Page 119 of Wonderstruck

His reply was instant.

i’ll come pick you up.

I love it when you do that. I also love you. Like, alot. A worrying amount actually, but you don’t need to know that. All you need to know is that I love you. A lot.

I really had to tell him soon; if I didn’t, I’d dosomething stupid and just text him exactly that just to get it over with so I could finally breathe.

The rest of practice flew by after that, theanticipation of seeing Finn giving me an extra boost. I finally nailed the combo we’d been running for sectionals, and Ijustabout landed my triple toe-loop. I was happy, and Aspen was happy. All that was left to do was practice.

Finally, Aspen called it. “Go stretch. We’ll pickthis up tomorrow, honey.” She skated towards the edge of the rink, tossing her clipboard onto the side before looking back at me. “Do you need a ride back home?”

I shook my head, meeting her against the barrier."I'm good. Finn’s coming to meet me.”

“Ooooh, I see.” She teased. “Well whatever youtwo have planned don’t let it get you too tired for practice tomorrow—”

“Rightokaythankyou.” I rushed. “Don’t make thisweird so I can’t look you in the eye ever again.” I teased back, giggling as we both stepped off the ice.

“I’m just saying,” she nudged me. “You workhard, you deserve to play hard too–”

“I’m this close to firing you.”

She stuck her tongue out at me before tuggingme in for a hug, then swiftly packing up and heading to the office.

My guards were on my skates in seconds, before I unlaced them and tossed them into my bag as I heard the door go. I whipped my head around, expecting blonde hair, green eyes and that cocky, crooked grin he was so good at. But when I looked up, my breaths got trapped.

In Finn's place was Ryan Hatterson.

The first thing that ran through my mind after the shock wore off was how weirdly shy he looked. Not exactly the vibe I expected from someone who once had the nerve to publicly humiliate me in front of an entire crowd. His hands were shoved deep into his jeans, mostly hidden beneath the oversized Lions jersey hanging off his shoulders. He didn’t fill it out like Finn did. Not even in the same league.

Fora few seconds, everything just... paused. Like some invisible hand had hit the mute button on the universe. We stood there in this awkward, silent standoff while my brain worked overtime trying to figure out what he was doing here—what he could possibly want. I came up with nothing. Just blank static.

Then he moved—slowly, deliberately—climbing down the steps and walking along the edge of the rink. And before I could even think of a plan, he was just a few paces away. Too close for me to pretend I hadn’t seen him. Too close to make a dramatic escape, no matter how tempting the idea was.

“Hey,” he said softly, his baby-blue gazemeeting mine.His voice, all velvety yet boyish, took me backfive years.

Miss Winnie said you’re from Montana. I’vealways wanted to go there.

It’s beautiful. And the air is—

Clean, unlike this dumpster fire of a city?

Exactly.

I’m Ryan by the way.

I’m Rory.

I think that deciding to stop guessing which partsof Ryan were the real boy I fell for was one of the best choices I’d ever made. It hurt me too much to wonder whether it had all been a lie.

I picked up my cardigan with grey stars on theelbows and threw it over my shoulders. “Um, hi?” My eyes narrowed as I slipped my arms into the sleeves and tugged the wool around me, hiding every bit of pink from my costume. “What are you doing here?”

Helooked around, his hand gesturing to the rink.“I, uh… I heard about you. About skating.” Hisvoice faltered, and he shifted again. “And that you dropped out of Liberty.”

Something sharp twisted in my chest. I glancedaround the empty rink, then back at him. “Yeah. I did.” I folded my arms and shrugged. “Why do you care?”

Even more unlike the version of Ryan I knew now, he fliched, only a little. One blink and I would have missed it. But whatever tone I'd forced to sit over my voice didn't hit him hard enough to back away. No, instead, he dared a step closer. “Because I think it’s cool?” I watched his guards slip up, before he flicked his gaze back to mine, an entire war playing out within them. “And because I didn’t even know you could skate. And I guess… I just realised how little I actually knew about you.”

I let out a small laugh, every bit of it hollow. “Well, you were never really interested in me anyway, so why would you?”

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