A Luna's Escape

A Friend Date

Sophie's POV

I waited for Ryker on my camp chair in my barren living room. I was dressed in the nicest pair of jeans I had. I wore a cute white top that tied in a bow just above my collarbone. Ryker had been over this morning to help me finish my bathroom. It took all day, but we got it done. My bedroom and bathroom were now complete. Ryker was going to take me out to dinner, then to the furniture store so that I could purchase new furniture for my room. I nervously fumbled with my phone as I sat waiting.

I absolutely wasn't ready for a real date. I didn't want to be attached to anyone right now. Ryker was sweet, and incredibly handsome. I appreciated his help, but I didn't want to get in a relationship, or have to have the 'I'm not ready for a relationship' talk tonight.

"Just call it off, Soph." I said to myself. I unlocked my phone and opened my text messages. Just as I started typing out a message, I heard a knock on my front door.

"Shoot." I stood up, wiping the sweat from my hands. I took a deep breath as I opened the door.

"Hey." Ryker said as he stood on the porch. He was dressed casually as well, in nice jeans and a button down shirt.

"Hey." I smiled back at him.

"Ready?" He gestured to his truck.

"Yeah." I smiled and grabbed my purse.

"So, where are you from?" Ryker asked as we ate. He had picked a nice sports bar for us and I was relieved. It wasn't some fancy restaurant. So far we had just enjoyed small talk, but that was beginning to run out.

"I'm uh, I'm from a small town west of here."

"Oh yeah? How far?"

"The coast." I smiled as his eyes grew wide.

"Really? So, Washington? What brought you all the way to Charlotte? That's literally across the country!" He seemed shocked.

"Yeah. It was quite a trip." I chuckled. "I just needed a change. Born and raised in the same place, and have lived there all my life. I don't really have any family, and just wanted to get away. Plus, I got a really fantastic job here."

"What's that?"

"I work for Sondra Ellis."

"Woah, like…THE Sondra Ellis?"

"Yep."

"So you're like a model or something then, right?"

"Gosh, no." I laughed. "I'm just an assistant right now. But I'm hoping one day to be able to have my own clothing line. I studied fashion and business in college."

"That's cool." Ryker beamed.

"So, what about you?"

"Oh, nothing as fancy as you. Born and raised here. I'm a trust fund baby. My dad is a lawyer, my mom is in real estate. I sort of went my own way." He laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, my dad wanted me to be an attorney, my mom pushed for real estate. I had no clue what I wanted to do. I've job jumped so much. The hardware store is the first job I've kept for longer then a year."

"Oh. Well, a steady job is a good job."

"Yeah. I just wish I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I'm getting older. I need to start thinking about an actual career."

We sat through dinner, talking more about ourselves and our interests. I found out a lot about Ryker. I tried to help him decide what he wanted to do with his life. He enjoyed woodworking and building things. He was good at it too. I had seen first hand when he installed my bathroom cabinets for me. I brought up working in construction. He didn't shoot it down, but he didn't seem too crazy about it either.

Thankfully the night was going well. It wasn't turning into a date, and I was really enjoying myself. Ryker was good company and seemed like a very good guy. He was keeping things very platonic, and I was relieved. We made our way through the furniture store, stopping and testing out all sorts of mattress first.

"You should probably pick a bed now." The sales associate helping us out suggested.

"Yeah, unless you want to prop your new mattress up on the floor." Ryker joked, nudging me in the arm with his elbow.

"Not really." I laughed, making my way over to the beds.

By the end of the night I had picked out a beautiful bed frame. It was a decorative, light grey, tufted, upholstered headboard. The top had round curves mixed with sharp corners and trimmed with a silver border. It was a headboard fit for a queen. There was a matching footboard that was less decorative. Instead of all of the curves at the top, it was a plain rectangle with the matching fancy silver border. I also picked out a rustic, blue-grey 9 drawer dresser with two matching nightstands and a tall 5 drawer dresser topped with a jewelry box. I purchased a light grey armed storage chair to set at the end of the bed, and a matching chaise lounge chair and glass table for the corner of the room.

"Now what?" Ryker said as he strapped in the bedframe and mattress to his truck. We were taking the bed home tonight, and the furniture store would be delivering the rest of the furniture tomorrow afternoon. I had to work, but Ryker had volunteered to stay at my house to let the delivery guys in. He also volunteered to start replacing the flooring in my living room. I had already purchased some nice wood looking, ceramic tiles for the living room, kitchen and dining area. Ryker was going to rip up the carpet and help me lay the flooring.

"Well, if I'm going to sleep on the bed tonight, I'm going to need some bedding. Do you mind?"

"Not at all." Ryker smiled as he opened the car door for me, helping me into his truck.

"I like these!" I grinned as I pulled off a creme pinch pleated comforter. Bouncing up and down as I tossed matching creme sheets and a fluffy tulle bed skirt into the cart Ryker was pushing. I hopped down the aisle in excitement as I tossed random throw pillows into the cart.

"Why do women always have tons of pillows on their bed?"

"It looks nice." I shot Ryker a glance.

"Yeah, but it's annoying. You have to move a hundred pillows before you can sleep, then, when you get up in the morning, you have to put them all back on after you make the bed. Just seems like a lot of work."

"It is. But it's all in the name of style." I laughed as I tossed a couple more pillows and some matching curtains into the cart.

"Alright, It's done." Ryker said as he stepped off the ladder. He had put together the bed for me, and I helped him bring in the mattress. While I was making the bed, he hung the curtain rods above the curtains for me.

"Thank you." I sighed as I hugged him. "I don't know how I would have done this without you."

"No problem." He said, pulling away. "It's getting late though. I should uh, I should head out." He made his way to the front door as I suddenly got nervous again. Had I overdone it with the hug? I hope I didn't make things awkward.

"Thanks again for your help." I smiled.

"I'll be back tomorrow."

"You really don't have to." I said, giving him one last opportunity to back out.

"I want to." He smiled, quickly leaning in and planting a kiss on my cheek. I stood in shock as I watched him walk to his truck.

"Good night Sophie Harrolson from Washington." He called out as he got in the truck. I couldn't help but smile, placing my fingers to my cheek where he had kissed me.

I returned to my room and quickly threaded the curtains over the rods, hanging them over the blinds. I looked at my bed one last time before I hopped in the shower. I was loving my new bathroom. The cabinets were barn door styled and a grey wood. I was trying to keep a western cottage theme in the house. Everything seemed to be coming together nicely. Ryker had laid tiles in the bathroom floor to match the living area and kitchen. Excitement crept through my body as I thought about my home. My thoughts wandered to Ryker as I crawled into bed.

—-------

"Ryker?" I called out as I wandered through my house. It had been a long day at work and I was beyond excited to be home.

"It came!" I shouted, clapping my hands together.

"It did." Ryker said as he stepped aside, giving me a full view of my bedroom. "I arranged it for you, but we can move whatever you want."

"No. I love it just this way!" Ryker had placed the footstool at the end of the bed. The jewelry box dresser was to the left of my bed, near the closet door. One night stand was placed at the head of each side of the bed, and topped with the lamps I had bought. The chaise chair and glass table were at the opposite side of the room by the bedroom door and the long dresser was across from the bed.

"Where'd this come from? I asked as I noticed the flat screen TV mounted to the wall above the dresser.

"I got that for you. A little housewarming gift." He smiled.

"Ryker. You shouldn't have."

"Do you not like it?"

"No. I do. But tv's aren't cheap."

"I know. I wanted to though. It's nothing fancy." He handed me the remote, quickly showing me the functions.

"You're too sweet." I said, placing the remote on the nightstand.

"Come check this out." Ryker grabbed my hand, pulling me to the kitchen.

"Oh! It looks great!" I admired the tile on the kitchen floor.

"I'll get to the rest of the floor tomorrow."

"Ryker, thank you." I threw my hands around his neck again. He chuckled as he took a couple of steps backward, steadying himself. "I got us dinner." I said, rushing to the counter.

"Thanks. I'm starving." Ryker grabbed the bag I held out to him.

"Should we take this to the bedroom?" I glanced at him as I did my best sultry walk into my bedroom. I laughed as Ryker raised his eyebrows, a grin on his face.

We sat on my bed, enjoying our meal and a movie. Ryker had also purchased a streaming device and had already set it up to my internet. I didn't have any streaming programs, so we had to choose from the free shows available on the device. We ended up watching a corny romcom.

The night had been absolutely perfect. Ryker was the perfect man. He was sexy, kind, caring and very helpful. Sitting next to him on the bed I couldn't help but steal glances at him. His laugh was infectious and I found myself falling for him. I had only known him for three days, and was still so fresh off of my split from Cole. Although, Cole and I had been very distant for the last year. We were still together, but we never spent any time together, so, technically, I had been single for over a year now. The thought made me feel a little less guilty about having a crush on Ryker so soon.

I don't know why I even cared. Cole had found another woman while he was with me. He took her out, spent tons of time and money on her, slept with her and treated her more like his wife than he treated me. I'm not sure why I even cared about moving on so soon. Why should I feel guilty about it? Cole never felt guilty about what he did to me.

I snuggled back into my pile of pillows, a grin reappearing on my face. This was my life and I was going to be happy.