Page 48 of Taking Care of You
Turning to face him, I open my mouth to speak, to tell him that we can just tell people we broke up so the rest of his school year is easy, but Ryder hops on the table before I can say anything. “Hey. Party at my house this weekend. Parents are out of town. You two comin’?”
Ethan looks at me, allowing me to answer.
I turn to Ryder and tell him we’ll be there. His smile is genuine and he pats my back. “Great! It’s going to be fun!” I can think of a lot of things it will be, and fun isn’t one of them.
I give Ethan a deadpan look, and he laughs and kisses me on the cheek.
Since we don’t have the play to keep us busy anymore, we have a pop quiz as soon as the bell rings. It’s on the Shakespearean era and what we think led to the success of his plays. It’s in essay form, so I’m sure everyone will pass, as long as they actually do it.
While we’re walking to my next class, Ethan asks, “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”
Thanksgiving is about two weeks away. We’ll be on break, which sucks because I won’t see Ethan every day unless I stay over at his place. So some days, it’ll just be me in my horrible house without one of my best friends.
I shrug. I usually go to Crystal’s house since my mom is rarely sober enough to cook even the most basic meal. “Nothing, probably.”
“Good. My parents asked if you wanted to join us. I asked Mitch and Elle too. They’ll be coming over after dinner with their families. Ryder’s coming too. Invite Crystal and we can hang out in the theater room.”
I scrunch up my face. “The theater room?” I’ve been to Ethan’s plenty of times and I’ve never seen a theater room.
“The living room is the theater room, creep. I was fucking with you.” I once told him that his TV looks like a movie screen, now he’s teasing me about it. If he wasn’t so fucking cute, I’d be pissed.
“I hate you,” I mumble without heat. He laughs and kisses my forehead like he always does.
Stopping outside my class, he leans against the wall and I stand beside him. “Our first track meet is on Friday. We leave school early since it’s an invitational.”
The track season started a few weeks ago. I wanted to go to the first meet, but it’s in the next state over and they have a two-hour bus ride to get there. I’ll have to wait until the first home meet, which is after the New Year. It’s at the local college that has an indoor track and it's always packed.
This year, Ethan hopes to beat the fifty-five meter and two hundred meter dash records. While he runs a good fifty-five, he says it takes him longer to get his speed up, which is why he’s better at the two hundred meter dash. He could break the three hundred meter dash record too, but I think he likes the ease of the two hundred. I might not know football, but I know track, and Ethan is fast. His stride is good, he has great turnover, and he’s a rocket out of the blocks.
I sigh and lean into him. “I know. It’ll be fine. You’ll be back in time for the party?”
I don’t mind going with Crystal, since she’s who usually takes me to parties anyway. I just like being around him.
“I will, but I might be late. The invitationals always run a bit long.” He must see the sad look on my face because he follows up with, “Don’t worry. I’ll tell Ryder to watch out for you. He likes you.”
That’s something I gathered when he asked if Ethan and I were actually together. Ryder was never mean or said anything rude to me. He was more like Ethan, they just didn’t really notice me. It sounds bad, but I’ve always been invisible, but that’s okay because I don’t really like people.
“Poor substitute, but I’ll take it,” I try to joke.
He chuckles, then gives me a lingering kiss that I feel down to my toes.
When he pulls away, he thumbs my bottom lip, making me inhale a shuddery breath and says, “I’ll be sure to tell him you said that.”
I gasp. “You wouldn’t.”
Ethan doesn’t answer. He just laughs and jogs down the hall. I turn to walk into my class.
He wouldn’t, right?
Of course he did.
I’m walking into the cafeteria with Crystal when I’m ambushed by Ryder. “Poor substitute? For Ethan? I’ll have you know, I’m amaaaazzziiinnnng company,” he says, drawing the word out. “Watch. On Friday, you’re going to have so much fun, you’ll want to hang out with me all the time.”
I look at him, mouth open, and Crystal laughs. She puts her hand on her hip. “Hello to you too, Ryder. I’m doing fine, how are you? Good? That’s great.”
He turns his attention to her and smiles lazily. “I’m really good, now that you’ve deemed me worthy to talk to.”
Crystal rolls her eyes and brushes past him. “Oh, please. I’ve been speaking to you for years. You just play too much for me to take you seriously.”
