A/N: Ahh! This is my longest chapter!
Disclaimer: I only own OCs.
Ages - Mia: 18 Henry: 23
"Oh my god, he's staring at you again!"
Mia looked up from her food at her friend Gia's squeal. Following the other girls line of sight, Mia turned her head a little to spot one of the popular guys at school staring right at her before his eyes widened noticing her stare, he quickly shoveled a sandwich in his mouth. She couldn't help but giggle a little when he suddenly realized he put too much in his mouth and choked a little. One of his football buddies banged his back and forced him to drink some water.
"Dude!" Gia exclaimed. Mia rolled her eyes at her.
While Henry was her best friend, Gia was definitely a close second. They met freshman year and right away decided they would be friends simply because of their similar names, ridiculous sure but their friendship was still strong.
"He doesn't like me." Mia stated. Gia did the same thing every day at lunch. "He's one of the popular guys, a football player! He's probably just looking for me to be his next bed buddy."
Gia sighed, leaning forward to make sure no one overheard their conversation. "Look M, I know you still have hope for Henry liking you back and you know I support it but it's senior year, just 'cause you date doesn't mean you guys won't end up together in the end."
Mia played with the food on her tray. She knew Gia was right. She couldn't go her life waiting for Henry to either make a move, or for her to make it herself though she would rather be sure of his feelings before she did that.
"Fine." Mia sighed. "If Ryder asks me out, i'll say yes."
Gia squealed.
Mia gave her a look. "But first you have to do some research on him over the weekend, I won't say yes if it turns out he's only interested in his next lay."
"G at your service!" Gia mock saluted making Mia laugh. If you wanted to find out information on any person in their school, no one could dig for dirt quite like Gia Mckee.
As lunch ended and everyone started filing out to their next class, Mia looked over her shoulder to see Ryder noticing and flashing her a smile. Okay so he wasn't Henry, but he was cute.
That Monday morning they sat in Mia's car making sure to get to school a bit early so they had time to talk.
"So? What'd you find?" Mia asked. Gia was practically vibrating in excitement.
"Okay so Ryder has only had one girlfriend-"
"Right, Rachel Moore that cheerleader. They dated for what practically all of our sophomore year and when junior year started she was dating his best friend Alan."
Gia nodded. "Luckily though there's no drama between them about it, apparently it was a mutual break up and Ryder has no problems with it. Since Rachel, Ryder has been on no dates and even refuses the ones his football buddies try setting him up on. As far as I could find, you're the only girl he's showed interest in since."
Mia bit her lip. "Anything else?"
"Yeah. His parents died in a car accident when he was ten and Alan's family was his neighbors and close friends with his parents so they adopted Ryder when it was found he had no family to take him in. So Ryder and Alan are actually brothers nevermind best friends, but Ryder decided he wanted to keep his last name which means not many people at our school know." Gia took a deep breath. "He gets pretty good grades from what I could tell, will go to parties his football team throws but doesn't go crazy like they do, the only bad thing I could find was he got into a lot of fights in middle school though none since he got here."
"Doesn't sound bad to me." Mia said. "It just sounds like he was finally acting out about his parents death."
Gia playfully rolled her eyes. "Right, you got the profiler family."
Mia laughed. "It's not profiling!"
Gia suddenly got a serious look on her face. "Honestly? He sounds like a perfect first boyfriend, and a good someone to take your mind off Henry."
"Thanks, G." Mia said softly.
She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if both Gia and Aunt Penny combined their skills.
Mia only had to wait two more days before Ryder approached her. She was sitting on the bleachers surrounding the football field catching up on some reading when he came climbing up.
"Hey Mia, what're you doing here?" Ryder sat down beside her.
"Just reading, it's quieter here then at home."
It was true. Penn was in his blasting music faze and her parents only made him turn it down if he did it too late in the day but by then Mia was either getting ready for bed or had other homework to do.
"Siblings, I take it?" Ryder asked.
Mia nodded. "A younger brother who just entered his teenage years."
Ryder cringed. "Ouch, I wish you luck with that."
Mia chuckled. "Thanks, so what brings you up here?"
"Oh uh right." Ryder cleared his throat and ruffled his hair. "I was wondering...if maybe you'd wanna go see a movie sometime?"
"Sure, i'd love to." Mia smiled brightly at him, Ryder's posture straightened and Mia could practically feel the relief coming off him in waves. "Give me your phone."
Ryder eagerly handed it to her. Mia admitted to sneakily taking a quick glance of what she could see of his contacts list before adding her own. There were barely any girls numbers in his contacts, but just enough for a little lame fun.
"Text me later and we'll set a date." Mia flashed him another smile as she started walking down the bleachers.
"Wait!" Ryder called out, Mia turned around. "Did you save it? I can't find your name."
Mia giggled. "It's in there, you just have to find it."
She decided to call Henry that night and tell him, but her phone vibrated with a text before she could.
Really? You put your name as Aim? - Ryder
Hey it's only my name backwards, I could have made it challenging. - Mia
I admit it took me longer than it should have - Ryder
Aw a little slow are we? - Mia
Cute, Mia. Real cute. - Ryder
Haha thanks. I try. - Mia
No trying needed, you're cute all on your own. So how about this Friday for our date? - Ryder
You're sweet. Sure. Pick me up at 6? - Mia
You got it. - Ryder
Mia smiled and closed their messages before calling Henry.
"Hey!"
"Hey Henry, you sound a little out of breath. Everything okay?"
"Yeah everything's fine, i'm just running a little late. So what's up?"
"Nothing, just wanted to see how you were. And to tell you something."
"Well i'm fine, no need to send my mom or Aunt Pen after me. Something wrong?"
Mia bit her lip. "No nothings wrong. I have a date this Friday! My first date ever!"
Henry was quiet for a few seconds. "Really? That's cool. Have fun."
"Thanks! I'm kind of excited but so nervous at the same time, hey do you think-"
Henry quickly cut her off. "Sorry to interrupt but actually I have to get going, I have a date of my own tonight and i'll be late to pick her up if I don't leave now."
Mia swallowed roughly, her voice suddenly sounding croaky. "Oh? T-That's great. I hope you have fun."
"Yeah thanks, talk to you later."
She stared at her phone long after Henry hung up. She had no right to be upset, right? She had a date Friday, Henry had a date tonight. Maybe it just bothered her that he had never rushed to hang up on her like that before.
Mia's phone suddenly vibrated, she expected it to be Henry apologizing but it wasn't. And honestly, she wasn't as disappointed as she thought.
Goodnight, sweet dreams Aim. - Ryder
Thankfully when Ryder came to pick her up, her dad didn't give him one of those 'I work for the FBI' speeches though Mia figured it was half from him profiling Ryder and half from Aunt Penny probably doing her research. The only embarrassing one was Penn who had yelled at them to 'be safe' with a tone to his voice that made Mia want to run back into the house and shove him.
They didn't seem to drive too long before Ryder parked his car.
"We have to walk the rest of the way, there'll be no room for parking where we're going." Ryder said, opening the car door for her and helping her out making Mia's cheeks flush.
"That's okay." Mia said.
They made little conversation as they walked to their destination, Mia taking notice that Ryder seemed to brush his hand against hers plenty of times but never grabbed it.
"Here we are!" Ryder said once they stopped in front of a bookstore.
Mia raised an eyebrow. "Not that I don't love a good bookstore, I thought we were seeing a movie?"
Ryder grinned. "We are."
Curious, Mia didn't hesitate to follow Ryder inside. Mia took in what looked like a normal bookstore, but then her eyes went to the back of the store where two double doors were open. Ryder put his hand on the small of her back leading her towards the doors. Mia gasped. When walking through the doors, you entered a small hall that held normal movie theater items like popcorn, but then continuing forward there was an actual movie theater. Big screen and all. Not as big as a regular theater, but big enough. The store certainly didn't look this big from the outside.
Other people were grabbing last minute food and drinks or finding the seats they wanted.
"Wow." Mia muttered under her breath.
Ryder got them drinks and popcorn, letting Mia pick their seats.
"What's going to be playing?" Mia asked, throwing some popcorn into her mouth.
"First Harry Potter movie." Ryder said with a grin that only seemed to get wider when Mia gasped in excitement and grabbed onto his arm.
"Really?!"
Ryder chuckled. "Yeah, tonight starts their Harry Potter Friday's. They'll play one of the movies every Friday until of course the last movie."
Mia's eyes twinkled. "Can we come every Friday till then, then?"
"I'd like that." Ryder said, his voice going a little soft. Mia felt her cheeks turn pink but thankfully she didn't think he noticed with the darkened theater. She had technically just asked him out on 7 more dates.
"Great." Mia whispered.
She saw Ryder glance at her lips right before they turned around to watch the movie that was starting. She could get use to this.
"That was...the best first date ever!" Mia said happily as they walked back to the car after.
This time Ryder held her hand, their fingers laced together.
"It was pretty great."
Mia turned to face him once they reached the car, not letting go of his hand.
"I mean...it was a great first date." Mia said shyly.
She watched Ryder's face when it finally hit him what she meant. "Oh! I...really, I took you out on your first date?" Mia nodded. "Why didn't you tell me? I mean I could have taken you out to a nice restaurant or-"
Mia's giggle made him stop talking, if she didn't know any better she'd say he looked a little in a trance from it. "It was perfect the way it was, Ryder."
He sighed in relief before he got a questioning look in his eyes. "So if this was your first date.."
"Then does that mean i've never had a boyfriend? Been kissed?"
Ryder sheepishly nodded, using his free hand to nervously ruffle his hair just like before. It must have been a habit for him.
"I'm not going to snap at you for asking." Mia laughed a little. "But yes it's true, I never had a boyfriend or uh-"
"Been kissed." Ryder finished. Mia nodded. "So if I kissed you right now…"
Mia gasped quietly. He actually wanted to kiss her?
"That'd be...perfectly okay." Mia whispered softly.
Ryder smiled but it was a different smile then his usual, one that made her stomach flutter. A feeling she'd only ever felt from Henry. Ryder slowly started leaning down towards her. Mia decided to make it easier for him and stood on her toes.
Soon enough Ryder's lips pressed against hers and Mia clenched her free hand in his shirt as if holding herself there. She certainly felt like she could float away. Mia only started kissing back for a few seconds when he pulled away. Her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest when Ryder traced her bottom lip with his thumb as if trying to commit her to memory.
"Now it was the perfect first date." Mia whispered.
Ryder grinned and Mia found herself grinning right back.
Maybe Henry was her future or maybe not, but Ryder was her right now.