At Amanda’s insistence, I open the burrito and finally take a bite. It’s good. Damn it. In one final push to win someone over to my side I tell them about Ryland’s temper tantrum with Cody yesterday and sit back ready for them to agree with me about his overbearing ass behavior.
“That’s hot, Marissa.” Simone’s eyes twinkle as she stares a little dreamily at the tiled ceiling.
“Yeah in an overbearing jerky way.” I crumble up the aluminum foil my burrito came wrapped in and throw the trash in the bag on the floor.
Aspen shrugs. “Come on now. Mrs. Dean Winchester doesn’t find an arrogant guy hot? What’s happened to you?”
We’ve had an ongoing argument over which brother’s the hottest onSupernaturalsince college. Pen’s stuck herself firmly in the Sam corner with Amanda. Simone and I continue the good fight for the cuter, bossier brother, Dean. To date we’re at a standstill.
“Weren’t you always saying Cody should take charge more rather than trying to impress everyone? A man who knows what he wants is kind of hot, and Ryland’s made it known what he wants,” she continues. “You.”
I laugh at her little hair flick at the end of her statement. It loses all effect when you do it to a high ponytail. “Yes, I picked up on that part.”
Since I avoided giving an update earlier, I bring everyone up to speed on Ryland’s volunteering schedule and we spend time planning out more of the fundraiser I’ve officially taken over for Clare and the youth center without any more talk of Italy.
“When do we get to meet Clare? If she’s busy Sundays, maybe we’ll come with you and Ryland during the week. It’d be nice to do a big planning session if we’re going to pull off this fundraiser by the first week of April,” Aspen says.
I ponder her observation for a minute. She’s right, but every time I’ve mentioned Clare doing anything besides sitting next to one another as Ryland coaches, she’s been hesitant. No, that’s not right. She’s been downright skittish, like a baby bunny. Except I don’t get the impression Clare’s meek or mild… or fluffy for that matter.
“Ryland plans to pick me up from work on Thursday. Then we’ll head over there. Meet us at six and we’ll do an impromptu meeting?" Now I just cross my fingers Clare’s okay with four girls invading her space. “But keep the comments PG13. They’re kids and all, you know?”
Simone points at me. “Um, you mean you’ll need to keep the comments to a minimum.”
“Who me? Never.” I pretend to be clueless as we finish up our brunch and the other girls make plans to hang out for the afternoon. I plan to pull Ryland away from his video game time and talk him into more of this cuddling. Regardless of what he says, he enjoyed it.
