But Why Not

Chapter Four

I jogged down my street until I saw Ryder leaning against the driver side door of a white SUV.

"Hey! Knight!" he greeted grinning.

"Hi, Ryder."

"Gosh, such a little rebel." he chuckled.

"You know, you gotta do what you gotta do when you have overprotective parents."

"Well, let's get going."

I jumped into the passenger side and heard a crinkle. I glanced down and saw a fast food bag.

"Is this...?" I asked getting excited.

"You want some Whataburger?" he asked grinning.

"Hell yeah!" I exclaimed. I rummaged in the bag seeing what was there as Ryder pulled away from the curb. My eyes widened when I saw a cheese burger with bacon and avocado. My favorite. "How did you know?!" I asked as I unwrapped it.

He laughed at my reaction. "A little birdy named Natalie told me."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course Nat would tell you. Where's a napkin?"

Ryder tapped the center console. "In here."

I popped open the center console and poked around for napkins. As I was rummaging, I came across something that made me freeze: an orange pill bottle. I let out a stifled uh.

He glanced towards me and saw what I was holding. Ryder snatched it from me and dropped it in the door. "It's nothing." he responded quickly.

"Ryder...." I pressed.

"Just. Don't." he said quietly.

I dropped the subject and grabbed the napkins.

We drove in awkward silence until I reached into the bag and held up a French fry. "Want a fry?" I asked quietly.

Ryder cracked a smile and chuckled a bit. "Yeah. I would. Here," he opened his mouth. I tossed the fry into his mouth and just like that the awkward silence was broken.

Ryder pulled into the pretty much abandoned parking lot at the beach. The sun was setting and it was gorgeous.

Ryder and I jogged down to the beach where a group guys were passing a ball around.

"Hey, man." Some of them called. They all gathered around.

Ryder wrapped an arm around my shoulders and I felt my face heat up. "Guys, this is Erin Knight. Knight this is my best bud, Seth, his brother, Devon, and Reed, Luke, Garret, and Max."

They all greeted me.

"Alright Erin and I are team captains." he looked at me. "Ladies first."

I tapped my chin in thought. "Seth." He came and stood beside me.

Ryder chose Reed.

In the end my team was Seth, Max, Luke and I and Ryder's was Reed, Devon, Garret, and him.

"We play to ten. All is legal in beach soccer. Let the game... begin!" Ryder said very exaggerated. He dropped the ball between Seth and Garrett and took off towards his goal. Of course, Ryder was the goalie for his team and I was for mine.

Seth went to shoot but Ryder blocked it. "No far! You guys have a great goalie!"

"Excuse me!" I yelled back.

"Well I mean..." he tried to backpedal. "Ah! You know what I mean!"

I just laughed.

We played rounds of ten for almost three hours. Finally tired out, we all dropped into the sand. I lay on my back using Ryder's stomach as a pillow and Seth's legs as a foot rest.

Reed suddenly sat up grinning. "Hey, I've got stuff." He said wiggling his eyebrows and patting his pocket.

I sat up looking at the guys confused. "What?"

Ryder sat up too. "Reed, don't. She doesn't need to start that." he said pointedly.

I whirled on him. "No," I turned back to Reed, "No, I want to know. What's stuff?"

"Come on, Ryder. She's a big girl. She can handle it."

"Yeah? Well she's also the police chief's daughter. You really want to risk that?"

"She's not gonna tell. Are you?" he asked me.

I shook my head furiously. "No way." I scoffed. "I won't tell my dad."

Reed looked past me at Ryder. I turned and looked too. Ryder looked at the sky, muttered "I'm gonna regret this," and nodded.

Reed reached into his pocket and produced a small bag of weed.

"Ever gotten high, Erin?" he asked grinning wickedly.

I grinned back and shook my head.

The guys chuckled. "Oh this is gonna be fun." Reed drawled.

Yay for next update!

So what do you guys think is up with the pill bottle Ryder had?

Is Erin gonna get high?

Do y'all think Ryder is a druggy?

So many questions!

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!!

Avery