Besides, MICA is super close to home if I ever get homesick and they have a phenomenal photography program. It’s one of the four schools I got into and I think the moment I got that acceptance—it was the first one I got—I knew that none of the other schools truly mattered.
Ryen slurps on her smoothie, the staccato sound pulling me back to focus.
“Hey, are we still on for that movie tomorrow?” I ask, changing the subject.
She places her nearly empty smoothie cup on the table, almost as if in slow motion. Her eyes are still on her phone, looking down, as she tilts her head and lets out a rather exaggerated, “About that.” She then brings her eyes up to me slowly, almost with caution, like I might be disappointed in her.
And maybe I am, because I already know where this is heading.
“No,” I state firmly, hands out in front of me as if to stop her from proceeding. I shake my head. “Absolutely not, Ry. We had plans.”
Ryen jumps up and immediately springs into verbal action.
“Girl, it’ll be fun!” She moves in closer to me, excitement covering her features—if I can even call it that. Ryen is the most stoic and nonchalant person I’ve ever met. With me, she’s a little bit more open and expressive but even then, it’s still a casual offense.
“It’s our first party of the year,” she continues, “and we promised to live it up and shit, ya know?”
I let out a sigh. “I only really agreed to that because you told me you were tired of working and being at home all the time and that you wanted to make sure you gave yourself thefull high school experiencebefore it ends. And because-”
“Becauseyouhave had this major crush on someone who you don't even think notices you that way and I told you that you have to go for it and find out.”
I lower my gaze at her, knowing that both of us can be rather stubborn sometimes. But the whole point of that little promise we made was so that we can both push each other out of our comfort zones.
“It’s a party atmyhouse,” I remark, still trying to convince her that we don’t have to go to this party. “You can come overany time you want. Besides, I don’t really fit in at parties, Ry. You know that.” I’m contradicting my own thoughts from a few moments ago. I’m supposed to be stepping out of my comfort zone, not crawling into it.
“Okay, but that’s because you choosenotto fit in. Come on. I promise you’ll have fun. And I…” she reaches out for my hand in a very confusing gesture of comfort, “mighthave already given our movie tickets to Shay and Thomas.”
“You didwhat? I paid for those!” I exclaim, slight anger lacing my tone but I pair it with a friendly demeanor as I playfully snatch my hand away from her in mock pain.
“I just knew you were going to say no,” she starts, a falsely painted look of apology in her eyes. “So I took it upon myself to make a decision for us.” She falls back in her chair, her black hair lightly picking up in the small breeze that captures us.
“I’m gonna make you pay me back for those,” I say assertively, but really, we both know I’m a pushover when it comes to her.
Ryen and I never owe anything to each other. She buys the snacks, I get the tickets. She picks me up for school and I let her crash at my place when her stepdad is being a jerk. We have always had each other’s backs and hardly ever as she led me astray. It’s why I trust her and her judgment and, most of the time, trust her with my life.
“Soo…” Ryen raises her brows as she points a crooked smirk at me. “Is that ayes?”
I sigh, dropping my shoulders in a dramatic reaction, but ultimately, I nod my head. Though, before I can say anything else, my phone starts to vibrate in my pocket.
Ryen leans forward. "Is that Zach?" she asks.
"No, it's just an Instagram notification." I look at her and roll my eyes, but secretly I was kind of hoping it was him.
I put the phone back into my pocket and get up to throw my cup in the trash. "Hey, you wanna go to the mall before the game tonight?" I ask, as she gets up from the table.
"What you need from the mall?" she asks as she tilts her head at me.
"Just feel like picking out a new dress to wear for Bray's party tomorrow," I reply as we walk toward the parking lot back to her car.
"Oooo. Trying to impress someone?" She teases, rubbing her shoulder up against mine. I just laugh at her, but really, she's not wrong.
Impressing Zach has never really been something I've attempted to do. I've always believed that if someone is going to like me, they're going to like me for me and while that still stand true where Zach is concerned, it's also different. I want to make a better impression knowing that he showed interest in me coming to this party. I know it might not seem like much, and I don't want to seem so desperate, but if I'm going to keep trying to step out of my comfort zone this year, I might as well take the risk to make an impression in which he's likely not expect.
Ry backs out of the parking space and starts heading down the road to my house.
“You know,” she starts as she turns the volume knob to the radio down. “Zach has a bike."
I shoot her a confused look. "Okay?"
