Page 8 of Between the Flames

CHAPTERTHREE

Oh my God. Oh my freaking God. What the hell was that?!

Ryder.

In the woods.

About to kiss me?!

There was no freaking way. I pressed the back of my hand to my forehead, testing to see if I had grown feverish. It would explain how I had slipped into some sort of dream state coma situation where my ultimate fantasies ran rampant.

Hello, my name is Eloise Peters, and I’d like to check myself into the lovely mental institution where I clearly belong because there is no way that Ryder just sought me out in the woods and almost kissed me.

… but he had, hadn’t he?

I knew Ryder had lied about being in the woods to roll a blunt; smoking wasn’t his thing. As far as I knew, he had never touched a drug of any type, and I hated to admit how much I actually knew about a guy I had never spoken to before now. Ryder always stayed sober at all the parties he went to… at least, that’s what I had heard. I never actually went to any of the parties, but I was good enough friends with Lily where she had zero filter; no topic was off-limits. Plus, I had been in those woods a thousand times and had never once seen him there. I was certain he had lied, I just wasn’t sure what his motives behind the lie were.

Realizing I was standing at the front of the school, lost in thought, I started walking toward the back of campus where my absolute favorite place was: the darkroom. I entered and closed the door tightly behind me, pressing my back against it and giving my eyes a moment to adjust to the dim red glow of the space. With my head resting against the back of the door, I bit down on my lip to keep the smile from creeping up my face, my head still reeling from the events that had just transpired. One minute I was laying in my secret spot in the woods, the place I go to for a little breather and to clear my head, and the next minute I was in Ryder’s arms, his hand at my throat and his body pressed against mine. And then… I bolted. I completely panicked, absolutely terrified to stick around and see what would happen next. We had both been so lost in the moment; I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle the rejection when he realized it had been me he was standing in front of. Well… behind.

Not to mention, he was Lily’s freaking boyfriend. I groaned, shame washing over me. I scooted my body from the door to the wall and slid down, situating myself on the floor with my legs straight out in front of me. As I looked around the darkroom, my breath hitched and it dawned on me that there was no escaping him. Every direction I looked, Ryder’s face was looking back at me. Photos of him lined the room, hung to dry after being in the series of chemicals. Even the darkroom wasn’t a safe space anymore—it was evident that Lily had been in here earlier today. I took in the various versions of him, all in 8X10 form. Ryder in his football uniform, Ryder in his gym clothes on the track, Ryder reaching out to take the camera, Ryder laughing with his friends in the quad. Both hands fisted my hair as frustration bubbled through me and I could feel the tears welling up. I refused to let them fall.

“Lily?” A knock at the door startled me and I scurried to my feet. Recognizing the voice, I pulled the door open and plastered the happiest smile I could force onto my face.

“Hey, No”, I said a little too brightly. Noah arched a brow, pulling open the door further to allow for his body to slip inside. “Why are you looking for Lily?”

I had never known for him to seek her out before. I hadn’t even realized they spoke.

“Oh, no reason.” He shrugged off my question, stepping further into the room and looking around. I didn’t press him further, still too wrapped up in my own thoughts. “What are you doing in here? I thought you’d be in Econ.”

“I just had a lot on my mind. I decided to skip.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t go to your tree.” A scowl crossed his face as his eyes traveled from photo to photo.

I smiled at his mention of my tree. Sometimes it was easy to forget just how well Noah knew me, never forgetting the littlest of details. I was burning to tell my best friend what had just happened out in the woods, but I knew there was a line that we both never crossed with each other, and this qualified as being over that line.

I shrugged, bending to pick up my backpack. “Do you want to get out of here?”

“Only if we go get some burgers,” Noah said, lightly elbowing me in the side. Without fail, Noah always knew how and when to make things better.

I led the way out of the dark room and down the poorly lit hallway of the arts building. The tiles were cracked and chipped and the florescent bulbs were half burnt out, causing an eerie darkness. If it hadn’t housed one of my favorite places in this entire town, I would have avoided this building like the plague.

Falling into an old routine, I looped my arm through Noah’s and we fell into step as we made our way toward the student parking lot. We had carpooled today, so it made sneaking off campus that much easier. Luck was on our side, and the student lot was as empty as a ghost town. Still, we sprinted down the stairs that lead to the lot, hand in hand, a smile plastered to my face. I double clicked the unlock on my key fob and hopped into the driver’s seat of my faded blue sedan. We both burst into a fit of laughter as we slammed our doors.

“Look at us, Bonnie and Clyde,” Noah said as he buckled in. His sideways grin radiated happiness as he raked his fingers through his hair, smiling at me.

“Oh yeah, totally, minus the murders.”

“There could be murder. I could think of a couple people who would be at the top of a hit list.”

I put the car into reverse and pulled out of my assigned parking spot. Our security guard, Mr. Hicks, was nowhere to be seen, but I didn’t slow as we hit two sets of speed bumps, my car thudding angrily as I drove over them. Excitement swelled in my chest and I rolled the windows down, sticking my hand out and enjoying the feeling of cool air on my palm.

“Slow down, speed racer, we’re in the clear.” Noah chuckled as he turned up the radio, flipping through the stations so fast I could hardly hear what song was playing before the next station came to life. I attempted to come up with a witty response, but instead stayed silent for the duration of the half mile to the local burger joint, appropriately named Shadow Hill’s Burgers.

“You wanna sit or drive through?” I asked, idling in the middle of the parking lot as I waited for his answer. I turned my head to look at him, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of “Can’t Stop the Feeling.”

“Eh, let’s just drive through and head home,” he responded, a slight irritation lacing his voice that wasn’t there when we left campus. Noah stared at his cell phone, clutching it so tightly his knuckles had turned white. I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of his phone, but couldn’t see past his privacy screen protector.

“Who ya talking to?” I asked nonchalantly, pulling into the drive-through. I slowed drastically, hoping he would answer my question before we approached the intercom to order. He didn’t.

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