Someone Like You

Tony sat in silence on his couch, frowning as looked up at Ryan. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to her.”

"I have to," Ryan mumbled quietly. "It's for the best, for both of us. She could do so much better if she wasn't tied down."

"Are you sure it's not just the best for you?" Tony asked, earning a surprised look from Ryan. Ryan thought that he should be on his side, not hers.

Ryan rolled his eyes, not already not liking how he didn’t have his best friend’s support. "I'll see you later."

Tony didn’t say anything as he waved goodbye to Ryan. Ryan walked down the steps and unlocked the door to his black Range Rover. He started up the car and waited for the AC to kick in so he could cool down in the hot California sun. In the corner of his eye, Ryan could see the blue sweatshirt his girlfriend had left in his car not so long ago. He couldn’t help but smile as he picked up the blue sweatshirt. His loving girlfriend had thrown him a surprise birthday party on the beach and when he had driven her home, she forgot the sweatshirt.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Ryan cleared his throat before putting his car into park and driving off to his girlfriend’s house. He was thankful that her parents were in Canada, visiting some family. It would have been too awkward for him if her whole family was there while he tried to break up with her. He didn’t know where her siblings were at, but he knew that they were most likely out.

Sighing, Ryan pulled into her driveway once he had gotten out of his car, his eyes immediately went to her mailbox. He could see two or three big envelopes hanging out of her tiny mailbox. He somehow managed to smile, knowing that they were college acceptance letters. He decided to grab her mail before ringing the doorbell.

"Oh hey Ryan," her brother smiled, "make yourself at home. I'm going out."

“Alright, take care man,” Ryan nodded as they quickly shook hands. He walked into her home and placed the other mail down on her kitchen counter, only holding the college letters. Since it was quiet down on the first floor, he figured she was up in her room. He jogged up the stairs and saw how her bedroom door was cracked half way. He could see her at her desk, popping her head to whatever music she had playing. He knocked on the door before opening it and walking in.

"Ryan," she smiled from her desk. She walked away from her five page English essay that she was busy typing and ran into his arms. "I wasn't expecting to see you till tomorrow night."

He kissed her forehead lovingly. “I know, I thought I would stop by. You got more acceptance letters,” he said as he handed them over.

She smiled as she took the letters from his hand. She had received letters from UCLA, Brown, NYU, and even the University of Toronto. She had wanted to go to UOT because it was in her home country of Canada. Most people in her family had went there and fell in love with it, so naturally she felt the same. Instead, she was deciding on going to UCLA so she could still be close to Ryan. It may not have been her dream school, but she knew she could still receive a good education there.

"I can't believe I got accepted into all of these colleges," she said in awe. She sat on her bed, having a hard time believing that she had been accepted to call of the colleges that she had applied to.

Ryan smiled at how humble she was. “I can believe it. You’re the smartest person I know and you deserve it.” He sat down next to her on her bed and slowly pulled out the acceptance letter from UOT. He picked it up, and placed it on her lap. “I think you should go here, though.”

"I thought we planned that I go to UCLA to be close to you?" She questioned, feeling confused and a little hurt.

Ryan sighed and took his hat off. He rubbed his freshly shaved head and looked out her window. "Yeah, about that...we need to talk."

Calli felt like she got the wind knocked out of her as her eyes already began to water up. Out of anger, she threw the UOT letter on the ground and stood up from her bed. She paced back and forth in her room, feeling antsy and nervous.

“I thought we talked about this already,” her lip quivered as she spoke. “I thought we made plans to stay together.”

"We did," Ryan said soothingly as he walked over and spun her around so she was facing him. "Just let me talk, please."

She had rolled her eyes at him and only walked away. Ryan sighed in frustration, knowing that this wasn’t going to be an easy break up. She walked over to one of the windows that was placed on the other side of her room. Her arms were crossed over her chest, trying to comfort herself. He bent down to pick up the letter that she had thrown on the ground. He walked over to her wrapped his free arm around her waist, and the other holding out the letter.

“Just hear me out,” he said lowly. “You know I really care about you. Let’s face it, UOT is your dream school. You’ve been wanting to go there since you were a kid. Even if you go to UCLA we’re hardly going to see each other because of school and because of my skating.”

Feeling annoyed, she turned around and he instantly felt like shit once he saw her big brown eyes crying. “You’re not even going to give this a chance?”

"I wish we could, I really do." He frowned, “but I’m leaving for South America soon and then I have my European tour. I wouldn’t have time to call you or even come visit. You deserve better than that.”

Her lips began to quiver even more once he had mentioned the European tour. That was the tour where he would be gone for seven months and he wasn’t sure if he should take it or not. She guessed he had finally made up his mind and thought it would be easier if he got rid of her.

"I tried to keep this going on as long as I could because I love you so much,” he made her smile slightly, knowing that he at least still cared. “But what I do requires so much of my time. I know this sounds harsh, but I won’t be able to have time for you. I’m constantly skating or doing interviews. My only down time would be when I’m eating and sleeping.”

Calli couldn’t believe that he was saying all of those things to her. She felt betrayed, angry, and even lied to. As cliché as it sounds, she truly thought she and Ryan had something special and that they could make it through anything. Figuring out that she was wrong was the worst thing she had ever felt.

He picked her head up and held her as tightly as she would let him. "I know you hate me right now but I want you to know that no one can ever replace you. You know I’m doing the right thing for you. You shouldn’t throw away your dreams just because of me. I’m not worth it.”

Bullshit. He was worth it. She would give up everything in the world if it meant that she and Ryan got to be together. She knew none of that mattered anymore as he let go of her. He looked like he was trying not to cry himself. She hoped that later he would cry and realize that he was making a huge mistake.

“I gotta go,” he swallowed.



"It's f-freezing here," Shane chattered his teeth, crossing his arms over his body to try and contain what little body heat he had left.

Their mother, Gretchen, smiled at her son’s behavior. “You’re not used to the cold, that’s all.”

Ryan laughed as he watched his youngest brother throw snowballs at his two best friends. He was about to join in when his mother walked up to him and linked her arms with his.

She smiled up at her eldest, “it’s beautiful here, isn’t it?”

"Yeah," he agreed. “How about we go in here and eat?” He pointed to the diner that they walked by. Everyone quickly agreed, wanting nothing more than to get out of this freezing weather.

Tony held the door for everyone, but when Ryan was about to walk in Tony stopped him. "You know who lives in Canada?" Tony smirked.

Ryan rolled his eyes, “fuck off, Tony.” He pushed his friend back out into the cold as he joined the rest of the group. The diner wasn’t too crowded since it was roughly three in the afternoon. The waitress handed them their menus, only giving them a few minutes before returning.

After the waiter took their orders, Tony spotted a girl that looked familiar across the room. He squinted his eyes, trying to get a better look of who this girl was. His eyes widened when he realized who it was. Tony nudged Casey and pointed in the direction of the girl. Once Casey realized who it was, his jaw dropped.

"Calli!" Tony shouted, received dirty looks from the people in the restaurant. “Hey, Calli! Over here!”

She had turned to see who it was that was calling her. She only frowned as she saw Ryan and his family. Calli turned her attention back to her group, but Tony continued to call out her name. One of her guy friends was annoyed with Tony, so he shoved Calli out of the booth and told her to say hi.

Calli let out an exaggerated sigh before turning around to walk over to Ryan’s table. She stood in front of their table, standing in front of Ryan and Shane. “Hey guys,” she said sweetly.

"I haven’t seen you in like two years!” Tony smiled, “why’d you come up here anyway? Canadian’s are weird.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and stared harshly. "I was born here."

Tony slid into his seat awkwardly, trying to ignore the look that Calli was still giving him. Casey couldn't help but laugh at how stupid Tony was being. Everyone grew quiet, leaving an awkward silence as Calli continued to stand there.

"So sweetie, how's school?" Gretchen smiled.

Calli smiled back at Gretchen. She was always so sweet to her. “It’s great, actually. I honestly don’t think I want to leave school. How has everything been for you? Busy as usual, I’m guessing.”

"You guessed right," Gretchen chuckled before glancing over at Ryan.

Calli pressed her lips together and she slowly nodded her head. “That’s good,” she said uncomfortably, “well I’m going to go back to my booth. I have to finish eating before I have to study for my finals next week.”

Gretchen wished her luck on her exams before everyone said goodbye. Ryan watched Calli as she walked away. He sighed loudly, leaning back into his chair and banging his head against the wall. His mother scolded at him, telling him to stop being so over dramatic. He couldn’t help it though; he ran into his ex-girlfriend after he tried so hard to avoid her.

The next thing he knew, he couldn't stop staring over at her table. The only thing that really changed about Calli was the length of her hair. It was much longer than he had remembered, but he still thought it suited her. During their meal, Ryan stayed quiet most of the time, only mumbling when he was spoken to. He found himself thinking about their break up.

He didn't regret it one bit. He was happy that he was able to concentrate on his career, and his career only. Not only was he happy for himself, but he was happy for her that she made the right decision of choosing to go to her dream school. Although, he couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if they never broke up in the first place.

Calli walked back over to Ryan’s table to say goodbye. “It was really nice seeing you guys again,” she said, bundling up her coat. He quickly picked his head up to look at her. “Enjoy the rest of your trip.”

"It was great seeing you too sweetie," Gretchen smiled.

She walked towards the door to join the rest of her friends. Before she could reach the door knob, Ryan stood up and walked after her. “Calli, wait.”

He saw her shoulders go up then down from sighing. She quickly said something to her friends, which ended up with one of the girls giving Ryan a dirty look. He automatically decided that he didn’t like her. Ryan watched as her friends left to go wait outside the diner as she walked up to him.

Ryan pulled her to the other side of the diner, getting as far away from his family as possible. He loved them, but they were nosey as hell. He wasn’t always down for talking to an ex-girlfriend, but this was Calli.

"It's been a while since we talked last," he tried to smile, "it’s kind of crazy how time passed, huh?"

She smiled softly at him. “Yeah, it is crazy."

They sat for a few minutes in an awkward silence. Ryan tried thinking of something to break the ice.

"Do you remember when we used to be out all night long, constantly toughing each other till the early morning?” He asked her. Once he had realized what he had said, he wanted to smack himself. He didn’t know what possessed himself for asking that.

She rolled her eyes, but she still had that smile on her face. "How could I not remember that?"

"I hope everything is good for you,” he said sincerely. “Especially with college. I hope it’s everything you wanted it to me.”

Calli felt weird talking to Ryan about college, since after all that was the reason why they broke up. “Everything is great, actually. College is everything I could dream of, and more.”

“I’m glad. Oh, by the way, I actually found this a few months ago when I was putting things into my new wallet." Ryan dug through his back pockets and pulled out his wallet. He opened it up and dug through the secret compartment where most guys (including Ryan) would have kept condoms. He pulled out the picture placed it on the table He slid the picture over and watched as she picked it up from the table. He saw how her facial expression softened from her forceful smile to a real one. "You remember this picture?”

Her lips broke into a smile as she admired the picture. “This is from our first date.”

"I hope that you’ll find a guy that deserves to be with you," he said, getting her attention. "But I also hope that you didn't forget me. I loved what we had."

She loved how sweet he was being to her. She was glad they could at least be civil towards one another. “I could never forget what we had, Ryan. We had a lot of great memories together.”

One of Calli's friends knocked on the glass window. He pointed to his watch, letting her know they were on a tight schedule to catch the bus back to their campus.

"I guess you have to go," he sighed.

She frowned, “yeah, I guess I do.”

He and Calli got out of the booth at the same time. Ryan didn’t know what he should do. A handshake was too informal but a hug seemed like it was the wrong thing to do. Instead of waiting for Ryan to do something, Calli decided to wrap her arms around him to say goodbye. Ryan’s arms tightly wrapped around the body that he adored so much.

"Take care of yourself, Calli."

This time, it was Ryan's turn to watch her walk out.