Chapter Six – The Bond Grows

When Ephram reached the front door of Ryan's house and went to knock, he remembered what she said. "Just come in" It felt a little weird, just walking into someone's house, but he shrugged, and opened the door. He was a little surprised by the interior design, they had just moved here, he expected boxes still left to be unpacked, but the house looked like they had always lived there.

He walked a little bit downstairs, in the living room and the kitchen, but there were no signs of life. "Ryan!" All he got was silence. He started to walk down a hallway, before he heard the sound of someone playing a guitar. He followed the sound to the stairs and decided to head up the stairs.

Once he reached the top of the stairs, he was met with a long hallway. "Ryan?" The music had gotten louder and he followed the sound to a room at the end of the hallway. It was then he heard someone singing. He peered his head over the doorway and saw Ryan, sitting on her bed, playing guitar and singing.

Her long hair had fallen over her shoulder and was framing her face. She had her eyes closed as he watched the way her hands moved effortlessly over the tiny strings. He was in awe. He was also speechless at her beautiful voice. He didn't want to disturb her, so he just stood in the doorway and watched her for what seemed like hours.

Finally, she stopped playing. She opened her eyes and looked at him with the saddest look on her face. Then she jumped up, nearly dropping her guitar. "Ephram! How long have you been standing there?!"

"Not long, maybe a couple minutes," Ephram lied.

She walked over to her closet and stuck the guitar back in place. She turned, ran her fingers through her hair. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you wait. You don't have to stay in the doorway, you know, you are allowed in."

"It's cool," Ephram said as he walked over and sat in the chair at her desk. "I didn't know you played guitar."

Ryan sat down and laid back on her bed. "There's a lot of things you don't know about me."

Ephram took a look around her room. It wasn't what he expected. It was almost … girly, with its pink walls and lavender accents. He would have never expected this. She had a whole wall covered in posters and magazine articles she had cut out. The other walls had a few things here and there. There were picture frames all around the room, with smiling faces Ephram didn't know. On top of her dresser was a mass collection of trophies and medals.

"Oh, how stupid of me, I should give you the grand tour or something," Ryan said, shooting up from her reclined position.

"It's okay," Ephram said, "I kinda had my own trying to find you. What are all those for?" He pointed to the collection.

Ryan looked over. "Basketball, mostly. There are a couple academic awards and a few for talent shows, but the only thing I was ever good at growing up was basketball." She got up, and walked over to them. "Seventh grade, we went first in our CYO, and first in the entire diocese. I went a Catholic school, by the way. CYO is Catholic Young Organization. I scored twenty-five points in a crushing defeat, for the other team I mean. And that's the MVP trophy I got for that year." She held a couple trophies up as she continued to explain, "These three are the same as those, except this was eighth grade. And those six or seven are from a recreation league I played in every summer." She held up a few medals, "These are from various tournaments through the years. I was a CYO All-Star, once. You could only go once, so I wasn't picked until eighth grade. I guess it was a graduation present from my coach. But I got to play a basketball game at the First Union Center, right before a Sixers game, and wow, I'm probably boring you with these details."

"No, no," Ephram said, "You must have been awesome. Are you going to play for school?"

Ryan looked down at the floor. "No, I don't think so."

Ephram didn't want to push the subject. "How long have you been playing guitar?"

"About five years," Ryan replied. "But enough about me, tell me more about you, Ephram."

Ephram shrugged. "I don't know how much there is to say. I'm Ephram, I've lived in Everwood for the past year now, I have a father and a little sister, and I play piano."

"You better not tell me you're the next Mozart," Ryan said, "Or you'll just confirm my conceited comment from when I first met you."

And the two laughed. The seriousness of their conversation was gone with Ryan's sarcasm, but it was a silent understanding that it was too soon to be sharing the deepest parts of their lives. The trust had just started to form and with time, it would grow. For now, they listened to music and talked about the lyrics and the differences between bands. They laughed and joked and let the afternoon pass them by.

Ephram felt himself being drawn more and more to Ryan. She was a funny, beautiful girl who was making him forget all about Amy. And Ryan, well, she forgot about Adam when she was Ephram and thought of herself a single woman. The two were falling for each other and it was obvious. Everything was going perfect, until Adam called.

A/N: Ah, I couldn't resist a little cliff hanger. Hehe =D