Playing Catch

"Guess who got a lead in the spring musical?" The words tumbled from his mouth the moment I opened my apartment door, before I had time to properly appreciate the angle at which he was leaning in my doorframe. Processing what he'd said in a matter of milliseconds however, I wasted no time in freaking out.

"OHMIGOD! RYYYAN!" Screaming, I threw my body into his, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his hips. I was sure I looked very much like a marsupial at the moment, but I didn't really care. Our lips crashed together before I pulled back to squeal some more as I dragged him inside. "You brilliant, audacious little freshman you. How did you get a lead?"

"Well, you see they had auditions."

I nodded, waiting for something bigger, more exciting.

"And I read lines."

My face fell flat.

"Ha ha. Very funny. I just meant that freshmen don't pull leads at any college, let alone Juilliard." I explained, sure that he must have been aware of this. My sister was a junior on scholarship at the Boston Conservatory and she still had yet to land a major leading role in any production.

"This one did, thank you." He nodded as I handed him a mug of hot cocoa. Before he'd even taken a sip however, his face drooped with sadness. Large blue eyes looked up from his cup and in that moment it would have been terribly easy to confuse him with a homeless puppy. "No marshmallows? I thought you loved me…"

Laughing softly, I climbed up onto a nearby stool with no hesitance whatsoever and began digging through the cabinets above my counter. I was sure I had some in here somewhere…Did marshmallows go bad? Could they be resuscitated by hot chocolate? Hmm, well we were going to find out…or rather, Ryan was.

"So when do you start rehearsals?"

"Well, we start reading together the day after Christmas." He told me, leaning against the counter in the opposite direction I was facing.

"Wait, what?" My legs wobbled a bit as I slammed the cabinet shut and glared down at him. The bag of mini-mallows was in my hand but I was deliberately holding them over his head, not sure if he was even going to get any after the news he'd just shared.

"They're not full out rehearsals Katie, I'll still have time to have dinner with your parents when they come up."

"Dinner isn't the only thing we have planned Ryan…I mean it's Christmas in two freaking days. I thought we were going to spend the entire week after that together."

"Awkward Turtle week, I know…" He sighed, referencing the nickname we'd come up with for the weird gap between the end of the Christmas season and New Year's. Visions of ice skating in Central Park, scouring the sales at Macy's and lounging around my apartment in our pajamas evaporated from my mind. I knew it was selfish but I just wanted one week, one small period of time, when I didn't have to share my boyfriend with his stupid performing arts school and his stupid friends and stupid theater. "Look, I don't have to be there until eleven am, so…"

"Eleven, oh that's great. Considering I don't wake up until like one or two on my days off. Come on, you know that Ryan." I was probably making way too big a deal out of this…but how could I not? I'd just barely gotten through this semester as Ryan involved himself in as many projects as possible, which usually meant I had to make an appointment just to kiss him.

"It's Juilliard Katie! What am I supposed to do? Tell them no thanks, my girlfriend misses me? I wish I could baby, but I can't. I just can't. This is what I've dreamt about my entire life." He tried to make me understand, shouting upwards while I stood high and mighty on my stool.

"Here I was dreaming about falling in love." I shrugged, cynicism heavily weighing on my tone and a hand mounted on my hip in frustration. Just as tears began brimming in my eyes, all the air was knocked from my lungs as I felt cold fingers grab my ankles and push. The stool fell out from under me and I went flying, flailing, falling through the air.

"AAAAAH!" My scream engulfed the entirety of my tiny apartment kitchen just before I landed with a small, "Umph."

Arms were under me, not tile. Everything seemed perfectly in tact, no piece of me bruised or broken. What the hell just happened? Looking up I caught Ryan's brilliant blue gaze, smirking triumphantly as he held me honeymoon style. Narrowing my eyes, my jaw set and I crossed my arms under my chest.

"You're a jerk." I grumbled.

"I'm the jerk who caught you…as you were falling."

Catching on to his play of words, I tried so hard not to let my heart go all mushy in response. He was so not allowed to be cute right now. Not fair.

"I wouldn't have fallen if it wasn't for you."

"Exactly." He reminded me, cradling me closer before setting me upright on the counter top. Coming to stand between my thighs, he pushed the hair from my eyes and held my face in his hands, the fingertips of which were absolutely freezing. "I know this isn't always easy, but I'm the one who chased you, remember? I'm the one who got lucky here and I want you to have faith that at the end of the day I will be there to catch you."

"Every night?"

"It's you I'll be coming home to."

"Every morning?" The tiniest hint of a smile perked up the side of my mouth.

"There's no one I'd rather wake up next to. I'm here for you Katie. I'm yours. I just learned a long time ago that if I don't live my life no one else is going to do it for me. I know you understand that." His face was so close to mine by now that I could feel the warmth of his breath, could feel his nose gently nuzzling my cheek. Nodding, I closed my eyes and sniffed back whatever tears had been threatening to overtake me.

"Yah, I do." For now he had convinced me. I may not have liked it, but no one had said this was going to be easy. Besides, I loved Ryan and when he talked to me like that how could I ever think that he didn't love me back? Pressing my mouth against his, I slid a hand onto the back of his neck and pulled him closer as I wrapped my legs all the way around his waist.

"Wait a second," He pulled back a little just as my other hand was getting lost in his hair, "I think we're gunna need the marshmallows after all."

Grinning, I pushed him away and grabbed the bag up off the floor before dashing down the hall to my bedroom before he even had a chance to process what the hell I was doing.

"You'll have to catch me first!"

*I'm still on Team Ryan, but have you guys seen that new Guitar Hero commercial with Corbin Bleu dancing around in his underwear a la Risky Business? So ridiculously hot.