Chapter 9 Why Would I Do That?
Gracie
We are called forward to order. Both ordering the same thing, two vanilla iced lattes. I go to take my purse from my bag to pay, but Ryland stops me and pays for them.
I kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”
His smile seems to grow when I do. My cheeks heat. Why did I just do that? I could have said thank you like a normal person. There was no need for me to kiss his cheek.
Ryland fights back a laugh. “You are cute when you blush.”
A nervous laugh escapes from my lips, and I playfully push him. “Oh, hush.”
I walk away, and he is quick to catch up with me. He slips his arm around my shoulder. “I am only messing with you, well, sort of. You are cute. I wasn’t lying about that.”
I let out a scoff. Me, cute? I don’t think so. If Ryland believes that, then there is something wrong with him. I watch his features change when I scoff. He opens his mouth to say something, but I won’t allow him. I pull myself away from him and walk fast towards the car. I hope he doesn’t ask me about it once we are moving again, and I can’t escape. The anxious feeling courses through me, the same ones that had disappeared after being around Ryland for a little while. He unlocks the car so I can climb in, and he does the same.
I expect him to start the car. He doesn’t. He turns to me. “What was that?”
“Nothing. Can we please go? I don’t want to be late.” I say firmly and turn away from him.
Ryland lets out a frustrated groan before doing as I ask. I watch the world fly by, sipping my coffee on the way to school. Silence fills the car. It must be too much for him because he puts on some music. I focus my attention back on him. He is so handsome. I study every detail of his face from his strong, sharp jawline to the small clutch of freckles he has on his left cheek and down to the tattoo on his neck, then the ones on his arm. I swallow hard. He really is so beautiful.
“Are you enjoying the view?” he asks, not looking at me, but smirks.
I quickly turn away, embarrassed. “Sorry.”
I slump down in the seat, feeling both my face and neck heat up. It would be great if the ground opened up and swallowed me right now. My staring at him was more obvious than I thought. I need this car ride to be over so I can run away. I can’t run far since he is in most of my classes today, except one. There is no way to escape him.
“I don’t mind, beautiful.” He chuckles, and his hand falls on my knee.
Ryland squeezes it, and it is enough to make me shudder. I turn back to him. I can see he is watching me out of the corner of his eyes, a smile present on his lips, not a smirk. I shyly smile back at him. I can’t work out his interest in me. Sighing, I pull my attention away from him once again.
“Gracie, what is wrong?”
“Nothing, I am fine.”
“I don’t believe you,” he says as we pull into school.
Thank God! The moment the car comes to a halt, I rush out of it. I take a few deep breaths. Why is he doing this to me? I don’t act like this when it comes to guys.
“Gracie, are you okay?” Lola asks as she approaches me.
I nod and smile. “Yes, I am fine.”
Ryland climbs out of the car and comes over to us. Lola smirks and gives me a nudge. She knows what is wrong. I glare at her, which makes her giggle. Ryland glances between us, baffled. He is trying to work out what is going on.
Lola smiles. “Hello, Ryland.”
“Hey! Did Gracie tell you I am her new neighbour?" he asks, a sly look on his face.
“No, she never mentioned it,” Lola replies, with the same look on her face as Ryland.
I groan, toss my arms in the air, and walk away, heading into school. I go straight to my locker to put everything in it that I don’t need until later.
“You enjoy it way too much running away from me,” Ryland says, appearing next to me and resting against the lockers.
I let out a huff and close the locker, turning to him. “Whatever. Do you not have someone else to annoy for a little while?”
“I could if I wanted to, but I don’t want to. We should get to class, beautiful. I don’t want you freaking out because you are late.”
There is no point in denying it. It is the truth. I hate being late. We head to class and take our seats, ready to start our school day.