Chapter 42
723words
"Morning" he greets, "I'm looking for Ryder"
"Hey I remember you" she smiles, "come in he's here" Shia walks in and Lin shuts the door. "It's this way."
Shia follows the girl down a hall and when they make it to the entrance of the kitchen Ryder asks, "who was it—" stunned he quickly stands seeing Shia enter behind his roommate
"Who are you?" Tamsin asks the obvious
"Shia, this is Shia" Ryder quickly snaps out of it introducing the boy to his roommates, "that's Tamsin and Lin," he says to Shia pointing to the girls. Taking steps towards him Ryder asks, "what are you doing here?" Before Shia can answer Ryder stops him, "wait" he turns to his roommates who are gawking at them. Shaking his head at them Ryder takes Shia by the wrist pulling him out of the kitchen, away from his nosy roommates.
Taking the boy to his room Ryder shuts the door when they're inside. Shia didn't know what to expect being in Ryder's room for the first time, but this makes sense. Movie and video game posters cover the white walls, a mess of clothes everywhere, an unmade bed, and his tv stand riddled with different kinds of video games around it, it was all typical boy.
"So" Ryder starts standing behind him unable to see how much of his room Shia is taking in, "what are you doing here so early?" Ryder walks around him so they can finally face each other
"Oh I brought you this" Shia hands the boy the bag he's been holding, "greasy breakfast burrito, best hangover food I know" he smiles as Ryder looks inside the bag. "And this, chamomile tea" handing him the cup Shia continues, "should help soothe the pounding" he points to Ryder's head.
Ryder isn't sure how to even react, no one's ever gone out of their way like this for him before. A new feeling arose by this action, who was Shia Yorkton? And why was Ryder worth him being this nice? Especially since Shia is known for not being nice to anyone "Well I should go now and let you get ready for school,"
Shia is heading for the door when Ryder asks, "not even gonna let me say thank you?"
He turns back to Ryder "I didn't do it for a thank you, I just wanted to make sure you were ok." "I don't think I'm worth you being so nice to me,"
"Why not?"
"Don't know" Ryder shrugs, "just don't think I deserve it"
"It's ok to think that, we all think there are things out there we don't deserve, things we want but just don't know how to ask for them. It
just means you deserve it that much more"
"I deserve you being this nice to me after the way I acted last night?"
"Ryder I already told you nothing was ruined, you were drunk, we all say things when we're drunk," Shia can tell his reassurance wasn't really working. Walking closer Shia bridges the gap between them and says "I want you to know, me selling weed isn't for any sketchy
reason, it's just extra money."
"You don't owe me an explanation, I shouldn't have asked."
"Yeah you should've, you can ask me anything ok." Shia searches for the boy's gaze as Ryder tries his best to calm his heart because Shia was standing so close, close enough for Ryder to see how soft his lips look, how deep his brown eyes are, and his hair— why does he want to touch Shia's hair so badly?
"Do you want to stay? I could drive us to school"
"I want to but I can't, I have to run home and check on my mom before school starts" "Okay," Ryder nods sadly
"But we'll see each other at school, I'll actually find you this time," Shia says and the smile that appears on Ryder's face causes him to smile too.
