Page 25 of My Best Friend Prince Charming

10

Shannon

I made my way through the parking lot for my car before I realized I had driven to school with Ryker. Which meant he’d have to drive me home. Everything was getting so awkward. I wanted to be mad at Ryker for messing everything up. We were fine before. It was hard that he was leaving to go to California, but we’d still at least have the chance to talk every day when he was done filming.

Now? Everything would be strained and weird between us. Because how could we get over that kiss? That kiss had been life-changing. I didn’t even know a kiss could be that electrifying. I could feel my heart calling out to his, and that was what terrified me the most. It wasn’t safe for us to feel this way, especially me, because he was about to leave and be surrounded by even more girls. California girls. Celebrity girls. How could I ever compete with that? I wasn’t going to kid myself into thinking that Ryker would choose me over them.

Ryker was the best thing in my life, and I was worried I was about to lose him. I couldn’t let my feelings travel down the road they wanted to go. It would only end in heartbreak. Just like my mom. I had to figure out a way to keep everything as normal as possible between us. Maybe we could just pretend the kiss had never happened.

“Shannon.”

I spun around to see Ryker approaching me in the nearly empty parking lot. Why did he have to look so good? My body begged me to kiss him again, but I suppressed the feeling.

“I know you said you didn’t want me to follow you, but you’re standing right by my car, and I need to get home. You’re welcome to ride with me—if you’re okay with that.”

His eyes . . . I couldn’t stand to see the pain there. Guilt stabbed my heart. I’d hurt Ryker by running away after our kiss. Did that mean he felt as strongly about it as I had?

“Yeah,” I said, trying to keep my voice sounding as normal as possible. “A ride home would be nice. Thanks.”

I climbed into the passenger side of Ryker’s car. But the entire car smelled like him, and he was so close. My senses were whirling out of control.

“Look,” Ryker said, cranking the engine. He bit his bottom lip nervously, and my breath caught. What was wrong with me? “About that kiss . . .”

Before I could stop myself, I leaned toward him and slipped my hand around the back of his neck. I pulled him toward me. His warm lips met mine, and I ran my finger over the stubble on his jaw. We stayed like that for a few minutes, making out, and I didn’t care who walked by and saw. I needed him. I needed this. My heart exploded in my chest, and I wanted to pull my body even closer to Ryker.

I forced my eyes open and pushed away from him. What was I doing? I couldn’t kiss Ryker like this. I had to put a stop to our nonsense, and right away. It was one thing to write about it in my book, where my characters were growing increasingly closer, but this was real life. And real life had consequences. I wasn’t going to be the first girl on a long list of hearts that Ryker decided to break over the coming years. I had to remember who he was now. A celebrity. And celebrities didn’t have real romances with the girl next door.

I pulled the seatbelt across my body and snapped it into place. “Can we just pretend that never happened?”

Ryker looked straight ahead with his hands on the steering wheel in front of him, his face grim. “Shannon.”

I shook my head. “I just can’t talk about it right now. Is that okay?”

Ryker blew out a frustrated breath. “I guess so.”

“Let’s just go home.”

We took the drive home with an awkward silence hanging between us. When we pulled up the driveway, I turned to Ryker. “I’m sorry I’m being like this. I have a lot in my head I’m working through right now. Please just be patient with me. In the meantime, I still want us to be friends. Please. I don’t know what I’d do without keeping you as my best friend.”

Ryker’s white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel loosened. “I don’t want to lose you as a friend either. I told you, you’re my favorite person.”

“But you meant as more than just friends?” I regretted the words as they left my mouth. I’d told Ryker I didn’t want to talk about what had happened between us and that I just wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened, and here I was reopening the uncomfortable conversation.

I stepped outside the car and looked up into the branches of the big tree that shaded my entire front yard. That tree had always comforted me. Right after my dad had left, and we’d just moved into the house, I used to spread out on the grass beneath the tree and look up through the branches. The leaves were so thick in the summer it was hard to see the sky through the greenery. I always liked that for some reason.

Just looking up through the branches now relaxed me, and I took a moment to breathe. I stepped away from the car. I didn’t know what the future held for Ryker and me. But that was okay, wasn’t it? I didn’t have to have all the answers today or even tomorrow.

“Shannon,” Ryker said.

I realized he’d never answered my question of if he meant he saw me as more than just a friend.

“I would never just kiss you for fun. I hope you know that. I’m not that kind of guy.”

“You mean, you’re not like Austin.”

“No, I’m not like him.”

And that meant he didn’t casually kiss some MG in the girls’ bathroom when he had a different girlfriend. Ryker meant it when he kissed someone. At least off camera and off the stage. He’d already confirmed that those kinds of kisses were meaningless to him.

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