When I woke my mother up, she was just as irritable as she usually was, and rather perturbed to have to give directions to Ryder on how to get here. She wasn’t a big fan of Ryder- come to think of it, she wasn’t a big fan of any of my guy friends due to their tight and saggy pants and long messy hair- but she came through for me, clearly telling Ryder over the phone how to get to the Good’s house.
I took my time getting ready since I knew it was take Ryder a while to get here. I fixed my hair, and applied the regular amount of makeup. I decided I wanted to be cute, but comfortable, so I wore a snug black vee-necked shirt, with a pair of dark denim skinny jeans. I put on some beaded bracelets, and a necklace with a charm in the shape of a key that hung down my chest and stopped near my belly button and decided I was ready.
I snatched my purse from on top of my bed and grabbed my camera from the top of my dresser and left the bedroom, taking the stairs by two as I shot down them. Matt was sitting on the couch flipping through channels on the television, looking lazy and bored. At the sound of me descending from upstairs, his striking turquoise eyes glanced at me and a grimace formed on his lips.
“Your boyfriend here already?” he teased and I narrowed my eyes at him as I walked into the living room and stood behind the other half of the couch.
“He’s not my boyfriend, and no he isn’t here. It takes a while to get here.” I snapped and he rolled his eyes.
“Well you look very nice.” He offered, glancing at me a few times as if he were worried about how I would react to his compliment.
To be honest, it took me by surprise, and I felt my cheeks turn pink. I looked down at the couch and smoothed out the front of my shirt, trying to think of a witty retort. However nothing came to mind, seeing as his comment was seemingly genuine, so I just shrugged.
“I haven’t seen Ryder in a while. I guess I tried to put a little effort in what I looked like today…” I sighed and he continued to flip incessantly through television channels, obviously nothing catching his interest.
Neither of us spoke, and I watched the TV with my head cocked to the side, acting like I was paying attention to all the channels he was skipping over. I think I must have been standing there silent for a while because the next thing I knew, the door bell rang.
My insides leapt up my throat and I scrambled away from the living room, skidding to a halt in front of the front door. I caught my breath and pulled the door open only to be bowled over by the person at the door. I only caught a glimpse of raven black hair before I was falling onto the floor laughing.
“Ryder that hurt!” I laughed, trying to pry him off me. However he had a strong hold around my waist, and I was turning more and more red due to the fact Matt had left his post on the couch and was leaning against the wall observing Ryder and me.
I couldn’t hear exactly what Ryder was saying, but he was squealing something into my shoulder, still keeping me in his tight embrace on the floor. When my laughter turned nervous, and I suddenly was too uncomfortable to even laugh, Ryder’s grip loosened and he began to stand up, helping me to my feet.
He grinned feverishly at me, keeping hold of my hand and swinging it as he looked fondly at me. His giddiness was infectious, and I found myself smiling as well as I looked him over.
His black hair sat on top of his head messily, bangs swooping across naturally wide brown eyes. His ear piercings were large and stretched out his ear lobes, and he had taken out his usual loop lip piercings and replaced them with studs. He was wearing a tight fitting black band tee-shirt, black, torn skinny jeans hugging his hips with a black and white checkered belt.
“Are you ready to get going?” he asked and I nodded my head with enthusiasm.
“Yeah, sure-” however we were interrupted by a small cough coming from Matt’s direction, and when I looked towards him he was staring expectantly at me with a smirk. I glared at him and rolled my eyes.
“Ryder, that’s Matt. Matt this is Ryder.” I introduced the both of them, and though Matt Merely gave a nod, Ryder raised a hand to wave at him.
“It’s good to meet you finally! We’ve all heard loads about you-” however Ryder’s speech was cut short when I ‘accidentally’ stomped on his foot. He sucked in a breath of air and bit his lip in pain, looking down at me with an impish expression.
“Have you now?” Matt perked up, looking at me. I was five deep shades of red by now, and the sudden impulse to leave was growing stronger.
“Okay, we should get going!” I piped, pushing Ryder towards the front door. Matt stepped away from the wall and approached us, watching me with amusement as I tried to shove Ryder out the door before he could say anything else to embarrass me.
“Bye Matt!” Ryder hollered over his shoulder just before I succeeded in shoving him and myself out of the house. I heard Matt chuckle as I shut the front door behind me, then rounded on Ryder who was grinning mischievously at me. I smacked his shoulder and he jumped away from me with an “Ouch!”
He laughed childishly and hustled after me, already at the passenger side of Ryder’s cheap looking black car, my eyes tracing over the dings and scratches littering the paint job. Still smiling to himself, Ryder opened up his car door and we both got inside, sitting down in our seats and buckling up.
“He didn’t seem that bad, Shimzie!” Ryder pressed as he turned his keys that he left in the ignition, and the car jumbled to a start.
I rolled my eyes and hit my head against the window. “God, if you only knew.” I groaned and he laughed.
With that his car peeled out of the driveway, and we were on the road. The Shins’ CD was in his stereo, and together we sang along to the songs. A few times he reached sideways and ruffled my hair up. I felt so euphoric to be back in company with one of my best friends, I didn’t even smack his hand away when he messed up my hair.
The feeling of being back with someone who knew me better than I knew myself was overwhelming. It had only been since Friday that I last saw him, but it felt like I had been away from him for years. However the feeling of friendship was still the same and I couldn’t keep a smile off my face the whole way back to Riverside.
