Push to the Limit (the sixth book in the Glee series)

Chapter 18: The Lima Mall

Parte numero dos. 
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"Ok," said Ryder, looking up from his phone and heading to the door. "Alex just texted me letting me know that Julie has officially left. When everyone wakes up tell them I went to the mall."

Bree looked up from her sketchpad and rolled her eyes. "Did you seriously have to wait until she left? Ryder, she came home last night and you refused to leave. I don't mind having you here but you have your own apartment and I doubt you would've ran into her on the way there. And it's so early right now that you probably could've gone to the mall sooner if you wanted. This needs to stop. You need to find a way to be ok with her being around because the rest of us miss her."

"I'm not making her stay away," Ryder pointed out.

"But she knows you're avoiding her," Bree rolled her eyes. "It's very obvious since you're never around when she is. You haven't seen her since the break up, have you?"

"I haven't..." he admitted. "But it doesn't matter because I won't be seeing her for a while. Which is good. I needed distance. She wanted distance. This is good. Besides, I have Brooke coming to the party tomorrow. Have you told her about Brooke?"

Bree laughed. "No way. That's your business and I don't want to be the one to deal with any of it. On the plus side... I really liked Brooke."

Ryder smiled. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Tuesday's dinner was really fun. You should bring her along more often."

"She'll get to know everyone else tomorrow," Ryder said nervously. "And I just want her to like our friends and vice versa so badly. But we'll see... Oh! I should head out or I won't be able to find her a good gift."

"That's what you're going to the mall for?" Bree asked. "To get her a gift? You should've done that already!"

"I procrastinated," he said apologetically. "But I'll do my best to find her something nice. See you later!"

"See ya," Bree shook her head at him as he left. Ryder rushed out to his car, the snow already making his socks start to feel a little damp. Once inside the car, he turned on the heater and the radio, which was playing nothing but repetitive Christmas music, and headed out to the mall, where he was hoping to find Brooke the best gift he could.

***

Ryder had just received a text message from Dan—another notice of when Julie would be in town—when he reached the Victoria's Secret store at the mall. He had already gone to two other women stores and failed to find anything that he thought Brooke would like, so this was his next bet.

As soon as he stepped inside, however, he regretted it. There was no way he'd be able to find the appropriate gift for her there, not in a million years, so he turned around to leave the store but a set of arms had latched on to each of his just before he had the chance to step out.

"Fancy finding you here," said Luke from one side of him.

On the other, Travis laughed at how startled Ryder was and said, "Don't worry. It's just us."

"That's why I'm worried," Ryder told them, backing away. "I was just leaving."

"You walked in for three seconds," Luke noted. "What were you doing here?"

"What were you doing here?" Ryder asked in response.

The guys exchanged looks and then Luke answered, "We're fancy gay males on Christmas Eve. Your turn."

Ryder sighed. "I'm... Looking for a gift for my girlfriend."

"You have a girlfriend?" Luke asked, surprised.