar stool. He rinsed his dish and placed it in the dishwasher.
“Knowing Ryder, I’m sure he’s got something up his sleeve,” he said. “He’s sort of a control freak, but don’t tell him I said that.”
Zander said nothing else as he walked back to his bedroom and shut the door.
He’s definitely a wild card, Stormy chuckled to herself. And he’d be perfect for Brooklyn.
She took a seat over on the silk couch as she waited for Ryder to emerge from his room ready to hit the town. She stared out the window at all the hundreds of cars below and the bumper to bumper traffic. She heard the faint sound of honking car horns and saw random groups of gorgeous, leggy blondes, transsexuals, and thugs walking side by side on the sidewalks. In so many ways, she was on an entirely different planet, but she was beginning to like it.
She heard a buzz and happened to see Ryder’s phone light up out of the corner of her eye. She glanced around really quickly to see if anyone was watching before reaching down and snapping it up. He had a text from Veronica. His phone was locked, but the text was nothing but question marks.
She seems bat shit crazy, Stormy thought as she rolled her eyes and sat the phone right back where it was.
Within seconds, footsteps echoed from the hallway as Ryder made his way towards the living room. His hair was neatly combed and slicked back with brill cream once again, and he was wearing a cerulean blue polo and light, faded slim cut jeans. His generous arms filled out the polo and the jeans flattered his perfect stature. Stormy couldn’t help but stare at the gorgeous man standing before her.