Resisting Ryder(40)

The next morning, she couldn’t wait to wake up and see him. She pounced on the couch at eight in the morning and woke him up with a sweet peck on the lips.

“Hey,” he said with a smile as he sat up.

There was something so freeing for Stormy to finally acknowledge her feelings. If he had never opened up to her the way he did the night before, she probably would’ve stuffed those feelings down so far she’d never find them ever again. She probably would’ve continued to ignore his calls and texts, and she would’ve settled for whatever life decided to throw her way which probably would’ve been Hayden.

“So I didn’t ask you, but how long are you in town this time?” she asked.

“Well, I have an open ended ticket home,” he said. “And I have my rental car. It kind of just depended on how things went last night. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go.”

“I think things went pretty well. I don’t know about you,” Stormy teased.

Ryder smiled and nodded. “Sorry I poured my heart out like that. I’m usually not that, um, open about things.”

“I’m glad you said those things,” she replied. “I was really confused about a lot of things, still am, but your words sort of solidified some of the feelings I was trying to ignore.”

“Ignoring your feelings is the worst thing you can do,” he said. “Believe me. They’ll come out one way or another and sometimes not in good ways.”

“I’m sure,” she agreed. She stood up and went over to the thick, drawn curtains and pulled them open. She was okay with letting the light in that day. In fact, she welcomed it. As she pulled the second curtain back she saw a black Jeep driving slowly past her house.

“Shit,” she whispered to herself. She knew Hayden was probably checking on her and wondering why there was some random car parked in her driveway. She also wondered why, on the Fourth of July, he wasn’t up at the lake house.

“What do you want to do today?” Ryder asked as he folded the blankets and sat them neatly on the arm of the couch. “It’s the Fourth. I’m sure we can find a decent fireworks show somewhere around here.”

She spun around, instantly feeling guilty about her little unintentional love triangle.

“Um,” she stalled. She felt the need to text Hayden and explain, but she didn’t want him to know she saw him driving by. “Yeah, the fire department does fireworks. We can go out to Odemeyer Road and find a little spot to park and watch.”

“Sounds nice and low key,” he said.

“What’s the plan today?” she asked. “It won’t get dark until almost nine. We’ve got the entire day to burn.”

“I guess I hadn’t really thought about it,” he said. “I was half expecting you to slam the door in my face and half expecting you to be with that douchebag ex of yours.”

“Heh,” Stormy let out a nervous laugh.

“Has he been hassling you again?” Ryder asked.

“He’s stopped by a couple times,” Stormy said, keeping it short and sweet. “I wouldn’t say he’s been hassling me per se.”

“Who’s that pulling up in front of your house?” Ryder asked as he pointed out the window.

Hayden’s Jeep was parked in the street out front, and he was making his way up the walkway towards her door.

“Give me a minute,” she said as she hurriedly slipped on a pair of flip flops by the door and walked out to the porch.

“What the hell’s going on?” Hayden asked, all wild eyed. She had never seen him so jealous and accusatory before. “Who’s at your house right now?”

Stormy breathed in deep as she searched for the words.

“It’s a guy isn’t it?” he demanded to know. “Who is it?”

“Hayden,” Stormy said as she placed her hand on his chest. He seemed ready to charge in her door at any second. “First of all, you and I aren’t even really together. Second of all, I don’t know if I’m ready to explore anything with you again. And thirdly, I’ve kind of fallen for someone else.”

Hayden looked crushed. Devastated. His face fell as he took a step back.

“I knew it,” he said. “I knew I lost you forever.”

He shook his head as he stepped even further away from her.

“I hope you and what’s-his-name are very happy together,” he sulked. He turned and strutted back to his Jeep.

“Hayden!” she yelled after him. “We can still be friends, right?”

His back was towards her as he threw one hand in the air and flipped her off. He hopped in his car and sped down the street. She knew he was upset. She couldn’t blame him. She couldn’t hold any of that against him.