Late Summer Rain

The Red Carpet

CHAPTER SIX ~*~*~ The Red Carpet

 

The following days after the meteor shower Ryan didn’t call or come over to my house. I ended up hiding out in my room and doing nothing all day or lounging in front of the T.V downstairs. I never had many friends growing up, but I’ve always managed to have a good time doing whatever whenever. Now I can’t seem to remember what I did for fun or entertainment during all those years by myself.

Life was unexpectedly boring and lonely all of a sudden.

‘I miss him, I want to see him,’ my heart rampaged.

I sighed. I’ve become very pathetic lately.  

Sighing again, I rolled around on my bed with my comforter in my arms. The airplane tickets he gave me a few days back were still in my hands, but after our recent fallout I’m not sure if he’d still want me to tag along with him to San Diego. He probably hates me after what I did the other night. He wanted to hangout with me all alone and I screwed it up by saying something that I didn’t mean. It was my fault. I should probably apologize to him somehow.  

Deciding I should go outside for some fresh air instead of sulking inside my room, I made my way to my front lawn only to find Ryan sitting on the grass pulling the petals off of my mom’s flower garden.  She was going to destroy him if she ever saw – I knew that much. Her garden was worth more than my life, my brothers’ and my dad’s combined.

Ryan hadn’t noticed my presence when I stepped outside and I stood by my front door observing him for a bit before I spoke up. “What are you doing here?” I asked, crossing my arms defensively.

I hated that. I sounded hostile, but that wasn’t what I wanted to express or what I wanted to say. It was just easier for me to act that way.  

Ryan looked up at me from the grass, and the corner of his lips instantly curved upward in a smile before he frowned and looked away. His hands returned to his floral killing until he decided it was better for him to tug out the grass on my lawn instead. “You didn’t call me,” he muttered.

I have no idea how that’s an answer to why he was loitering on my front lawn all by himself, but I dismissed the question. “You didn’t call me either,” I said. Ryan didn’t say anything after that, and my insides constricted, urging me to apologize. “Look, I’m sor-”

“I’m really sorry for last time,” he said, interrupting me. “I was overreacting and didn’t mean to take it out on you. I’m sorry.”

I liked that he apologized first. “I’m sorry too. It was partially my fault.” I hesitated before sitting down beside him with a one metre distance in between us. My heart started beating faster and my hands became shaky and fidgety until I started pulling out the grass on my lawn. “I thought you would hate me after.”

His shoulders rise and fell in a nonchalant shrug. “Like I said, I was waiting for you to call all this time.”

“To apologize?”

“No.” His hands paused for a moment before he started vigorously tugging out the grass – even faster and more violent than before. “It’s sort of like, you never call me and I always call you. I mean, I don’t mind calling you, but it would be okay if you called me too.” He gave me a fleeting glance before turning his entire body away from me. “But this time, I just wanted you to call me to tell me I was wrong – that you wanted to spend time with me as much as I wanted to spend time with you.”