Maybe Someday(61)

the night at a girl’s house who I didn’t

know very well. We made out. I wasn’t in-

to it, and it was really gross, but I was

seventeen and curious.

Ridge: No. That does NOT count as a flaw,

Sydney. Jesus Christ, work with me here.

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Me: I like the smell of puppy breath.

Ridge: Better. I can’t hear my own farts,

so sometimes I’ll forget that other people

can hear them.

Me: Oh, my God. Yes, this is the type of

thing that definitely sheds a different light

on you. I think I’ll be good for a while.

Ridge: One more from you, and then I

think we’ll be equally repulsed.

Me: A few days ago, when I was getting

off the campus bus, I noticed Tori’s car

was gone. I used my extra key to let my-

self into her apartment, because I needed

a few things I had forgotten. Before I left,

I opened all her bottles of liquor and spit

in them.

Ridge: For real?

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I nod, because I’m too ashamed to type the

word yes.

He laughs.

Ridge: Okay. I think we’re good. Meet me

here at eight tonight, and we’ll see if we

can navigate through a song. If we need

to take breaks from the music every now

and then in order to replenish our repuls-

iveness with a few more flaws, just let me

know.

Me: Deal.

I close my laptop and begin to slide off the

bed, but he grabs my wrist. I turn around, and

he’s looking at me with a serious expression. He

leans over and grabs a pen, then picks up my

hand and writes: Thank you.

I press my lips together and nod. He releases

my hand, and I walk back to my room, attempt-

ing to ignore the fact that all the repulsive details 347/692

in the world couldn’t stop my heart from reacting

to that simple gesture. I look down at my chest.

Hey, heart. Are you listening? You and I are

officially at war.

Ridge

As soon as she’s out of my bedroom and the door

shuts behind her, I close my eyes and exhale.

I’m thankful that she isn’t angry. I’m thankful

that she isn’t vindictive. I’m thankful that she’s

reasonable.

I’m also thankful that she appears to have

more willpower than I do, because whenever I’m

around her, I’ve never felt so weak.

Chapter Thirteen

Sydney

Not much has changed in the way we practice to-

gether, other than the fact that we now practice

five feet apart from each other. We’ve completed

a couple of songs since “the kiss,” and although

the first night was a little awkward, we seem to

have found our groove. We haven’t talked about

the kiss, and we haven’t talked about Maggie,

and we haven’t discussed why he plays on the

floor and why I write alone on the bed. There’s

no reason to discuss it, because we’re both very

aware of all of it.

The fact that we’ve admitted our attraction to

each other doesn’t seem to have eliminated it the

way we’d hoped. For me, it’s like a huge ele-

phant in the room. It feels as if it takes up so

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much space when I’m with him that it presses me

against the wall, squeezing the last traces of

breath out of me. I keep telling myself it’ll get

better, but it’s been almost two weeks since the

kiss, and it hasn’t gotten easier at all.

Luckily, I have two interviews next week, and

if I get hired, at least it’ll get me out of the house more. Warren and Bridgette both work and go to

school, so they’re not here a whole lot. Ridge

works from home, so the fact that we’re both

here alone the majority of the day is always at the

front of my mind.

Out of all the hours in the day, though, the

hour I hate the most is when Ridge is in the

shower. Which means I really hate this hour,

since that’s where he is right now. I hate where

my thoughts go when I know he’s one wall away

from me, completely unclothed.

Jesus, Sydney.

I hear the water turn off and the shower curtain

slide open, and I squeeze my eyes shut, trying

once again not to picture him. This would

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probably be a good time of day to turn on some

music to drown out my thoughts.

As soon as the door closes between the bath-

room and his bedroom, there’s a knock at the

front door. I gladly jump off the bed and head to-

ward the living room to get my mind off the fact

that I know Ridge is in his room getting dressed

right now.

I don’t even bother looking through the peeph-

ole, which is a very bad oversight on my part. I

swing open the door to find Hunter standing

sheepishly at the top of the stairs. He eyes me, his