Love At First Sight

28

"Mum! We're on our way out!" I shouted from the living room.

"Okay, dear! Be back before nine!" She shouted back from the kitchen.

After begging Ryder to 'excuse me so I could change to some casual clothes', he finally gave in and I stripped and put on some jeans and a t-shirt. We were going over to his house to watch a movie, which I prefer to call a 'date'.

"Is Willow home?" I asked when he pulled in to the driveway of his house.

He thought for a second before checking the time on his wristwatch. "No. Not until an hour or two."

I nodded in response and got out of the car to open the front door. I was greeted by a tail-wagging Chase. 

"I can't remember the last time I was in here." I said, twirling around the living room.

He laughed. "Don't be so dramatic, Sam. It was just a week."

"And some days." I added.

"It won't be long before Zack and Rhylee arrive."

"What!  You didn't tell me they were coming. I thought it was going to be just us two."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Oh, I thought I told you. Sorry about that."

He seemed to notice my disappointment because he picked up his phone and said, "I can tell them it's cancelled if you want."

"No, it's okay."

He took some steps towards me. "Are you sure?"

I smiled. "Yes, I am."

He took a couple more steps closer so we were just a few inches apart.

"Well, in that case...." He smirked and picked me up bridal style, heading to the kitchen. I let out a small scream because of his sudden gesture. "....let's go make some popcorn."

I laughed and threw my head backwards, enjoying my soon-to-be-over ride. When we got to the kitchen, he put me down on the island and went over to the fridge. He opened it and stuck his head inside.

"Let's see......we have 5 packs of Doritos - one each for all of us including Willow - a ginormous bottle of Coke - which is wayyy better than Pepsi - , and a bowl of half-eaten Cheetos." He removed his head from the fridge and shut it. "Sounds good. What do you think?"

I jumped off from the kitchen island and walked over to him, hooking my arms around his neck. "I think they're okay. Except for the Coke thing and the Cheetos," I scrunched up my nose in disgust. "I hate Cheetos."

He laughed and put his hands on either side of my waist. "I see we have something in common, Collins."

I smiled. "We sure do, McGraw."

He cringed and his grip tightened a little on my waist. "I thought I told you a while back that I am not a fan of my last name. And I certainly do not like people calling me by it. But I think I can make an exception for you." He winked and I laughed.

Just as he was leaning down to you-know-what, the door opened, followed by a little cough.

"Are we interrupting something?" Zack smirked.

We immediately tore apart. Ryder looked away and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. I looked at the floor, my cheeks tinted.

"Since you guys clearly love each other this much, why aren't you a couple?" Rhylee asked.

Ryder looked at me. I looked at Ryder. I half expected him to get down on one knee, bring out a ring from his back pocket, and ask me to marry him.

Instead, he looked back at Rhyls and Zack and chuckled. "Nah. I think we're better off this way. For now."

I don't know why this hurt. But it did. Badly. I felt as if my heart was shattering into a million pieces. How could he have said that?

He took my hand in his and looked down at me, smiling. For some reason, I didn't let go of his hand. I still kept it in mine as he and Zack grabbed the snacks. I didn't let go of it as we walked into the living room. I still kept it throughout "Hobbs and Shaw". And up until we said goodbye to Zack and Rhylee, we were still holding hands. When we finally let go, a feeling of total loss from his touch overcame me, even though I was sad because of him.

"What's wrong, Sam?" He asked with concern as he removed strands of my hair from my face and caressed my cheek. "During the whole movie, I noticed you were down; you didn't laugh at any of the funny parts and you didn't even cringe or hold on to my shirt during any of the fights. Heck, I don't even think you were watching. So please, tell me what's wrong."

I put my hand on top of his hand that was on my cheek and slowly removed it from my cheek. I looked away.

"I thought you cared about me."

"What? Are you crazy? Of course I care about you, Sam. Why would you think otherwise?"

"Earlier on, you said you didn't want to ask me out. You said we were better off like this." Tears started to build up in my eyes. The feeling of sadness I had was replaced by anger. I didn't know why I was angry, but it sure felt real good to yell. "I always thought you wanted more than just this, whatever this really is. In fact, I'm beginning to doubt whether there was even a this to begin with. After all, who on this freakin' planet will ever want someone like rusty ol' Samantha Collins? No one! That's who!"

The tears were really coming down quickly now. I had no idea where the courage to say all that came from. 

He put his hand on my arm. "Sam-"

"Don't touch me!" I jerked my arm away from his touch. A feeling of hurt lay in his eyes.

Suddenly, the door opened and Willow came into view. Her lips parted as the realization of the scene in front of her dawned on her. Before she could say anything, Ryder spoke.

"Willow, dear, please go up to your room. Sam and I are talking."

"But-" 

"Willow please."

She started up the stairs. "Fine, but no yelling." A couple of seconds later, the sound of a door closing was heard.

It was so silent, the sound of a pin drop could be heard.

"Sam-"

"No, Ryder. I don't want to hear it. If you didn't want me in the first place, why did you use me? You had me believing you loved me. And the sad thing is, I love you. With all of my heart. I guess dreams don't come true after all-"

The next thing I felt was Ryder's arms tangling in my hair, and the familiar taste of his lips. I put my hands on his cheek and kissed him back. I had no idea how I went from yelling at him to kissing him. We stopped after a minute.

"Sam, please hear me out."

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand with an attempt to dry my tears. He took a couple of steps closer to me and held my both hands with his two hands. It looked as if the both of us were playing Ring-Around-The-Rosie.

"I'm sorry for hurting you, Sam. That wasn't my intention. I said what I said because I'm a jerk. I would date you in a heartbeat. I was just scared that you would say no. And who says I don't love and care for you? I love you with all my heart, and I will never stop loving you. And don't you ever think you're not worth it, 'cause you are. You are the prettiest, smartest , and funniest girl I've ever laid my eyes on. You may not be perfect, but you're perfect for me."

A/N

Hey guys! Surprise, Surprise! It feels so good to be back. I had some free time on my hands today so I decided to publish a chapter. So how was it? I feel it was pretty good. When I logged onto Wattpad today, I saw something that kept my mouth ajar for a while. Love At First Sight has reached 1.1k reads! I'm so happy. By the way, this chapter is dedicated to ZharahCollins and therealtigress for voting a lot. And I mean 'A Lot'. You guys are such amazing people. Thank you so much. Stay posted for more. Bye! :) 

~addie~