After everyone had eaten, we still had ordered more food. Everyone was hungry as hell, and after a while, Ryden loosened up and cracked, and eventually tried talking to Michelle.

"So..." Ryden asked, stirring a fry around in her ranch, "How long have you known Brian, Michelle?" Michelle looked up from her bowl of ice cream and looked at her. I stayed quiet, and sipped on my drink, while Brian looked like he was holding his breath.

"I've known his since before he moved to Nebraska. We were really close friends until he moved.." She mumbled, eating a spoonful.

"Oh.." Ryden said. I snaked my arm around her waist and pulled her close, then hugged her tightly. She returned the favor and rested her hand on my knee, and I smiled a bit. Asking her out is one of the many things I had on my mind at the moment. One of the other things was how awkward this whole thing had been in the beginning, and wondering why Ryden didn't like Michelle right off the bat. That didn't sound normal for her. Considering that she was one of the sweetest people I've ever known. Which made her, in a sense, more attractive to me; magnificent.

Ryden was still looking like she was upset and Michelle just sat there, mixing around her ice cream. Brian sighed, and broke the ice. "Ry, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about Michelle." He said. Ryden shrugged, and reached for another one of her fries.

"It's whatever." She said. We both knew that was a lie. It was way too obvious because she never turned her attention from her fries the whole time.

---

After everyone had gotten their fix of food and paid, we all went our separate ways. Brian took Michelle home, then went to one of the music bars, then I went home with Ryden, and popped in a chick flick and relaxed with a beer.

Ryden was getting changed into her pajamas after we arrived, so I was just waiting on the couch. I flipped through the book of DVDs that I had by the coffee table, and I slid out a disc, A Walk To Remember.

She should like this. I thought, then nodded. I got up, turned on the TV and DVD player, then slid the disc in before sitting back down and grabbing the remote. When she walked back down the spiral stairs, she was only in one of my shirts. Again.

"Do you have a thing for sleeping in my shirts?" I asked. She shrugged, and sat down.

"Do you have a thing for me?" She asked, looking up at me. I looked back down at her, then nodded.

"Yeah. I would have assumed you already knew that." I said, pressing play on the remote when the menu popped up. She nodded also, then turned her attention to the screen.

"I did, I just wanted you to say it." She admitted. I chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up and watch the movie." I said, kissing the top of her head. She nodded silently and stretched across the couch, laying her head on the arm. I must admit, even though it was stupid, the movie nearly made me cry. While when the movie finished, Ryden was asleep, and apparently fell asleep three quarters of the way in. I got up, walked to my bedroom, and grabbed a blanket. I'm sure she won't complain about sleeping on the couch a night. I wondered. In case she would, I locked her bedroom door, so she couldn't get in when needed tonight.

I'm a sneaky man.

I walked back downstairs and covered her up, then walked back upstairs to go to bed. I was up alone, so I figured I'd take a shower. When I walked to the bathroom, I left the door open, because why not? After turning on the water and stripping down, I got in and tuned around, letting the water run down my back before washing the gel out of my hair, and washing the rest of my body. After I had stepped out, the air hit me like a ton of bricks and I was freezing, so I hurried to dry off and get dressed and into my warm bed.

I crawled under my heavy blankets and stretched, groaning quietly. It was nice to be in bed and honestly I wished that I never had to get up or out of bed. It was only about 1AM and I still couldn't sleep. All I could do at the moment was think about how cool starting a band would be. I mean, that'd be pretty cool right? Brian had went to college to study music and I already knew how to play guitar, and Matthew sang a lot. So basically all we needed was a bassist and a drummer. Wouldn't be that hard to find, right?

Notes

Ohhh another update. I feel pretty good about this one! I'm gonna start bringing band stuff into the mix now, and i'll end up introducing Jimmy and Johnny later on in the story when they audition and stuff? Tell me how it is!! What do you think??