Page 44 of Loathing Ryan
I felt Ryan tilt his head to press a kiss into my hair. I closed my eyes and leaned into him, relaxing against his body as his arms tightened around me.
My question about what would happen once we made it back slammed back into my brain, but I did my best to quiet it just for tonight. Even if Ryan and I became complete strangers after we graduated and moved on to college, at least I would have these quiet moments to look back on.
I didn’t know what would happen next, but I knew I was happy right here, right now, with his arms around me.
19
RYAN
The days startedto pass even slower than they had before. I was close to losing track of the number of days we had been out here, away from camp. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s been the better part of a week and a half. It had been a monotonous schedule of waking up together and then passing the hours of the day out at the dock or lounging on the cabin porch. A part of me was starting to worry that we hadn’t been found yet. I suspected that when we veered off the kayak course, we had gotten pushed farther away than we had initially thought.
I knew there was an infinite number of miles within these mountains that the search parties would have to scour to find us, which is why, originally, we thought being close to the river would help. But still, no one had come.
Deep down, I was starting to get worried. We had done a decent job of staying fed and hydrated—thank goodness the cabin had clean running water. The canned goods in the pantry were starting to wane as the days passed. We still had a number of cans of baked beans, peaches, and green beans, though, which could hold us over if we rationed them. If we had to stay out here longer, we definitely could, but that wasn’t the ideal situation.
My side was healing up nicely. Though it still looked gruesome, it was barely hurting me anymore, unless I put it under a lot of strain. Each night I would lay in bed and try to come up with some kind of plan to help speed up this process of getting us out of there.
“God, it is so hot,” she said, fanning herself with her hand. We were sitting out on the dilapidated porch, lounging in the heat of the summer sun.
I looked over at her. She was sprawled out on the wooden planks. The hem of her t-shirt was rolled up just under her breasts, so most of her abdomen was showing. It really was hotter than Hades out today.
“I have an idea,” I said, my voice taking on a conspiratorial tone.
Izabel looked at me warily, like she didn’t trust where I was taking this conversation. “What is it?”
I held out my hand for her. To my immense pleasure, she took it, following my lead. Together, we walked out of the cabin and down to the dock. Izabel looked at me in confusion. “What are we doing out here? I thought we decided it was too hot out today.”
“Yeah, to just sit around in the sun,” I said. I reached for the waistband of my shorts and started pushing them down my hips.
Izabel’s eyebrows shot up, and she backed away. “Ryan, what are you doing?”
I laughed at the panic in her voice. “What? It’s not like you haven’t seen me naked already.”
“Yeah, but not in the light of day, geez,” she said, making a big show of covering her eyes with her hand.
“Come on, Bells. I thought it would be fun to do a little skinny dipping,” I said, still laughing. I didn’t waste any more time traumatizing her with my nudity, choosing to jump off the dock into the water.
Perfect. It felt so good. No better way to beat the heat of the day.
When she heard the splash, Izabel dropped her hands and looked out at the pond. She walked to the end of the dock and put her hands on her hips. Whipping my wet hair out of my eyes, I grinned at her.
“Come on, scaredy cat. The water is perfect.”
“You know I’m not that good of a swimmer,” she protested.
“Yeah, I know. That’s why I got in first. Come on, I’ll catch you. It’s not even that deep.”
“It only takes one inch of water to drown, you know.”
“You’re being dramatic,” I said to her as I swam through the water a bit. “Just take your clothes off and get in.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. I held her stare as I continued to swim around. I could see the sweat beading on her forehead. Finally, she gave in and lifted her shirt off of her torso, followed quickly by her shorts.
My mouth went dry when she stood at the edge of the dock, stark naked. “Now what?”
“Jump in,” I instructed her.
She laughed humorlessly. “I don’t think so.”
