Casey's POV

Most of my life I spent walking away from people I knew I would get attached to. I did this because I knew that attachment came with expectations. Expectations that led to disappointment. But as I stood, staring out of the hotel room balcony, I couldn't help but feel like something was missing. I knew what that something was. That something was more of a someone. Specifically a boy with blue eyes and a killer smile.

Ryder had only been gone for two days and I was already feeling his absence. How could I not when I'd spend most of the last few weeks with him? He'd become a constant presence in my life without my notice. I missed spending time with him. I missed his randomness. His sense of humor. His intrusiveness. I even missed his innuendos.

"You miss Ryder, don't you?" I heard Nissa say as she walked out the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her body and one around her head, holding her hair up.

"What? No, of course not," I quickly denied, shifting my eyes away from her and back to the window. I didn't know why I was lying to Nissa, I knew she would see right through me anyways. She always did.

"You know the two of you are getting quite attached to each other..." she trailed off, her voice hinting at something else. Rolling my eyes, I turned towards her.

"Nissa, Ryder and I are just friends." She stopped digging through her suitcase to turn towards me and give me a stern look.

"Bullshit. Casey, that boy has a thing for you and you have one for him as well. It's obvious to everyone else. Why else would the two of you spend most of the night on the phone for the past two nights? Hmm?" My eyes widened at the last part; I'd thought she was asleep both nights. Ryder had called the day he'd left to let me know that he and Oliver had gone home. After that, he'd called every night and we'd spend most of the night talking. When we weren't talking on the phone, we were texting.

"What is it with you and Austin?" I muttered loud enough for her to hear.

"What? What do you mean?" she squeaked, her cheeks turning a rosy red, her eyes never meeting mine. Okay, that was out of character for Nissa. Nissa never blushed.

"Um, what's with you?" I asked curiously, turning fully towards her. Folding my arms across my chest, I squinted my eyes suspiciously, when she avoided eye contact.

"What? Nothing! Why are you bringing that idiot into our conversation?" she answered, busying herself with her hair. When Nissa was nervous or trying to avoid a topic, she'd immediately find something to do with her hands.

"Nissa, did something happen between you and Austin?" I asked, moving towards her, trying to keep the smile off of my face. Austin had always had a huge crush on Nissa. It would make me happy if he'd finally made a move. He was a good guy and I felt like he would be good for my best friend.

"What?! No! Why? No! Nothing. I'm not blushing, I'm just cold. Have you seen the weather forecast for today? So cold!" she rambled nervously.

"We're in LA," I reminded her.

"Yeah, the scientist are baffled as well," she mumbled.

"What scientist?" I asked with a smirk, shaking my head when she gave me a pleading look.

"Why are we talking about me and the devil's spawn? This is about you and Ryder not being able to go two minutes without talking to each other," she replied hastily and I shook my head, letting it go for the moment.

"We just like talking to each other, that's all." I cursed my voice for sounding so unsure.

She raised an eyebrow, seeing right through me. "Casey, I've seen couples flirt less than you two."

I gasped. "We don't flirt."

"Are you dense?" I stared at her, trying to decipher if that was a rhetorical question. "Tell me something, Case, has Ryder ever asked you anything about that ponytail of yours? You know, has he ever said anything about you always wearing your hair up?"

I bit down on my lip and nodded, reluctantly. "Yeah, but-"

"When you let your hair down six days ago, did you feel nervous about what he would say?" she replied, placing a hand on her cocked hip. Her stance conveying what she was thinking. I hated when she did that. She knew she was right and felt damn proud about it.

"No, of course not," I answered, my voice a few decimals lower. She fought a victorious smile with a sigh and I growled.

"If you say so." She turned to her suitcase and began to pull out some clothes. Feeling like she'd finally dropped the subject, I exhaled in relief. "I'm guessing he noticed and liked it, since you had your hair down the next day as well."

"Would you quit it? Ryder and I do not like each other, okay?" I told her, tiredly.

"Casey, just answer one thing, okay? Just one thing." I sighed and after a minute, nodded. "Does he make your heart race?"

I stared at her for a minute, and thought about Ryder. I thought about his smile, those eyes that made me question everything and his laugh. That deep, rich laugh that made everything seem okay. When my heart jumped, it's rhythm quickening, I sunk down into the chair behind me with a sigh. "Yeah."

Walking over towards me, she gave me a knowing smile and sat next to me. "When you came back from your 'date' with Drake, I saw the way you looked at Ryder, sweetie. There is something there, and you know it."

I turned towards her. "I can't like him, Niece. I just got out of a long relationship with a guy that turns out, I barely knew."

"Yeah, but Ryder is a good guy," she replied in a motherly tone, placing a comforting hand on my arm, with an encouraging nod.

"How do I know that?" I asked, the question directed mostly to myself. Those weren't the exact words I was asking myself, though. I knew Ryder was a good guy, but would he be good to me? Ryder was a player. He ran at the smell of commitment. I didn't even know why I was torturing myself. It wasn't like he was even interested in me that way. Why would he be? I was damaged goods. He deserved better.

Staring at me for a minute, she shrugged. "You just have to have faith that he is."

"Ryder is a heart breaker, we both know that. I can't have my heart broken, yet again." She gave me a sympathetic smile, but it wasn't making me feel better. I knew the moment that I compared Ryder's smile with Drake's on that yacht, that I had something similar to feelings for the boy with the blue eyes, but I kept telling myself to ignore it. Feelings for Ryder were dangerous. Ryder was dangerous.

"Yeah, but he's a heart breaker that has feelings for a brown-haired beauty," Nissa spoke up, her eyes brimming with pride.

I laughed. "Do you really think that Ryder—big man on campus—likes me?" I wanted to scoff at how ridiculous that was. Why on earth would Ryder like me? Me, of all people? Like I mentioned before, I was broken. And there were so many girls that were willing to give it up to him in a heartbeat, why would he suddenly develop feelings for me?

"Case, you really don't see how beautiful you are, do you? And I know that people say that makes you more beautiful, in my opinion it just makes you dense. Insecurity is never attractive, Hun," she replied. Biting down on my bottom lip, I couldn't help but agree. I'd never been insecure. I'd never made myself feel inferior to anyone. So why was I doing it now? "You're doing it now, because for the first time in forever, you actually really have feelings for someone, so it matters. What he thinks, it matters." Nissa answered my unspoken question. It was always like this with her. We knew exactly what the other was thinking without having to utter a word.

"I don't want it to matter."

"There isn't an explanation or a formula to stop this, Case, this is just how we are programmed to work. You like Ryder, like actually like him, so you care about what he thinks. You care that you may not be enough." I stared at her in shock. How the hell did Nissa know all of this? "I have strong feelings for Seth, remember?" She said, answering the question written all over my face.

"Is this how you feel? Like he could do better?" I asked her, my voice coming out small. I didn't like that I felt that way, but I did. I had a dark past, a past that left me broken and ruined. Why would Ryder settle for me when he could do so much better?

"Sometimes...but then I remind myself that he's damn lucky to have my affection." She nodded once, satisfied with her answer and I chuckled. "Speaking of the devil, your phone is buzzing."

I couldn't help the smile that spread on my face as I bolted up and rushed towards my phone. Picking it up, I felt my heart race when Ryder's name flashed on the screen.

I laughed, my mind going back to last night, going through everything I did, trying to find anything that could be the reason for his message. I came up empty.

Pressing on the compose a message option, I typed my response,

I walked back to my chair by the balcony, my eyes never leaving the phone in my hands. As the blinking ellipsis that indicated he was typing his reply appeared, my heartbeat doubled it's speed. It was ridiculous how much the simple fact that he was texting back made me so nervous.

I gasped, my head slowly rising to give Nissa an accusing look. "Nissa Evans!" She turned around so fast, I wasn't surprised when she stumbled on her two feet, almost falling on her ass. "You told Ryder about last night?!"

Her eyes widened with the 'deer caught in the headlights' look. She looked around frantically, looking for an escape but I was faster than her. I lunged at her, wrestling her to the floor, landing over her.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she tried, her face red from the extra exert on her body. She grabbed onto my arms as they went to begin their attack.

"I can't believe you told him! You said you wouldn't tell anyone!" I couldn't believe she'd shared that with Ryder. After she'd sworn that she'd never utter a word to any one, I'd agreed to go skinny dipping with her. At first it had been a little cold, but my body's temperature had soon adjusted and I'd actually ended it up having fun, but I never thought she would share that with Ryder.

My phone buzzed with another message and only then did I stop my attack on my best friend to grab my phone from the floor. It had dropped out of my hands when I'd lunged at Nissa.

I smiled, climbing off of Nissa and sitting on the carpet, my back against the foot of the bed, I began to type my reply.

I grinned a shit-eating-grin.

His reply came a second later. I laughed, shaking my head.

I was beginning to type my reply when Nissa snatched the phone out of my hands and bolted away. I sprung up and bolted after her. "Nissa!" She laughed, typing away on my phone as she ran around the room, with me chasing behind her. I waited for her to be distracted enough, and climbed over the bed, lunged at her, make us both tumble to the ground in a heap. Snatching my phone out of her hands, I climbed off of her, keeping an arm out to keep her at bay. I looked down at my phone and sighed in relief when I noticed she hadn't been able to text anything embarrassing.

She'd only managed to type,

Ryder had already texted back with,

I immediately typed back.

For a guy who hardly texted, he sure did text quickly when he wanted to know something.

I texted back, sending Nissa an evil smile. Her eyes widened suspiciously before she walked into the bathroom.

Came his reply and I had to laugh. He had no idea. The girl was into some weird shit, that much I knew. The phone began to ring in my hand as I went to type, Ryder's picture lighting up the whole screen. He'd taken the liberty of grabbing my phone and adding a silly picture to his already-saved number. I pressed the answer button and brought the phone up to my ear.

"Let me guess, you're bored out of your mind and don't have anything better to do, so you thought you would call me?" I drawled lazily, fighting a grin.

"You know me so well," his voice came over the phone and a smile found it's way onto my face. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed hearing his voice. It was starting to scare me how much I missed a guy I'd only known for a little over four weeks.

"Well you are becoming a little predictable," I teased. I heard him gasp over the phone and I fought a laugh.

"I am not!" he protested, making me chuckle. "Maybe you're rubbing off on me."

"Maybe just a little," I replied, smiling.

"Well maybe that's a good thing," he replied, his tone no longer playful. I found myself smiling yet again. If I didn't stop smiling, I would probably split my face in two.

"So did you handle your business?" I asked, wanting desperately to ask what the business was. When he'd called to tell me he'd gone back home a week early, he'd been completely vague and hadn't left much to the imagination.

"Great! But I know that's not what you want to ask, so come on," he laughed softly and I found myself blushing, something I did around Ryder a lot.

"What?! That's exactly what I wanted to ask," I argued in vain, since we both knew I was lying.

"Sweetheart..." he trailed off and I sighed in defeat.

"Fine! Why did you go home a week early?" I asked, curiously. It had been eating at me to know. Ryder was really private and I hardly knew anything about him, which is why I was shocked that I had developed feelings for him. How could you develop feelings for someone you hardly knew?

"I had to handle some business." I tried really hard not to growl in frustration, but I lost that battle, making him laugh. "I promise I'll tell you when I see you, okay?"

I nodded—remembering he couldn't see me, I answered, "Okay."

"Now tell me about you skinny dipping." I could hear his smirk in his tone and I rolled my eyes.

"It was fun, but cold as fuck. I had goosebumps all over me. Everything was standing on end." I realized what I'd said when he groaned on the other end of the phone.

"I think you may have given me a coronary with that image." I couldn't help but laugh at his words.

"You just can't help yourself can you?" I replied, chuckling. Nissa walked out the bathroom in that moment, gave me a look and walked out the room, locking the door behind her.

"I really can't. It's like a second arm, I just have to say what comes to mind," he answered with a dramatic sigh and I chuckled.

"You're too much."

"That's what she said," he answered with a snicker and I laughed.

"You're an ass." I dragged myself off the ground and flopped down onto the soft bed. Bending my legs at my knees, I swung them back and forth, picking at a loose thread on the bed.

"I'm a hot, panty-dropping, sexy, stroke-giving, mouth-watering ass," he stated proudly and I shook my head with a smile.

"Your ego is literally the size of Africa," I pointed out.

"So is another part of my anatomy," came his answer and I gasped.

"Ryder!"

"What?" he asked, his tone light, hinting at a grin.

"How's Ollie?" I asked, changing the subject. I heard him chuckle on his end of the phone and I smiled.

"He's okay, why?" he asked, a hint of suspicion in his tone.

"I'm just asking," I replied, my eyebrows knitting together. My mind wondered to the fact that Ryder didn't liked it when I asked about Oliver. I'd only asked twice and when I did, both times his tone had gotten an edge. I didn't know why. Could he be jealous like Nissa had insisted he was? If he was jealous, what did it mean? Did he like me? Could he actually have feelings for me? Was I imagining things?