Page 23 of My Best Friend Prince Charming

9

Ryker

I walked across the football field, and I spotted Shannon sitting on the bleachers. She had a textbook spread on the seat next to her and a notebook in her lap. The sun was out, and it was a beautiful, warm day. Shannon had taken her cardigan off and sat in just a tank top with an anime character on it, tanning her shoulders. She looked beautiful.

Had she been blushing earlier this morning when we were heading to class, and I told her I’d wanted her to go to California with me?

As I approached, Shannon looked deep in thought. I knew her better than anyone, and I could tell something was on her mind. She always took off her ring and played with it when she was in deep concentration.

Several girls had already asked me to prom. The same girls who hadn’t given me the time of day before I was cast in the Cinderella movie were now flocking to go out with “the famous Ryker,” or “the hottie,” if you asked Maddie. I rolled my eyes.

Freshman year, before Shannon started dating the loser, I’d considered asking Shannon to homecoming. Now that she wasn’t dating Austin anymore, she would need a date to prom. I couldn’t leave her dateless on one of the biggest nights of a high school girl’s year. Should I ask her to prom? Did I have a chance?

Large droplets of sweat formed on my brow. I could do this. I decided to run up the bleachers so I would have an excuse for the sweat. When I reached her spot, I sat down next to her.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked Shannon, who was still playing with her ring.

“I’m thinking about our conversation before school,” she said with a half-smile.

“What, um, what about it?” I asked, stumbling over my words. I felt like such an idiot. I’d never been so nervous around Shannon before. But then again, I hadn’t ever asked her to prom either.

“I’m scared, Ryker.”

“What’s scaring you?”

“I don’t want to lose you.”

I took her hands in mine. “You’re not going to lose me. I promise.”

“I don’t know how to go forward,” Shannon said.

“You just take one step at a time. I’ll be here with you as much as I can. And even if I’m on the other side of the country, you’ll have me just one video call away,” I said. “I told you that you’re the most important person in my life.”

“Not Gabi?”

“Not Gabi. I barely know her. She’s a nice person, and I’m glad to be working with her, but I’ve cared about you for years.” I was getting dangerously close to admitting my true feelings, and I wasn’t so sure how Shannon would react. I could at least start by taking one step forward.

Shannon fidgeted with her ring, spinning it around and around in slow circles between her fingers.

“Shannon?”

“Yeah?” She looked up from her ring.

“Do you want to go to prom with me?”

“What?” Her eyes widened, and the ring fumbled from her grasp. “Oh, shoot.” She reached for it, but it bounced from her fingers against the side of the benches, before dropping to the depths below the bleachers. “No, no, no!” Shannon panicked, scrambling to her feet. “That was my grandmother’s ring.” She jogged down the steps and I got up to follow her.

My face felt like it was on fire. Way to make it awkward, dude.

When we got to the bottom, Shannon circled to the back of the bleachers and crouched in the dirt, searching frantically. I kneeled in the dust next to her. I spotted the ring blinking in the sunlight filtering through the slats in the bleachers above us. Shannon must have seen it at the exact moment that I did because we reached out for it together, our hands brushing against each other. Her hand was incredibly warm and soft. Electricity zapped up my arm and straight to my heart.

I didn’t want to hold back any longer. Shannon’s eyes met mine. We sat inches apart, the air charged between us. Before I could talk myself out of it, I leaned in and kissed her. At first, she froze in shock against me, but then she melted into me, kissing me back slowly, gradually intensifying the kiss. Her lips were incredibly soft and warm, and they tasted like sunshine and peaches, and everything good in the world. I breathed in her sweet smell and sighed against her mouth. “So does this mean you’ll go to prom with me?”

“Yes,” she breathed as I kissed the edge of her mouth.

“Good.” I kissed her once more. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“You’re really good at this,” she said against my mouth.

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