Best Friends Since Kindergarten

Wake Up

AMY

I woke up to the sound of an alarm blaring near me. I was wrapped in the coziest warmth I had ever known though, and didn’t want to pay the sound any heed. I kept my eyes tightly shut, keeping my arms wrapped around the warm pillow beneath me. Then suddenly, the pillow shifted and the alarm turned off. I heard a grumpy mutter, voice rumbling in the pillow beneath me. My face flushed as last night came back to me. Ryan. This wasn’t a pillow, this was Ryan. My breath caught in my throat. My face was pressed into the crook of his neck, my arm flung across his bare chest. He had an arm wrapped around me and was gently stroking my back over my t-shirt.

“Amy,” he murmured. My heart skipped a beat. How had I even ended up here? Last I remembered we’d been sleeping on the couch… and he’d been clothed. He gently tugged on a strand of my hair. “Amy,” he repeated. I groaned and let my eyes open against his neck. I fluttered my eyelashes, giving him butterfly kisses. To my delight, he shivered beneath me. I was almost overwhelmed with the urge to kiss his neck, to suck on his lower lip and straddle him. I wanted to run my hands over every inch of his chest. Without really thinking about it, I squeezed him closer to me, pressing my face harder against him. “Amy,” he said hoarsely. I wanted him to moan my name. “Amy, wake up.” I sighed and shifted, shoving those thoughts to the back of my mind. This was my best friend, I scolded myself.

“I’m awake,” I grumbled, finally opening my eyes all the way. I blinked at the room around me. I had never actually been inside Ryan’s room, only seen it from across the way. The walls were painted a dark blue that matched the stripes on his comforter. His room’s ceiling was slanted and various posters of bands and attractive women were plastered on it. A particularly scantily clad blonde was right above his bed. I hadn’t been able to see the poster wall from my room- didn’t know he was into blondes. The thought sent a pang through me. The rest of his space was surprisingly neat. The hardwood floors were clearly visible, everything tucked into shelves and a dresser around the perimeter of the room. He had a bench along the wall with the window with books stacked up high on it, out of sight from my room. He shook me lightly.

“Amy,” he said more urgently.

“What?” I asked, reluctantly sitting up from his arms and looking him in the eyes.

“You need to get up if you want to get to school on time,” he said gruffly and tugged on a strand of my hair. Ryan never bothered to show up for first period- he had a free first thing and didn’t see the point. Which was honestly fair enough. I had math first thing, which sucked. I groaned at the thought of sitting through another trig class. I didn’t want to go in. I didn’t want to get out of Ryan’s bed.

“What if I don’t want to get to school on time?” I asked him. He raised a brow at me.

“Do you mean that? Or are you just thinking about trig?” he teased knowingly.

“Can’t both be true?” I said innocently, laying my hand against his chest. His eyes flicked down to the hand before he looked back up at my face. Then there was a knock at the door.

“Ryan,” Rob sang out from the other side. “It’s time for school, honey!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ryan shouted back without looking away from my face. “I’ll be down in a minute.” My breath caught in my throat as I stared into his icy blue eyes. The atmosphere had changed- everything felt heavy all of a sudden, and my head was spinning. Did he feel it? It felt like our faces were being drawn towards each other like magnets.

I felt like I was drowning. I had to break this feeling before I did something I couldn’t take back. Panicked, I started to tickle him aggressively. He shouted in protest, trying unsuccessfully to push me off him. I got him laughing fast. Few people knew he was ticklish, and even then you had to really catch him by surprise to get a good reaction. I laughed too, intoxicated by him. “Stop!” he gasped. “Amy! Stop!” I tickled him harder, grinning like an i***t. “Amy!” he said, catching hold of my wrists. I kept trying to tickle him, but then he flipped me over on my back with my hands pinned by my head. He straddled me, breathing heavily. His weight pressed against my front- I could feel it. He was hard… and big. My face flushed. “Jesus, Amy,” he panted. I stared up at him dumbly as he recovered, his breathing returning to normal.

The door opened. “What are you doing in here?” Rob demanded, then froze, looking at our compromising position. “My bad,” he said quickly, and started closing the door. Ryan rapidly released my wrists, sitting back on me.

“Rob!” he said, holding out a hand. “It’s not what it looks like!” Rob paused in the doorway.

“I kind of doubt that,” he said with a chuckle. “Mom’s gonna kill you when she finds out you had Amy sleep over.” Ryan scowled.

“Then you shouldn’t have abandoned us in the basement! I couldn’t exactly break into her house and return her!” he snapped.

“You looked so peaceful!” Rob argued with a grin. Ryan growled. I was still paralyzed underneath him. Intensely aware of his hard-on. “Whatever you say. No judgment here,” he teased. “Just get down for breakfast already, okay? I’ll tell mom to add some extra eggs.” Rob closed the door.

Ryan rubbed his forehead in exasperation for a moment before registering my silence. “You okay, Amy?” he asked with a frown. I wanted to ask him to get off, but also didn’t want him to move. My breath was so fast and my heart was pounding loud enough in my chest that I thought he must be able to hear it too. His face suddenly flushed and he clambered off me. “Sorry,” he grumbled.

“S’okay,” I said breathlessly. He swung his legs out of the bed and stood up.

“Do you need something to wear?” he asked gruffly. I nodded. He reached into a dresser drawer and pulled out one of his plain white t-shirts. He tossed it to me and turned his back on me to get dressed. I watched him for a moment, enjoying the sight of his back muscles rippling as he pulled the shirt on over his head, then quickly got up. I looked back at him to make sure he wasn’t peeking, then tugged my shirt off and quickly hooked my bra on. I slid into his shirt- it was basically a dress on me. It came down to my mid-thigh. I yanked my leggings on and tucked the front of the shirt into the waistband so it looked a little less like a sack.

“I’m decent,” I told him, turning around to look at him again as I brushed through my hair with my fingers. He turned from his dresser to face me, then broke out into a laugh.

“You look funnier than I imagined,” he chuckled. I scowled at him.

“Couldn’t I borrow one of your sister’s shirts?” I demanded. She was 12, but I was at least about the same size as her. He shook his head.

“Absolutely not- I am not letting you change out of that.” I grumbled at him and tied my hair back into its usual neat ponytail. “Let’s go eat,” he said brightly. His eyes sparkled. I nodded and brushed past him to open the door, ignoring the tingle I felt as my arm touched his. He followed me out and down the stairs. The smell of cooking eggs made my stomach grumble.

“Good morning, Mrs. Robertson!” I said brightly as I walked into the kitchen. She turned around and smiled at me.

“Morning, Amy! I didn’t realize you’d be joining us!” Rob sat at the counter, gobbling down eggs. I guess Lucy had gone home without me.

“Me neither,” I joked. “Guess I fell asleep.” She laughed and passed me a plate with an omelet and a cut-up apple on it. She had put cheddar in the omelet- she knew how much I loved cheese. I smiled widely at her and took a seat.

“Morning, mom,” Ryan said, walking over to give her a hug and kiss on the cheek. She scowled at him and shoved a plate into his hands.

“I’m still mad at you!” she told him sternly. He laughed.

“Then why’d you give me extra bacon?” he asked cheerfully.

“Shush!” she said firmly, turning around to finish making her own breakfast. Ryan climbed onto the counter stool next to me. I felt intensely aware of him- my skin tingled where our bodies almost touched. I shivered and quickly dug in, wanting to avoid these thoughts. He’s your best friend! I chanted in my mind. When we’d finished eating, the three of us walked outside, me bouncing ahead. Jimmy and Lucy were waiting for us, as usual. Lucy was holding my backpack. She offered it to me with a knowing grin. I snatched it from her hand with a scowl.

“Thanks for abandoning me,” I said sarcastically.

“You’re very welcome. You look like you slept well,” she smirked at me. I blushed angrily while Jimmy cackled. Rob and Ryan caught up to me a split second later. Rob walked past me and wrapped his arms around Lucy, planting a kiss on her lips.

“Hello, beautiful,” he purred.

“Good morning, gorgeous,” she answered in an uncomfortably suggestive tone. I gagged, exchanging a look of horror with Ryan and Jimmy.

“I swear they get grosser every day,” Ryan grumbled. Jimmy nodded vigorously.

“Shut up,” Rob snapped at us. He grabbed Lucy’s hand and the two of them walked off ahead.

“See you later,” I told Ryan with a grin. He lightly punched my shoulder, eyes unreadable.

“Later. Lunch?” he asked.

“You coming to the cafeteria?” I asked with an eyebrow raised. He grimaced.

“If that’s the only place you’re willing to eat, then I guess so,” I smiled brightly at him.

“Great! You and Andres could use some time to bond,” I teased. He wrinkled his nose.

“Blondie will be there?” he asked.

“You betcha! And Susan too,” I said with a wink, shoving my emotions down. He had always liked Susan- the poster over his bed only proved it to me.

He rolled his eyes. “Can’t wait,” he said drily. I blinked at him, confused by his tone.

“Hurry up,” Jimmy said impatiently.

“Okay! Later, Ryan,” I turned and walked away with Jimmy. I could feel Ryan’s eyes watching us as we walked, sending shivers down my spine. When I looked back over my shoulder, he was still there, hands in his pockets. He had an odd expression on his face. Sadness? He looked surprised when I turned and quickly spun about and went back into the house. I frowned.

“Eyes on the road, dingus,” Jimmy said with a snort. I glowered at him. “What?” he said. “I can’t believe you slept over with him. You’re lucky dad didn’t notice you were gone.”

“Shut up,” I growled, my eyes focused ahead of us on Lucy and Rob walking, holding hands.

“Did you at least get up to anything fun?” he pried.

“Sleeping is fun,” I said flatly.

“Fine, don’t tell me,” he rolled his eyes at me. The rest of the way to school he chatted cheerfully about his teammates and upcoming games. I tuned him out. It was bad enough I had to be at those games, let alone hear about it before it happened too. My thoughts drifted back to Ryan- the feel of his chest underneath my hands, the scent of him as my face pressed into his neck, the warm feeling of his hand rubbing my back. I blushed again. When he had me pinned beneath him, I had wanted him to lean down and kiss me, touch me, do whatever he wanted with me. I knew he was experienced. He almost always had some new girl hanging off his arm. No one new in a couple of months though. Lunch, I told myself. I’ll see him at lunch. Only a few classes away.