get smooshed down deep inside him for a little longer. It’s not that I dislike serious Ryan, I just really like happy Ryan.
He pushed himself up and reached his hand down to help me up to my feet. I took it and he pulled me up swiftly. I was standing only inches away from him and extremely aware of it, if he noticed the closeness, he made no indication of it. “See you tonight?” he said with a smirk.
“Huh?”
“You know, the usual… cameras… radios….”
“Oh, right. Yeah I think so, unless I’m too tired from all the jumping jacks,” I said with a strange bounce that allowed me to get back into my comfort zone. Too close and my brain started to malfunction. I don’t know what was going on here, but I couldn’t let what I thought was happening, well, happen. There were too many other things going on and so many more important things to worry about. No other drama was needed beyond what we already had. And besides, I was probably way off base, just because I was feeling these weird feelings didn’t mean he was too.
“Thanks again,” he said nudging my arm with his fist, and then disappeared from the room. I jumped up and down three times trying to shake the unusual feeling off my skin. It didn’t work. I would simply have to stop thinking about happy Ryan. It shouldn’t be that hard, after all, happy Ryan has thus far only existed maybe a handful of times. For all I knew he had a girlfriend anyway! Any girl who saw that smile would have melted right into his arms. He could probably have any girl he wanted, he was absolutely gorgeous when he was happy. And even if he wasn’t with someone, he sure wouldn’t be interested in the smelly, sweaty, awkward girl with snarled hair he’d been trapped with in this small, crowded, underground space for the last several weeks. Without a doubt, the thought of me and him never crossed his mind.
I couldn’t stop thinking about him no matter how hard I tried to push the thoughts of him out of my head, they just kept creeping back in, stronger and stronger. I had to stop the thoughts. There was no point. It must have been from being trapped down here, a lack of fresh oxygen that was making me go crazy. I grabbed a change of clothes and went and took a quick shower. We were all taking faster showers, in fact, we rarely took them daily since we were worried we were going to run out of water and we wanted to conserve as much as possible. I suspected Ryan knew how to check water levels, but if any of us asked about it he would tell us not to worry about it, that it was fine and we had plenty. It was basically the same when it came to electricity and the generator. To him, it was his problem and not ours, at least that’s how he seemed to feel about it, unwilling to burden us with such things.
I sat on the bed and brushed my damp, towel-dried hair. The gray yoga pants from his sister’s closet, and the over-sized T-shirt I had found in Ryan’s dad’s closet was probably not the most flattering option. But I liked it because the big, soft, comfy shirt reminded me of being snuggled up in my bed at home. Since most of the time I had to squeeze myself into his sister’s pants, the bulkiness and length of the shirt helped to disguise how tightly they fit.
Sienna slipped into the room with a silly grin. “Hey, what was so funny in here?” she asked with big, curious eyes.
I was glad to see her spirits were still up, “Oh, ah, nothing,” I said, the corners of my mouth turning up against my will.
“Spill it!” Sienna said flopping on her bed like a nosy tween.
“There is NOTHING to spill,” I said standing up doing my best to be nonchalant. I set the hairbrush we shared down on my nightstand. I picked out a few loose strands of my hair that had been left behind in the bristles and dropped them into the trash can, attempting to look busy.
“We heard Ryan laughing,” she said looking at me sideways.
“Yeah?”
“What happened?”
“Nothing happened!
He pushed himself up and reached his hand down to help me up to my feet. I took it and he pulled me up swiftly. I was standing only inches away from him and extremely aware of it, if he noticed the closeness, he made no indication of it. “See you tonight?” he said with a smirk.
“Huh?”
“You know, the usual… cameras… radios….”
“Oh, right. Yeah I think so, unless I’m too tired from all the jumping jacks,” I said with a strange bounce that allowed me to get back into my comfort zone. Too close and my brain started to malfunction. I don’t know what was going on here, but I couldn’t let what I thought was happening, well, happen. There were too many other things going on and so many more important things to worry about. No other drama was needed beyond what we already had. And besides, I was probably way off base, just because I was feeling these weird feelings didn’t mean he was too.
“Thanks again,” he said nudging my arm with his fist, and then disappeared from the room. I jumped up and down three times trying to shake the unusual feeling off my skin. It didn’t work. I would simply have to stop thinking about happy Ryan. It shouldn’t be that hard, after all, happy Ryan has thus far only existed maybe a handful of times. For all I knew he had a girlfriend anyway! Any girl who saw that smile would have melted right into his arms. He could probably have any girl he wanted, he was absolutely gorgeous when he was happy. And even if he wasn’t with someone, he sure wouldn’t be interested in the smelly, sweaty, awkward girl with snarled hair he’d been trapped with in this small, crowded, underground space for the last several weeks. Without a doubt, the thought of me and him never crossed his mind.
I couldn’t stop thinking about him no matter how hard I tried to push the thoughts of him out of my head, they just kept creeping back in, stronger and stronger. I had to stop the thoughts. There was no point. It must have been from being trapped down here, a lack of fresh oxygen that was making me go crazy. I grabbed a change of clothes and went and took a quick shower. We were all taking faster showers, in fact, we rarely took them daily since we were worried we were going to run out of water and we wanted to conserve as much as possible. I suspected Ryan knew how to check water levels, but if any of us asked about it he would tell us not to worry about it, that it was fine and we had plenty. It was basically the same when it came to electricity and the generator. To him, it was his problem and not ours, at least that’s how he seemed to feel about it, unwilling to burden us with such things.
I sat on the bed and brushed my damp, towel-dried hair. The gray yoga pants from his sister’s closet, and the over-sized T-shirt I had found in Ryan’s dad’s closet was probably not the most flattering option. But I liked it because the big, soft, comfy shirt reminded me of being snuggled up in my bed at home. Since most of the time I had to squeeze myself into his sister’s pants, the bulkiness and length of the shirt helped to disguise how tightly they fit.
Sienna slipped into the room with a silly grin. “Hey, what was so funny in here?” she asked with big, curious eyes.
I was glad to see her spirits were still up, “Oh, ah, nothing,” I said, the corners of my mouth turning up against my will.
“Spill it!” Sienna said flopping on her bed like a nosy tween.
“There is NOTHING to spill,” I said standing up doing my best to be nonchalant. I set the hairbrush we shared down on my nightstand. I picked out a few loose strands of my hair that had been left behind in the bristles and dropped them into the trash can, attempting to look busy.
“We heard Ryan laughing,” she said looking at me sideways.
“Yeah?”
“What happened?”
“Nothing happened!
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