Chapter 14
Eleventh Grade
Ryder: Where u at?
Me: At the library.
I turn my phone’s screen off and hand my application over to the head librarian.
After talking with my parents to let them know I would like to get a job, we decided that something part-time after school would be appropriate.
They are worried anything more will mess with my studying.
I love books and have volunteered off and on at our local library for years, so me working here is basically a given.
I just have to go through the formalities of an application first.
“Before I finalize next week’s schedule, Elizabeth, is Monday, Wednesday, Friday, from four to six still good with you?”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you,” I tell Mrs. Peters.
She files away my application and stands to shake my hand. “Sorry about all the paperwork. I’m sure you understand.”
“Yes, ma’am, I understand. I’m excited that I actually get to work here now. I love this place.”
Mrs. Peters chuckles. “I still remember you in pigtails when your mom would bring you and Hailey in for story time.”
The loud rumble of a car engine stops outside the library doors. We both look over and my mouth drops open.
“You go on ahead, sweetheart,” she tells me after seeing who the driver is from the rolled down passenger side window.
I’m already rushing out the doors. “Bye, Mrs. Peters. Thanks again. See you next week!”
“Hey. Need a lift?” a deep voice calls out to me, cocky grin on his face.
“Oh my God, Ryder! You finished your car!” I run over and place my hands on the open window. “This is the most unbelievably kick-ass car I have ever seen!”
Without further invitation, I open the passenger door and hop inside, fastening my seatbelt. Ryder shifts into first gear and roars down the road.
“What do you think?”
I take in the black leather bucket seats with red stripes down the middle and red trim, the swirled stainless steel of the dashboard, and high-end sound system.
The car is a sleek, glossy black with a red stripe painted down the middle of the hood that matches the interior.
I know he must have done some serious work with the engine because it sounds incredible and vibrates powerfully when idling.
If this car was a boy, I would be drooling.
“You did this?” He nods. “You really did it?” He nods again, ear to ear grin splitting his face. “It’s gorgeous. Incredible. I want to marry it,” I confess, gliding my hands all over the soft buttery leather, feeling giddy.
“Good grief, woman,” he teases.
I point to the radio. “Do you mind?”
“Go right ahead.” He hands me his phone and tells me to open up a music app he has linked to his sound system. I go through several songs before finding the one I want. Selecting it, I turn up the volume to blast out “Alive” by P.O.D.
“Punch it, Big Daddy,” I tell him. He presses the accelerator, and we speed down the road.
“So, where are we headed?”
“You’re the first to get a ride in her, so where do you want to go?”
“I’m the first? Not even your dad?”
“Nope. I wanted it to be you. I knew you’d appreciate her.”
“If it’s a her, then you just destroyed my dreams of marrying it.” I give a mock pout. “Okay, maybe not. She is gorgeous. Aren’t you just gorgeous, Stella,” I coo as I pat the dashboard.
“Stella?” his eyebrow kicks up with mirth.
“Yeah, Stella. A sexy name for a sexy car,” I reply, all serious.
We drive around for a while when Ryder and I both notice at the same time that we are about to pass the Fields. Grinning at each other, he turns left onto the dirt road that will take us to the racetrack.
“I can’t wait to see you race Stella here,” I say as we approach the track. “Now, let’s see what my future wife can do.”
Ryder lines up his Hellcat at the start of the course, revs his engine a few times, wiggling his eyebrows up and down to the time of the revs causing me to bust a gut laughing, and before I know to hang on, he releases the clutch and shoots off in a flash.
God, I love this. The adrenaline rush, wind whipping through the open windows, my long hair flying out everywhere.
Ryder drives lap after lap, drifting, sliding, speeding around the corners like a demon. I never want it to end.
He shifts down and comes to a stop. “Your turn.”
“I’m sorry, what now?”
“Your turn,” he says, putting the car into neutral and getting out.
“No, Ryder! I can’t!
“Yes, you can.”
“Are you crazy? I’ll probably drive it off into a tree!”
“No, you won’t.”
“Yes, I will.”
“Elizabeth, get into the driver’s seat.”
“Nuh uh. Nope. No way. You can’t make me.”
I cross my arms, shaking my head no like a two-year-old. Before I know what’s happening, Ryder has my seat belt unfastened and me hoisted up and over his shoulder.
“What is it with you guys always carrying me around like a sack of potatoes?” I shriek and grab onto the back of his shirt, which causes me to notice the hard muscles underneath.
Then it hits me. Something buried deep. Something potent and alive, wanting desperately to claw to the surface. Something that causes my heart to constrict. Something I should not be feeling because I forced it into lockdown when I chose Jayson.
Everything stills.
“Ryder, put me down please,” my words a low timbre.
Hearing the quiet, serious tone of my voice, Ryder stops.
His arm, the one banded around my thighs, tightens before slowly relaxing.
He takes my hips in his hands and moves me down his body until I am standing on my own two feet.
My hands press flat against his chest. I keep my head bowed, looking at our feet.
“Ryder, we can’t.” I feel so much for him, it hurts.
“I know.” He steps closer to me. We stand motionless like that for several minutes.
“I’m sorry.”
“I know, Elizabeth.”
Our arms reach around each other at the same time to bring our bodies together in a hug. It’s an embrace of two friends, two best friends, who could have been more if things were different. If I weren't for the fact that I'm with Jayson.
Ryder is the first to pull away. He tips my chin up and gives me one of his captivating smiles letting me know we’re going to be alright.
“You’re still driving.”
“No, I’m not.”
Yes, I did, and it was awesome.