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Chapter 9

"More Than Anyone"

The door opened and then arms were encircling me. "Hey," I looked up at Ryan's smiling face. "Hey," he said again. "It hurts like hell, I know. I've been there before. Your probably hurting ten times worse, but I know, Haley. Please don't push me away like everybody else."

I laughed and shook my head. "It's just been so hard. And I promise you I'm not one of those girls who cries about every little thing, because I'm not! I mean, I'm telling you I'm not one of those girls, but I'm acting like this totally huge wimp and I'm not! But I'm acting like it. Would you just listen to me? I'm rambling like a raging maniac. Dammit, I hate this. I can't believe I'm doing this, and in front of you. I'm really sorry."

Ryan laughed and wiped the tears away from my eyes. "You almost ripped Nathan Scott's balls off today, 'wimp' is the last thing I would call you. Not many girls are cocky enough to do that Haley James, but you... your something else, let me tell you."

I sniffed, "he totally deserved that."

"Yeah, I know," he nodded, laughing.

"Yeah," I laughed. "So, what're you doing? Moving in?" I asked, talking about the bags next to the door. Even though I already knew he was staying here, I didn't want him to know I'd been eaves-dropping.

"Oh, no. I've got to get back to Duke in three weeks. Just letting this summer run out, you know. Making the best of it. Hopefully. Right now it's seeming like the worst."

"We might have to change that, Ryan Wright."

"Change what? Me going back to Duke?"

"No, you having the worst summer. We have to change that."

"Like how?"

"Like..." I thought for a second. "Well, you could start by driving me down and getting me something to eat. And then we can come back here and watch movies or something. We could run by Wal-Mart and get some stuff to make jello shots. Whatever. Do fun summer stuff, I guess."

"Sounds great," he smiled, nodding, and then draped an arm around my shoulders. "So what do you eat Haley James?"

"Macaroni and cheese? You have got to be kidding me. Oh man. Steak, shrimp, pasta... you choose mac and cheese?"

I laughed, nodding, as I licked my lips and gave the menu back to the waitress. "Dude, food of the gods."

"Oh, right. The gods. So, who are the gods of macaroni and cheese? Six year old kids?"

"No," I rolled my eyes. "I dunno who the gods are. Maybe those naked kids who were brought up by the she-wolf." I knew who their names were, of course. I had Mythology 101 last year. I hated it. But I did learn things. Like Romulus and Remus. Who were talked about all the time. I just didn't want to come off as this nerd, which I was being totally stupid for by even thinking that.

"Romulus and Remus," he answered, nodding.

I smiled shockingly at him. "How'd you know?"

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Haley James," he said mysteriously, then laughed. "Mythology in college," he answered. I smiled, nodding.

"How did you know about them?"

"Mythology my sophomore year."

"That's great," he laughed. "You were a sophomore in high school taking mythology and I was a freshman in college. What grade did you get?"

"Uh... umm..." I thought for a second, even though I knew it was a 100 average, I still didn't want to be that nerd, so I lowered it a few points. "I think it was like a 95 or something."

"Yeah, right."

"No, I'm serious!"

"Yeah, I mean, yeah, right, you probably got higher than that you just don't want to be conceited. I'm telling you, David told me everything about you."

I laughed, nodding. "Right. I forgot. It was a 100, but only because the teacher really liked me, and not in a sexual way, because that is yuck, so nasty. Anyways. I'm shutting up now," I laughed, my cheeks getting hotter. They must seem like a red crayon by now, I had blushed so crimson. "So... you guys must be really close. How did you ever... I don't know... find each other?"

"Well, you see, my dad was a good friend of his–they worked together–and after that he just kind of took me under his wing and raised me practically while Mom was away on business or something, which was a lot. I even had my own room in his old house, and then in his new one, I just kind of liked moving from bedroom to bedroom," he laughed slightly. I smiled, nodding my head. He made it sound like David was a saint.

"You know I had a brother named Ryan. My twin, actually, but he died when I was 7. That's... well, it... it's just really hard to talk about, you know. Your name kind of reminded me, you know. It's kind of weird how you and David are so close. Has... has David ever talked to you about it?"

He nodded. "He's mentioned him a couple times."

"No, I'm talking about did he ever tell you what happened?"

He looked at me for a second, and then down at the tablecloth. "Yeah, once. When I messed up and took some steroids my junior year. He told me everything. He just broke down and started telling me everything about his seemingly perfect son."

"Um, when he talked about Ryan's death, what was his explanation?"

"explanation?"

"Yeah, what did he say happened to him?"

"He drowned in your pool, didn't he?"

I nodded. "Yeah," I just nodded, not caring to explain further.