The Side Character ?

Chapter 24 - I'm not giving birth you bitch!

I freeze.

She....?

She's the one?

But isn't she Ryder's friend?

My mind drifts back to our conversation earlier. I didn't give Ryder a chance to explain himself. Would things have been different if I did?

Maybe.

Probably.

Casting a look at her eyes, I decide that I'm not making the same mistake again.

No matter who it is, they always deserve their side of the stories to be heard too.

"Explain."

Her jaw falls open slightly as her eyebrows shoot up to the sky. Her face clearly tells me that she really didn't expect me to listen to her instead of slapping her across the cheek.

After looking at me for a while, she sighs and looks down.

It's silent for a moment. Just when I'm about to give up, she whispers out, "I had always been in love with Ryder. But he had never seen me as something other than his friend....I did everything I could to get his attention. Wear skimpy dresses, go out with his friends, date different guys on different days. Everything. But he never showed even the tiniest signs of being jealous. Then after Aaron died he just looked so distraught and distant.... And then one night I finally had the chance to comfort him."

I gulp, "Comfort him?

I do not like the sound of that.

She averts her gaze from me, "Yeah, you know? Comfort him."

Oh God.

Oh fucking God.

Closing my eyes, I try to erase the mental image of a naked Ryder and Karin that my mind has decided to conjure.

Let me tell you.

A naked Ryder?

Heaven.

A naked Karin?

Warning that you're starting to swing in the other direction.

Now a mix of both of them?

More traumatic than the death scenes in Final Destination.

"But he said it was all a mistake."

My eyes snap open.

"What?"

She sighs sadly, "He was extremely pissed at himself. Saying that he bad ruined our friendship in a drunken haze. No matter how hard I tried to convince him that he was the one that was drunk, not me, he still wouldn't budge. He was just that convinced that we could never be anything else other than friends."

I stay silent and just let her continue.

She starts drawing a smiley face on the dusty pavement absentmindedly, "So I went along. I accepted that it was just a drunken mistake. Shortly after, the situation with the gangs got worse. So he left. And I didn't see him for two years. But when he came back...."

She glances at me, "I realized that he was already head over heels for you."

My jaw drops.

What.

The.

Hell.

I start shaking my head vigorously, "No! You're-"

"I don't have time to be your love guru," she snaps at me, "Do you want to listen to my story or not?"

Pursing my lips, I nod at her to continue.