Page 14 of My Best Friend Prince Charming

I closed the door behind me and shrunk against it like it would protect me somehow. I should have known that Ryker would be busy again. It had been like this since Monday when I found out that he’d been cast in the movie. I’d barely had a conversation with him since study hall Monday afternoon.

I’d never felt so alone. I didn’t have girls I hung out with. Austin had moved on with Tabby and hadn’t looked back once. He seemed to be on top of the world with her. They’d gotten in trouble for kissing in the halls twice in one week. The entire thing turned my stomach. I was glad high school was almost over. It really was too bad that Austin was going to UNC. It meant I’d have to see him still. But the campus was a big place. It wouldn’t be too hard to avoid him.

I stood with my back to the door for a few minutes. I thought about leaving and taking the picture with me. I felt so stupid. Austin had moved on from me. And now it looked like Ryker had moved on as well. Why did I always care about people who ended up leaving me? First, my dad, then Austin, and now Ryker.

Ryker ended the call and turned to look at me. “Shannon? I didn’t know that was you.” He stood up. “Oh, man. I’m really sorry. That was so rude of me.” He looked at me. My eyes watered. I couldn’t hold back the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks. So I let them fall.

Ryker’s eyes softened with concern. “Are you okay?” He reached up and wiped a tear from my face.

I shook my head. “I feel so alone, Ryker. I know I shouldn’t feel this way. I’m a selfish person. I want to support you and be happy for you, but I don’t know how.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked. “Shannon, you don’t have to do anything. Just be you. You’re allowed to feel sad. You’re allowed to feel alone. You’re dealing with what Austin did to you. I’m sorry, I haven’t been there for you better. I wish I could, but I need to do this for my family. Look at this place. The roof needs to be replaced. The foundation is infested with termites. It’s been that way for years. But we haven’t had the money to fix it. Ava and Parker are struggling in school, but my dad and I are too busy working to sit and help them, and there’s no money to hire a tutor for them.”

I hadn’t thought about any of that. I just kept seeing Ryker basking in his fame. But the new knowledge didn’t help me feel any less alone. How was I supposed to face college away from my mom and Maddie without him? It was weird that I was even having these feelings. For so long, I only thought about leaving Sweet Mountain and making something of myself in the world, but I’d always thought I’d have Ryker by my side the entire time. He’d always been there, since we were kids, anyway. I hadn’t thought about a life without him and what that might look like. And imagining it wasn’t pretty. I didn’t want to even let my mind go there.

“What do you have behind your back?” Ryker reached around and took the box with the brightly colored birthday wrapping paper. “Is this for me?”

I nodded, the lump in my throat still keeping me from speaking.

He took my hand and led me to sit on the end of his bed. He tore open the paper and set it behind us. He lifted off the lid of the box and pulled out the rectangle wrapped in tissue paper. He pulled back a fold of the tissue paper, and his breath caught audibly.

“Did you draw this?” He ran his fingers across the glass of the frame.

“Yeah.”

He looked in my eyes and said, “I love it, Shannon. This is the most thoughtful gift you could have ever given me. He looks exactly how I pictured him in my head. You even got his eyes the right color.”

I stared back into Ryker’s blue eyes, and something fluttered in my belly. They were the same eyes I’d used in the drawing. I pressed my lips together and looked away. I couldn’t feel this way about Ryker. That was just weird. I hopped up.

A flash of black outside the window caught my attention.

“Um, Ryker?” I asked. “Were you expecting a limo to take you somewhere tonight?” I thought he had to work.

“Oh, yeah.” He looked down at his watch. “How did it get so late already? I have to get ready to go.”

A tiny girl with black hair twisted in a perfect princess bun atop her head climbed from the limo. A necklace sparkled at her throat in the bright rays of the sunset. A gasp caught in my throat. “Is that Gabi Richardson?” I’d spent my childhood watching her grow up in one movie or another.

Ryker stood at his closet, frantically rummaging through it. He yanked out a starched shirt and polished brown leather shoes from his closet floor. Everything still had tags on it.

“Did you go shopping?” It wasn’t like him to keep me out of the loop on his life. Was he starting to hide things from me? And if so, why?

“Yeah,” he pulled his shirt off, revealing a chiseled set of abs. I gawked. Wow! Who knew Ryker looked that good?

“Um, Ryker?” I asked, averting my eyes, my cheeks heating up. “Do you want me to step out of the room?”

“Oh. Yeah.” Ryker looked down at his bare chest. “Sorry about that.”

I went into the living room and hung out on the couch with Ava. Then I noticed what she was watching. She had on a Gabi Richardson movie, one of the films Stephen Christopher had directed.

The doorbell rang.

“Should I get that?” I asked.

Ava paused the movie, the screen frozen right on a clear shot of Gabi’s face. This was all getting so weird. “Why are there famous people on your doorstep?” I mean, I knew it was coming, but I didn’t think they’d show up so soon.

“They’re taking Ryker out for his birthday. Get this. He’s going to Charter,” Ava gushed.

Charter was the nicest restaurant in town. I’d never set foot inside it. It had never crossed my mind that Ryker would be going to a place like that, let alone in a limo. I didn’t know much about designer clothes, but I could tell that the new clothes Ryker had in his closet hadn’t come from Walmart. Probably not even the local mall. His shirt probably cost as much as my entire month’s paycheck from Toppings.

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