Supernova Souls - Ryan Upchurch

-37-

Just reminding y'all that this picture exists..
—
Ryan shifted beneath her and brought his arms to wrap around her middle, keeping her chest pressed against his. She gently pressed her lips to his and kissed him and he returned the gentle force tenfold. One of his short curls twirled around her finger and he pulled her down on top of him as he laid down on the sheets. Her hair fell around both of their faces like a long curtain keeping the world from seeing the two, but the wavy curtain was a little more annoying than useful.

Delilah kissed him harder and grabbed the back of his head while she tilted hers to the side. He smiled against her lips but gladly matched her force while one of his hands traveled down to grab her ass and gave it a little squeeze which by the sweet little gasp she let out into his mouth, she liked.

Behind the colorful light of a rapidly fading sunset outside the window above the two and with the help of alcohol coursing through their veins, things escalated quickly- a lot quicker than either of them thought, but they weren't mad about it.

Then.. the kitchen timer went off.

And like the good dog Ryan's new puppy was, he wouldn't stop barking at the unfamiliar sound in the kitchen. Ryan groaned and pulled away, obviously annoyed, but kept his arms around Delilah to wallow in his misery for a second while he ran over the current options he had in his head.

1, ignore the dog and the timer or 2, suck it up and go turn the timer off and get the food out of the oven so it doesn't burn, and sacrifice his time with Delilah. Neither was great, but the second was slightly better than the first so he chose that one.

Delilah rolled her eyes and laid her head in the crook between his collar and jaw. She didn't want him to get up, for a many of reasons, but he had to. Ryan kissed her cheek and sat up before he lifted her from his lap and sat her down on the bed beside him. She gave him her best puppy eyes and as much as he wanted to give in, he didn't.

Her eyes followed him until he disappeared somewhere down the hallway where he escaped from her view. She squeezed her legs together and looked down at the floor in front of her, her mind wandering until a cold wet nose pressed against the side of her leg.

"What, MJ?" The bed dipped beside her beneath the weight of the big dog that had jumped up onto it without warning. Mary Jane laid her head on Delilah's lap and looked up at her with the most adorable eyes she couldn't resist, and soon MJ was getting what she hoped was unlimited ear scratches.

She could hear Ryan's sort of muffled voice. It sounded like he was trying to explain to the puppy that he was in fact okay and that the "scary" noise was just the timer for the chicken. Then, the timer stopped.

The floor creaked and his shadow appeared and swiftly disappeared just as soon as it appeared on the wall opposite of the door she was facing. "Delilah, baby?"

Oh, the way her name rolls off his tongue..

"Yeah?" She says as she looks up just in time for his beautiful baby blues to meet hers.

"Food's done." He said. She nodded and gave Mary Jane one last pat on top of the head before she got up and followed Ryan back into the kitchen where he had their food out on plates on the island. He had just turned the overhead light off to save both of them the trouble it would inevitably cause. (and Ryan from the embarrassment of having a silent fight with the bulb again.)

"M'lady," Ryan said with a grin, one hand on the stool he had just pulled out for her. She smiled back and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before she sat down. "Thank you, good sir."

—
Waylon, Mary Jane and Ranger (the puppy they finally came up with a name for while they ate) were all chasing each other and roughhousing in the front yard near where Ryan kept the cattle. Every so often one of the dogs would bark at one of the others because they'd gotten a little too rough while playing and they'd settle down before their little doggy games got too rough again and the cycle continued to repeat itself.

Ryan was sitting on the front porch swing, barefoot and shirtless with his hair sticking up in all different crazy directions because he hadn't been bothered to tame his red locks with a brush. Delilah had her head resting on his lap, laying sort of on her side with her back facing the back of the porch swing and her legs stretched out on the swing, but she was too tall to be laying that way so her feet hung off the side, grazing the wood of the deck.

The sunset was long gone now and the beautiful black nighttime sky had taken over, with the stars shining bright to accompany the darkness. There was a cool breeze floating through the air to even out the sweltering heat the day had brought, and lightning bugs were flying around not far from the porch where Delilah and Ryan were, looking absolutely beautiful and only adding to the naturally stunning Ashland City scenery.

"Hey.."

"Yeah?"

"Is it okay if I stay the night here?"

"'Course."

Delilah smiled up at him and he reciprocated the sweet smile while his hand got lost in her long mahogany brown waves, the mixture of short and long curls falling into her face with every little movement of his fingers when he scratched her head.

The gentle breeze carrying through the air pushed the swing just enough to give it a little push and soon they were slowly swaying back and forth on the swing with the nighttime sky shining down on them from above.

Today might've started out bad for both of them but it had an ending oddly similar to what Delilah would call a fairytale, and in the back of her mind she hoped she'd have more nights like this with Ryan, as silly as it may sound to outsiders.

She likes him.

She really, really likes him.

And he really, really likes her too.