Page 29 of I Met Him At The Library

If he could simply say goodbye and walk away, then I could do something similar.

Walking over to my desk, I sat down, opened my laptop, and got to work. It wasn’t great work, my mind kept going back to what happened this morning, but I was determined to do something other than fret over Ryan.

As I was finishing up my writing for the day, Meghan walked into my apartment.

“Hey there. You have something I want.”

“Your keys are on the table,” I replied as I checked my word count and shut it all down for the night.

“By the way, a little birdy told me Ryan and you were spotted at breakfast together,” Meghan teased as she dropped onto my sofa and flashed me a grin.

I wasn’t surprised she’d already heard about my breakfast with Ryan. Gossip traveled fast in this town, but I wasn’t quite sure about telling her all of the juicy details. After our brunch ended, I didn’t know where we were, and I didn’t want to deal with any pressure until it was resolved.

“Yes, we had breakfast together,” I confirmed.

“Rumor has it he spent the night at your place.”

“What? No he didn’t.”

“Then why was he picking up his car from the bar after breakfast?” Meghan asked, confusion taking over her expression.

“Because he left it there and rode with Preston out to Fairwood. He slept upstairs.”

“At your neighbors? That doesn’t even make sense.”

“My upstairs neighbor is his sister. She is visiting their mom, so he crashed in her guest room. This morning we went to breakfast. Fuck, I hate this town sometimes.”

“So, it’s all super innocent. You have no juicy details for me?” Meghan half whined.

“Yes it was all innocent!”

I didn’t tell her about the kiss or the run in with the Hills. She hated them as much as I did, but it was a lot sorer of a subject for her than it was me. I didn’t want her day to be ruined by the mere mention of them.

Meghan told me they had left the bar shortly after we did and Preston drove everyone home. As I had suspected, she had Ryan drive me home hoping the alone time would give us time to talk.

“So, tell me something is going on between you and Ryan. He’s really great, and I think you two could work,” Meghan said.

“Ok, fine. I like Ryan, and we might be talking. But I don’t want this turned into a big thing. We haven’t even talked about anything beyond friendly conversation,” I explained.

Meghan’s eyes widened as she rolled her lips, failing to hide the smirk spreading across her face. Narrowing my eyes, she gained control of her facial expressions and gave me a single nod before changing the subject.

Thankfully, Meghan had a shift at the bar to prepare for, so she couldn’t stay long. I didn’t want us to dive into the whole Ryan discussion because I didn’t know much myself. Additionally, if I told her and then Ryan didn’t want anything more than friendship with me, things would become awkward. I could pretend the kiss never happened when in front of everyone else. Even if I’d be daydreaming about it for weeks to come and hating that I could only experience it one time.

Maybe tomorrow I’d take a break from the library and give myself a day to figure out how I wanted to handle this situation.

Chapter 17

Ryan

After walking Emily to her apartment, I went to the library - choosing to ignore the feelings of disappointment over her declaration of just being friends. I still had a few things to go over before the council meeting on Tuesday. I finished putting together my presentation and even practiced it a couple times.

Giving Emily the day, I figured I would see her at the library when she came in to write. Unfortunately, she never showed. By eleven in the morning, I gave up hope she would come, and I sequestered myself in my office. Betsy hadn’t said a word to me, and I was thankful for it.

I cursed myself for telling my sister to get headphones. Maybe if I hadn’t done that she would have continued to blare her music and forced Emily to make an appearance. However, Emily would wonder why I didn’t say anything to my sister about the volume of her music.

That kiss was soul shattering, so I didn’t understand why she wouldn’t come to the library. Did she not feel the same way? What if it wasn’t the best kiss of her life? Was she trying to save my feelings? I wanted her, but what if she didn’t want me?

Packing up for the day, I left the library, and went to the bar to meet up with the guys. I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to tell them. They wouldn’t share what happened, but I did worry they would give me shit - or maybe even try to get involved thinking they could help me. I didn’t think Emily would appreciate it, but I needed to talk this out with someone.

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