Westside

Chapter 32 - The truth about the badboy

Ryder

"Yes princess, I play hockey. Played it my whole life."

How did I never tell her I played hockey? That's so weird! We have an ice rink and stadium at our school!

"How come you didn't tell me?"

I'm wondering the same thing princess.

"It must've slipped my mind!" I try and brush past it but she has other ideas.

"When's the game?" I groan.

"In like 3 weeks."

"Ok so what I'm hearing is strict bed rest, no exerting that arm, and focusing on healing. Sound about right?" She looks at me again.

"Dyl-"

"Oh my bad, let me rephrase. It sounds right because it's what will happen."

"Dylan!" I whine.

"Ryder!" She mocks me. "Can you just wrap my shoulder? It actually hurts like hell."

"Oh yeah for sure. Grab me that support bandage...yep that one. Alright this is gonna be a little awkward Princess. I need you to turn around and take your shirt off."

She looks at me with wide eyes and I realize she must be on the verge of another anxiety attack like what happened last time.

"Wh-what?" She whispers and I panic.

"No no no not in that way. I just need access to your right shoulder Dylan."

"Oh." The color returns to her face and she complies. As I'm wrapping her shoulder, I see the black broken heart tattoo again and I trace it.

"It represents my life." Her voice cuts through the air and I stop. "The broken heart tattoo? You asked me about it the day you painted me pink?" She turns her head slightly and moves her hair again.

"Oh yeah. But why your life?" I finish wrapping her shoulder and I gently pull her shirt back on her and flip her so that she's facing me. She looks so beautiful in this outfit.

"Because I've gone through a lot of shit that forced me to become ruthless and cold hearted. When I met the gang officially, I thought they wouldn't listen to a little kid. I didn't realize it was mostly young kids. Jake, Bri, TJ, Danny, and Jason all changed my life for the better. Maggie had as well, but then she was part of the reason Danny got kidnapped. Most people who get close to me get hurt or taken from me. So the broken heart represents that. The reason it's black is to represent my heart. I've never been able to show many emotions, I just pretend to be happy. But in reality I'm so far from being mentally and emotionally okay that I'm not sure if there's anything to help me. I deal, but there are days where it's just too hard."

I don't answer right away. I didn't realize she was putting the wall up around me, but it worked.

"You win." That's all I say.

"Huh?"

"Remember we were talking about how we put up the walls so people don't see our true colors?"

"Oh. Yeah?"

"Remember I said you didn't fool me?"

"Yeah..?"

"You win. I had no idea you were in this much pain." I take her hand and massage her palm. "I wish you knew that you can talk to me and trust me."

She sighs and drops her head in her hands. "I'm sorry Ryder. I just...ugh it's hard, y'know? Like, I trust you, I honestly do. It's just difficult to tell people when I'm st-struggling."