Disclaimer: The following is a prequel to Choices The Freshman and The Sophomore stories. It is a fictional adaptation. I do not work for Pixelberry Studios, the game developer or own the rights to the characters Chris Powell, Jo, Kyle or Nicole. All of the characters, story line and events were originally developed by me, some areas in part with @maxattack-powell, in conjuction to her adaptation of The Freshman.
Chapter 13: With a Little Help From My Friends
Restless Cherryfield High students make their way towards the cafeteria for the start of the lunch period. They are half way through the school day and the halls are resonating with voices from dozens of teenage conversations and laughter.
Morgan carries her jacket over her arms, hugging it at her stomach. Her backpack seems to weigh a hundred pounds today, but she has loaded it with most of her books for the remainder of her classes to avoid having to go to her locker. She knows there will people looking for her arrival there and she would rather carry the extra weight than to have any more awkward conversations.
She thought about Chris’s apology note all during fourth period. Maybe he was truly being sincere, but so was she. It didn’t matter anymore. What she feels for him, or felt does not matter anymore. There is no getting past something like this in her mind. She had already forgiven him once. The act of doing it a second time seems impossible.
As she rounds the corner, the hall in front of the cafeteria is lined with some student organizations at various tables, promoting their group and signing people up to join for the spring semester. She slows as she looks at the signs in front of a few: Ecology club, FFA, Thespian Society. She continues to inspect the names and her steps slow as she sees the table for the Literary Club. Her head tilts as she thinks for a moment.
Aaron sits behind the table and when he notices Morgan peering curiously over at their setup, he sits up straight. She takes a few steps and silently grabs a flyer on the table, reading over what exactly the club offers.
“Uh…hello…Mo, Morgan,” he stammers a bit.
She looks up from the paper. “Hi,” she says and frowns slightly. “I didn’t know we had a Literary Club.”
“Well, it’s uh, new. Just starting it, I um, asked Principal Poole if we could create one. Mrs. McWhorter is helping us too,” he clears his throat as he nods his head. He grabs a stack of papers and shuffles them needlessly.
Morgan continues to review the flyer. “Says there will be a literary magazine with student works published at the end of the year?” She looks directly at him and he shifts in his seat.
“Yeah,” he nods quickly. “Do you like to write?”
“A little bit,” she says with a small shrug. She has always kept a journal and sometimes jots down a few poems or creative short stories in her notebook as well. She has never let a single soul read any of them.
A sideways grin comes to Aaron’s face at her response. “Well, um, you should, uh, join. It would be fun and you could help choose what goes into the magazine,” he says.
“Really?” she asks surprised.
He nods and smiles slightly again.
Morgan moves her jacket to one arm, grabs a pen and leans over the table, looking at the sign-up sheet. There are currently three other names on the list. Aaron watches her, hopeful.
Morgan lowers the pen to the paper but her actions stop when Ryan steps up next to her. “Hey….” He says slowly.
She looks over at him, standing up tall. Aaron watches as she places the pen back down on the table.
“Hi….” She says softly.
Ryan doesn’t bother glancing in Aaron’s direction. He throws his head, gesturing for Morgan to walk over to some place a little more private with him. The hallway is bustling but they walk together towards a corner where Morgan leans her back against the wall.
“I know I said I’d give you some time and some space,” Ryan begins, “and I still will, but…I just wanted to check on you,” he says looking in her eyes. He shoves his hands into his pockets. “I didn’t see you the last couple of days, I figured you didn’t come to school.”
Morgan shakes her head. “No, I didn’t.”
He leans a shoulder against the wall beside her. He scans her face for any sign of emotion. There is hardly any trace of expression and he can’t read how she might be feeling. Under his scrutiny, she shifts her eyes down towards the floor.
“I wanted to call, but…I was trying to respect what you asked. How are you?” he asks. ”I,” he trails off and licks his lips. “I have been worried about you.”
“I’m okay,” she nods slowly and doesn’t look at him. He says nothing for a moment, causing her to lift her eyes to his. His face expresses his disbelief. She sighs.
“I’m better Ryan, really. I’ll be okay,” she says.
“You guys got that class together,” Ryan says thinking out loud, referring to Morgan and Chris. “That go okay? Did he talk to you?”
“He tried,” she says. “But, I don’t want to talk to him.”
“I’ve been so pissed at him,” Ryan shakes his head. At this Morgan frowns.
“What do you mean?” Her eyes narrow in concern.
“It’s just been hard for me to talk to him too,” Ryan removes a hand from his pocket and runs it over his hair. He stares out into the crowd of students.
Morgan moves away from the wall, stepping into his view. “Because of me?”
Ryan shrugs and looks away. Morgan steps closer again, bending her head to meet his eyes. “Ryan?”
“Yeah….” He says reluctantly.
She exhales loudly and groans. “Please don’t do that because of me. Ryan, please. You guys are so close. I would be more upset knowing that you weren’t talking and it’s my fault that you aren’t.”
“It’s not your fault! It’s his!” Ryan retorts quickly. She sees that fiery temper reflected in his glare for a few seconds. When he sees the corners of her eyes crease as she begins to worry, his anger fades.
She shakes her head. “I don’t want you two to fight.”
He sighs and licks his lips again. He reaches up and pulls at his hair slightly, avoiding her eyes. When she looks at him, he feels like she sees not through him, but into him. It is unsettling that a girl has that type of effect on him.
Morgan hugs her jacket again, her mind swirling with thoughts over what could have taken place over the last few days. Chris and Ryan aren’t speaking, but what else? Her frown deepens as she thinks. At her house on Sunday, she had apologized to Ryan. After Ethan had divulged that his buddy liked her, she had known Ryan had feelings for her for the first time. It was confirmed when he had asked her on a date, but after he stood her up for play time with the senior class tramp, Maya, she thought any chance between them was dead in the water. Maybe she hadn’t fully grasped the extent of what he felt. He showed her just how much he cared the other day at her home.
She had put Chris on a pedestal years ago and in her heart, he had been the only boy she ever believed she loved and had any true desire to be with. So when Chris expressed interest, she did not hesitate.
The problem was that she was now at the center of raw emotions between two best friends. The thought of causing turmoil in their friendship makes her heart sink. She is angry at Chris and the wound in her heart does not feel like it will ever heal, but she never intended to destroy any part of his life. Especially not his friendship with Ryan. Even Morgan knows they are much more like brothers than just friends.
“Ryan-“ she begins but is interrupted.
Melody Walker slithers up and almost directly between Morgan and Ryan. The junior with bottle blonde hair, jeans two sizes two small and a push up bra, pops her gum as she faces Ryan. Her sexual conquests of seniors are the talk in both the girls and boys locker rooms.
“Hey Ryan,” Melody says, sounding irritated.
Ryan grimaces. “I’m talking to Morgan, Melody what do you want?” His back stiffens.
“I’ve been texting you for like days or whatever and nothing, so what’s up? That’s how you’re gonna do me?”
Morgan looks from Melody to Ryan, frowning deeply.
“I haven’t talked to you in like two months and you just started texting me out of nowhere again! I don’t have anything to say to you, now go away, I’m trying to talk,” he says angrily.
“Oh so what, you start hanging out now with little Miss Goody-Goody and you act like you haven’t been down for it?” Melody puts a hand on her hip.
Ryan’s jaw clenches and he swallows, trying to keep his temper from surfacing again. He steps closer to Melody, lifts his hands and presses his palms together.
“I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to do anything with you ever again,” he says slowly like a teacher disciplining a child. “Do you understand that?”
Melody huffs and pouts. She frowns but then turns her nose up and looks over at Morgan. A smirk plays on the younger girls lips.
“Couldn’t have Chris so had to settle for the number two, huh?” she says. She glances at Ryan, her eyes dancing with laughter.
“What?” Morgan frowns.
“Just something I heard from Nicole, that’s all,” she winks.
“Get the fuck out of here Melody!” Ryan suddenly shouts loudly.
Melody faces him one last time. There is a hint of disappointment in her eyes but she laughs it away.
“You and the virgin queen here just have yourselves a good ‘ol time then. When you get tired of her knees being locked together, text me back, ‘kay?” Melody says. She swings her hips as she struts away.
Ryan rubs his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he looks at Morgan, he sees a look in her eyes that he had not seen in some time. She always had it when she was hanging out with Nicole and he would flirt with her. She had it at every party when she would see him with his arm thrown around some random girl from their school. She has it again now: A small hint of contempt.
“That….her,” Ryan gestures after Melody. “That was a few months ago,” he nods hoping she will understand.
“Yeah….” She says in a hush. Morgan feels like her eyes are dilated. They are wide open and she sees things a lot more clearly in the last few days. The gossipmongers at school have continued to smear her name. The girls who sided with Nicole, practically every girl at Cherryfield High, see Morgan as a traitor. She has always known that in the weeks that followed their falling out, but the evidence presented itself to her again just now. Morgan also now sees Chris for the emotional mess he currently is and she sees playboy Ryan and his past misadventures consistently coming back to haunt him.
“Morgan….” He begins. But he knows. He sees the look in her eyes and he knows.
“I’m going to the dance room,” she says looking away from him.
His shoulders drop. “Aren’t you going to grab lunch?” He asks anxiously.
She shakes her head. “Not hungry.” She runs her fingers through her hair and looks at him. “I’ll see you around Ryan,” she says.
He shakes his head sadly as she walks away. He watches her turn and walk in the opposite direction of the hallway traffic. He recalls a time when he would have yelled something out to her, catcalling and teasing her about the rear view but those times seem long ago and far away now. A pain of regret strikes him. Maybe if he hadn’t joked around with her so much in the past and been a little more honest with himself and with her about what he was feeling, he wouldn’t be in the his situation now.
And now, it’s time for lunch. He enters the cafeteria and goes through the lunch line, ignoring those around him. He gets his food, pays and walks out into the cafeteria. Ethan, Chris and Alex are already at the table. He is irritated and hurt and really not in the mood to continue the silent treatment with Chris but he doesn’t feel he has too many other options at the moment. A part of him would like to join Morgan in the dance room, apologize profusely for everything he’s ever done to any girl in his entire life’s history with the opposite sex, but he feels at this point it’s useless.
Downtrodden and hating the world, Ryan carries his tray to the table and plops down in a chair opposite of Chris.
He takes his grilled chicken sandwich silently in his hands before taking a bite. He is not sure if the sandwich is bland or if he’s simply just numb, but he doesn’t taste much of anything.
From the other side of the table, Chris looks across at his buddy. Ryan makes no eye contact, looking down at his plate as he chews.
Alex and Ethan exchange a knowing glance and with a head nod from Alex, the two simultaneously stand up pushing their chairs back with their legs.
Chris and Ryan lift their heads curiously.
“We’re going to sit at another table,” Alex announces looking from Chris over to Ryan.
Ryan’s chewing slows and with food in his cheek he frowns, “What?”
“Whatever this shit is going on with ya’ll two, we’re done,” Alex says tossing his head towards Ethan. “Man, ya’ll need to talk. Ya’ll are boys and this is silly. We are going over there so you two can talk this out.”
“And if either of you thinks about trying to get up from this table, as God is my witness, I will knock the crap out of you so hard in football practice today, you won’t be able to play on Saturday,” Ethan states.
Ryan and Chris look at him, then briefly at each other, then back at Ethan. This is not a veiled threat. One of Ethan’s many nicknames is “The Wall.” He’s solid and hard to move. He rarely gets angry but if he does, you don’t want to be anywhere near him.
“So you two are going to sit here, work it out, get back to being boys and get ready to win us a playoff game on Saturday,” Alex states. “Okay? Okay. Good talk. Ethan, after you!” he motions.
Ethan and Alex walk to the other side of the cafeteria and take a seat. They look back over at Ryan and Chris who are still sitting in stunned silence.
Ryan looks over at Chris who hesitantly turns his head to look back at him.
After a few awkward moments, Chris is the first to speak.
“Well, I guess that’s one way to get us to talk,” he says.
“Yeah….”Ryan says slowly.
They fall silent for a few minutes, each picking at their food.
“If guess if we don’t talk, Ethan will kick your ass,” Ryan shrugs some.
Chris jerks his head back. “My ass? Why me? Why not you?”
Ryan purses his lips. “Ethan can’t kick my ass. Yours though? Definitely.”
Chris stares back at his friend. The relief he feels at hearing his voice is comforting and overwhelming. He smirks and chuckles.
“I’ve seen Ethan mad, what three times in as many years? Each of those three times it was at you,” Chris says resting his elbows on the table.
“I do what I can to motivate him,” Ryan says and scratches his head. At this Chris smiles for the first time in days.
They fall quiet again, each glancing at the other periodically. Chris knows it’s on him to start the conversation. He would have said it days ago, but Ryan had not wanted to talk to him.
“Ryan, look I’m really sorry, about Morgan,” Chris begins with a deep exhale. “I really had no idea that you liked her in that way. I guess, I’d see you flirting with her and I thought she was like every other girl, that’s just what you do,” Chris explains.
Ryan pauses as he reflects on the incident in the hallway just minutes ago. “Yeah, I know that’s what people think….”
“I would have never tried to hook up with a girl you like if I had known, I mean that,” Chris says putting one hand over his heart and lifting the other. “I wouldn’t do that to you intentionally,” he lowers his hands. “I…was just so wrapped up in being with Nicole, I didn’t see it. I didn’t see how you felt or…or how Morgan felt, and I’m sorry, to both of you, I’m really sorry.”
Ryan looks at him and nods slowly. He then chews his cheek as he thinks. “But…I still have to ask, why her? If you wanted to hook up with someone, if you just wanted to hook up, why Morgan of all the girls at this school?” He looks at him seriously, his brow creased slightly.
Chris licks his suddenly dry lips. “I’ve been trying to answer that for myself too for the last couple of days. I…I guess, she was there…when I needed someone, she was and….I took it too far. But I swear Ryan, I wasn’t thinking straight. I…I can’t explain it really. All I know is I’m sorry and if it came across as me using her, I’m even more sorry. That’s not what I intended.”
Ryan nods again.
“You like her that much, huh?” Chris asks.
Ryan scratches his eyebrow, near the scar embedded there. He sighs. “I do…or I did….but, there’s never going to be anything between me and Morgan. I know that for a fact.”
Ryan silently accepts his own words, his heart feeling heavy. He looks up at Chris. “I’m sorry too man, for the way I’ve been acting. For pushing you like I did the other day. I guess you weren’t the only one not thinking straight. I just…I saw her hurting and…it did something to me.” Ryan says baffled at his own actions.
Ryan stops himself from saying more. He knows there was more than just his desire to soothe Morgan’s heartache behind his behavior. Sprawled on the couch at home the other day, he realized he had been jealous of Chris. He had kissed and touched Morgan, doing things with her no other boy had ever done. Not only had Ryan wanted to do the very same thing, a part of him had also hoped he would be the first to share that type of intimacy with her. Instead, the dishonor of that moment had gone to his best friend who neither truly appreciated what was happening or stopped to think about who it was happening with.
“You’ve been a better friend to me Ryan that I can ever imagine. You’ve stuck with me through so much crap. You know what it’s like without my dad around. After the stuff that went down freshman year, you didn’t even blink when we met at football practice later. Everybody was looking at me like some criminal but…you didn’t.”
“You stepped up to defend me and my mom that time even though you barely knew me,” Ryan replies. “That said everything I needed to know about you then. I know you haven’t been yourself lately, and I can see how you might do something you regret. I just didn’t like that Morgan got caught up in that. I really can’t wait for the old Chris to show back up.”
Chris nods. “I’m getting there. Seeing other people get hurt because I’ve been so down, it’s been a wakeup call. I loved Nicole, maybe I still do too. I really believed she loved me and I guess I had built up this whole future for us in my mind and that we would be together forever. So, when that didn’t happen, when she just left, I couldn’t take it. You know why people leaving is…it’s hard for me.”
“Of course I do. I get it. Maybe better than anyone else around here. But…Nicole is not worth all of this. I was friends with her for a long time. She is not worth it. Believe me!” Ryan exclaims.
Chris chuckles lightly.
“Not talking has sucked,” he exhales. “I don’t want to go through that with you and Ethan again. I’ve missed you guys and…knowing you were mad, I just, I couldn’t take it. I felt horrible, I still do.”
“It sucked…but…at the same time it was kind of nice not having your hot breath blowing around everywhere for a few days,” Ryan says licking his teeth. He looks Chris in the eyes, face stoic before they can’t fight it any longer and erupt into laughter.
“Jerk,” Chris says.
“Dick,” Ryan snaps back.
Chris shakes his head but smiles. “So are we cool?”
Ryan stares at him, nodding his head. He raises a fist and Chris does the same, bumping it against his. “Cool.”
***
The reunited trio exits the field house after practice. With the recent time change, it’s darker much earlier now. The parking lot lights are on.
Ethan is happy again. His two best friends have made amends. The credit goes to Alex for being the savior of the situation. He was the one who suggested the ambush of making them talk to each other. It had worked and Ethan was relieved. He hoped there would be no more trials due to Morgan or any of the events in the last few weeks.
“I’ll text ya’ll later. My mom said she is making chicken and dumplings tonight,” Ethan explains walking towards his truck. “Gotta get home and get me a bowl before my little brothers eat it up!”
“What are you 90?” Ryan says. “You are excited about chicken and dumplings?”
“You’ve never had some as good as my mom’s,” Ethan smiles. “I’ll catch you guys later.” He sticks his key into the door to his truck and opens it, hopping inside.
“Tomorrow after school we can get the early bird special at IHOP. That’s only if you want to get really crazy,” Ryan says. Chris laughs. Ethan shakes his head and slams the truck door, starts the motor up and drives away.
Across the parking lot, the sound of an engine cranking and making a horrible scraping noise followed by a series of clicks can be heard. Ryan and Chris look up.
Tay exits her old, rusted clunker of a car and lifts the hood. In the dim light of the parking lot, she tries to see what could be wrong.
Ryan watches and nudges Chris with his arm. “I’ll catch up with you later too, gonna see if she needs help,” Ryan explains.
“Who is that?” Chris asks.
“Uh…my physics tutor,” Ryan says. “Talk to you later,” he walks away from Chris who heads to his jeep and drives away. As Ryan walks across the parking lot, Tay looks up.
“Hey, need some help?” he asks her.
“Ya know, right now, I do actually,” she grumbles. “This crap car of mine.”
“Heard you crank up a minute ago, sounded pretty rough,” Ryan says. “What are you still doing here?”
“You aren’t the only person I tutor actually. Had to meet a girl to work on calculus. I’ve been out here about 30 minutes trying to get it started, no luck.”
She blows into her gloved hands, cold from standing in the approaching November night. As they talk, white, foggy clouds of mist emerge from their lips with every word.
Ryan takes his phone out of his pocket and taps the flashlight app. Light shines down onto the working parts of the car. “Can you try to crank it one more time? I just want to see something real quick,” he asks.
“Sure,” She says hopping back in. She turns the keys and there is the clicking sound again but no other noise comes.
She hops back out and stands next to Ryan. “See it’s not even making any other sounds now, before it at least sounded like it was trying to crank.”
“Yeah, that’s not your battery…sounds more like an alternator,” Ryan says. “Probably needs to be replaced.”
“Awesome,” she says sarcastically. “So no chance of me getting this thing out of here tonight probably?”
Ryan shakes his head no. He rubs his hands together, warming them from the cold. “They would have to tow it. If we can get the part out, I can work on it for you but…it’s dark and late. Why don’t I just drive you home?” Ryan offers.
Tay looks at him. “You’d do that?”
“What kind of an asshole do you think I am?” he asks. She lifts her eyebrows. “Look, don’t answer that. But to answer your question, no, I’m not going to leave you in a cold parking lot by yourself at night,” he says pointedly.
“Thank you….” She says slowly.
“That’s me over there, the Bronco,” he says and lowers the hood. It squeals before it slams down back into place. Tay walks to the door and locks the car up. She quietly follows Ryan to his Bronco.
She struggles to step up into the vehicle with its oversized tires but finally scrambles inside. She closes the door and Ryan climbs inside as well. He starts the motor and the stereo blasts music at a high volume, causing Tay to wince and turn her head.
“Sorry,” he says reaching out and turning the nob down. He thinks again and decides to turn it off.
“Thanks,” she says.
He turns on the heater, thawing them out from standing in the cold and drives towards the parking lots exit. “Which way?” he asks.
“Make a left,” she says. He does as she says and they ride not speaking briefly. Ryan decides to break the silence.
“You going to the game on Saturday?” he asks.
“Football?” she questions.
He tugs his ear with one hand, the other on the steering wheel and laughs slightly. “Yeah, the football game. The team for which I am a member.”
“Oh no,” she shakes her head. “I don’t go to the games, haven’t been all season.”
“Really?” he frowns.
“What reason do I have to go?” She asks looking over at him.
“Support your school, rah rah team go, that type of thing maybe,” he glances over at her smirking.
“Yeah, that’s a no from me,” she replies. Ryan chuckles.
“You’re different, you know that?” He says as he continues to drive.
“Make a right up here at the stop,” Tay instructs. “Different? How so?”
“You just…you don’t seem to like stuff that most other girls like. You dress different, but it’s cool, like your own style. You talk shit more than any girl I’ve ever known and you don’t really seem to care about hanging out with people around here,” he says making the right turn.
“I’ve always been like this,” Tay shrugs. “But, as far as hanging out with people here, I moved in for my senior year. Mostly everybody already had their friends and being different as you say, I didn’t have a lot of people extending invitations for me to come join them. I’m just trying to get to graduation so I can get to college.”
“What college are you planning to go to?”
“NYU is my dream school,” Tay says. “I’m going to major in art history, I want to be a museum curator.”
“Wow,” Ryan lifts his eyebrows. “That’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he nods. “You have to be really smart for that. Obviously you are, I mean, you are tutoring me.”
She smiles a little. “Yeah, I’d love to work for one of the New York museums.”
“You’ll have to tell me if Night at the Museum is based on a true story or not,” Ryan jokes. “Kind of hoping it is.”
Tay laughs at him. “I’ll be sure to let you know what I find out. When you get up here to the light, make a left and it’s not too much further.”
Tay looks over at him as he drives. His blue eyes may be the prettiest set she has ever seen. At the thought, she turns her head and looks out the window.
“I never have thanked you,” Ryan says.
“Thanked me? For what?” Tay says looking back over at him.
“For helping me, with physics. I’ve made B’s since we’ve been working together. There’s no way that happens without your help, so…thank you,” he says looking over at her. She blinks and then looks out the front window.
“They asked me to, but I’m glad you are doing so well. Just a few more weeks till the end of the semester, then you’ll be done,” she says. It’s the first time she has thought about the end of their time together with regret rather than anticipation. She knows they won’t really see much of each other when they stop working together. She occasionally sees Ryan in the halls, but he is always with his two friends and they never speak outside of class until now.
The road narrows from four lanes to two as they move towards a neighborhood. “Third house over there on the left, with the porch lit on and the flag,” she says pointing.
Ryan notes the small, but nicely kept home. It looks recently painted. He pulls into the driveway. His lights shine into the garage where the door is open. It is mostly empty except for a few boxes left over from their move and still not unpacked and a motorcycle leaned against the wall.
“Whose motorcycle?” Ryan asks.
“Oh um…that was my brothers. It’s vintage. It’s a-“
“Triumph Bonneville,” Ryan says in unison with her. She whips her head around to look at him.
“You know bikes?” She asks.
“Yeah, my mom is big on them. We have a couple of old bikes in the garage at home. I ride one during the summer. She used to ride it before she had me. She swears if she could have strapped a car seat to one she would have,” he laughs.
Tay laughs. “Your mom sounds cool.”
“She’s the coolest,” he says tilting his head and smiling at her. Tay pauses and clears her throat. Ryan turns his attention back to the bike. “Does it still work?”
“It did, but the carburetor on it is busted. I used to ride it sometimes. I took it to school when the weather was warm, but the last time I did, flurries were falling. Not long after that it stopped running.”
Ryan laces his fingers together, resting them on the dash as he leans forward to inspect the bike.
“Carburetor, huh? I could help you fix it,” he offers.
“Really?” She asked surprised.
“Yeah, really. Especially since, it’s your brothers. I know it must mean a lot to you and I’m sure he’d be happy if you got to ride it again,” Ryan looks over at her.
As Tay thinks of her brother, to the days of fun they had on the motorcycle, her riding on the back, her eyes water slightly. She blinks back her tears and looks away.
“Thank you,” she says her voice full.
“No problem…consider it my thanks for tutoring me. You good for getting to school in the morning?” He asks.
“Yeah,” she nods, clearing her throat to fight away the last threat of tears. “My mom can take me and probably pick me up to. She works late on Wednesday’s so…thank you.”
“No problem…tell you what. After practice tomorrow, we will get that alternator out and see if we can get it fixed? Okay? Once we get your car fixed, we can talk more about the bike.”
Tay looks into Ryan’s eyes wondering who the young man is sitting beside her. “Okay.”
READ CHAPTER 14