Some Kind of Wonderful (sequel to Give Me the Greenlight, Mr. Clifford)

Ch 10 - A Willing Partner

Ryder broke the kiss and quickly removed himself from me, sitting down at the far end of the couch, his head in his hands. "Fuuuuck," he moaned quietly. I had no idea what to do or say. I sat up, too, but stayed on my end of the couch. The whole amazing experience couldn't have lasted more than twenty seconds. Definitely not long enough.

"Damn it, Kate. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have let that happen." He removed his hands from his head, and started biting his nails, but he still wasn't looking at me.

"I think we both let it happen. And I may be more guilty than you," I corrected him, remembering it was I who pulled him to me. I was looking down, fiddling with the bracelet he had given me. That made me realize that I had forgotten Ryder's gift at home. Shit. My hands were trembling. When he didn't say anything else, I asked, "Are you saying you didn't want it to happen?"

Ryder turned, his eyes burning into mine. "Can we just not talk about this? Pretend it didn't happen?"

His words cut like a knife. But if he didn't feel comfortable talking about it, I wasn't going to push it. "Sure. Nothing happened." I excused myself and hurried off to the bathroom before my tears escaped. The most wonderful experience of my life just happened, with the most perfect guy in the world, and Ryder wanted me to forget about it. As though that were even possible.

I didn't want Ryder to know that I was so upset, so I did my best to push aside my feelings for the time being. I would cry later. Many deep breaths and probably five minutes later, I left the bathroom, trying to act as normal as possible. I was surprised to see that Ryder had set up one of the board games on the kitchen table.

"It's my Birthday Eve and all, but I'll let you go first," he said, smiling, as I took the seat across the table from him.

Wow, he really is going to act like nothing happened. Okay then.

We played games and talked for nearly two hours. We reminisced about past birthdays, and even threw in conversation about our future education plans. I had applied to a nursing program and was waiting to hear if I'd been accepted. Ryder, however, was adamant on taking a more non-traditional route, hoping to follow in his dad's footsteps. He wanted to give his music career a chance before considering school. He was passionate enough that I thought he may just make it.

Somehow everything seemed normal, despite what we were both likely feeling. It was just Kate and Ry acting like goofballs as always. I must say I was grateful, because it could have gone in the opposite direction after what happened.

When Ryder decided he had had enough of me kicking his tail on every game we played, he mentioned how late it was getting. Eight o'clock wasn't exactly late according to our usual standards, but I understood why he was ready to head home.

Just when I thought everything was going well, the ride home got way too quiet. When I found the courage to break the silence, I asked, "Will you please go inside with me when we get to my house?"

"Well, I was needing to get home at a decent time, Kate. I still have to finish that history assignment."

"You're such a procrastinator. Please, Ry, just for a second?" And out of habit I put my hand on his, which was on the gear shift between us. I felt him flinch, but then he turned his hand over, lacing his fingers with mine and rested them on his lap. That's a good sign. Everything is going to be okay, I ensured myself.

"Just for a second," he said, giving my hand a squeeze. The rest of the ride home was once again silent, but not so uncomfortable.

It was still pouring rain when we got home. Despite our sprint to the house, we ended up soaked.