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For that reason, I’m slightly worried about how this may look, if it can be misinterpreted. I’m afraid that I’ll burn the food. It makes me uneasy to know that I’m anxious and nervous about this new interaction with her.
I don’t want to ruin it, but I don’t know how Ryder will behave. However, Bree isn’t bothered by his attitude. She’s the first girl that doesn’t take his constant flirting seriously. The double meaning jokes and his dramatic personality. Everything is a joke with her, and she accepts it without making it weird.
Maybe this will be okay,I tell myself, nodding slightly.
“You’re going to burn the pasta,” Ryder says, his voice dragging me back to reality.
“I’m not,” I groan.
Even when I know that he’s messing with me, I peek at the stove to make sure that everything is the way it was a minute ago.
“Why are you making a big deal out of this? I thought you wanted her to come over,” he presses with a frown.
I roll my eyes, cursing his perceptive ass. Ryder is too intuitive for his own good.
“I don’t want to fuck things up. That’s it,” I state in a simple tone, keeping it vague.
From my peripheral vision, I see him crossing his arms as his eyebrows rise, intrigued by my declaration. I choke back an irritated growl because my words probably gave him more than I intended to. Clearly, I didn’t mean it that way.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Ryder’s curiosity decorates his words. “Do you have anything to fuck up?”
We don’t have anything more than a friendship. Hell, I had to pressure her to admit that we’ve become friends. I cannot imagine her having any other thoughts about me. The girl hated my guts, and I wasn’t her biggest fan, either. We’ve managed to get past that, and I can sense a connection between us—thefriendly kind.
She’s a good girl. Chaotic and messy, but she’s nice and funny, and somehow things seem easier with her around. Bearable. I think that we get along because Bree doesn’t even look at me. She’s not interested in me in a romantic way, and that makes it easier for us. Well, relatively easy. I want us to stay this way.
“It’s taken me some time to build a friendship with that girl, and she’s pretty great when we’re not at each other’s throats. I’d like to keep that, okay?”
Ryder’s jaw falls open, and he leans back on his seat, taken aback. He furrows his brows as confusion makes its way to his face.
“Wait, you’re not fucking her?” he asks. A whistle escapes his mouth when I move my head in a negative gesture.He thought that I was screwing her?“Hell, I thought that you guys were at least on the third base. Haven’t I taught you anything?”
I snort. “Is not like that with her. She’s afriend,”
His loud laugh echoes in the kitchen.
“You’re naïve,” he sings. “There’s obviously some tension between you two, and not the friendly kind.”
“And since when did you become a relationship expert? No, I have a better question. When was the last time you had a friend that you didn’t fuck?” I question, raising my chin, defending myself.
It’s a low blow. I realize that. Ryder is only messing with me, and I’m giving him all the reasons to doubt my words. I’m defensive and touchy with the subject, trying to get him off my back. However, I can’t afford Bree to find out that Ryder thinks that we’re having sex.
She would cut my balls, and I happen to like them where they are right now.
“Fine.” Ryder shows me his hands in peace. “Keep living your friendship lie. I’ll be waiting for my turn to sayI told you so”.
He’s going to be waiting for a long time because that’s not going to happen. There’s absolutely no way that she and I are going to end up being more than friends. I think she still hates me a little to think of me that way. Yes, I’ve stared at her ass a couple of times, but that doesn’t mean that I’d be willing to try and hit that.
Bree would skin me alive if I eventhoughtabout going there with her.
“You’re going to wait a long time,” I mutter, rolling my eyes with irritation.
Dragging the irritation to a recondite place in my head, I focus on cooking my mother’s recipe. She taught me how to make it the summer before moving here because she didn’t want me to starve to death. This is probably one of the few things that I can cook without burning the kitchen, but I can feed myself a proper meal.
Twenty minutes flyby before the dry noise of knuckles hitting the door breaks the silence that had been installed in the apartment after my conversation with Ryder. The corners of my lips curve. The two times that Bree’s been here, she has never used the bell on the side of the door.
“Who the hell knocks like that?” Ryder asks as he stands up from the couch to walk over to the door. There’s a trace of irritation in his tone.
I bite my bottom lip, holding back a chuckle. Ryder hasn’t experienced the way Bree behaves in places.
