Broken Promises

Since I was Thirteen.

RYLEE’S P.O.V.

I walk into work with a smile on my face.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Collin yells as he picks me up.

“Thank you.” I laugh.

“I won!” Collin yells once more as he puts me down.

“Oh god, was it another bet?” I laugh.

“No, we were just fighting about who would say happy birthday to you first.” he smiles.

“Well, you won.” I laugh walking back to clock in.

Everyone wished me a happy birthday, Collin helped out more than usual and took most of the workload off of me; I did the same thing for his birthday though so. I stood at the counter as he worked the drive-through window, I glanced over at him for just a moment to catch him staring at me. He sticks his tongue out and crosses his eyes before continuing to work I laugh slightly as someone walks up to the counter.

“What’s so funny?” Jessica scoffs in my face.

“Nope.” I laugh and walk away.

“Liz, can you take this one?” I ask her nicely.

“Anything for the birthday girl.” She smiles walking past me before laughing loudly.

“Girl.” She laughs barely able to catch her breath.

“You are amazing, it’s even better in person.” She says loudly laughing harder. I laugh with her, Collin walks to the counter to grab napkins before laughing as he walks away.

“EXCUSE ME?” Jessica yells loudly.

“I got it.” Liz laughs wiping a tear from her eye from laughing so hard.

I continued to laugh in the back as I help Collin.

“So whatcha doing tonight?” Collin asks as we sit across from each other on our break.

“Watching a movie at home.” I smile.

“Really?” he asks lifting a brow.

“I don’t like parties that much,” I answer.

“Bull, every weekend there is a party at your house." he chuckles.

“Yeah, I just don’t care for them. I use them as an excuse to get blackout drunk and forget the world for a while.” I laugh.

“Excuse me, we’ve been waiting for five minutes!” A lady yells at us.

“Excuse me, we are on break. Head back to the counter and someone will be with you as soon as they can.” Collin answers.

“Such ignorance.” She scoffs.

“Yeah, from you,” I say lowly as Collin laughs.

“What was that?” The lady says loudly.

“Just carrying on my private conversation, I was having before you interrupted,” I answer.

“You are rude, didn’t your parents ever teach you manners!” She yelled.

“My parents are dead.” I laugh.

“Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn’t know.” She says lowly.

“Yeah, stop taking your problems out on other people.” I scoff.

“Happy birthday Rylee!” A frequent customer says as she slides a box wrapped in wrapping paper over to me.

“Thank you, Lyric, but you really didn’t have to get me anything!” I smile.

“It’s for that job you’ve been striving for!” she smiles.

“Open it, you only turn 16 once.” She urges. The rude lady still standing at the table. I slowly unwrap it, opening the box under the wrapping paper.

“Read it out loud!” She says quickly.

“Congratulations Rylee, you got the paid internship with Argus Observer!” I yelled loudly.

“Lyric you shouldn’t have!” I smile brightly as I pull her in for a hug.

“There’s more.” she smiles pointing to the box.

I pull out a nice shirt and a nice skirt with a note that says ‘for your first day’ a few professional-looking notepads, a Calander, and a to-do list pad as well as a notebook.

“Lyric” I smile sweetly.

“I will always help you strive to be the best, you Rylee.” She smiles. Lyric has been coming in every day for the past year, we’ve created a bond and have even hung out outside of work. She knows a lot about my life and what I've gone through. We have gotten really close over the past year and she knows I've been trying to get in at the Argus Observer which is a news outlet for months. They are much more than news, they keep up on pretty much everything, the latest artist and fashion trends, sometimes than even select drawings, paintings, and sketches from kids around here to give them their big break.

“Lyric.” I smile as my eyes start to water.

“Don’t cry, this is such an amazing thing I've gotten to be a part of. Next is getting you adopted.” she smiles.

“Actually, I already am.” I smile at her.

“Rylee, that’s amazing!” She smiles.

“Yeah, with family. My uncle Bruce.” I answer.

“That’s great! I remember you telling me about him.” She smiles. Hugging me once more.

“Okay, I have to head back to work but do something fun for me tonight okay?” she says walking towards the door.

“Anything for you!” I smile.

“Well, that was a lot.” Collin smiles.

“Congrats Rylee.” He says quickly.

“Thank you, Collin.” I smile

We continue our conversation as I shove fries in my mouth, I finally have gotten to the point where eating doesn’t make me sick anymore. Soon after we head back to work where I catch Collin giving me subtle glances the rest of our shift. He got off thirty minutes before me but stayed until my shift was over.

“Bye guys!” I yell as I walk towards the front door where Collin stood waiting.

“Happy birthday again!” They yelled.

“Thank you!” I yelled back with a smile.

“People are exhausting” I groan as the door shuts behind us.

“I know,” Collin smirks in response.

“You stayed later than you had to.” I laugh.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to leave you alone on your birthday. Remember mine?” He asks.

“Yeah, I picked up extra hours so you wouldn’t have to work late alone, and I also brought you a cake.” I smile.

“Well, I didn’t bring a cake but how about a ride home?” he asks.

“That would be great, thanks.” I smile as we walk towards his car.

“Rylee!” a voice yells from behind me, my smile fades as my brain registers who it is. I look at Collin who is now in guard mode and rushes over to me.

“What?” I ask as Collin stands firmly beside me.

“You haven’t texted me in a few days and I know today is your birthday, so I wanted to say happy birthday,” Grayson responds stepping closer.

“You said it, now leave me alone,” I say quickly.

“Rylee you can’t run away from it. You know I'm the obvious choice.” he continues.

“Grayson I'm not in the mood.” I scoff.

“Get in the car Rylee,” Collin suggests, opening the door for me.

“Collin I'm okay. I promise.” I say giving him a small smile.

“Grayson, I don’t care about money or power. I’m not that shallow. However, I do care about how people are treated, I don’t think your girlfriend would be very happy if she knew you were trying to get with other girls.” I said turning my attention back to him.

“Rylee, I don’t love you, or even like you for that matter. Your last name is all I care about.” Grayson said stepping closer once more.

“My last name will not be associated with the likes of you.” I scoff.

“It will be, in due time you will find out the truth,” Grayson smirks before walking away.

“What was that about?” Collin asked after we were safely in the car.

“Honestly, I have no idea.” I scoff rolling my eyes.

“Well, that kind of ruined my surprise for you.” he smiles.

“Collin, no.” I groan.

“Sorry, but it must be done,” he smirks pulling into a park.

“Ugh.” I groan covering my face with my hands so he can’t see how red my face is getting.

“Good, that adds to it. Keep your hands like that!” He lets out a small laugh.

LUKA’S P.O.V.

I spent the next 20 minutes arguing with Zack and Chris about Rylee, even if I didn’t have feelings for her, it doesn’t give them the right to think they have a right to her. The girls agreed honestly, they thought it was gross that they even thought that way.

“Okay, I’m done.” I scoffed standing up.

“Where are you going?” Daisy asked with a pouty face.

“To help my best friend celebrate what is left of her birthday,” I answered.

“No, this doesn’t mean I like her either. It means she shouldn’t have to be alone today.”

“She isn’t alone.” Daisy's older sister says as she comes out from the kitchen.

“What?” Daisy asks confused.

“She’s with Collin, he said he was taking her home tonight.” She answers.

“So?” I ask.

“So, Collin has never been just friends with a girl.” she laughs.

“I know that Rylee and Collin are just friends.” I scoff.

“And how do you know that?” Daisy asks, lifting a brow.

“Rylee would tell me if she was talking to or seeing someone. She always has.” I answer.

“But you didn’t tell Rylee about us, she only found out because she walked in on it.” Daisy laughs, giving me a questionable look.

“Yeah, you are the first girl I haven’t told Rylee about,” I answer.

“And why’s that?” She asks, a hurt look on her face.

“Because Rylee and I just started having actual conversations again since the bet finally wore off, if you remember we started talking right before the bet stuff started. I didn’t want our first few conversations to be about me seeing you. After all, she was just used for a bet.” I answer.

“I understand that, but how many times have you guys hung out since then?” Daisy asks.

“Not really that much, I walk her home from school, head back to my house for a while and then sometimes take her to and from work. We did hang out a lot for a little bit but we weren’t really talking then, it was mostly just about homework or notes for classes. There wasn’t anything to tell her about.” I answer

“That’s true. Maybe Collin and Rylee are just friends.” Daisy suggests.

“Let’s find out.” her sister adds pulling her phone out.

RYLEE’S P.O.V.

I hear some ruffling around behind and beside me, before hearing a lighter click.

“Open,” he says.

I look over to see him with a birthday cake with candles on top, a boyish smile across his face.

“Collin!” I smile as my face turns red.

“You deserve an amazing birthday and for some reason, I feel that it wasn’t that.” He smiles more.

“Thank you, it really wasn’t that great,” I answer before blowing out my candles.

“Did you make a wish?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I answer smiling.

“What did you wish for?” he asks again.

“If I tell you that it won’t come true.” I laugh lightly.

“That’s true.” He smiles and hands me a fork, we sit eating cake and laughing for a while before his phone rings in his pocket.

“Hello?” he says lowly.

“With a friend, why?” He says after a moment, muffled talking fills the other line.

“Just friends.” He says sternly.

“We are broken up Layla, enough with this stupid shit.” He scoffs.

“Friends,” he says once more, anger flashing across his face before he hangs up.

“Sorry about that.” he turns to me, trying to ignore the anger I can see all over him.

“Ex-girlfriend?” I ask putting the fork up to my mouth.

“Very much ex-girlfriend,” he smirks.

“Sometimes they can be so needy,” I smirk.

“That’s true, Layla is a piece of work sometimes.” he laughs.

“Isn’t that daisy’s older sister?” I ask raising a brow.

“I think so, why?” he asks.

“I have a feeling I know what that’s about,” I smirk pulling out my phone.

It rings a few times before there is an answer, I quickly put my phone on speaker.

“Hey Rylee, everything okay?” Luka asks.

“Of course, are you with Daisy?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he answers.

“And the call Collin just got was about me, right?” I ask.

“Yeah, I’m not sure what time I'm leaving, but definitely,” he answers.

“Okay, just making sure. I’ll see you for the movie, right?” I ask.

“Of course, I wouldn’t miss it,” he says before he hangs up.

“I’m confused.” Collin laughs.

“So, Luka is actually at Daisy's, she had a small party thing tonight that Lucas texted me about a little while ago. Layla is Daisy's sister, which means that Luka is with both of them since Luka is hooking up with Daisy. The Yeah, I'm not sure when I'm leaving but definitely, was him basically saying yeah but I can't talk about it right now but definitely.” I answer as Collin gives me a confused look.

“Luka and I have been friends for a long time, so we figured out what works for us when we are around people and can’t talk about drama.” I smile.

“Okay.” He rolls his eyes before taking another bite of the cake.

“So, it was because I'm with you?” he asks. I nod as I shove the fork into my mouth.

“Well, Layla always did hate you.” he laughs, I give him a puzzling look.

“Oh, come on Rylee.” he gives me a ‘are you kidding me look.

“You really don’t know?” he asks, I shake my head confused.

“You are one of the prettiest girls in our school.” he scoffs.

“I am not.” I laugh.

“You are hands down one of the prettiest girls. However, I think our friendship is great how it is. Layla didn’t like that we worked together or hung out sometimes.” Collin continued.

“Which is why you stopped hanging out with me?” I ask.

“Yeah, when Layla and I were together she didn’t really care at all about anything I had to say, I wasn’t allowed to talk to or be around girls,” he answered rubbing his hand through his hair.

“Geez, I can’t think of why you guys would have broken up.” I laugh.

“She cheated on me,” he says bluntly.

“Wow.” I choke on my cake.

“Don’t die!” he yells quickly making me laugh.

“Great, help.” I muster between my coughs and laugh.

“Sorry, I'm not good in these situations.” he laughs patting me on the back.

“That was gross,” I mumble after I finally got the cake up and spit it on the ground.

“A little.” he laughs.

“Thank you for the encouragement.” I laugh lightly getting a sip of water.

“Don’t choke on that now too.” he laughs.

“Knock it off!” I playfully push him.

“You have icing on your lip,” he says trying to help me out.

“Oh,” I say trying to get it off.

“Let me just stop moving.” he laughs taking his thumb and wiping it off. I sat there for a moment; I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. In the movies, it's always a kiss or s*x?

“We should get going.” I clear my throat.

“Yeah, it’s getting late,” he answers as we pack up what’s left of the cake and start driving.

LUKA’S P.O.V.

I head to Rylee’s, where I'm sure she already is, I walk inside expecting her to be waiting on the couch, but instead, I'm met with everyone but her. I groan to myself as I plop down next to them.

“Where’s Rylee?” they ask confused.

“With Collin.” I grit my teeth.

“Why?” Noah asks shocked.

“He gave her a ride home,” I answer throwing my head back.

“Why didn’t you?” Jason asks lifting a brow.

“I was trying to prove a point.” I groan.

“What point would that be?” Jake smirks.

“That I don’t like Rylee,” I answer, covering my face with my hand.

“And did it work?” Melissa asks.

“Well, here I am. Waiting for her, again.” I answer.

“So, I'll take that as a no?” Jake laughs.

“Yeah, take that as a no.” I scoff.

“So, she has no idea about the party then?” Jake asks.

“No,” I answer honestly.

“Good, we are going to head down a while.” Melissa laughs.

“Don’t leave me here alone!” I plead.

“Dude, you need to just tell her how you feel or get over it.” Jason scoffs.

“I agree, this has been going long enough,” Jake adds.

“You annoy me,” I said squinting my eyes at him.

“Yeah, you annoy me too. Welcome to friendship.” he laughs walking downstairs with everyone else.

I waited a little while longer before Rylee walked through the door.

“Luka! Guess what!” She yelled jumping onto me, now straddling me.

“What?” I ask.

“I got the internship with Argus Observer!” She yells loudly.

“Oh my god, that’s amazing Rylee!” I pull her in for a hug.

“I’m so proud of you!” I say quickly.

“I worked really hard for this!” She smiles.

“I know, now go shower you smell like fast food.” I laugh pushing her lightly.

“Rude.” she frowns.

“I’ll come to sit with you while you do?” I ask, she smiles and nods before climbing off of me.

She runs upstairs and a few minutes later I hear the shower start, I walk slowly up the steps giving her time to get undressed and get in the shower. I knock on the door lightly, barely as I hear the water wash over her.

“Come in,” she says, so I do. I sit on the floor across from the shower and watch the silhouette of her while she showers.

“I like that there is always a peaceful silence between us.” she laughs.

“Yeah,” I say lowly.

“Everything okay?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I answer.

“Luka, seriously is everything okay?” she asks once more.

“Rylee, everything is fine,” I answer putting on a smile. Nothing was wrong, just stuck in my head about her.

“Okay, then can you go grab my clothes?” she asks.

“Yeah, be right back,” I answer walking out.

A few minutes later I walk back in, a cute little romper in hand, underwear, and a bra. I lay them on the counter before walking back out. I sit outside the bathroom and wait for the door to open, her hair thrown up in a messy bun, no make-up or anything else.

“I meant comfy clothes.” She whines.

“Go put make-up on,” I smirk.

“No.” she protests.

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” I smile standing up.

“Never mind,” she whines heading back into the bathroom closing the door.

“That’s what I thought,” I answer.

A few moments later she comes back out, hair blown out with subtle curls in them and light make-up on.

“Better?” she scoffs.

“Yeah.” I smile at her. She looked beautiful to me either way, however, if I would have left her walk into a party without make-up on, she would kill me.

“Why do we need to go to the basement?” She whined.

“Can you stop whining for two seconds?” I chuckle.

“No. I just want to watch my movie,” she says grumpily.

“Yeah, I know.” I smile as I open the basement door.

“But it isn’t just about you,” I whisper in her ear as she steps in front of me. Her body shivers as I whisper to her, causing her some sort of reaction she huffs, her breath hitched as I wrap an arm around her waist and a hand over her eyes.

“Careful Rylee or I might think you are getting worked up over me,” I whisper once more before walking her down the steps.

“In your dreams Luka,” she mumbles. We reach the bottom of the steps; I pull my hand away as everyone yells ‘SURPRISE!’

She looks shocked, happy for a moment. But she looks at me, glaring at me. I smirk, I know this isn’t what she wanted but it’s what they wanted, and I'm the only one that knows she's leaving. I felt it was only right to help them with this one last thing.

A few hours had passed before I saw her again, dancing with Melissa and Noah, I sat watching her move her body in ways I only imagined.

“Like what you see?” Jason laughed sitting next to me.

“f**k off.” I scoff, drinking another beer.

“If you get drunk enough, you can just blame it on the booze,” he smirks at me and winks before walking away. He wasn’t wrong, but I don’t think that’s how I would like to tell her I've been in love with her since I was 13.

“Hey, everyone’s room is full tonight. Would you mind bunking with Rylee?” Noah asks grabbing another drink.

“I guess not,” I answer.

“Drink up.” Noah laughs, sliding another beer towards me.

RYLEE’S P.O.V.

A few hours had passed before I saw Luka again, I watched him watch me. Jason sat down next to him and they had a short conversation before he walked away. I felt Noah’s eyes on me as I watched Luka.

“Hey, Luka is staying in your room tonight, okay?” he asks lowly, I nod my head in response and ignore the world again. Letting loose is one thing I'm good at, but the way Luka has been looking at has been giving me goosebumps. The things he whispered were words that I had trapped in my mind playing over and over again.

I was handed a few drinks throughout the night, mostly I gave them Melissa and Noah and they finished them for me, I wanted to be sober by the end of the night. I wanted to be able to watch my movie before midnight.

After a few hours, I walk to Noah and tell him I'm tired. Shortly after they started clearing everyone who wasn’t staying out. I look over at Luka who is sitting on the couch watching me once more.

“Luka, I'm tired.” I groan laying on him.

“Let’s go to bed then.” he smiles down at me.

“You sure?” I ask sweetly.

“No, let's go watch your movie.” he smiles.

“Yay!” I smile standing up, Luka following me close behind.

“I’ll be right there darling,” he says as Melissa meets me by the bottom of the steps.

“Hey I have a weird question,” she says as we walk side by side.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Be honest, okay?” she says quickly. I nod once more. Hoping she’ll get to the point.

“Do you like Luka?” She asks. For a moment I look at her confused, then it all clicks together like a puzzle I've spent years putting together.

“Oh my god, does Luka like me?!” I whisper yelled at her once she shut the basement door.

“Answer my question Rylee,” she says sternly.

“I’m not sure, I never really thought about us like that,” I answer honestly.

“You’ve never thought about Luka like that? You guys basically act like a couple.” she scoffs.

“We do not!” I protest.

“Look at how you guys have been the past few days and tell me you don’t.” she scoffs.

“I walked in on him f*****g Daisy in the library!” I say loudly.

“Well, that’s new,” she says taken aback.

“New for me too,” I answer.

“Did you make eye contact?” she asks.

“Gross, I ran out.” I laugh.

“Why are you asking me this?” I ask.

“Thirteen,” she answers.

I look at her confused for a moment, as I'm about to say something Luka opens the basement door.

“Why are you guys just standing here?” he questions.

“Just talking.” Melissa smiles, saving the say once again.

“Go watch your movie and head to bed, I'll see you tomorrow, Rylee.” She winks at me and walks down the steps.

“Everything okay?” Luka asks, no not really but in a way, I guess?

“Yeah.” I smile and head upstairs.

LUKA’S P.O.V.

I sat downstairs for a moment talking with Noah and Jake as they urged me to tell Rylee, I ignored them like usual before heading towards the bar.

“Come on Luka just tell her!” Jake said to me, I took a shot.

“You can’t hide it forever,” Noah said pleading with me, I took two more.

“Luka, if you don’t tell her now, you’ll regret it,” Jake said once more, I took the bottle of Vodka pouring it down my throat instead of in shot glasses until it was ripped from my hands.

“Whatever happens now is up the alcohol I just downed.” I laugh before walking upstairs.

A few moments later we are in Rylee’s room, watching one of her favorite movies like we’ve done a thousand times. I laugh at a stupid part but she doesn’t seem so happy anymore.

“Everything okay?” I ask lowly as the alcohol starts to take hold.

“Yeah, sorry I'm just really tired.” She says quickly.

“Okay, then let's go to bed.” I smile at her, pulling her closer to me.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” she answers laying down, a few moments later her body falls limp across me, her eyes too heavy to be opened.

“You asleep?” I ask lowly, I get no response.

“You really got me f****d up Rylee, and you don’t even know what you do to me every day. What I want to do to you every day.” I continue before holding her closer.

“Since I was thirteen Rylee,” I say once more before I drifted off to sleep.