Lying Out Loud(60)

It was another day when his mother wouldn’t be home until the evening (we’d checked this time), which meant we were at his house, in his room, on his bed. Only Ryder didn’t seem entirely there. Like he was preoccupied with something besides feeling me up.

“Amy,” he said.

I frowned down at him. “Okay. Not the answer I was hoping for.”

He shook his head. “Not like that,” he said. “Obviously. I just feel like I should apologize to her.”

“For …?”

“This.” He gestured between us. “I’m not exactly her biggest fan anymore, but we did have something going on between us for a while. It must be weird that I’m now dating her best friend.”

“It’s not,” I assured him. “She’s totally fine with it.”

Which was mostly true. Amy knew that Ryder and I had been seeing each other for the past month, and she was totally supportive. Happy for me, even. She just thought Ryder was more informed than he really was. And of course, she had no idea that he now considered her to be one of the rudest, flakiest people on the planet. You know. Small details.

So far, I hadn’t had to do much work to keep the truth from coming out. It wasn’t as if Ryder and Amy hung out ever. And with the way Ryder felt about Amy now, I didn’t think it would be too hard to keep them separated until graduation in May.

But Ryder and his damn conscience were going to ruin everything.

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “I just … I don’t want to be like my dad, you know?”

“How can you even say that?” I asked.

“You heard my mom the other day. Cross DNA.”

“Are you serious? Ryder, you didn’t cheat on Amy. You two never even kissed. I know you guys had a virtual connection …” Believe me, I knew all too well. “But, like you told me, there wasn’t really anything there. She knows that. You’re not like your dad.”

“I hope not,” he said, burying his hands in my curls as he leaned up to kiss me.

“But … speaking of your dad …”

He flopped back onto the bed with a groan. “Okay. Definitely not what I want to talk, or think, about when there’s a girl in my bedroom.”

“Sorry, but you started it,” I said. “I was just curious if you’d heard from him lately.”

Ryder sighed. “He called yesterday. Left a voice mail. The same old thing. He apologized and pretty much begged me to call him. He says he wants to see me. Thinks I should come to DC for spring break.”

“Maybe you should.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you miss me?”

“Of course,” I said. “But I’m sure I can find someone else to make out with while you’re away.”

He gave me an exaggerated, playful frown, and I laughed as I leaned down to kiss the tip of his nose.

“Seriously, though. You should call him,” I said. “I know he screwed up pretty terribly. But my dad has done some bad things, too. Prison-worthy bad things, in fact. But he’s still my dad. And I’m glad to have him back in my life. And that’s because of you.” I smiled as I found his hand and twined our fingers together. “I owe you for that, so let me return the favor here. Give him a chance.”

He sighed. “I’ll think about it.”

“Okay,” I said, knowing that even that was serious progress.

“In the meantime …”

I squealed with laughter as he flipped me onto my back and placed a long kiss on my lips.

“No more talking about Amy,” he whispered, his mouth a fraction of an inch from mine. “Or my dad.”

I nodded, the kiss having left me breathless. “Deal.”

But Ryder had barely gotten his hand up my shirt when his cell phone began to ring from the dresser.

“That’s my mom’s ringtone,” he said, rolling off me.

“Of course it is,” I said. “The universe is determined to keep me clothed.”

“The universe is awful,” he said. Then he picked up the phone. “Hello, Mom.”

With the mood sufficiently killed, I climbed off the bed and began walking around Ryder’s room, investigating areas I hadn’t yet. Like his car, it was immaculately clean. Serial-killer clean. Even the DVDs and Blu-rays on his shelf were in alphabetical order.

“Yes. I’ll be sure to do that…. See you tonight, Mom. I love you.” He hung up the phone and turned to look at me. “Did you want to watch a movie?” he asked.

“Maybe. But only if we can watch …” I grabbed the DVD off the shelf and spun to face him, grinning. “Clueless?”

Ryder’s eyes went wide. “I … um …”

“Or Cruel Intentions? Or maybe 10 Things I Hate About You?”

“Okay, I get it.”

“She’s All That? American Pie? Can’t Hardly Wait? That one wasn’t even very good.”

“It’s not bad.”

“I thought you didn’t like mainstream Hollywood films?” I teased.

“Yes. All right. You caught me,” he said. “I have a soft spot for nineties teen movies. It’s a guilty pleasure. I’m not proud of it. Happy?”