Supernova Souls - Ryan Upchurch

-8-

Ryan rolled over and stretched his arm out, expecting to feel the warmth of Riley beside him but to his sleepy surprise, she was gone.

He forgot.

She's still in the hospital.

He had managed to kick every bit of blanket off of him while he slept, and his pillow was hanging off the edge of the bed yet again.
He couldn't stay still for the life of him while he slept. His restlessness just wouldn't let him.
Sometimes he could sleep, often, he couldn't sleep at all.

Ryan grunts and grabs his circle frame glasses from his nightstand and puts them on, then checked his phone to see what time it was.

Only five thirty five in the morning.

"It's early enough to get up."

He puts on a clean pair of jeans and a hoodie, then slips his snakeskin boots on.

His heavy boots stomped against the hardwood floors that led up to the kitchen where an eerie, dark figure stood in the unlit room, soft humming coming from the person's lips.

The sound was small but slightly comforting, and sweet. Her humming was music to the exhausted man's ears.

"What're you doing up so early?" The woman asked. Ryan recognized her voice. Delilah.

"I could ask you the same thing." He says, flipping the switch on the wall so the slightly dim light above the two would come on. "But I couldn't sleep."

"Me either. Been up all night long."

Since Delilah had basically became a roommate to Ryan, living in his spare room the past few days he's warmed up to her. Slowly, sure, but he was starting to feel more comfortable with being himself around her.

His blue eyes raked over her without him giving the look much thought while she made coffee for the two of them.
She was only wearing a shirt, one of the dark gray long sleeved ones of Ryan's he had left in the closet of the guest room and forgotten about and her panties, her dark waves falling out of her lazily done ponytail and her hazel eyes were filled with nothing but exhaustion and pain. Pain he wished he could take away, pain he wanted to know the cause of, pain he wanted to heal.

"I heard you singin' last night." Delilah said to finally break the awkward silence that filled the room. The damn tension between the two killed them, but after all they barely knew eachother.

"Melody kept runnin' through my head all night and I didn't wanna forget about it."

"Yeah, but Severe Storms?" She questioned. She liked the supposed name of the song, but it didn't really make sense to her. Was it about this storm?

"Uh-huh..but you can't lie, shit sounded good, did it not?"

"I don't remember many of the words.." Delilah said as she stirred a spoonful of sugar into her cup of coffee, eyes set on the black mug sitting on the counter in front of her. She knows damn well that what she said was a lie, because she did know the words-at least most of them. She couldn't really hear anything but him even if he was trying to be quiet. "But from what I did hear it didn't sound half bad."

"I can't shake this feeling
I feel there's no ceiling
I been out here floating alone
No desire to touch base or to come back home.."

Her words replayed in his mind while he lingered in the kitchen standing next to her with his cup of black coffee in one hand, his other hand hanging freely at his side.

Ryan looks out the window at the dark sky filled with puffy, white clouds. The storm was slowly dying down outside, meaning Delilah was going home sometime today.

His heart sunk at the simple thought of her leaving.

He knows she has to, she can't stay forever. But that doesn't mean he necessarily wants her gone- he sort of enjoys her company. She's one of the few people that'll treat him like an actual human instead of putting him on a pedestal because he was famous. Hidden beneath his fame was just another good ole boy from Tennessee, and Delilah knew that.

"Rain's slowin' down." Delilah said, taking a sip of her coffee as she herself joined in on watching the slow drip of the rain falling from the early morning sky. Her words caught him off guard, but brought him back down from reality.

"You might finally get to see your family again tonight." Ryan says with a slight grin, sneaking a glance down at Delilah. "Maybe."

Ryan went to take a seat at the kitchen table by himself and drink his coffee while he watched the slow rainfall outside with his dog, Waylon asleep on the couch, close by. Delilah stayed in the kitchen to cook a simple breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, gravy and biscuits for everybody and maybe slip Mary Jane a bite or two here and there- she was too good of a dog to not give treats to.

                                         —
The soft breeze slowly pushed the porch swing Ryan was sitting on, combined with him rocking his feet back and forth made the swing move at a slow, comfortable pace while he read from the book in his heavily tattooed hands.

His glasses kept sliding down his nose while he read, so he had to keep pushing the damn things back up.
Even things that small could spark a bit of anger in the back of his mind, but he never acted on it- he simply allowed his anger to grow larger in his head until he'd eventually break.

Waylon was playing in the muddy grass with a stick he found, that was absolutely massive- Ryan didn't know how Waylon was even carrying it by himself.
The white puppy looked brown due to him rolling in mud.

The soft mewls of the stray cat that would jump Ryan's fence occasionally to come get affection and treats was slowly getting closer and closer until the pregnant cat jumped up on the porch swing beside him.

"Bee," he cleared his throat, reaching his hand down to pet the sweet all black cat that looked like she was about to pop like a balloon. "Makin' your rounds again, ain't you, girl?"

He knew the cat had came back for more food. He was the only person that would give the old girl something to eat, or care for her in the slightest. Bee didn't have an owner, and Riley was allergic to cats so he couldn't keep Bee inside.
Ryan did love Bee, though, and he kept that old ragged cat in food, as much veterinary care as she needed and (mostly) a place to live. Bee usually slept in the barn, since she would slip in through the double doors he left cracked for her to make her way to the fluffy bed he had left over from when Mary Jane was a puppy.

Bee laid down beside Ryan and enjoyed the warmth of his hand running over her soft black fur, and the little threads of silver that littered her silky all black look.

The front door opened with a creak and out slipped Delilah in everything she wore the day she first started working on Ghost Ranch, along with her purse and keys.

Ryan kept his focus on his book and didn't bother looking over at Delilah, and kept reading. "I'm leavin'."

"Bye." Ryan's tone was harsher than he wanted it to be, but he couldn't give less of a fuck. "See you next Monday. Eight a.m."

"Yessir." She looked off into the barely blue morning sky, puffy white clouds littering the view above. "Bye Ryan."

Delilah glanced down at him, catching the swift look he gave her before placing his piercing, icy gaze back down to his book.

An unknown flame flashed in his eyes.

The same flame he had caught in her gorgeous hazel eyes whenever he had caught her sneaking quick, lustful glances over at him.