Page 8 of Just the tip

Holywow, that last cup of punch had been overkill. I wasn’t seeing double yet, but the fact that Ryan was actually being decent to me was a little concerning. Hopefully it wasn’t some kind of sign I’d end up hurling into a toilet at some point—though the way my stomach roiled as we bounced over the dirt ruts leading back to the main road wasn’t promising.

I sucked in a deep, cleansing breath and looked for something to focus on. I could make it home.

“You’re staring at me,” Ryan said, without turning to look at me.

“You’re the only thing not spinning right now.” Okay, there were a few other things not spinning, but Ryan had a sexy-as-hell profile, especially right now with his hair a little wind-tossed and his face drawn in concentration as he drove. Besides, in my current state of intoxication, I figured I could get away with it.

“Tell me if I need to pull over. Though, since you end up with the car most of the time anyway, maybe you deserve to drive around with carpet puke as your air freshener.”

“So…not much different than when you’re in it, huh?”

I lurched forward as Ryan slammed on the brakes, the seatbelt punching the breath from my lungs and my stomach churning dangerously. “What the fuck, Ryan?” I choked out.

Ryan snarled something unintelligible and crept the car over to the shoulder of the road as I willed my stomach to turn itself right side out again.

Once the car was idling, Ryan angled fully in the seat to face me. “Tell me why you hate me.Right now.”

“I…I don’thateyou.” Caught off-guard and flabbergasted that he’d approached it so directly, I stumbled over the words, alcohol not doing my thick tongue any favors.

Ryan held my gaze with a dark intensity in his eyes I’d never seen before. In any other situation, it’d have been sexy, but right now I felt like one of his opponents in the middle of a full court press, and it was more than a little intimidating.

After another couple of beats of silence, Ryan pressed his lips together, huffed out an exasperated breath, and snapped his attention away.

“Wait,” I said as he started to put the car in gear. Maybe I’d regret it later, but I didn’t like the way he’d looked at me. “I had a huge fucking crush on Jenna. I’d been working up to asking her out for forever. And…and I finally thought she was into me, and then…boom, you came around, and it was like I didn’t exist. And—” I held up my hand when I could see he wanted to protest. “—I know that’s not technically your fault because you couldn’t control how she felt, but she was at our fucking house and…” I waved a hand and sighed, slumping in my seat. “The last three years of high school have been okay. Ish. But nothing fucking special, and over last summer, I started getting the idea that maybe senior year was going to be different. That maybe people would, uhm…” I cringed because this was fucking embarrassing to admit, drunk or not. “That maybe more people might notice me, or maybe I might get in with the in-crowd finally. And then you just waltzed in, a fucking multisport prodigy, and you wereinjust like that. Mr. Popular, with five hundred friends, getting laid whenever you wanted.”

Ryan’s brows furrowed in a puzzled expression. “You’d even want that? To be popular?”

I snorted. “Who doesn’t?”

“I don’t know. I always thought you were kind of too cool for that social politics bullshit. Too smart. Whereas I…well…” He made a face. “Sports have always been the thing that helped get me from point A to B or whatever.” He nipped at his lower lip. “So you were jealous.”

“I was jealous, yeah.” I paused, then corrected. “Amjealous. And then you didn’t even want Jenna after you two hooked up.” I threw my hands up and dropped them quickly back to my lap when I knocked the rearview mirror askew. “Never mind. I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

Ryan winced. “I should’ve just hooked you up with her.”

“Gross, I don’t want your sloppy seconds.”

Ryan arched a brow. “My seconds arenotsloppy.” Heat flushed through me and went hotter when Ryan’s cheeks colored and he rolled his eyes at himself. “That didn’t come out exactly right. But you know what I mean.”

I twisted in the seat. “You’re annoyingly preppy and perfect, and your hair always has this one fucking little wave in it that I still don’t believe you don’t spend an hour working on every morning to get just right.” I aimed an accusing finger at the stupidly sexy wave. “That’s literally the only reason I could figure for why it always took you forever to get to the car.”

Ryan barked out a laugh. “I don’t.” He swiped a hand tentatively over said swoosh. “It’s just like that. Besides, you’re annoyingly fucking smart, and you can wear anything you want, and it doesn’t look stupid on you. It looks…cool.”

I had to clench my jaw to keep it from dropping open. “You notice what I wear?”

“I mean, I live with you, so sometimes.” Ryan hitched one shoulder. “You’re one of the few guys who can rock leather patches on jeans and not get their ass handed to them.”

“They’re appliqués, technically. Not patches.” I felt the beginnings of a smile at the corners of my mouth.

“Appliqués. Whatever.”

“You can borrow them any time.”

“Pfft,” Ryan scoffed. “I wouldn’t be able to fit a thigh in them.”

“That’s what you get for being all healthy and athletic.”

A tiny smile percolated on Ryan’s lips as he slumped back in his seat and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “I’m sorry that I stole the girl you were interested in and am more popular than you.”