A/N: So it feels like forever since I've written anything but I finally got round to doing something and here it is! :D I was initially inspired by a scene from the O.C (My housemates are making me watch it coz I've never seen it before) but it actually ended up pretty different to how I imagined it. I'm still working on my other stories for you guys but here's a cute little Kyder one-shot :3
He had waited so long for this. Ryder was finally going on a date with Kitty. It had been a long time coming. She had captured his attention from the very first he time he saw her. They had joined Glee at the same time and had grown steadily closer. It had never moved past friendship, she had dated Jake among other boys and he'd gone after Marley. Marley had picked Jake and they were still going strong. Then nearly a month ago, Kitty had come to him after Glee practice and asked him to go to Breadstix with her. He had just told the Glee Club about his experiences when he was younger. He had been laughed at and mocked by Artie and Sam, which stung but he'd caught Kitty's eye and she looked so vulnerable and compassionate. They'd gone to Breadstix and just talked. It had turned out that Kitty had experienced something similar and completely understood what he had gone through and still went through. They'd connected on a basic level and Kitty had actually let Ryder see the real her, the Kitty without the barriers and bitchy comments.
Ryder had spent that night wondering what it would be like to be with Kitty. She was funny, sweet and beautiful. But he had been talking to Katie so pushed the thoughts about Kitty to the back of his mind. The next day had been one he always regretted. He had rejected Kitty in favour of the girl he had met online and Kitty's words still rang in his ears. "How can you pick an online fantasy?" Little did Kitty realize that she had become his fantasy since that night at Breadstix. He had tried to talk to her but he had hurt her so her barriers had shot up higher than they were before, and they were proving impossible to penetrate. The next week was a dark one for Ryder. He had found out that he was being catfished, much to Kitty's amusement. She had a 'told you so' smirk on her face every time he tried to talk to her. Even worse was when he found out that it was actually Unique pretending to be Katie. He had lost his temper and quit Glee, another thing he regretted. He missed everyone but he couldn't find the strength to rejoin. Not if it meant he had to sit in the same room as Unique and he couldn't bear to be that close to Kitty after how he'd made her feel and what he'd missed out on. He kept in touch with a few of the Glee members such as Sam and Marley although their friendships were often strained. However his grades bombed to new lows, even for Ryder, which led to him getting kicked off the football team. He just skulked around the school feeling miserable and missing his old life before this disastrous school year changed it all.
"Is it true?" His head snapped up as he heard the voice that always haunted his dreams. Kitty was standing in front of him, in her Cheerios uniform, as always, and her curly blonde hair pulled back into a perfect ponytail.
"Is what true?' He asks confused.
"Did they really kick you off the football team?" She asks quietly.
"Yeah they did, because I'm too stupid. Now I have nothing, have you come here to taunt me?" He slams his locker and turns to face her.
" I… no… no I haven't. I'm sure you have something, you can't have nothing" She replies.
"Oh really? I lost my place on the football team, my grades are shit, I don't have Glee anymore, I got catfished and I lost you." He snaps.
"Me? What do you mean?" She asks, shocked at his outburst.
"I can't believe I just said that. Ignore me" He mutters before taking off to his next class, leaving her standing in the hall. He returns to his locker after class to find a note stuck to the inside of the door, 'Meet me at Breadstix at 8pm' He looks up to see a red skirt and blonde ponytail just disappearing around the corner and he smiles for the first time in a long time.
The end of school rolled around and just as he reached his truck, Ryder heard someone approaching. He turned round to see Sam standing in front of him. "Hey man, we haven't hung out in so long. What's up?"
"Not… not much. What's up with you?" Ryder replies cautiously.
"Nothing too exciting"
"Did you want something?"
"Actually I wanted to know if you'd be interested in going for a run with me tonight? I need to get fitter and who better to run with me than the fastest McKinley Titan in the history of the school? Plus it'd totally give us a chance to catch up." Sam answers hopefully.
"You definitely made that fastest thing up." Ryder comments drily.
"That's not an answer"
"I don't know man… I have a… thing." Ryder didn't know what to call it.
"Like a date?"
"Sort of… but not really."
"With who?"
"You wouldn't know them."
"Well what time is this not-a-date-thing with this girl I don't know?"
"I need to be at Breadstix for 8"
"Well if we go for a run at 6 then we'll be back by 7 which gives you an hour to change and go"
"Are you going to take no for an answer?"
"Absolutely not"
"Well guess I'll see you in a bit then. Shall I meet you at your house?" Ryder sighs.
"Yes! See you then" Sam walks off grinning.
Ryder changed into some sweats and a tank top for his run with Sam. He had contemplated cancelling but since he'd been kicked off the football team, he had barely done any exercise and he did miss the rush it gave him. He pulls his truck up outside Sam's house, which was on the outskirts of town. He climbs out and walks up to the front door. Sam answers in the same outfit he was wearing earlier.
"Sam! You're not even changed yet? Come on! I have a deadline." Ryder snaps.
"Alright, alright. I'll be two seconds." Sam mutters.
"I'll be waiting here." Ryder sighs as he sits on Sam's front step.
"Sorry about that, dude." Sam says as he emerges twenty minutes later.
"Two seconds? It's been 20 freakin' minutes! We're gonna have to get a serious move on. Where are we going?" Ryder asks as he gets up and begins stretching.
"Thought we'd go cross country." Sam nods to the forest area behind the houses.
"As long as you know where we're going…" Ryder trails off.
"Of course. Now let's go." Sam calls as he runs off towards the opening in the trees with Ryder reluctantly following.
Ryder glances down at his watch and begins to panic. "Sam! It's gone 7! Are we nearly back yet? I thought you said that last track was a shortcut."
"Relax dude… although I think I may have got confused about that shortcut. I'm not 100% sure where we are right now." Sam admits sheepishly as he slows to a walk.
"Are you actually kidding me?" He feels anger creeping to the surface, threatening to spill out.
"Well we have two options. We can either keep going on this track and follow my natural instinct or turn round and go back the way we came."
"Let me answer that for you" Ryder spins round and starts running back the way they had come.
"Woah slow down dude." Sam races after him.
"I can't slow down. I need to be at Breadstix for 8. At this rate, we're not going to even be back at yours before then." Ryder spat back.
"Can't you just ring them and tell them you're running late?" Sam suggests.
"That's actually a good idea." Ryder slows down and fishes his phone out of his pocket. "Except I have no signal!" He yells angrily, trying not to throw his phone at the ground in frustration.
"I don't either." Sam mutters as he pulls his own phone out.
"Great. This is just great. Kitty's never going to speak to me again and I have you to thank." Ryder shouts as he picks up the pace again.
"Kitty? As in Kitty Wilde? As in the blonde bitchy cheerleader?"
"Crap, I wasn't going to tell anyone. You can keep this to yourself, right? You do sort of owe me now. She's not a bitch though" Ryder muttered.
"Wow, I didn't think she'd be your type, or that you'd be hers if I'm being honest. Of course I will, I hate gossips." Sam replies.
"Why wouldn't she be my type?" Ryder asks with a hint of hostility.
"She's completely the opposite of Marley, who you went for last year." Sam shrugs.
"Well look how well that turned out for me. She chose Jake… twice and then Jake wouldn't talk to me for ages. Maybe I need someone different, someone who gets me." He replies as he keeps running as fast as he could towards Sam's house and his truck.
"And Kitty's the one who gets you?" Sam asks dubiously.
"Yeah she does actually." Ryder snaps back.
"Alright, alright." Sam decides to let it slide. They run in silence until they reach Sam's house.
"Crap, it's already like quarter past eight." Ryder mutters as he pulls his phone out his pocket, dialing Kitty's number to get no answer. "For god's sake" He starts his truck and heads straight for Breadstix, still dressed in his running clothes.
As soon as he's put the truck in park, he's out of the truck and running towards the restaurant. It was gone half eight now and he didn't know how long Kitty would wait for him. He pulls the door open and races up to a waitress. "Hi there. I'm looking for a girl called Kitty. She's small, blonde, possibly wearing a cheerleading uniform." He can tell the waitress wasn't appreciating the sweaty, smelly boy standing in the restaurant in tracksuits and a tank top but he didn't care. He just cared about Kitty.
"I know who you mean. No, she left about twenty minutes ago" She looks down at her watch.
"Okay." Ryder responds dejectedly as he makes his way out of the restaurant and back to the car. He repeatedly rings her phone that night but she never picks up.
He sees her at school the next day but she just sails past, giving him an icy stare as she goes. He finally grabs her and drags her into a classroom as lunch started. "Kitty, please can I talk to you?" He begs.
"I have nothing to say to you."
"But I didn't mean to stand you up! Sam got us lost and then I turned up but you'd already gone and I'm so sorry. Please can you give me another chance?"
"Fool me once, shame on you but fool me twice, shame on me." She replied coldly before turning and walking out of the classroom.
Three months of icy stares and cold looks passed and Ryder still felt horrible. His grades hadn't recovered, he still didn't have Glee or football to look forward to and he still hadn't got a girlfriend. If he was being honest, he still wasn't over her. He had fallen and fallen hard for Kitty Wilde. He lay awake at night thinking about what it would be like to even talk to her again. Rumours were flying that she was seeing Artie and they were official. How could she do that? He was angry when he'd found out as his mind flashed back to Artie's reaction that day in the choir room when he had told everyone about his babysitter and the nightmares it still gave him. He'd never told anyone before and Artie's reaction proved to him exactly why he shouldn't. However Kitty was different, she opened up to him and shared a similar experience. Now Kitty was with Artie? He sighed and rolled over but sleep continued to elude him.
Two weeks and not much sleep later, Ryder was lying on his bed once again thinking about Kitty and absently playing with his phone when he heard a knock on his bedroom door. He sat up as his mom opened the door. "What do you wa-" He trailed off as he saw Kitty standing behind her, make-up running down her face.
"This girl would like to talk to you, if that's okay?"
"Yes, that's more than okay. Kitty what happened?" He asks, concerned.
"I'll leave you two alone." His mom shuts the door behind Kitty as she walks into the room.
"Kitty?" He repeats. She looks at him and starts to try to talk but chokes on more tears instead. He rushes over to her and wraps his arms around her. "Ssshhh" He murmurs, rubbing his hands up and down her back. She cries into his shoulder for a while before she slowly moves onto the bed.
"Why aren't you mad at me?" Kitty asks quietly.
"What are you talking about?"
"Why aren't you mad at me?" She repeats. "I haven't spoken to you for months, I glare at you every time I see you and I refused to even hear you out after that night." She shakes her head. "So why are you being so nice to me? I didn't even expect you to let me in."
"Well… because you look like you really need to talk to someone and I'm always here for people that need to talk. Plus I hope you'd do the same for me. Although I am intrigued why you came here and didn't go to Marley or someone you're actually close with."
"I can't… I can't" She whispers.
"Why? Did you guys fall out? Is that what this is about?" Ryder asks, still confused.
"No but she wouldn't understand, no-one else would." She avoids Ryder's eye contact.
"Wait… wh-" Ryder trailed off as realization began to creep over him. "Is this about… Kitty, what the hell happened?" He grabs her hand, just like he did in Breadstix when they'd first talked about it and shared their experiences.
"It's-it's Artie." She manages to stutter.
"Artie? What the hell did he do to you?" Ryder practically yells, causing Kitty to start crying again. "Sorry" He mumbles.
"Well, you probably heard that we've been going out. Anyway, tonight we were getting pretty… intimate."
"Not an image I wanted in my head but go on" Ryder squeezes her hand as she smiles weakly at him.
"It's like the first time I've been properly intimate with a guy… well since that night when I was 12." She sighs. "I started having these flashbacks and like freaked out."
"That's understandable. I've had a few panic attacks myself." Ryder admits shyly.
"That's reassuring to know… anyway after I had this panic attack, he obviously wanted answers. So I told him everything" Kitty whispers.
"What did he say to that?" Ryder asks, fearing he already knew how he'd reacted.
"He just didn't understand. He laughed at me and told me I was acting like a baby. Said it was no big deal and I was overreacting like you did." Tears started to roll down her face again.
"What a… I have no words." Ryder felt his hands curl into balls with anger. "How dare he! What did you do?"
"Started crying, like the strong girl I am." Kitty says feebly.
"Hey! Don't say that, you are incredibly strong. You're the strongest girl I know."
"Well I left and realized I needed to talk to someone but no-one would understand. I knew you and I hadn't spoken for months but figured you'd be the best option." She shrugs, wiping away some more tears that had started to fall with her hands.
"I'll always be here." Ryder whispers as he wraps his arms around her once again, and just holds her as they sit on the bed together.
"Thank you." She whispers back.
A few hours of crying, talking and hugging later, Kitty was now lying next to Ryder on the bed. "Do you want to stay here tonight? It's pretty late and then I can just give you a ride to school tomorrow." He asks. "My mum won't mind at all, I'm pretty sure she's already in bed." He adds.
"That sounds good Lynn. My mum wasn't expecting me home anyway." She smiles weakly.
He gets up and starts digging around in his wardrobe. "Here's some sweats and a t-shirt you can sleep in. They'll be pretty huge but you can just roll the sweats over or something" He hands them to her.
Kitty giggles as she returns from the bathroom in his far too large clothes. "You know what? I'm just going to take the sweats off" She pulled the tracksuits off so she was just in his baggy t-shirt. Normally he would have stared at her and noticed how his t-shirt was just skimming the top of her thighs or how even through his baggy t-shirt, her body still looked amazing. Instead, he was just staring at her and seeing an incredibly beautiful girl at her most vulnerable standing in front of him, looking for friendship and comfort.
They both climb into bed and Ryder turns the light off. He just lies there listening to the sound of her breathing.
"I should have listened to Sam" She murmured.
"What? Explain please"
"After you stood me up at Breadstix, Sam came to me a few days after and explained why you'd missed it. He said you were really angry with him and wouldn't talk to him. He asked me to give you another chance. Me, being the stubborn creature I am, refused. But I should have done and now I regret it." She sighed.
"Oh well, you're here now." Ryder replies, finding Kitty's waist in the dark and wrapping his arms around her. He then falls asleep holding her, the first time he's fallen asleep properly in a long time. She falls asleep feeling the safest she possibly ever has, in his arms.