Page 31 of One Little Problem
“That. That is so the lesson,” I said when we broke apart for air.
My sister was upstairs, and this was a public area, so we probably couldn’t get too carried away. Still, I was super tempted to take Ryan’s shirt off. For all the obvious reasons, like having a shirtless boyfriend under me seemed like the best thing in the world. And also because he was wearing a Billie Eilish shirt, which he special ordered, probably just because I didn’t like her. He always listened to weird bands I never heard of and said they were alternative, which I wasn’t even sure if that was a thing or he just made it up, but that chick was dark.
Yeah, I was totally taking off his shirt. My hands moved to the bottom of his shirt and I had one moment where I felt cotton and then warm skin underneath and then I got kinda of distracted by that. After a moment, his hands joined mine and removed my hands. He gave me a sly look and then removed his shirt himself in one fluid motion.
My jaw dropped.
Just… he was under me, and our chests were pressed together, and he was Ryan, which meant he didn’t just have no coordination, he had negative coordination. Somehow, he managed to get his shirt off in one easy move? Had he practiced that? I didn’t care. That might be the hottest thing I’d ever seen.
I had to attack his face with my own, hands moving to his bare chest while his hands started hitching my shirt up and we had one glorious, hot moment before the front door opened and Lydia’s voice rang out. “LUKE? Are you there? You promised you’d help me move that dresser—”
“Quick hide,” Ryan said, because he was ridiculous and tried to burrow down into the couch while also using me as a shield.
I just went with it, grabbing the blanket draped over the top of the couch and throwing it over us. Couldn’t really see Ryan’s face in the sudden dark, but I heard him immediately start giggling.
“Maybe she won’t notice we’re here,” I whispered.
“Act like a couch,” Ryan whispered or tried to whisper but it might have been as loud as his actual voice.
“You guys are right there on the couch,” Lydia said. “I’m not blind.”
We were caught but neither of us moved to take the blanket away. “Do we really need to rearrange furniture on a Friday night while my parents aren’t home?” I asked from under the blanket.
“No,” Lydia admitted, sounding amused. “I just wanted to interrupt.”
Lydia left us alone and went to her room while Ryan and I stayed hidden together under the blanket, him still giggling and then I joined him. If she had been trying to ruin our moment, it didn’t work. While it was different, this moment still felt just as good as our earlier one.
“I’m having a really good time,” Ryan said.
“Yeah, me too,” I whispered, even though I didn’t have to.
“We should do more of this, right? Like over the summer.”
Think it might get pretty hot under this blanket. “Wait, I thought you were going to Chicago?”
“Don’t think there’s anywhere else I’d rather be,” he said. And then I couldn’t say anything to that because we were kissing again. I still thought about it. Ryan was just saying that, right? He wasn’t really going to stay here and spend the summer with me.
It was just a good moment, the kind you want to go on forever, even though that’s not possible. Doesn’t stop you from wanting it to.
