Page 7 of Ryker

Chapter 7: Corinne

Ryker's cat looks at me like I could be worthy of his time, or perhaps he could continue sunbathing in the window, he doesn't know just yet. I want to go over and pet him, but I also want to look around while Ryker's engrossed with dinner preparations. People's homes are fascinating; it's like peeking into their souls.

On the walls are pictures that his mother no doubt hung. I'm not convinced that the guy I remember from my childhood who never even had a poster on his wall-hung twenty family photos on the staircase leading up to the second floor, let alone picked out all these sentimental photos from family barbecues and his parents' wedding that he wasn't even in.

I believe that he decorated the living room. In neutral shades, the entire living room set is a light tan. He dresses it up with decorative pillows that likely came with the couches and chairs, as well as some blankets that I can't imagine him actually using. When I touch them, they're soft; I want to bury my face in the plush throws until I suffocate.

"What are you doing?"

When Ryker walks in, I have grabbed one of his blankets and I'm rubbing my face on it. There's no explaining what's happening here, you really just have to ride out the wave of what you're doing. "I think it's self-explanatory," I mumble.

"Right..." He walks over, grabs the other end of the blanket, and starts rubbing it on his face. "What are we supposed to be feeling? It's soft, but is that it?"

"You look stupid." Ryker also looks absurdly hot, but there's a difference between admitting someone you like is attractive and telling them they look like an idiot. The line is when they walk in on you doing something embarrassing and you have to answer for it.

He seems unfazed by my insult and continues rubbing the blanket against his cheek. "The lasagna is cooling and the garlic bread should be done shortly. Did you want to come into the dining room, or eat out here with the soft blanket?"

"Well I'd prefer to take this time to go through your things upstairs, but I guess if you want me to join you in the dining room, I can do that, too."

I drop the blanket back onto the couch and follow him towards the dining room. A dark oak table with four chairs sits with a bouquet of flowers and a lit candle. It's all quite romantic and it makes me want to throw up a little bit. Here I am, making jokes about everything, and he has a proper date lined up. "You didn't have to do this, Ryker. You could have just taken me out to Sonic like the last guy."

The look on his face instantly turns to anger. "The last guy did what?" Ryker's eyes darken and he shakes his head dramatically. "I hope you told him to hit the road. That's unacceptable. You're a fucking lady, Corinne. You deserve, I don't know, a five-star restaurant on the beach, but this was all I could do on last minute's notice. Trust me, next time, I'm going to do better. Assuming I don't mess this up, of course," he frowns, as though he might have already messed it up without realizing it.

I take a seat because there's a lot to unpack in the words he just said and I'm not sure where to go from here. "Ryker, what's going on? Two days ago, we never even talked unless I went over to Nathan's and you happened to be there. You and Nathan barely even talk anymore, to be honest. Besides the whole prom thing, you and I have never seen each other romantically, like, at all. And to be fair, that night was probably a fluke." It was the pretty dress, the lights, and the high school magic telling us this was our last night to find love before we went off the college. "I'm just trying to understand how we got here."

The dining room opened up to the kitchen and Ryker walks over to the oven to check on the garlic bread and begin pulling out the salad. "You've always been in my life, Corinne. That's not to say I've always liked you, but you've always been around. Yesterday when I heard the call come over the radio about a fire at your place, it sparked something in me." He kept his back to me as he talked, but I could hear the pensiveness in his tone.

"I don't know when I started to like you, maybe around the time you started high school, but you were in middle school when I started to notice you. When you asked me to take you to prom your senior year, it was over for me. I kind of fell in love without even realizing it. I was so mad at myself, too, because I told Nathan years before that that I would never in a million years ever have feelings for you." He chuckles to himself as he tosses the salad into a wooden bowl. "But then you got a boyfriend and I started training for the fire department and I figured it was a sign that I needed to keep my promise to Nathan. I wasn't supposed to like you, I wasn't allowed to date you, and I needed to move on. So I did."

He begins bringing things to the table. First, the salad and then the lasagna. Then he grabs the garlic bread out of the oven and starts cutting it. "But then your dumb ass thought, 'Hey, start a fire to setup my roommate and Ryker's partner,' and my heart started throbbing as I realized you might be injured in a house that could be burning down. By the time we arrived, I was dead set on asking you out, assuming you were alive. Then I walked in and found out you'd arsoned the place and I was upset, but I wasn't going to give up the plan just because you made a stupid decision that was sweet in an idiotic kind of way."

He brings the garlic bread to the table and sat down, looking me in the eyes as he did so. "I've liked you for a long time. Nathan will probably be upset at first, but it's none of his business. You and I are adults and we can maturely navigate a relationship, or at least I hope we can. You keep talking about going through my underwear drawer, so I've got my doubts about you, but we'll see."

I smile despite myself. "I'm an adult, Ryker. I can want to look through your naughty drawers and want to date you at the same time, my god. You have no faith in me whatsoever." I add with a roll of my eyes.

"Besides," he shrugs, "you wouldn't have said yes if you weren't interested in me. I know it was a risk with the whole blackmail thing, but you would have found a way out of it if you really wanted to. The Corinne Harrison I know wouldn't have allowed herself to be blackmailed into a date she didn't truly want to go on."

"Well, you have a point there." I'm forced to begrudgingly admit. Though he seemed to have the upper hand in the situation back at my place, if I had truly wanted out of the date, I could have found a way. "So I'm guessing dinner is ready then?"

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