Page 66 of I Don't Need Your Love

Addie looks at me with a raised brow.

“What?” I ask as I turn toward the door to the dorm.

“What happened between you and Ryder?” she asks as she follows me.

I shrug. “He didn’t want to sit with me.”

She stops walking. “What?”

“It’s no big deal. The dude is free to do whatever he wants, and clearly he didn’t want to sit with me.”

We enter our room and I throw my backpack on my bed before dropping down on my back and staring at the ceiling.

Then I turn to Addie. “I don’t get it. He seemed so different on the ride to the competition.”

She’s about to say something, but there’s a knock on the door. Addie goes to check it out and my insides perk up when I find my friends pouring in. I just saw them like an hour ago, but it feels like it’s never enough.

“We have a situation,” Addie tells them as Sophie sits on my bed and Raven settles down on Addie’s.

“Situation?” Sophie asks, gaze flitting between me and Addie.

Addie nods. “It seems Ryder didn’t want to sit with Carly on the bus ride home and she’s heartbroken.”

“Oh my gosh, Addie. I’mnotheartbroken.” I sit up and cross my arms over my chest. “Just confused.”

Sophie and Raven exchange a glance. “What’s going on? Since when is Carly hurt by something Ryder does?” Raven asks.

I sigh and tell them about the peace he and I made on the bus. “And we’re kind of friends. Or at least friendly. So it was weird that he didn’t want to sit with me. Of course he’s free to do whatever he wants, but….”

“It stings,” Raven finishes.

I nod.

Sophie thinks for a bit. “Hmm. So the enemies aren’t enemies anymore, but now the guy snubs the girl…”

“This isn’t a book trope,” Raven says.

“It’s always a trope.”

I lie down on my bed. “Maybe since you’re an expert on the guys in your books, Soph, you can delve into the brain that is Ryder Bennett? I mean, he’s supposed to be pretty straightforward. A player who relishes the attention of girls, a guy who’s so full of himself he thinks he’s a god. A guy who loves to mess with me, but at the same time regrets what happened between us and wants to start over. And now he’s just some hollow shell? I don’t get it.”

Addie rolls her shoulders. “It happened after the competition, right? You think he hurt his leg but doesn’t want to tell anyone? Like, maybe he’s bothered he won’t be able to dance again.”

I think back to how he was walking after the competition. “No, he didn’t seem to be in pain. I don’t think it’s his leg.”

Raven lifts both brows. “Maybe we should stop trying to analyze the guy because you’ll never understand him and let’s celebrate the dance team’s success?”

I sit up. “That sounds so much better than worrying about Ryder. Who knows? Maybe he’ll get over whatever’s bothering him and be his normal, charming self tomorrow.”

All three of them look at one another. “Charming?” Addie says with the most excited look on her face.

I groan. “Why do you guys have to hold on to every word that leaves my mouth? Just because I called him charming, it doesnotmean I like him.”

“Who said anything about you liking him?” Sophie says with a nearly identical look as Addie. “Wait,doyou like him?”

I pull off my scrunchie and let my hair fall free. “I mean, he’s not such a cretin anymore.”

They eagerly wait for more.