Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick tick.....

My hands balled into fist. The annoying clock on the wall wasn't ticking fast enough, making this detention in Ms. Tanners room even more excruciating than it already was. With the glare from Heather, the ticking clock, and the feeling of the kid behind me shoe kicking against the metal leg of my chair was enough to make me rip out my hair and scream bloody murder.

Ok I'm exaggerating a little bit, but you get what I mean.

Ding!

I looked over at my phone and saw a text message from Grace.

I smiled, imagining her demanding voice forcing me to go to a movie with her.

😂

The sound of Ms. Tanner writing was a cue for me to keep typing, but instead I set my phone down just incase she happened to look up from what she was doing, see me on my phone, and make me stay an extra hour.

Slumping in my chair, I huffed when I realized I still had thirty-five minutes left.

Kill.Me.Now.

***

"That was such a horrible movie, Grace." I admitted as I looked out her car window, watching trees and people walking on the sidewalks pass by in a flash. The sky was a dark blue, almost black color, the sunset ending a few minutes ago.

"No it wasn't! I liked the part about the prince and um..."

Confusion took over my brain. "Prince? What prince are you talking about?"

She turned her attention towards me and furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait, there wasn't a prince?"

I held my head in my hands. "Oh my god. You fell asleep, didn't you?"

The only sound in the car was the radio until Grace started laughing.

Forcing me to go to a boring movie that she didn't even watch? Thank you Grace. Best night of my life!

She shrugged, her short blonde hair moving up and down a little as she giggled. "Oops!"

I started laughing too.

We continued to laugh together for a minute or so until she started to speak again. "So...how's Derek?"

My laughter died down. "Derek? What about Derek?"

She made a right turn onto my street. "Do you like him?"

"I only was able to speak to him for a couple minutes. I have no clue. Blonde hair isn't my type anymore."

The houses ahead of mine passed by slowly as she drove down my street in the dark. When she parked at my house, I looked over at Ryder's house to see him sitting on a step leading to his front door. "How come?" Grace asked me as she turned off the car, waiting for me to get out.

My attention stayed on Ryder. Even in the dark and from far away, I could still see most of his features. His sharp jawline, acne-free skin, dark chocolate hair and eyes...

"Autumn?" Grace waved a hand in front of my face, "Autumn?"

Zoning back into reality, I dropped my head to hide my pink cheeks. "huh? What?" What were we talking about again? We're we even talking? I forget.

"Why don't you like blonde guys?"

"My um... ex is blonde. I don't mess with them anymore," I admitted, looking back at Ryder again.

"That's a dumb reason," she scoffed.

Rolling my eyes, I opened my car door and stepped out into the cold night. If only she knew Luke. "Trust me, it's a pretty valid reason if you meet him."

"You're right, you should not mess with blondes," she looked over at Ryder and grinned, "you look so much better with brunettes."

My already pink cheeks burned a bright red. "Wait what? No I didn't mean him I-"

She rolled her eyes at me, "sure sweetie. See you Monday."

I closed my car door and she drove off, leaving me stranded in the night. Not daring to turn around and look at Ryder a second time, I walked up to my door step and fished through my purse to find my keys.

Frustration was all I felt as I scrambled through my purse, not being able to find the one thing I actually needed to get inside.

Resting my head against the locked door, I sighed. "You gotta be kidding me."

"What are you doing?" a voice said from behind me.

Instantly I screamed, turned around, and slapped the person right on the face as hard as I could.

"Ow!" Ryder cried out as he held onto his left cheek. "What the hell Autumn! I wasn't going to kidnap you!"

A moment of silence filled the atmosphere between us until I fell on the floor, laughing hysterically.

"You big baby!" I pointed and laughed at his pained expression. "I barely touched you! You play football, how could that hurt you?"

Then something incredible happened.

Ryder blushed.

"Shut up!" Every second that passed, his cheeks turned a darker and darker shade of red. It was adorable on him.

I stood up and took a big deep breath. "Thanks for the laugh, I needed it."

Ryder crossed his arms and rolled his brown eyes. "Whatever. Anyways, what are you doing?"

Remembering I can't get inside, I internally groaned. "Well, clumsy me left the keys inside before I left today so yeah I'm gonna walk to a hotel or something close by."

His eyes widened in worry. "No! Don't walk. Some creepy guy might rape or kidnap you."

Why does he even care?

"Well what else do I do, smart one?"

He scratched the back of his neck and looked down at his black converse. "Um...you can sleep at my house. I have a spare room so you can sleep there."

"Are you sure? It's not a big deal if I walk-"

Ryder cut me off almost immediately. "Yes I'm sure!" He shoved his hands into his jean pockets and walked off my sidewalk and onto the street. "Come on, I'm going to freeze my fucking balls off if I'm out here any longer."

I laughed and trotted behind him. I couldn't believe he was offering me a room at his house. Look, I know it's only for one night but still. Let's just say I'm one happy girl.

***

Sitting criss-crossed on his queen-sized bed, I watched him flick through hangers of clothing in his closest. His room was so warm, making it feel like a nice warm cabin, forbidding any cold air from the night inside. I couldn't help but watch as his back muscles moved through his white long-sleeved shirt while he was moving hangers to one side of his closet.

"Ryder?"

"Mhm." He mumbled, too focused on finding me a shirt to sleep in.

"Do you hate me?"

He shrugged. "I mean yeah, kinda."

Better than of course.

"Then why did you let me into your house?"

He stopped flicking through hangers and grabbed one of the shirts and then opened up his drawer, looking for pj bottoms. "Well...because you couldn't get inside your house. Do you want me to kick you out?"

Apart of me knew he wouldn't do that, after he insisted that I stay with him instead of going to a hotel. But I decided that keeping my mouth shut would be the best.

"N-no I don't."

He didn't respond, instead he leaned down and shuffled through all his pj bottoms.

God, how many did he really need. I bet he didn't even wear 60% of them. Maybe I'll snag some of those pants later since I only have two pj bottoms...

"Ryder?"

The annoyed boy stopped looking for pants and rolled his eyes at me. "Oh my fucking god, what now?!" he huffed.

I held my hands in a surrender. "Geeeeezzz! I was just going to say thank you."

He ruffled a hand through his hair and I bit my lip. My weakness is when guys run their fingers through their hair. When I saw Ryder do this, I had to look away so I wouldn't get all nervous and hot.

A sly smile crept on his lips. But it faded into a thin, straight line when he spoke again. "Yeah yeah you're welcome."

He finally found good pants and handed his clothes to me. "Here you go, the bathroom is right there," he head pointed to the bathroom connected to his room.

Grabbing the clothes from him, I smiled and a smile couldn't help its self but form on his light pink lips. I thanked him and before I walked into the bathroom, I turned to face him once more. "You know," he looked up at me when I spoke, "you should smile more. It looks good on you."

Ryder's cheeks turned pink and when he could feel it, his eyes widened and he awkwardly looked down at the floor, his hair flopping in front of his face.

After a couple of minutes I finally finished changing and walked out in Ryder's grey sweatpants and UCLA Bruins shirt. When I walked out of the bathroom, Ryder looked up from his phone and took in every part of my body. Under his stare I tensed up and suddenly became nervous.

Ryder stood up and walked a little closer to me. His brown eyes eyed me up and down one last time before looking into my eyes. "S-since you complimented my smile earlier, I guess I could compliment you too."

Hold up. Did Ryder just stutter?

I gulped and blushed before he could even compliment me. I cursed internally at my cheeks for somehow managing to make me blush before Ryder ever said anything.

Stop blushing!

A smirk was plastered onto his face. "My clothes look really good on you."

The way he empathized 'really' made my knees weak. I forced myself to sit on his bed. "Um," I tucked hair behind me ear, "t-thanks."

He winked at me but I looked away before I had a heart attack. "You're welcome."

Yawning, I moved myself farther on his bed so my feet no longer touched the floor.

Ryder walked over to his xbox and turned it on. "I don't feel like making the other bed tomorrow morning so can you just sleep in my bed and I'll sleep on the couch downstairs or something."

"Don't be ridiculous you dweeb. Just sleep in here, I don't mind." I really really really didn't mind.

He sat in his desk chair, contemplating what to do. When his game turned on, he shrugged. "Ok, fine I'll stay. But I'm going to bed later."

"Do what you want but I'm going to bed. Goodnight Ryder."

I could hear him clicking fiercely at his controller, but his voice was soft when he said goodnight back to me.

Tucking myself inside the covers, the smell of soap and mint and the comfy blankets were enough to make me fall into a very peaceful sleep.