Author's Note: This update is a few days late. Sorry, I couldn't really think of what to write. But here it is. I know it's probably shorter than usual, but hopefully it's good! I know it kinda has like a cliffhanger-y ending, but yeah, the next chapter will pick up right there! (:

I wake up the next morning all of a sudden. I glance over to Ryder and see that he’s still asleep. He can’t seriously like me can he? I mean, I’m not saying I’m hideous or anything, but you know what I mean. Nah, I’m probably just over thinking it or something. Yeah, that’s it. I reach down into one of the pockets in my pajama pants, and pull my phone out. I look at it and see that the time is only 6:54 a.m. I see that Matt did indeed call me last night like he said he would. I think I must have been asleep when he called. He’s probably still asleep; so I don’t call him, instead I send him a message saying, “Hey Matt, I was asleep when you called. Talk later?” I’m sure he’ll know it’s from me, I mean, he does have my number. I shift in the bed, lying back down on my back. The position isn’t too comfortable though, so I move again. This time I lie on my side, facing Ryder’s sleeping body.

          “McKenna.” He groans.

          “Yes?” I reply.

          “Please.”

I wrinkle my eyebrows in confusion, “Please what?”

          “Please stop moving.”

          “Oh, sorry.” I say, willing myself not to move again.

I don’t feel sleepy anymore, but I don’t think I can get out of the bed without disrupting Ryder. So I lie there in the bed for the next ten minutes trying to occupy myself. I try counting sheep, saying the alphabet backwards, reciting the states in alphabetic order, but they don’t work. So then I decide to count down from one hundred.

          “….seventy-nine, seventy-eight, seventy-seven, seventy-six, seventy-five, seventy-four, seventy-three, seventy-two-seventy-o-”

          “McKenna, what the hell are you doing?” Ryder asks from beside me.

I look over at him, and see that his eyes are open, “I’m counting backwards from one hundred.” I explain.

Ryder props himself up on his elbows, and looks back at me, “Why?” He asks in an exasperated voice.

          “Because it’s like seven in the morning, and I can’t sleep.”

          “Well why can’t you sleep?” He asks, sitting up completely in the bed.

I shrug, “I dunno.”

          “Are you going to work today?”

I shake my head, “No. I go back tomorrow.”

Ryder is quiet for a moment before he says, “Come here.”

          “What?”

          “Come here.” He repeats.

Luckily, outside, it’s daylight. The sun isn’t up, but its daylight. I hesitate for a second before I crawl over closer to Ryder. He lies back down on his back, and pulls me down with him. I curl up next to him, lying on my side, while I rest my head on his chest. This is kinda strange, because Ryder’s so introverted. He doesn’t let people in, like ever. I think the only person he even let remotely close to him was that Scarlett girl. The hair on his leg tickles my leg and I have the urge to laugh, but I don’t. Ryder pulls the cover back over us, and slips his arm around my waist; gripping it lightly and holding me in my place.

I look up at him without moving my head, and I say, “Who are you and what have you done with the real Ryder?”

Ryder chuckles, and says, “Go back to sleep Mickey.”

And after a few minutes, I do.

------------------

I feel myself being lifted-again-off of something. I open my eyes halfway and see that Ryder is picking me up off of him. He puts me down on a pillow, and then slips from under the comforter. I watch with my sleepy eyes half open as Ryder walks out of his room. I yawn, and pull my fingers through my hair. I take the hair tie out, and let my hair down. I sit up in the bed and look across the room where Ryder’s clock is. It reads 11:42.

Ryder comes back in a few minutes after that and says, “Well look who’s up. Morning sleepy head.”

          “Good morning.” I reply tiredly. “Feel better?”

Ryder sits next to me in the bed and replies with, “Pretty much. I haven’t thrown up again. And maybe I took some more medicine.”

          “Maybe?”

          “Okay, I did.”

          “Good boy.” I say.

Suddenly what Todd and Jacob said last night hit me again, and I glance up at Ryder who’s now watching the television. He doesn’t seem to notice me looking at him, or if he does, he doesn’t say anything. I kinda wanna ask him if he likes me, but what if he says no? Do you know how awkward that’d be? Like I’d die of embarrassment. Maybe I can get him to admit it, but first I need to talk to one of the boys, because it’s just a theory. I mean my whole idea could be inaccurate.

          “Alright, you’re doing it again.” Ryder says, still looking at the T.V.

I clear my thoughts and blink a few times, “Doing what?”

          “You’re staring at me.”

I feel my face go red as I say, “Sorry I was just thinking about something. Anyways do you happen to know if Jacob and/or Todd are here?”

Ryder looks down at me and says, “Did you just say ‘and/or’?”

I nod, “Yeah. Is that a problem?”

          “Well no, people just don’t usually say it, but yeah I think they’re both here.”

I pull the cover off of me, and get out of Ryder’s bed. “I have to go talk to them; I’ll be back.”

          “I’ll be here.” He says nonchalantly as he switches the channel.

I leave Ryder’s room, trying to figure which brother to talk to. Jacob’s room is downstairs and Todd’s is up here, so I’ll start with Todd. I walk down the hallway where there are two other doors. One is Hailey’s, one is Todd’s. I’m not exactly sure which one is Todd’s which is a problem, because I don’t wanna just walk into Hailey’s room. So I take a lucky guess, and knock on the door on the left.

          “What?” A voice calls. Todd’s voice.

          “Todd I have to talk to you.” I call.

          “Alright, hold on.” He says.

I stand there for a few seconds before the door opens. Todd steps out of his room; and closes the door behind him. His hair is looking pretty disheveled as do his clothes. I guess Chastity is here. “Yes Mickey?”

I look around, “I wanna talk to you about something.”

          “Okay, what?”

          “Can we go to the kitchen or something?”

          “Sure.” He says, leading the way.

I sit down at the table while Todd goes to the refrigerator and pulls out the carton of orange juice and starts chugging it down. I shiver at the sight of him drinking from the carton. Remind me to never drink from that orange juice again. He grabs the loaf of bread and sticks four slices into the toaster, because they have that kind with four slots. He sits on the counter while drinking the juice and says, “Talk to me.”

          “Well you know how you told me to think really long and hard last night?”

Todd nods, “I do recall.”

          “So I did, and I only came up with one explanation, but I don’t think it’s possible.”

          “Alright, well what’d you come up with?”

I clear my throat, “Does Ryder like me?”

          “Nope.” Todd says shortly, grabbing his now toasted toast from the toaster and eating it.

See what I mean by awkward. Todd sits down at the table next to me. “McKenna he loves you.”

          “What? No he doesn’t.”

          “Don’t be in denial. He does.”

          “But how do you know? Did he tell you?”

          “He is my best friend, we talk.”

          “And he told you that he loves me?”

Todd nods, “Yes, and if he knew I was telling you this, he’d run over me with his car.”

I roll my eyes, “No he wouldn’t.”

          “Yeah; he would. Now what do you intend to do about it?”

I shrug, “I don’t know.”

          “Do you like him?”

          “I don’t know. Maybe.”

          “Then I suggest you tell him.” Todd says nonchalantly.

          “It isn’t that easy!” I exclaim.

          “Well you’re a bright girl, you’ll figure it out.” Todd says, standing up and leaves the kitchen.

I just it incredibly hard to believe that Ryder O’Connor loves me. I mean, has everyone forgotten how horrible he was to me in our childhood? I mean, I think I could see us together, but I’m leaving for Dallas in August. That’s approximately eight weeks from now. Like I don’t even know if we could establish a relationship in eight weeks. Plus I don’t love Ryder. I mean, I don’t even know if I like him! Plus how would I even bring it up? Just be like, “Hey Ryder, I heard you love me.” No, I can’t do that. And he’s still in love with this Scarlett girl I think. Dammit. This is difficult. It’s difficult because in all of my past relationships, I’ve never had to wonder if the guy is really attracted to me. Why? Because it was always a mutual attraction, and the guy almost always asked me out. Or sometimes I’d tell him I like him, because I didn’t really care what they thought. But the thing is I do care what Ryder thinks. I groan and put my head down on the table.

I hear the door open, and then a voice says, “What are you doing?” It’s Hailey’s voice. God I don’t need this right now.

I lift my head up and look up at Hailey, “Nothing.” I think this is the first time we’ve spoken without an insult being thrown.

Hailey sits down at the table, and grabs an apple from the fruit bowl. She wipes it on her t-shirt, and spins it around in her hands. I look over at her and say, “Not to be rude. But what are you doing?”

          “I’m eating an apple.” She tells me, obviously. “And I happened to hear what you and Todd were discussing before I came in here.”

I groan, “So now what? You gonna tease me about it? Tell me that I’m not good enough for your brother?”

          “On the contrary McKenna. I don’t like you, but I do think that your dating Ryder would be beneficial.”

I raise my eyebrows, who knew Hailey could use words like, ‘contrary,’ and ‘beneficial’, in the correct way. “How so?” I ask.

          “I know he’s probably told you about Scarlett, he’s still in love with her.”

I nod, “Yeah, I know that.”

          “If you two started dating then he’d eventually get over her and let her go.”

          “You think so?”

          “I know so.” She says, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

          “But there’s a problem.”

          “What problem?” She asks.

          “I don’t know how to bring it up.”

          “I’m sure you’ve asked guys out before.” Hailey says, eating her apple.

          “Well yes, but I actually know Ryder. Like I’ve known him all my life.”

          “This is why it should be easier.”

          “But it isn’t.” I tell her.

          “Stop being a wuss. Just go up there and kiss him.”

I roll my eyes, sigh. “I think he may still be a tad bit sick.”

          “Well be flirty. You can do that right?”

          “I guess so.” I say.

          “Alright then, you go up there and you do that.”

Ahh, Christ. But then there’s Matt. I mean, I don’t see us dating in the near future, but still. “Okay.” I say, standing up.

          “Just because we had this talk, doesn’t mean I like you. Just remember that.”

          “Of course. I don’t like you either.” I tell her, as I leave the kitchen.

I go up the stairs slowly, and menacingly. I’m trying to think of how to do this. Okay first, I’ll take a shower and like make myself look like I didn’t just get up a few hours ago. I go into my room; happy to smell that the scent of the paint is gone. I let down the window and go to my closet. I pull out a pair of black skinny jeans, and a red t-shirt. I go to the bathroom and take a quick shower. I know one thing; Ryder better not be asleep when I get back in his room. I get out of the shower and look at the time on my cell phone; 1:21. I get dressed quickly and brush my teeth. Then I get my hairbrush and yank it through my hair, pulling out the tangles. When I’m done, I leave the bathroom and go to Ryder’s door.

I stand there for a few seconds before I gather up the nerve to walk into his room. Why am I so nervous? I mean, I already know he loves me, well supposedly he does. So I’m gonna go in there, and I’m gonna be flirty. Yeah, that’s what I’m gonna do. Well that’s what I’m gonna attempt to do.

Okay, I can do this.

Then I push the door open, and walk into Ryder’s room.