Chapter Thirty-Two
Ryder
I wait outside the girls’ dorm on Tuesday morning. The guard keeps giving me looks like he doesn’t trust me. Good thing I made it back to my dorm safely last night without any problems. The last thing I need or want is to get expelled.
Smiling, I wave at him. He can’t do anything to me because I’m far from the entrance and because it’s early in the day. Guys are allowed to be in the girls’ dorm. But of course he can always come up with some excuse to get my butt booted, which is why I’m making sure to keep some distance.
A few minutes pass before a group of girls emerges from the door. Carly and her friends. Carly notices me right away and a smile breaks out on her lips. It’s so sweet and beautiful that I want to rush to her side, gather her in my arms, and kiss her until the sun sets.
She and the others head to me. I take her hand, giving it a squeeze. “Hey, morning,” I greet everyone.
They return the greeting, Carly with an even wider smile on her face. “What are you doing here?” she asks.
“Want to go to breakfast together?”
Her friends say, “Aw!”
“Of course,” she says, her cheeks a little red. If not for that guard, I’d bend forward and kiss those cheeks.
We set off toward the dining hall. Caleb leaves the boys’ dorm and joins us, wrapping an arm around Addie’s shoulder and pulling her close.
We pretty much walk in pairs. Me and Carly, Addie and Caleb, and Sophie and Raven.
I give Carly’s hand another squeeze. “Did you sleep well?”
She laughs. “No. After you left, Addie and I went to Sophie and Raven’s room and we, um, talked. About everything.”
I waggle my brows. “You mean about me, right?”
She playfully whacks me in the chest.
“Or maybe about my mind-blowing kisses?” I add.
She laughs again. “ Anyway , we stayed up like really late. And then I couldn’t sleep because I was excited.”
I bend close to her ear. “Couldn’t sleep either because I was excited, too. And Felix was snoring as loud as an elephant.”
She giggles, the sound so pretty and musical it makes my heart soar. I can’t remember the last time I felt so happy and hopeful. And that’s all because of this wonderful person walking beside me.
“What?” she asks as I stare at her.
I push some hair away from her eyes. “Nothing, you’re just so beautiful and perfect.”
Her face scrunches into a frown. “Not true.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“ Yes .”
She playfully glares at me. I glare right back at her for a bit before dipping my head and pecking her lips. Smiling, she pulls me closer, her lips hovering over mine.
“Guys?”
We ignore her friends as we continue to gaze into each other’s eyes.
“Guys!”
We reluctantly look up and find Harrington a few feet away, talking to a group of freshmen outside the dining hall.
“Crap,” Carly mutters, pulling away from me.
Hmm. Looks like our principal is quite busy. I quickly yank Carly back to me, rub my nose with hers, then step back.
“You’re going to get us expelled,” she hisses.
I lift an innocent brow, giving her a wide grin. “What? I didn’t do anything. My nose was itchy.”
Sophie and Addie burst into giggles while Caleb and Raven smile. Carly tries to hide her own smile, but then she laughs, too.
“Let’s go inside before you really do get us kicked out.” She opens the door. I hold it open for her and the others. Some girls enter as well, each giving me flirty smiles. I ignore them and join Carly and the others at the buffet tables.
We grab as much food as we think we can eat before settling down at our table. I feel many, many, many pairs of eyes on me. I don’t need to look around to know that most, if not all, of the people in this room are staring, wondering why in the world I’m at the so-called loser table.
Carly must notice as well because she shifts in her seat, clearly uncomfortable. Giving her a warm smile, I reach for her hand over the table and clutch it, letting every single person in here know that I’m hers now. Totally and completely hers.
At once, whispers fill the room. But I pay no attention to any of it as I eat my food and talk to Carly and her friends.
“The Parker twins don’t look very happy,” Carly whispers to me a short while later.
Lifting my head, I spot the twins at the popular table, glaring at us. Well, at Carly. “They’re harmless. Ignore them,” I tell her. “Eventually everyone will learn that I’m taken.”
“Are you sure you want to—?”
Taking both her hands, I stare into her eyes. “I’m not sure about a lot of things, but I’m one hundred percent sure about this. About us.”
She smiles shyly and nods. “Okay. I’m sure, too.”
Not caring that we’re in public and that teachers might see, I lower my head to brush my lips across hers.
The entire dining hall releases loud gasps and murmurs fill the room. Carly’s friends look so happy for her.
It’s a little hard for Carly to get through breakfast with everyone staring at us.
I’m used to it, so I try to act as normal as possible, keeping her engaged so she won’t look around at all the stares and glares.
These kids will eventually get over the shock and move on.
I’m not worried about them, or even me. I’m worried about Carly being uncomfortable.
“You good?” I ask her as I squeeze her hand.
She nods. “Yeah.”
“Sorry about all this. Want to get out of here?”
“No, it’s fine. Let them stare. I don’t really care.”
I smile. “Yeah, let them. They’d better get used to seeing us together because there’s no way in heck I’m ever letting you go.”
Her cheeks redden. “Really?”
“Really.”
Addie, Sophie, and Raven squeal while Caleb grins. “You guys are so cute,” Addie says.
Carly and I look at each other, me raising my brows. “Normally I don’t like being called cute, but I’ll make an exception,” I joke.
We finish up our breakfast and make our way out of the dining hall. There’s a crowd of girls surrounding the exit and we push through them, me ignoring their attempts to grab me. I clutch Carly’s hand tightly so I won’t accidentally lose her in the crowd.
“It’s not like he’ll stay with her for more than, like, a month,” a girl says as we pass her.
“Yeah, he’ll probably get so bored of her.”
I glance at Carly to see if she heard that, but she doesn’t look bothered at all. I bring our interlocked fingers to my lips and kiss hers. She smiles at me.
As we pass the Parker twins, they don’t look angry anymore—they look shocked beyond belief. They reach to grab my arms, but I turn away from them.
We finally exit the dining hall and enter the school building. I don’t want us to separate to our classrooms, but I’ll see Carly in advanced English soon. I walk her to her first class, holding her hand like I don’t want to let go. But unfortunately, I need to or else she’ll be late.
I close my arms around her, pressing my cheek to hers. “See you later.”
She buries her head in my chest. “Bye.”
After sweeping my lips across her cheek, I wave and walk off.
A few girls try to chase after me, but I shrug them off. Some crowd around my desk after I sit down in my classroom. Once they realize I’d rather scroll through my phone than give them the time of day, they scatter away.
I keep myself busy looking at pictures of Carly on social media. My lips kick into a smile. I can’t believe we’re together now. I never thought this would actually happen, but life has a habit of throwing curve balls.
Good curveballs.
Awesome ones.
***
The dance team gets through practice without too many issues. We’re doing much better than we did previously and it’s not as tough as it was before. But we still need lots of practice if we want to dominate.
Coach has Carly and me stay after to work on our duet. We begin with the starting position, pressing our foreheads together.
We smile as we stare into each other’s eyes. I so badly want to kiss those beautiful lips, but I hold back. I’m supposed to be professional.
The music begins and we spin away from each other before rushing to each other.
We’re doing very well and Coach is proud.
I’m a little nervous when it’s time for the first lift, but as I watch Carly do magic on the floor, I’m filled with so much calm and warmth that my nerves disappear and I’m left with this confidence I didn’t know I had.
When she rushes toward me, I catch her by the waist, lifting her in the air.
“Good, Ryder!” Coach compliments.
I am successful with the other lifts as well. Carly and I have a lot of fun smiling at each other while spinning around one another. There’s a charge in the air that wasn’t there before. It’s like the Universe is happy we’re finally together.
“Take five,” Coach says, heading toward us. “That was amazing, you two.” She beams. “I’m a little surprised, to be honest. There’s something different about you. Good different.”
Carly and I glance at each other and grin.
“The chemistry between you guys is off the charts,” she continues. “You’re really pulling off a couple in love. Whatever you’ve been doing, keep at it.”
“Of course, Coach,” I say, while Carly thanks her.
After our break, we resume practicing. We’re having a lot of fun, spinning, holding hands, being the prince and princess we’re supposed to be. Coach is very excited about how it’s turning out.
“Keep up the good work, guys,” she says before leaving for the day.
Carly and I face each other, smiling. Some sweat shines on her forehead while mine is dripping down my chest.
“So, Princess, what do you want to do now?” I ask.
She taps her chin as she thinks. “Well, my prince, I think we should start working on the grand finale.”
I nod with a smile. “Of course. We need to make you float. But before we begin, there’s something I need to ask you.”
“Okay.”
I take both her hands, leading her to the bleachers where we sit down, facing each other. “Is something wrong?” Carly asks. “I mean, you look nervous.”
“Do I?”
She nods.
“I don’t mean to. I’m excited to ask you this.”
“Okay…?”
I lift both her hands to my lips and kiss her knuckles. “Carly Simmons, you mean the world to me and…do you want to be my girlfriend?”
“I thought I am.”
“Well, I mean, yeah, but we didn’t make it official or anything.”
She flings her arms around me. “Of course. I’d love to officially be your girlfriend.”
“Sweet.” I wrap my arms around her, then press my lips to hers. Her fingers tangle in my hair as our lips swallow each other’s. I can never get enough of this, but I love talking to her too, and seeing her smile and dance. Just everything about her.
“I love kissing you,” she murmurs when we take a break.
I chuckle. “I love kissing you, too. Believe me, if I was able to, I’d do it every second of every day.”
Backing up, she lifts a brow. “Be honest. How many girls have you kissed?”
I groan. “Carly, do you really want to know?”
“Yes. I can handle it.”
I groan again. “Um…let’s see…so I kissed my first girl at ten years old…
I don’t know. Many, I guess. But they were empty and meaningless.
None made me feel the way you make me feel.
When I kissed them, it was whatever, something fun to do to pass the time.
But when we kiss, it’s like I’m soaring to the sky.
I’m filled with so many hopes and dreams and possibilities.
” I frown. “Now you’re making me sound lame. ”
Laughing, she bends forward to kiss me. “It wasn’t lame at all.”
“Kinda was.”
She gives me a look. I smile, pulling her close and giving her a deep kiss. “Thanks for being so awesome.”
Her cheeks are a little red. “Thanks for being so sweet and kind.”
“And hot. Don’t forget hot.”
She playfully rolls her eyes. “Okay. And hot.”
I stand. “And now it’s time for this handsome prince and beautiful princess to put together a grand finale that will knock everyone off their feet.”
She stands, too, and we return to the center of the gym and discuss the best way to end our duet.
“If I hold you up for a long time and maybe spin around and take a few steps, then you’ll feel like you’re floating,” I say.
She bites her lip. “It sounds a bit complicated. Do you think you can hold me for that long?”
“Definitely. I’ll work hard until I do.”
“Are you sure?”
I place my hands on her cheeks. “My girlfriend wants to float in the air, so she sure as heck is floating in the air.”
We start practicing the complicated parts first. It’s a little frustrating because I’m having a hard time holding her up as well as doing some tricks and spins.
But I won’t give up. I want to give this girl everything.
I want to do everything in my power to make her happy. I want to make her dreams come true.