Supernova Souls - Ryan Upchurch

-24-

The tip of the blunt glowed different, faint shades of red and orange each hit he took- he didn't pull away until his lungs burned and ached for fresh air.

Outside his bedroom window the leaves on the trees swayed peacefully in the wind, the sound of the breeze still that same eerie sound from before, a baby crying. He didn't mind though, he was used to it.

The dogs were all curled up on his bed in a small pile like puppies did, even though only one of the three was an actual puppy. Waylon and the puppy-still magically unnamed, that'd have to change today- both had their heads laying on whatever part of MJ they were closest to like she was their mama and they wanted her warmth.

Inside his head he was brainstorming both the most painful and painless ways to break up with Riley. One side of him didn't want to hurt her, but the other told him that she hurt him-why didn't he want to hurt her back? That little voice in his head wasn't wrong, so why did he want to go against it?

Because somewhere deep down he knew that wasn't who he was. He couldn't just change the love he had for that girl, no matter what she did, he couldn't just go inside his heart and flip a switch that'd magically make him hate her. He wanted to, but he couldn't. He didn't have that switch inside of him.

Nobody did, really. They think they do, but you never really stop loving someone.

Something moved out of the corner of his eye, and a rush of cold air came over him but left just as quickly as it appeared. He took another hit off the blunt that was snugly between his fingers and inhaled until his lungs again burned.

Ghost Ranch had its fair share of paranormal things that went on but usually it was all outside, late at night. Tonight something was off though, it was four am and he was inside the safety of the house in his bedroom with the door locked.

The puppy made his way out of the pile he had slept in the last few hours and crawled across the bed and came to lay in Ryan's lap with a whimper.

"Hey little man." Ryan whispered, slipping his hand beneath the dog so he could pick him up and hold him against his chest. The puppy contently laid his head on his chest and let out a little huff of air from his nose.

Ryan still had to come up with a name for the little puppy, but he couldn't really think of anything good. Originally he wanted to wait and see what the dog's personality was before he named him, but it'd been too long to keep calling him 'puppy' or 'little guy'. He needed a name, a real name.

Rocky? No.. Axel? Maybe.. well, no. Bubba-no, Ryan already had that nickname as one of his own-Beau? No.. shit.

Chevy? Diesel? Apollo? Dallas? Blown head gasket? How hard was it to name a dog? He'd never had this problem with MJ or Waylon when it came down to naming them.

Ford? Can't use that one either.

Nope, no, no, no! I am not using Delilah's middle name as a dog's name. He sighed and rested his chin on the pup's head, making sure to keep his other hand-and the blunt-far away from the puppy's fur.

Maybe later he'd have more luck coming up with names. He looked over at the clock on his dresser and took a second for his eyes to adjust to the bright red numbers on the small screen before he could read them.

4:56 am.

Ryan looked back down at the blunt between his fingers that he had smoked almost down to the roach and decided to give it a rest for the morning, and that he'd had enough. He put it out then threw it in the trash and in the back of his mind, hoped one of his dogs wouldn't eat it since they each had habits of eating things from the trashcan.

It was early enough to get up by his standards.

Gently he laid the puppy down on his bed after he stood up and the puppy sleepily crawled up beneath the messy bedspread for that extra warmth he seemed to crave.

He smiled at the adorable sight of his dogs. Each one of them held a special place in his heart, even if they didn't know it.

The wooden floor was cold against his bare feet as he made his way to his closet to pick out what he was gonna wear for the day which ended up being a white tee with Corvettes on the front and a pair of bootcut jeans with worn out knees and grass stains from work on the Ranch. Of course, he got his favorite belt and belt buckle to go with it, and a Tennessee Vols hat.

He flipped the switch on the wall in his en suite bathroom and the light flickered for a second before it fully came on and lit up the room with a warm white glow. He washed his face and got dressed, combed his hair then put the hat on his head backwards so it wouldn't get inevitably in the way while he made himself breakfast.

When he eventually re-emerged back into his bedroom, still barefoot, it was barely five am and the sun was still an hour away from rising. He slipped his boots on then went out to the kitchen and opened a window to let in some fresh air while he scanned the fridge for something to eat that was relatively easy to make.

He settled on a grilled cheese just because he was frankly too lazy for anything requiring more work.

While he was making his breakfast, he was halfheartedly scrolling through his Instagram just for something else to do to keep his mind from wandering like he knew it wanted to.

After a while of scrolling he came across a post from Riley she'd made minutes beforehand. It was her sitting on Black Sabbath's front drivers side tire with her ass sticking out to make it look bigger than it really was, wearing the same clothes she was wearing yesterday even though they were ruffled and her shorts were pulled up high on her thighs from what could be seen in the picture due to the weird angle. She had Chase's hat on top of her messy blonde hair and her head was turned so she could stare at the camera with those stunning blue eyes that held more lies than she cared to admit.

See, he hadn't really told anybody that he'd given Black Sabbath away yet and the only two people that knew the truck was gone was Delilah and Riley so nobody on Instagram would've been the wiser. Apparently she forgot she both had a boyfriend and that he followed her, and there was a damn good chance he'd see it.

The audacity. Ryan sighed and closed out the app, not bothering to comment or even like the post she'd made because he knew if he did his anger and resentment towards her would make his reply sour and he didn't want to make things worse than she had. Just because she was a bitch didn't mean he had to be one back to her- he wasn't that type of person and he didn't want to be. He sat his phone down on the counter and put his grilled cheese on a plate and went to go take a seat at the table to eat alone in silence- probably even add a little bit of suffering to that deafening silence too.