Blue Sky and Other Things That Are Good For You

I don’t know what Ryan and Cathy talked about in the room. She excused me after our conversation was done. What I do know is that he hasn’t tried to talk to me since, except for the necessary conversations in drama.

The rumors had been finished. Another round went around about some other guy and girl and the majority of the school forgot about me. It was Friday, the day before the day I’m supposed to take Suzy over to Ryans. She was really excited to see Sydney too, so I couldn’t not go.

Today was also the day I had been dreading the most. We had to rehearse the scene where Darcy admits his love Elizabeth and Elizabeth freaks out on him. It’s also the first kissing scene we’ll have practiced. Well, first one that includes me at least.

“okay. So when you two kiss it needs to look natural. No awkwardness. Got it?” Ryan and I stand on the stage, just the two of us, and nod. The only problem was that this would be my first kiss. Ever. But I wasn’t about to admit that to the whole class and Mrs. Bergs. I have a feeling Ryan can tell though. Awkwardness was a given. There had been so much tension between Ryan and me since our fight, I don’t know how there couldn’t be awkwardness.

Ryan says his cheesy lines, insulting Mrs. Bennett somewhere within admitting his love for me. I fight back and before I finish Elizabeth’s rant he grabs my face and kisses me. Okay, so I’m not going to lie, I freaked. It wasn’t even that much, yet. Our lips barely touched when I pushed him off.

“I can’t do this.” I say. I step off the stage and walk out the side door with Mrs. Bergs (luckily not Ryan) behind me.

Tears were daring to escape but I wipe them out of my eyes. “what happened Sky?” she asks, a hint of worry in her voice.

I look around the halls to make sure it’s empty. “I-I’ve never kissed anyone.” I admit.

“in this case spin-the-bottle games do count.” She informs me.

“that’s great. But I haven’t played that game before. These lips,” I point to them, “have never touched another.”

“ever?”

“ever”

“well, that’s going to be a problem.”

“yes it is.”

Mrs. Bergs thinks for a minute and before she comes up with an idea, the side door opens and Ryan appears. “is everything alright?” oh, great. It was one thing for him to think I hadn’t, it’s a total other to admit it.

“we’re just having a small technical problem. Nothing we can’t fix.”

“fix?!” I freak. There was no way having virgin-lips was just going to get ‘fixed’ for a play.

“yes. This weekend you two will rehearse. I want it to be totally natural by Monday.”

“but that’s not how it works. It’s not just supposed to be with some random guy!”

I see Ryan wince at me calling him a random guy, but keep my attention on Mrs. Bergs.

“then find the right guy, kiss him, and then kiss Ryan. I don’t care! By Monday afternoon that kiss must be good. Not perfect, we have time for that. But not you pushing him away before the lips even touch.”

“but-“

“Sky, you’re a good student. Are you going to let a simple kiss bring that gpa down?”

“better way to go down then a stupid math test.” I mumble.

“what?” she asks. Ryan smirked.

“nothing. Fine. Kiss by Monday afternoon. It’ll be done.” I give her my word and walk by Ryan, back into the theater. All eyes were on me once again as I walk to my back seat.

Ryan catches up with me after class which I more or less let happen. We did need to talk at some point.

“hey, you still coming over tomorrow?”

“Suzy won’t shut-up about it. So, yes.”

“then we’ll practice tomorrow.” This defiantly wasn’t a topic I wanted to talk about in front of the crowds.

“fine. See you tomorrow then.” I say and then walk to my last class before heading to the yogurt shop.

Suzy was overly-hyper Saturday. She wouldn’t stop talking on the way to their house about playing with Sydney. I guess Ryans little arrangement worked out, at least for the kids. For me, not so much. Most girls in my situation would’ve dressed up for this occasion. But why? Doesn’t make much sense to me. It wasn’t like I wore much make-up anyways. Mascara and Chap Stick, maybe blush when I’m really feeling dead. So if I showed up with eye-shadow and lip gloss, he would know something’s up.

The instant I park, Suzy is out of the car and jumping to ring their doorbell. I shake my head and laugh as I grab my bag and lock the car.

Ryan had already let Suzy in and was waiting at the door for me. There were two other cars there that I hadn’t recognized, which meant they weren’t there last time I was. This made me slightly nervous.

“hey!” I say, smiling. Not quite fake but not exactly truthful either, the smile that is.

“you noticed the cars, didn’t you?” he asks. No hello, no welcome. Nothing, just the question. He must’ve known I was faking that smile. “you’re never that happy to see anybody.” He comments.

“right. Yes, the cars. I did notice there was more than last time.”

“my parents and sisters are back from their trip.”

“that would explain it.”

He shoves his hands in his jean pockets and shifts from foot to foot, “so guess who you get to meet?”

My face drops. Torn jeans and an old concert t-shirt wasn’t exactly what I would wear to meet his family. Maybe to rehearse for the play, but not to meet the frickin’ Richards Family! “no.”

“It’s kind of mandatory.”

“Ryan! You could have given me some type of warning yesterday!”

he grabs my elbow and pulls me inside, “didn’t want to make you worry about more than one thing. Plus it won’t be that bad.”

“that bad? Yeah, I’m sure it won’t. It’ll be worse.”

“they’ve already heard about you from Sydney, so they’re like in love with you.”

“until they see my ripped jeans.” It was then that he noticed my attire.

“like I said, it won’t be pi[that bad.”

He started walking to the family room near the back. I remember it from the tour I got of the house, but we hadn’t spent much time in there since we just watched the movies in the living room.

“ready?” he asks as we stand in front of the double doors.

“no.” Ryan opens the doors and five faces turn toward us.

Silence filled the room. Wasn’t Ryan supposed to be the one to introduce us? He wasn’t if that was his job. A girl about thirteen steps forward “you must be Sky. I’m Scarlet.”

“hey.” I say quietly. The shy side of me coming out. I wasn’t exactly the best at meeting new people.

“I love your jeans, where did you get them?”

“um,” I try thinking of a semi-expensive store, “American Eagle.”

“cool, I’ll have to pick up a pair,” good luck on that, “I’m Ryans younger sister by the way. That” she points to a woman who looks about thirty, “is Lydia, our older sister. Her husband Rick. And I think you’ve met their kids Charlie and Sydney.”

“I have.”

“And these,” she points toward the two older people in the room, “are our parents, Jane and Henry.”

They had been studying me the whole time.

After another silent pause Mrs. Richards speaks up, “turn.” She says.

Ryan mutters “shit” under his breath while I look confused, “excuse me?”

“turn around. Twirl.” She repeats. Still confused, I slowly turn around. “hmm. The dress will look good on you I think. We may shorten it a little because of your height but that won’t be hard.”

“dress?” I look up at Ryan and he wouldn’t meet my eye. What the hell was up?!

“of course. Since you’re Ryans girlfriend you must be a part of the wedding.”

Another glance at Ryan didn’t help me at all, so I just acted, “oh! Right! Ryan mentioned that a couple days ago. Must’ve slipped my mind with school.” I say.

“well, you guys must have work to get done. We’ll see you two again at dinner. You are staying Sky, aren’t you?”

“I am.” Another fake smile and I turn to leave right behind Ryan. We walk up the stairs and I follow him to his room. He enters and I stand at the door way with my arms crossed, an eyebrow cocked. “would you, oh I don’t know, like to explain what’s going on?”

“not really.” He replies.

“so you wouldn’t mind if I went back down there and told them that we aren’t dating?”

“actually, I would mind that a lot.”

“what the hell is going on Ryan?”

“may I just say that you did an amazing job at covering up down there. Both on the jeans and the wedding.”

“whose wedding?!”

“Lydias. Her and Rick are technically married, by law, but they were always busy and couldn’t fit in a ceremony. Now they’re having one.”

“finally you answer a question.” I reply sarcastically.

He was staring out his window, silent. It stayed like that for quite some time. “they don’t know about her, do they?” I ask.

“who?

“Amanda you dimwit. Who else?”

“oh. No. I could never have Amanda meet my parents, all hell would break out.”

“May I ask how I became your girlfriend then?”

He runs a hand through his hair and finally turns toward me. “look, it just sort of came out. They’ve been asking for weeks if I had a girlfriend because if I did she ‘just had to be in the wedding’ and since I couldn’t do Amanda I didn’t know what to do. I said I didn’t have one but then Sydney mentioned you and they just assumed. So I went along with it. You are the perfect person to do this. You won’t tell any one and it’ll be over before you know it.”

I bang the back of my head against the wall. “I seriously don’t have the time for this.” I say.

“you’ll have fun.” He says, and then picks up his script. “come on, we’ve got some practicing to do.”

“I didn’t feel like it before and now I really don’t feel like it.”

He sets his script back down, “are you mad at me?”

“no. I just wish you told me, that’s all. This was a lot to take in, in a day.”

Ryan put on his thinking face and then smiles, “come on, lets go play a game.” He grabs my hand and pulls me out of the room.

“where are we going?”

down the hall he opens a door to a big game room. “do you play pool?”

I nod, slightly shocked by all the different games that were in this big room. “great. We’re playing pool.”

I grab a pool-stick and wait for Ryan to break. Pool was one of my best games. My turn comes and my first hit gets Stripes 5 in the corner pocket. “stripes,” I call and then take another turn, missing by an inch.

After a couple rounds, we had loosened up and were now joking around, laughing. It was fun. Ryan hit in the 8 ball and wins the round. He does his little victory dance around the table and I laugh, starting to set up for the next game. “come on! You have to admit that was an amazing shot!”

“it wasn’t bad.” I say, turning to face him.

“not bad?!”

I shrug and turn back to set it up. Ryan was behind me now and turns me to face him, “I asked a question.”

“it was a great shot. But not amazing.” I say. Our bodies were close and faces were closer.

He puts on his pout, “I’ll tell you what’s amazing and what’s not.”

I laugh a little, “fine. It was ama-“ I didn’t get to finish the statement because it was then that his lips pressed against mine. Short, quick, and defiantly amazing.

He pulls back and smiles down at me, “and that was. Sure that was your first kiss?”

“positive.” I glare at him, “you planned all of this.”

“what do you mean by all? Because the whole wedding thing defiantly wasn’t planned.”

“playing the game, having fun, spontaneously kissing me.”

“oh, yeah, that was planned. Well, okay, not really. I just came up with it when you were mad in my room.” He admits, “so? What did you think?” another shrug came from me. “oh come on! So many girls would kill to be in your position right now.”

“I know. I just don’t have anything to compare it to and I’m sure you already know you’re a great kisser. Why add to that thick head of yours.”

“I think you just complimented me and insulted me in the same sentence.”

“you’ll never know.” I say.

“oh, hey! We found out something else you can do with your mouth!”

I glare at him again, “you really need to stop saying things like that.”

Ryan drops his head back and sighs before looking back at me. “you’re supposed to say something like ‘I can show you more.’”

“but that sounds nasty.”

“that’s the point.”

“what? Are you giving me lessons on flirting now?”

“yes, I am.”

“fine. Start over.”

Ryan smirks victoriously, “oh, hey! We found out something else you can do with your mouth!”

“you really need to stop saying things like that.” I repeat.

Ryan looks down at me disappointed, and then smiles, “make me.” He says.

I reply the smile and then move my hands up his arms, wrapping them around his neck. His eyes widen a little, shocked. I stand on my tip toes so that I’m about two inches away from his lips, “maybe I will.” I whisper. I could tell that Ryan was trying not to react to this. I move my lips closer and pause right before our lips fully touch. I move back down and let go of his neck, “then again. I could also just ignore you.” I smirk and turn back around, pretending to be doing something.

“that” Ryan coughs, getting his voice back to normal, “um, was good.”

I turn back around and cross my arms “good? I didn’t think shivering meant it was just good.” I unfold my arms and run one of my hands up and down his arm. He bites his lip, holding back a sound of satisfaction. “yeah. Defiantly better than good.” I comment.

Ryan then crashes his lips back to mine, this time a lot rougher. I was surprised but my body quickly melted into it. My hands run through his hair while his get tangled up in mine. At some point during the kiss he lifts me and sets me on the table, stepping in between my legs to get closer. Everything seemed to come natural and after a couple more minutes, we finally pull back to breath. We were both out of breath and shocked. He was still holding me by the waist and my hands were resting on his shoulders.

“that was…” he takes a deep breath.

“spectacular.” I finish for him.

“yes. And every synonym for the word.” He kisses my forehead and then my cheeks and just as he moves in on my lips again the door opens.

I move my head back quickly and hit it on the light above, “ow.”

“what were you two doing?” Rick asks.

“practicing for the play we’re in.”

Ricks eyebrows rise, “really?”

Ryan and I nod our heads, “really.”

“whatever. Dinners in five minutes. You better be down there.” He closes the door as he leaves.

I rub my head and Ryan laughs. “what’s so funny?”

“I think I’m like a curse on you. you’ve hit your head three times and twisted your wrist all because of me.”

“or you’re just clumsy.”

He turns back to his position before, “now where were we?”

“dinner Ryan. We should get down there.”

“fine. You’re no fun.”

“and you’ve got a girlfriend. I think we’ve gotten the kiss down well enough for Monday.” I say and jump down from the table.

I was sitting between Ryan and Scarlet at the dining room table, nervous as hell. I had never actually been to a fancy, proper dinner before. Somehow though, I didn’t have bad manners.

“so Sky, have you thought about schools yet?” Mrs. Richards asks. I didn’t exactly know what to say. How old did they think I was?

“Actually, it hasn’t quite crossed my mind. But I’ve always seen myself going to Stanford.”

“oh!” she exclaims, “I didn’t even ask what grade you’re in.”

“Well, I started this year as a sophomore and just about a month ago they moved me up to a junior. So I guess it is about time I start looking at schools.”

“Standford is a marvelous place. Ryan never mentioned how smart you were.”

“he doesn’t like talking about it much. It wounds his ego.” Lydia and Scarlet giggle at this. Mrs. Richards even laughs a little.

After dinner, which didn’t go as badly as I thought it would, Ryan walked me to the door while Suzy was grabbing her stuff from upstairs. “I actually had fun tonight.” I say, breaking the awkward silence.

“did those words really just leave the mouth of Sky Reynolds?!”

I slap his arm, “shut-up or I may have to take them back.” Suzy came running down the stairs.

“Sky! Sky!” she screams, coming up to me.

I break the stare that was going on between Ryan and I and look down at her, “yes dear?”

“can we come back next week?! I really want to come back next week!”

Sydney came in, dragging her mom along with her, “if it’s alright with Lydia, then I think we can do it.”

Sydney and Sky look up at Lydia, begging with their eyes. “damn, how can I say no to you two?” Ryan and I laugh. “of course. You both are welcome anytime.” She looks at Ryan and I and smiles. He was standing close, almost touching, and had his hand lightly around my waist.

Sydney and Suzy jump up excited and run out to the car, Lydia walks back into the other room leaving Ryan and me to ourselves.

“they’re watching you know.” He whispers quietly.

“who?”

“my family.”

“no one’s around Ryan. I think you’re going crazy.”

“oh, they are.” He turns so that I’m now pressed against the door. My eyes flutter closed as our lips touch in a fairly passionate kiss. I knew he didn’t feel the same spark I did. He couldn’t since he has a girlfriend.

“okay you two, break it up!” Rick comes in. Ryan smirks and pulls back.

“told ‘ya.” He says, he gives me another quick peck on the lips, “see you Monday.”

“yeah. Monday.” I repeat, still exasperated from the kiss.