Page 45 of Tiny Fractures

“Well, I…” He breaks off as my mom saunters down the stairs, clearly eavesdropping.

“How about we step outside?” I suggest, sounding harsher than I intended, and Ronan looks as though he may be regretting his decision to come here. So I take his warm hand into mine and pull him out the front door. Once the door is closed behind me, I let go of his hand and turn back to him. He looks even more breathtaking in the sunlight. The sun makes his skin look golden and the rays dance in his eyes.

“Alright, you probably already think I’m crazy for just showing up like this… again, looking like a freaking mess, but, well, it’s my birthday, and Shane is ditching me to take care of some stuff for the party tonight, and Stevie and Vada are busy, and I’m hungry, and… I was thinking I really don’t want to wait until tonight to see you again,” he confesses, the words spilling out fast. He takes a deep breath and he looks like he’s fighting a silent battle inside his head as his jaw tenses for a fraction of a second. I wait patiently for him to continue. “So, do you feel like grabbing something to eat in, like, half an hour?” He flashes me a smile that makes me want to throw myself at him.

“Okay,” I say, attempting to be confident, but my voice is off pitch and my heart is doing somersaults.

Ronan flashes me another smile that I can imagine would cause every other girl’s panties to drop. “Great. I’ll be back in thirty minutes.” He gives me a small peck on my cheek that makes my face burn with heat. I stand there nodding as he turns and walks away, just like he did last night after he kissed me on my front stoop.

Of course, my mom is on my case as soon as I step back into the house, wanting to know anything and everything about Ronan. She has been pretty concerned about me ever since what happened with Adam, but I don’t have time to explain now. I race upstairs to my room where I stand in front of the mirror, braiding my long hair into a fishtail and letting some loose strands fall around my face. I have no idea where Ronan plans to take us, so I decide to wear a pair of jean shorts and a white tank top.

***

Ronan’s lips curl upward and his eyes sparkle when he picks me up less than half an hour later. The way he scans my body from head to toe makes me blush.

“Are you ready?” he asks, his voice velvety. I nod at him and wave to my mom, who closes the door behind us. Ronan leads the way to the passenger door of his car and opens it for me, waiting for me to get in before closing it behind me and walking around the front. He’s wearing a pair of dark-blue jeans that sit low on his hips. He also has on a gray-and-black three-quarter-sleeve baseball shirt and black chucks. It’s obvious he took a quick shower before returning to pick me up because his dark-blond hair is still damp and small strands fall onto his forehead. It’s the perfect kind of tousled. Judging by his relaxed outfit, whatever it is we’re going to be doing will be casual and I’m happy with my choice of attire.

Ronan gets in and smiles at me as he turns the key in the ignition and his car purrs to life.

“So, happy birthday,” I singsong at him. “I still need come up with something to give you because it just doesn’t seem right that it’s your birthday and I don’t even have a gift.”

“Thanks, but you don’t need to get me anything. Seriously, the fact that you haven’t called the cops on me yet is a pretty amazing gift in and of itself,” he chuckles. “Again, I’m sorry for showing up like a creep last night; I swear it wasn’t on purpose.”

“I’m not complaining.” I smile as he scans my face. “But speaking of being sorry, I’m sorry for kissing you,” I apologize again like I apologized last night, though I’m really not that sorry about it. Despite the fact that my inebriation almost got me into hot water and ended with me using Ronan to get out of an uncomfortable situation, I can’t say I’m not excited about where it’s led so far.

“I’m not,” Ronan says. “It was a nice kiss.”

I nod in agreement.

“And besides, we’re even now, remember? Since I stole that kiss back last night,” Ronan says with a mischievous smile.

“Were things… okay when you got home last night? Or did you have to crash on the couch again?” I ask cautiously, alluding to Vada staying at his house.

“No, no crashing on the couch,” he chuckles. “Actually, Vada confronted me about randomly showing up at your house last night. She said you had texted her.” He glances at me before turning his attention back to the road.

“I did,” I admit. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” he says. “She would have found out somehow anyway. Vada has a weird radar for things like that,” he adds with a rueful laugh. “She asked me what my intentions are with you.”

“She what?”

“Asked me what my intentions are with you,” he repeats with a smirk.

“Huh. And what are your intentions with me?” I lean on the center console.

He looks at me again, a smile tugging at his lips. “Right now, my intention is to feed you,” he laughs.

“And then?”

“I don’t really know. I think… I mean, I like spending time with you,” he admits, keeping his eyes focused on the road now.

“I like spending time with you, too,” I say, eliciting another smile from him.

“You know, I don’t usually do this,” he says.

I raise my eyebrows at him. “You don’t usually do what?”

“This,” he says, and motions around his car, which does nothing to help me understand what he’s talking about. “I don’t usually go on dates.”

---