Reaching for Rebecca

Chapter 19

RYAN'S POV

"No! No please!"

I wake up with a jolt from somebody struggling in my arms and screaming.

"Please stop!"

I immediately unwrap myself from Becca and she curls up into a ball crying and screaming.

"Becs, hey. Becca," I try to coax her awake with my voice but it's not working and I'm too afraid that reaching out for her will make it worse.

Alex suddenly comes barging into my room with hair pointing in every direction and a panicked look on his face. We watch Becca now tossing about in her sleep. It looks like she's trying to defend herself with the screaming and kicking she's doing; however, she ends up back in a ball and sobbing the word 'please' over and over again.

"Becca hunny," I reach out and gently rest my hand on her shoulder causing her to retract herself and fall off the side of my bed. She scurries into the corner of the room with a look of horror. I slowly make my way towards her and see Alex watching the interaction cautiously.

"Becs it's me Ryan. You're safe okay. Come here baby." My voice sounds surprisingly calm and tender even though I'm terrified at the moment.

Her blue eyes slowly become understanding as she fully wakes up and launches herself at me, hugging me fiercely. I cradle her head against my chest and listen while her breathing slows. Alex gives me a nod and heads back to his room without asking questions about her behavior.

"I'm sorry," she whimpers into my shirt.

"No hun you don't have to apologize. I understand, I'm here." We remain huddled up on the carpeted floor of my bedroom for a few more minutes. "Are you okay to move back up on the bed?" I ask and she nods slightly. Instead of letting her pull away from me, I stand using just my legs while my arms keep her close to me and walk to the bed.

Sitting with my back against the headboard and Becca wrapped up against me, I look at the clock to see it's just past five in the morning. She starts playing with my shirt before speaking.

"I won't be able to fall back to sleep," she whispers sweetly, the bad dreams now just a memory.

My chest vibrates with a small chuckle. "Me either, but we did go to bed pretty early." I feel her smile against me and I exhale a sigh of relief that she's feeling better. "I might as well jump in the shower then and we can start our day. Sound good?"

She pulls away before answering, "Yep!" in a cheerful tone.

I kiss the top of her head before heading to the bathroom down the hall and hope she wouldn't think that was a weird thing to do.

REBECCA'S POV

I quickly get changed into some of the clothes Ryan generously packed for me. There wasn't much; just two pairs of jeans, a sweatshirt, four t-shirts, a bra, and a few socks and panties (blush that he saw those) – but it was so sweet of him to think of doing that. He also packed the only picture I have of my mom and I which was an amazing surprise. Anyways, I took a quick mental note of what I need.

Deodorant, toothbrush, shampoo and conditioner, hairbrush, tampons

There were some things I wanted, like camisoles and a curling iron, but didn't need them so I would only buy the essentials today.

"I'll be ready soon if you wanted to grab some breakfast with me," Ryan said, peeking around the door frame.

I turned to say something but all coherent thought left my mind when I saw him standing in the doorway with just a white towel wrapped around his waist. With my mouth literally hanging open in awe, I took in the view of his rock-hard abs, that I've daily felt through his shirt, as water slowly dripped down them. His arm muscles were bulging to the point where the veins stood out prominently on his biceps and forearms. He also had one of those delectable 'V-lines' that disappeared beneath the top of the towel.

"Uh," I snapped my attention back up to his face to see him awkwardly running a hand through his short, wet hair. "Yeah... br-breakfast sounds good." I think I started to blush around the time I stuttered and Ryan chuckled quietly.

"Okay, give me ten minutes," he said before smirking at me and sauntering out of view.

I rushed into the hall towards the bathroom to brush my teeth, noticing Ryan's toothbrush was still wet so he must've just used it. Oh well!

~~~

Ryan pulled up to a twenty-four-hour diner that I've never seen before even though it's like a block away from the high school. He got out and held out his hand to help me down. It was easy to climb out of his side of the truck since the seat was just one long bench and it was becoming somewhat of a routine. We found a booth next to the windows and were greeted by a surprisingly peppy waitress.

"What can I get for y'all today?"

I drew my head up to look at her. She was young and had an exaggerated southern accent with perfectly curly blonde hair. I realized the reason she was so peppy is because of the extremely handsome man sitting across from me; she couldn't keep her eyes off him!

"Becs are you ready to order?" Ryan said, looking directly at me.

"Uhm, not quite I don't think."

Blondie rolled her eyes but perked up when Ryan looked at her.

"We're going to take a few minutes to decide," he stated politely. As she walked away, I noticed the extra sway in her hips and scoffed.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"Nothing." He was completely oblivious to her and I wasn't complaining. "What's good here?"

"I usually just get pancakes with a side of bacon and some coffee. I haven't tried anything else."

"Oh well I'll have the same then if it's good. Except not coffee."

He laughed at the face I made when I thought of the last time I had coffee. I was six and it was so disgusting I vowed to never drink it again.

Blondie came back and directed her question towards Ryan.

"Are you all ready now sugar?" She batted her eyelashes for special effects.

"We're both going to get the pancakes and bacon. Mine with a cappuccino and a coffee for him," I replied, not appreciating the fact that I was invisible to her.

"Is that right hon?" She asked Ryan again.

"Yep," he said simply while popping the 'p.' His eyes lit up and he grinned at me with his cute dimples showing. He'd caught on that I was jealous but regardless, my actions got the blonde bimbo to huff off and put in our orders.

"So, a lot of places aren't going to open until at least eight. I was thinking we could just hang out here until then, but if the waitress is bugging you too much we can just drive around," he wiggled his eyebrows at me. I put my head down in embarrassment but he quickly reached across the table and lifted my chin. Just as Blondie got to the table with our drinks he said, "Don't worry I already have my eyes on a gorgeous girl with this incredible black hair and these beautiful blue eyes."

Blondie left without saying a word and Ryan chuckled.

"There. All better now right?"

"Uhm, y-yeah," I stuttered back unable to think straight. A few awkward minutes of silence passed while we sipped our hot drinks until Ryan spoke up again.

"Landon grabbed your assignments that you missed from the office. All the deadlines have been extended because of your hospital stay so it isn't anything to stress about. You have time."

"That was nice of him."

Blondie dropped our food off and left just as quickly as she appeared.

"Well," he said in between bites, "If you don't mind I was thinking about inviting him over to hang out tonight. He's usually busy on Saturdays so we don't get to hang out as much as we used to."

"Yea of course! I like Landon. And it's your house anyways you don't need to ask me."

"Becs I know I don't need to ask you but I wanted to make sure you were comfortable with it." His voice was now sincere and he stopped shoveling the pancakes in to look at me.

"Thanks," I smile gently, "by the way these pancakes are delicious. It was a good choice."

I finished my food before him; he gave me an odd look about it but never mentioned anything. We chatted about the plans for the rest of the weekend and sat in the diner until quarter to eight.

~~~

"Okay, I know this is just Walgreens but I promise I will take you shopping for real on a day we aren't so busy."

Ryan had suddenly remembered that his older brothers were coming over for a family lunch today. He explained that his mom sets up one day a week where it's required for everyone to be there since they don't see each other daily with their busy schedules.

"Do you want to just grab what you need and I'll browse the snack aisle for tonight?" he asked. I nod in response, grateful that he knows not to hover and watch me buy feminine products.

Strolling the aisles, I grab a basket and quickly fill it with body wash, hair products, deodorant, razors (thank goodness I didn't forget those,) tampons, a brush, hair ties, a toothbrush, mascara, and some bright red nail polish just for fun. Finally finding Ryan in the candy aisle, we walk up to the checkout and unload our baskets. After the cashier rings my things up, I pull out my phone to use the Apple Pay feature but Ryan stops me.

"No Becs, I got this covered," he stated and motioned for the cashier to add his items to the bill before swiping a card for payment.

"Ryan, I have money."

"I don't doubt that..." he started saying while grabbing all our bags and walking outside to the truck but I interrupted him.

"Thank you though. I'll pay you back."

"Don't be ridiculous Becca." He added an eye-roll to his statement before easily lifting me into the truck.

I was secretly grateful that he offered to pay for my things and didn't make a big deal out of it. I mean I had money since my mom wrote me into her will but she didn't save much up because of the struggles she had to pay for my dad's medical bills before meeting Kirk. Everything she made after that went right into her savings though which transferred over to me. It was a few thousand dollars but I've gone through over half of it since she passed.

When we got back to Ryan's house he swiftly grabbed our shopping bags and took them straight up to my room.

"So, what do you want to do before my family gets here?" He was already laying on my bed with his arms folded behind his head.

"I think I'm going to shower so I can at least get a brush through my hair," I paused to chuckle. "Then whatever you want I guess."

"Sounds good. Is it cool if I just hang out in here until you're done? I might take a nap." His eyes were already droopy and I knew he was behind on sleep.

"Okay," I answered while quietly grabbing the things I needed to take with me.

~~~

I was taking my time in the shower, the foamy soap I used to shave my legs just felt luxurious after a day of being in a hospital and using Axe body wash was not a great way for a girl to get clean. I stood back up straight when I finished shaving and suddenly got quite a head rush...