Blue Sky and Other Things That Are Good For You

Monday morning I decided that I needed to call my parents. They had a right to know, even if they wouldn’t care. Plus, Monday mornings was really the only time they weren’t drunk, hungover, or high. Ryan got excused from classes that day but had to be back by Wednesday. He was in the shower when I made my decision to call them.

“hello?” I hear my moms voice on the other end, sounding normal.

“hey mom.”

“oh, hey sweetie, thought you already left for school.” It’s like she cared, but at the same time she didn’t. I mean, she calls me sweetie while at the same time not knowing I haven’t been home all weekend.

“yeah, that’s sort of why I called. I was, um, attacked on Friday night and the hospital said that I’m supposed to rest for at least two weeks, so I won’t be at school. Also, I won’t be home, I’m staying at a friends house since I’m supposed to be watched over all day and you guys have work.” And parties and drugs…but I wasn’t about to say that.

“may I ask who?”

I gulp and right then Ryan walks out of the bathroom, “hey sky-“ he stops when he sees me on the phone. Great, now I can’t lie.

“Ryan Richards. You, uh, met him on Halloween.”

“yes, I recall meeting a Ryan. His aunt is Carla, right?”

“uh, yeah…”

“I haven’t seen her since we were teenagers. We were best friends, then you came along.”

“huh, well I have to go eat something and take my meds. I’ll talk to you later.”

“bye sky.”

I close my phone and toss it to the end of the bed with a sigh. “that’s just great.” I say more to myself than to Ryan, though he still heard me.

“what’s great.”

“guess who were best buddies sixteen years ago?”

“someone in my family and yours?” I nod and plop back down onto the bed, “well, at least that’s really not that big of a problem.”

“why can’t we just have a normal life?”

“pssh, I was pretty sure my life was normal. It’s yours that’s messed up.” I slap his arm, “I’m kidding. Anyways, normal is boring.”

I raise an eyebrow at him, “I’d actually rather have a normal life than the one I got. Boring or not.”

“then we may not be together though!” he complains and I can’t help but laugh.

“so you’re saying we’re only together because my life is screwed up?” I ask, testing him. I knew that wasn’t true, but I wanted to hear it from him.

“um, no.”

“uh-huh.”

“well, I guess there’s no way to know…”

“right.”

“and since I’ve liked you since like elementary school when you’re life was normal…then technically it didn’t effect it.”

“elementary school? Really Ryan? That’s like, nine years ago for you.” he looks down shyly and I knew he was telling the truth. “so, what do you want to do today?” I ask, changing the subject.

“what do you want to do?”

I think for a second, “I want to…make a cake.” I say.

“alrighty then.”

We race down the stairs and I go straight to the pantry for the basics: flour, sugar, baking powder…

Ryan on the other hand walks over to the cupboard and pulls out a…box?

I look at him and he looks at me, “what are you doing?” we ask at the same time.

I set the containers on the counter, “making a cake.” I answer simply.

He hold up the cake mix, “you don’t use a mix?”

“never opened up a box of it.”

“but it tastes just the same.”

“doubt it.”

“well then, lets make this interesting.”

“you want to bet?”

“of course.”

“and what’s the wager?”

I can tell he’s thinking and then doesn’t come up with anything, “something bad.” He answers.

“life is bad.”

“you should lie sometimes Sky, it’ll do you some good.”

“I was raised to be truthful.” I say, acting proud.

“yeah, well, your version of the truth isn’t happy.” (A/N: My dad told me this the other day.)

“ugh. Can I please make a cake now?” I ask impatiently.

“be my guest. But if I win I get to kiss you in the rain.” I honestly burst out laughing at this and then realized he was being serious and tried to stop.

“well then, if I win, you can’t kiss me for a day.”

“a day?” he gawks.

“yes.”

“like…a school day?”

“like a whole day. Twenty-four hours. Midnight to midnight.”

“but-“

“want the bet or not?”

“fine. But remember Ryan Richards never loses.”

“yeah. And he also never dates sophomores.” I remark.

“you’re a junior.”

“with the age of a sophomore.” I add.

He just ignores me and starts making the cake.

Ten minutes later he slips his cake into the oven while I’m still mixing mine together. He smirked and walked out of the room.

“okay, so you guys don’t know whose cake is whose.” Ryans family nods. We decided they’d be the judges of the two cakes. “well then, dig in!” I say. Ryan had his arm wrapped around me and at that time pulled me out of the room. Without a word he starts kissing me. I pull back breathless.

“what was that?”

“It’s obvious you won and I don’t want to waste the next couple of hours.” I laugh as he ducks in again for another kiss. A few minutes later we were called back into the kitchen for the verdict.

“The one with the white and purple frosting.” Lydia says. I grin from ear to ear and turn to Ryan.

“Ha!”

“well it’s quite obvious whose that was.” Rick comments with a chuckle.

Ryan gives in, “fine, so I may not win all the time.”

“glad that you admit that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go to bed.” I quickly walk upstairs and before Ryan comes up I hide in his closet. Soon after I hear Ryans footsteps throughout the whole upstairs. Doors were opening and closing as he looked for me. After about five minutes he opens the closet doors, smirks, and steps in. great.

We were literally in there for the next three ours making out until we hear the clock downstairs ring out midnight.

I pull my lips from him, “you have school tomorrow.” I say and feel his glare as I step out of the closet. I change into my pajamas and slide into his bed waiting for him to come out of the bathroom.

“you’re sleeping in your bed tonight.” He says.

“nah. I’m too used to this. Plus I don’t get to see you until four tomorrow, I want to spend every minute until then with you.” I say and bat my eyelashes some.

This made him laugh, “did you just bat your eyelashes at me?”

“can I stay in your bed?”

“yes.”

“then yes.”

Ryan rolls his eyes at me before getting under the covers. We get into our usually position with my head on his chest and the whole deal before falling into a nice deep sleep.

The next morning I woke up with no one next to me. I notice the clock on the wall read 9:00. oh, Ryan was at school. There was a note left on his pillow and I unfold it.

Morning Gorgeous,
Don’t worry, I didn’t kiss you at all this morning. Against my will of course. My mom wants to talk to you when you wake up. By the way, you totally owe me for having to face everyone by myself. Totally not fair.
Anyways, I’ll talk to you when I get home.
Love you,
-Ryan.
P.S. Whatever my mom does today, just go along with it please. I promise she means well.


She means well? What was she planning? I take a quick shower and toss on a pair of skinny jeans and t-shirt before heading downstairs.

“oh good, you’re up.” I hear Helens voice ring through my ears as I look through their fridge. I turn with a container of yogurt in my hand.

“um, yeah. Ryan said you wanted to talk to me?” I put some of the yogurt in a bowl and put back the rest.

“Well I noticed you wear a lot of jeans, and not that I have anything against jeans, but I thought I would take you shopping today.”

I put on my best fake smile, “of course, I wouldn’t mind that at all.” I answer.

She claps her hands together, obviously happy with my response. “great!” Sheila exclaims, “if you’re ready now, we can start.” I nod and follow her out to the awaiting car. Unlike Ryan, his parents used a driver to get around town. I guess they just didn’t want to drive anymore.

We finally reach the mall and she grabs my hand, dragging me inside. “okay, first we’ll go to Dreas and then…” I tune her out and let her take me wherever she wants.

We walk into a store that’s smells like chemicals and makes me want to throw up. In less than a minute she had a stack of about ten things for me to try on. I enter a dressing room and slip on the first dress. It was a simple red dress that had pockets on the side. It didn’t look bad on me, but didn’t quite look amazing. I step out and show it to her.

Sheila looks me up and down, “no, it’s not nice enough.” The words instantly register in my head.

“nice enough for what?” I ask.

“oh nothing dear, try on the next one.” I knew it wasn’t nothing, but didn’t argue.

By the end of the shopping trip I had gotten five dresses, two skirts, a couple pair of heels, winter boots, a pair of fancy boots and some other miscellaneous items. When I thought the day was over, I found it wasn’t.

“what are we doing at the salon?” I ask.

“well, I thought we’d get you some highlights and then Stacy was going to show you how to put make-up on. I thought of hiring some one to do that for the parties but decided you knowing how to do it yourself would be fine.”

“oh.” Was my only reply. Then I take a seat and watch the transformation happen right before my eyes.

~~

I was in the kitchen making cookies when the front door opens. The footsteps come closer and finally stop at the doorway. After setting down the tray of cookies I turn around and see Ryan standing there.

“whoa!” he takes a step back.

“bad whoa, or good whoa?” I ask hesitantly. I didn’t hate what Sheila did with my hair. It actually looked really nice. It was just…different.

“um, lets just leave it at whoa right now.” He studies me another second, “you’re wearing make-up.”

I bite my lip. To tell you the truth, I tried to take it off, but failed. “I don’t know how to take it off.” I whisper to him so that his mom wouldn’t hear from the other room. This made Ryan laugh and I glare at him.

“sorry, but you really don’t know how to take it off?” I nod, embarrassed. “come on then, I’ll help you.”

I put the cookies on the a plate and then follow him upstairs. Ryan walks into his sisters bathroom and then comes out with a bottle of stuff. “what’s that?” I ask.

“make-up remover.” He answers. Oh, yeah, I guess that would do the job.

He soaks a cotton ball with it and then swipes the cotton over my face. A minute later he pulls back. “done.”

I open my eyes and look at the reflection. For once today my face looked clean. “thank you!” I say, jumping up and hugging him.

“too bad we can’t do that with your hair.”

“it doesn’t look that bad, does it?”

“no. not bad. Just not you.”

“I just figured we’d get used to it.” I say and walk over to the bags, “in the mean time, you can help me figure out what to do with this.”

“and what is this exactly?” he walks over to me and wraps his arms around my waist.

“this is everything that your mom bought me today.” I dump all the bags out onto the bed and it makes a giant pile.

“I’m sorry.”

“me too. She told me to put it into your closet.”

“really now?” I nod my head, “well, I guess we can try.”

“emphasis on the word try.” I start to fold the foldable items while he hangs up the dresses. After about an hour of putting stuff in random places the items were put away.

we both plop down on the bed when we’re finished. “didn’t think that was possible.” He says.

“I know.” I reply lazily. “so, how was school today?”

“boring without you.”

“boring? I thought we’d be the hot topic of the week.”

“oh we are. Amanda is too though, she’s in Juvie at the moment.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, “she’s what?”

“yup, turns out someone had a little record.”

“wow.” I couldn’t believe that Amanda had actually been caught doing something somewhat bad.

There was a knock on the door and then it opened. Neither Ryan nor I sat up to see who it was.

“you guys alive?” I hear Katie ask.

“barely.” I answer, not moving.

“well, I’ve been trying to call you for the past two hours but you both haven’t been answering.”

“what about?” Ryan wonders.

“well, a bunch of us were going to go to the mall and catch a movie.”

“on a school night?” Ryan asks as the say time I say, “no.”

“um, well, it’s not a late showing…”

I laugh a little, “it’s not that, I just got back from the mall and really don’t want to go back.” I stand up then and walk to Ryans closet, opening it up, “see? Way too much crap.” I motion to Katie.

“what happened to your hair?” was her question.

“okay, does it seriously look that bad? Because I can easily go back and get it taken out, Sheila will be pissed but if it looks-“

Katie cuts me off, “no it looks amazing, I was just surprised.”

“oh, okay then. Sorry about the movie. Maybe we can do something this weekend before the play?” I ask.

“absolutely!”

after a little bit more talking she leaves to meet up at the mall.

“someone has made a new friend.” Ryan teases me.

“so sue me for being nice to the girl who didn’t beat me up.”

“just saying. You barely hang out with me on the weekends.”

“um, excuse me, but I live here at the moment. I see you everyday.”

“seeing me and hanging out with me are two different things.”

“we just made cake yesterday.” I point out and climb back into the bed. “I’m going to sleep some, it’s been a long day. Plus you need to get some homework done.” He agrees and pulls out his laptop to do some work.

I don’t know how long I had been asleep, but I was awoken by lips touching mine. Actually, I didn’t just wake up, I jolted up, freaked out. Then I heard a thud and looked on the side of the bed to see Ryan sitting there now. “ow.” He says, rubbing the back of his head.

“what were you doing?” I ask.

“kissing you, wasn’t that obvious?”

“but it’s…” I look over at the clock and it read 12:01. “midnight.” I mumble.

“exactly.”

“I can’t believe you woke me up at midnight to kiss me.” Ryan was back in bed by now.

“believe it babe.” He leans in and kisses me again.

It wasn’t until one in the morning that I got back to sleep and by the time I woke up he was at school.

Morning Beautiful,
I realized that we haven’t gone on a real date. So tonight you and me are going out. Oh, and I won’t be home until five.
Love you,
-Ryan

something caught my eye today that didn’t yesterday. I pull out the other letter and notice the same. He writes ‘love you’. I wonder if he does that on every note he writes, or just the ones to me. And if it’s just to me, why hasn’t he said it yet?