Lost In Love | ✔️

38

~Clementine's POV~

Ryder and I hung out with my parents for a couple of hours before we left, a happy, sated smile on my face as I left the house. My right hand was intertwined with his left one as we strolled down the driveway towards his car, a content feeling having settled deep within my chest.

"My parents seemed to like you a lot." I mentioned to him, practically chirping the words out. He glanced down at me as he dug into his right pocket with his free hand, pulling out his car keys to unlock his car. "Of course they did. What's not to like?" He asked playfully, bumping his hip against mine. I just laughed, rolling my eyes as I leaned into his side.

The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky a mixture of deep red and oranges, like some sort of sherbet within the sky. I giggled, glancing up at him as I leaned against the passenger's door of his car. His arms slithered around my waist whilst mine reached up, my hands tangling together behind his neck. "Fair point." I said softly, smiling up at him. The setting sun was warm upon my skin, highlighting his hair and emphasizing the color of his honey brown eyes as it hit him at just the right angle. "We're going to your house now, right?" I asked, threading my fingers into his soft hair.

He smiled, ducking down to place a kiss upon my lips ever so gently. "Of course." He muttered, almost seeming a little bit reluctant when he pulled away. I heard the car beep as he clicked on a button on his keys, unlocking the car, and I quickly slid into the passenger's seat whilst he walked around to the driver's side of the car.

We began the drive back to his house once he got into the car and started up the engine, beginning to head back towards his house. For a while I just looked out the window as he drove, watching the scenery pass by and admiring the sun as it was going down, creating an even bigger spread of colors within the sky. "I saw you talking with Lydia. Your dad mentioned her a couple of times." Ryder stated suddenly, causing me to glance his way. He kept his eyes on the road, not wanting to take them off the street before us whilst he was driving, thankfully.

"Yeah, I felt a little guilty that I had judged her based off of my dad's previous marriages. I thought I owed her a chance, you know." I admitted, biting down on my bottom lip as I lulled my head back against the headrest of my seat. It was true, too. Although I had only met Lydia not even a handful of times before she and my dad were married, I still had judged her regardless of that fact, and that simply wasn't fair of me.

There was a gentle smile on Ry's face as he looked at the road, causing me to huff slightly. "What are you smiling for?" I asked him, leaning back into my seat. His gaze briefly flicked over to me before focusing back on the road once again, still smiling. "Nothing." He said. "I was just thinking that it's things like this that make me keep realizing why I fell in love you, and why I keep falling even more in love with you now." He told me, his sudden words making my heart race and a heat creep up my neck and into my cheeks. I was blushing, but I was glad that he wasn't looking at me to see it.

"I have no clue what you're talking about." I mumbled shyly, unable to take my eyes off of the side of his handsome face. He was still smiling, all the while. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, Tiny." He chuckled, turning left onto another street. "It's not always easy to admit that you were wrong in thinking or doing something, even just to yourself." He said. I didn't know what to say, so I just bit down on the inside of my cheek and looked down at my lap, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. "I love you, too." I decided to say softly, not having anything more to say. What else needed to be said, after all? Lifting my gaze back up to the side of his face, I scanned my gaze over his side profile, smiling gently to myself before I turned to look out the window in a daze of happiness that only he could bring me.

It was a strange thing, realizing that Ryder was now my boyfriend, the man I was deeply in love with, when just a few months ago he and I were practically strangers. Perhaps it was even stranger to realize that, although the plane crash had seemed like such a terrible thing at the time, it brought me him. I'd lost some, but I found even more. It had gotten me lost for a while, but it had also found me love.