He rolled his eyes in annoyance. Then eyed the other guy as he sat down. “There is a difference, and you know it.”
I pressed him for an explanation. “Such as?”
I knew the quickest ways to get under Tyler’s skin was acting clueless and implying he didn't have a special claim to me. As a friend, or otherwise.
I could tell he was irritated by my childish game, but I also knew he wasn’t one to back down.
Tyler leaned down and nuzzled his lips along my neck, as I took my seat. “Do you practice kissing on all your friends?” He whispered against my ear.
I tugged at my bottom lip with my teeth, heat rushing over my body. He always toyed with me like this. He loved watching me react to his innocent flirtation. It didn’t mean anything to him, he just liked watching me suffer.
For me, it only served as a reminder that he hadn’t made a move on me in two, very long, years.
I shrugged him off. “Only the ones I really like.”
I’d gotten better with my responses, and sometimes I even ended up getting a rise out of him.
“Ry?” He growled out.
I pulled out my textbook and looked up at him “Yeah?”
He stood over my desk silently for a moment. “I'm still your favorite, right?” He asked, flashing me his smile.
That smile. Damn you, Tyler.
“Yes, Ty. You’ll always be my favorite.”
Chapter 7
Ryder
I finished packing my bags and Kirk took them down to his car for me.
He’d agreed to go with me for the weekend, and that was the only reason I agreed to make the trip back home.
We’d told my mom we were dating, a familiar trick I used to detour her from any idea of setting me up. However, in reality, Kirk had his own boyfriend. One who was sweet enough to lend him to me for the weekend.
I met Kirk my first day of college, and we’ve been friends ever since. Which is surprising because I was a mess my first year. I spent most nights crying in my dorm room while Sadie and Kirk tried to convince me to go out with them. They really were amazing friends; I was lucky to have them.
The only problem was, they weren't Tyler.
When my second year of college rolled around, I wasn't as bad. I even gave in and went out with them one night. That was the night Kirk met his current boyfriend Micah and I met my ex, Jared.
At first the relationship with Jared wasn't so bad, he was nice enough and we had fun together for the most part. However, a few months in I noticed he was trying to get me to change the way I dressed and acted around his friends.
My converse shoes and jeans suddenly didn’t seem to measure up. Not when his buddies’ girlfriends were wearing low-cut tops and short skirts. He also didn’t like the fact I preferred to drink beer and talk sports with his friends while all the other girlfriends hung out together and talked clothes and gossip.
It ended up only lasting a year before I caught him cheating on me with one of his friend’s girlfriends. What bothered me the most was I didn't even miss him after we broke up. The only part that actually hurt was the reminder that I was never going to be good enough for anyone.
For the next two years, after Jared, I did have some other brief relationships. Usually it happened when Sadie introduced me to her boyfriend's buddies.
I didn’t have trouble finding guys who were interested in hooking up. I did, however, have trouble finding guys that wanted to date a girl that acted like one of their “bros”.
The idea of it seemed to appeal to them at first. A girl that talked sports, played video games, and got along with their friends. They seemed to like having a girlfriend who could take a joke, and flick shit back at them.
However, then reality would hit them. They started to see me as one of the guys, and less like a girlfriend. Then things would start to slowly get more platonic.
Most of them would end things, or cheat on me. So, for the last six months, I kind of gave up on finding anyone, and the last thing I needed was for my mom to try to set me up.
Kirk knew that, and that's why he was my hero for playing along with this charade.
Especially if I happen to run into Tyler, I needed Kirk there.
I could still remember the last night I spent with Tyler, and I wish I'd known then that the one thing I wanted most, would be what ruined everything…
*************************
He came over to my house to help me finish packing for our trip to the city. He’d just finished his last day at the local community college and was set for his transfer.
Sadie was going to meet up with us in the morning, and all three of us were going to hit the open road. Our plan was to spend the summer in the city before school started that fall.
As I sat there in my room packing up, I realized this was the last night I’d have with Tyler before we were off to college. No more; treehouse talks, wearing his clothes home after late night swims at his pool, no more sneaking into his room on the nights I couldn’t sleep, and no more movie marathons.
Even though we were headed off to college together, I couldn’t ignore the suddenly feeling of what we were leaving behind.
“I asked Tyson to take my virginity tonight. You know, before we leave for college.” I stated as Tyler thumbed
