We Were Barely Seventeen, and We Were Barely Dressed

I woke up the next morning and texted Rylan to let him know I was not going to school. I then ate some breakfast before my mom walked in my room.

“Hey, baby. Could you help me out this morning? I’m running a little late and need help getting Brylee ready,” she asked.

“Sure thing. I’ll be right there,” I said before getting out of my bed and going into Brylee’s room.

“Hey, Dee,” she said, using my old nick name.

“Hey, sweetie. I’m going to help you get ready this morning, okay?”

“Sure.”

I helped her out of bed and carried her into the bathroom. I turned on the water in the tub and waited for her to undress.

“You ready?” I asked.

“Yep.”

She got into the tub by herself and I helped her by washing and rinsing her hair. When she was done, I helped her out and got her toothbrush ready while I went and picked out some clothes for her to wear. I pulled out a dress that was big on her when she went missing two years back and hoped that it would fit now. I walked into my mom’s room as she was curling her eyelashes.

“Hey, mom? You might want to take Brylee out and get her some new clothes. We’re kind of limited on what she can wear.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m very scatterbrained lately,” she said with a sigh.

“Understandable. I’m going to go help her finish getting ready.”

I walked back into the bathroom and gave her the clothes. I tried not to help her as much as possible. She has to get used to doing things on her own. Once she was dressed, I got out the blow dryer and dried her hair before putting it into two French braids. She looked adorable.

“Mom! Brylee’s ready!”

“Okay, hon! Thanks.”

I helped Brylee get down the stairs and made her some breakfast. She ate it down quickly.

“Would you like more, hon?” I asked.

“Umm, no thanks. Mommy’s taking me to lunch of my choice,” she said with a smile.

I smiled back before helping her into the living room and turning Spongebob Squarepants for her to watch before going and changing into painting clothes. I went into her room and pushed everything into the middle of the room before covering everything in plastic.

Before I even started painting, the doorbell rang. I went down to open it, not caring what I looked like, and found Rylan outside the door.

“Hey. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in school?” I asked.

“Yeah, but I decided I’d come help you paint, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. Come on in,” I said while opening the door wider.

He stepped in and slipped off his shoes before hugging me. I hugged him back and then led him upstairs into Brylee’s room. I poured some paint into two buckets and handed him a roller.

“You can roll the paint while I outline. Sound good?”

“Works for me.”

I walked back into my room and got my iPod dock and set it up in the hall right outside Brylee’s door. I set the iPod to All Time Low and just let the music play. I started singing loudly and dancing while painting. I completely forgot that Rylan was there until I heard him clear his throat from behind me and his hands rest on my hips.

“You’re too fucking adorable,” he whispered in my ear before kissing my neck.

I turned around and his arms wrapped around my waist. I wrapped my arms around his neck before he leant down and kissed me. I started to kiss him back before he licked my bottom lip, asking for entrance. I decided to tease him a little and didn’t let him in. He then proceeded to pull away, taking my denying him as a sign that I wanted him to stop. I pulled his face back towards mine and started our impromptu make out session. My fingers played with the hair at the back of his neck until I pulled away.

“You know, I just feel weird doing this in my sister’s room,” I said with a laugh.

He laughed as well before hugging me once again. I picked up my paint brush without him noticing and quickly painted a line down the side of his face.

“You did not just do that!” he said with a smirk plastered to his flawless face.

“I so did just do that!”

“I’m going to get you so bad!”

He started chasing me around the room with the roller in his hand. I squealed and started running as fast as I could. Unfortunately, he was a lot faster than me and ended up painting my whole backside with the roller.

“Okay! Okay! We got to stop. We need to actually paint the room first!” I yelled with a laugh.

I plopped down on the tarp covered floor and started laughing. He laid down beside me and laughed.

“Well, that was interesting,” he said with a chuckle.

I laughed before getting up and starting to paint the outline again. Rylan laughed when he stood up and kissed my shoulder before going back to painting the walls.

“So, what are you doing this Friday night?” Rylan asked.

“Uh, nothing. Why?”

“Would you like to go on a date with me?” he asked, suddenly becoming shy.

“Why of course,” I replied with a smile.

We continued to paint the room. When that was finished we did the second coat. Before I could start painting the flowers, I had to wait for the walls to dry completely.

“Well, I actually need to be getting home. My parents are coming home tonight. Just for tonight though. They’ll be gone tomorrow morning,” he said with a sigh.

“Ah, okay. Well, have fun.”

I walked him downstairs to the door. He slipped his shoes back on and turned towards me.

“Thanks for helping me today. I appreciate it,” I said.

“No problem, Cass.”

It went silent for a couple minutes until Rylan leaned in and pecked my lips.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yeah. I should be at school.”

“Okay. Bye,” he said, opening the door.

“Bye.”

Rylan left and I let out a sigh of ecstasy. What a perfect Monday.