Took Ya Long Enough Lynnie

Marla is a friend. She's been a good friend of mine, but lately something's changed; it ain't hard to define. Marla got herself a boy and I want to make him mine...

I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember the excitement in my friend's voice. She was excited because Ryan, the Ryan Sheckler asked her out on a date. We all went to school together and I would talk to him in class. He was a great guy; he was so great that I started developing feelings for him which would turn into a crush. I thought he started to like me too, because sometimes he would sit with Marla and me at lunch. Obviously, I thought wrong. It apparently happened at lunch when I was gone. I went home sick that day because I suffered through what we later learned to be an anxiety attack.

"Lynette!" She screamed at lunch the next day when I returned. She was out of breath because of the excitement when she began telling me the news. "He," she gasped, " asked me out."

At first, I didn't realize who "he" was. I later found out during one of the most important games of my life that it was Ryan, my Ryan. I couldn't be mad at Marla because she didn't know that I liked him. By Girl Code, she was safe.  



Last year, they broke up. They just grew apart, I guess. I heard about it from Ryan himself when he sat with me at lunch the day after. Marla hadn't come to school. 

"It was pretty bad last night," he said as he described the break-up and sipped on his water. 

"Did you explain to her why you did it?"  I asked.

"I tried, but, for crying out loud, she wouldn't listen to me. I'm done trying. I give up, Lynnie." He said, calling me by his nickname for me. He's the only person who ever called me that. I reached over and gave him a hug. There were many reasons; I gave Ryan a hug because he seemed like he needed a hug and I was so glad that he was out of another girl's clutches. Granted, I hugged him because I had a better shot with him, but I wasn't going to tell him that.  I prayed I could scrape up the courage to tell him.



After Ryan and Marla broke up, I started hanging around him a lot more. Not only did he need the support, but also I wanted to be around him and that gave me the perfect reason. We hung out at his house, my house, and the mall. It became the normal routine for us to go to one of those three places after school. One day, we did something different and went to the skate park. There, he attempted to teach me how to skateboard.

"Stay still," he said as he stood steadily on his board. I still continued to shake and wobble. He got off and came over to me. "Balance," he instructed as he placed both of his hands on my waist, causing me to smile and look up at the sky. 

"What? Am I making you nervous?" He said with a huge smile, reassuring me that he noticed my reaction. I shook my head and continued to smile at him. "What?" He asked again. 

"Nothing," I answered. Ryan raised his eyebrow at me before tickling me.

"Tell me!" He begged as he tickled me. He tickled me so much that we found our way on the grass at the side of the halfpipe. My stomach started to hurt because I was laughing so hard. "Ya give?" He asked witnessing my constant rolling in the grass. I nodded and he stopped.

I stayed on the ground and looked up at the sky. "Ryan?"

He was on his hands and knees, towering above me. His hands were one each side of my body by my head and his knees were on either side of my waist. "Yeah?" He asked. 

"Did you ever read the note I passed you?" I asked as I held my breath to wait for his response. I didn't know how he was going to react to the question. Before I could make sense of everything, his lips were against mine and moving with mine. I didn't want to make sense of it. I just brought my hands to the back of his neck, deepening the kiss and stroking his face with my thumbs.

He broke the kiss with a warm smile. He pushed my hair back behind my ear and kissed my nose.  "Of course I did. Took you long enough, Lynnie."