Always Yours by Amicia Bianchi (best books to read fiction TXT) 📕

"I mentioned earlier that I'd planned to leave the party early with you and it's because I wanted give you this," he held it out to me and I took it with slightly trembling hands.

I gasped looking at the papers as my eyes watered, he had bought me a plane ticket to go with him to New York. The print date told me everything I needed to know. He'd planned to take me all along, this wasn't something that he'd just bought so I'd take him back.

"All this time..." I thought aloud.

"I've been wanting to ask you but I just couldn't find a good time to bring it up. I wasn't sure if you'd go because of your parents..."

He stopped when I looked up at him.

"I decided that you should at least know that I wanted you there. It would mean a lot to me if you came," I bit my lip to stop from smiling at his nervous babbling and looked back down at the ticket to hide the mirth in my eyes. This wasn't a laughing moment, it was a major step for us.

I had been sure the day before that I would go no matter what but I now had to think over what happened and his explanation. That wasn't something I could properly think through while he stood here staring unnervingly at me, looking sad and pitiful.

"Can I think about it?"

"Of course, I'm not forcing you to give me an answer right now. I'll know what your answer is tomorrow," he answered soothingly.

I nodded and for a moment we didn't move. He held me, looking down at my face as if trying to commit every detail to memory, and I just stood there in his arms. Eventually he leaned down to kiss me like a dying man savoring his last meal.

When he pulled away I watched him leave before going back inside and seating myself at the kitchen table. I sat there thinking over what just happened and when I glanced over at the my ticket to New York I even began to smile a little.

 The next time the doorbell rang it actually was Skylar and I let her in with a genuine smile on my face which she immediately noticed.

"Someone seem a lot happier today," she joked.

"Well why shouldn't I be?" I asked vaguely.

"I don't know, you tell me, because yesterday you clearly weren't and I don't know why you shouldn't have been," she pointed out. I sighed.

"That's because I saw Emy Hickens kiss Bryce yesterday," I explained. She raised her eyebrows in question but didn't seem at all surprised.

"So you guys fought about it and you left?"

She made a face that said 'finally'.

"After everything he's put you through? Now this? Although you never really told me a whole lot about stuff that happened but I could see that you haven't been happy. I would have dumped him and never looked back. I never understood why you stayed with the guy…" she shook her head.

"Well about last night, I left because I knew that we would get nowhere. I was so mad after I saw them I wasn't in any frame of mind to hear anything he had to say and he was furious when he saw me talking to Raymond James."

When I said the name she furrowed her eyebrows. I wasn't surprised, most people at our school didn't actually know what his real name was.

"That 'Ray the bench warmer' guy?" She asked incredulously.

When I nodded she started laughing.

"Bryce might have been bad for you but that guy is definitely not a step in the right direction. To go from Bryce to him is the point where a girl drops all her standards and settles for any guy that looks in her direction."

I wanted to defend the poor guy but I didn't really know him. It would seem as though I was really gunning for him when I'd have been the first person to point out he's not my type. She didn't give me the chance even if I'd wanted to.

"I would've never thought you'd look at somebody like him, you didn't even talk to him in high school. And isn't he still pining after Megan Sanchez, his ex?"

I nodded, Megan was our class sweetheart. She was really nice and popular every girl wanted to be her, every guy want to be with her. The general consensus was that he was lucky she'd even looked his way but once he had her he got cocky, slipped up with Emy Hickens, and broke Megan's heart. She'd dumped him and moved on but ever since she left him he's been pining for her.

Even though he's obnoxious and and acts as if every girl wants him everyone considers him to be a loser. Hence the fact that mostly everybody knows him as "Ray the bench warmer", a nickname coined by his own teammates, even people who'd never met him knew the score well.

I opened mouth to tell her that I wasn't interested in him but she kept going,

"Even though things may not be working out with Bryce you shouldn't be at the point of desperation," she added, genuinely concerned.

"I'm not interested in Raymond James plus Bryce was just here and I think we worked everything out. Like I said we were both too angry to listen to each other much less try to really explain where we misunderstood-"

"Misunderstood? You saw him kiss his ex what's there to be misunderstood about that?" She yelled.

"He didn't kiss her, she kissed him-"

"Whatever, he was still kissing her when this whole time he told you they were just friends. He knew you had a problem with her and obviously this is why he couldn't just leave her alone, he was still involved with Emy. And don't try to act like it's some far fetched idea because everybody knows that Emy could care less if a guy's in a relationship or not. She's been the reason a lot of guys break up with their girlfriends."

Emy Hickens was Bryce's ex-girlfriend, as much as it saddened me to admit it, they were each other's last serious relationship and longest. After she left him for another guy he had been devastated and even after she left the guy they didn't get back together.

It had nearly drove me insane that he insisted on hanging out with her. When I'd questioned him he'd said that they we're friends but I wasn't buying into that.

It was obvious to anyone that she still wanted him back even now thus she played around but was never serious with anyone in particular, the same went for Bryce. He hadn't even been serious with me but I had faith that he would be serious now that he knew we were mates.

He had been burned but that didn't mean he could act like he'd forgotten how to treat another person with respect. I understood his situation but I'd only allow so much leeway because of sympathy. I was done sacrificing happiness, dignity, and respect to let Bryce nurse old wounds from a past relationship because he refused to open up to me. At this point I'm sick of that game.

"He didn't see it coming, Skylar," I defended but she pulled a face to let me know what she thought of that idea.

"Really, he had been trying to call me when she-"

"Sounds like Mr. Williams must have told you a fine tale this morning. Probably even squeezed out a few crocodile tears because I don't see how that's anything but fairytales. What guy with even a shred of respect for his girlfriend kisses his ex in front of her? And when exactly did you talk to Ray the bench warmer before or after you saw them?"

"After."

"So how in the world did you have time to strike up a conversation with that guy if Bryce wasn't making out with Emy? If he had been caught off guard somehow he could have pushed her away and went after you. And if he had, I don't see how you would have had time to be wasted by that guy."

"They were in a separate room from where everyone else was..." I reluctantly admitted.

"That's even worse!" She looked at me imploring me to see her point. "Alyssa, you have got to realize this whole set up is way too shady to be coincidental. You're too nice to let him trick you like this. Why was he in that room with his ex in the middle of his birthday party?"

"He was trying to call me," I said quietly, as much as I wanted to tell her those possibilities hadn't crossed my mind I'd be lying.

"Alyssa…"

Before she could continue I relayed to her what he'd told me and showed her the ticket.

"Skylar he admits that he's messed up but I really think he means to take our relationship seriously this time and this ticket is a major step in the right direction."

"What was holding him back the first time around? Did he not think you were worth making a legitimate effort? Usually people say the first step is getting out of denial and you guys haven't gotten past that. He's guilty, he just doesn't want you to feel bad. If he can't even admit to all of his wrongs how are you supposed to fix them and move forward? And how do you know that he's ready to change and not saying what he knows you want to hear just to make you stay?"

I hated to admit that I saw where she was coming from and it was getting to me.

"The ticket, what about-" I started.

"Forget New York! Do you realize that he's taking you away from everyone you know and it'll be just the two of you? Even though he's had this ticket for a while it's only now that he gives it to you?"

"He-"

"Both of your parents know that you guys are going out and his obviously paid for the ticket. By springing this on you now there isn't much time to think about it but you most likely realized who paid for it. All he had to do was come with some bogus story, explain away what happened, throw in a couple kisses, and suddenly it's as if last night never happened."

I gasped, I didn't tell her he kissed me. She examined me a second,

"Yeah, he kissed you, threw a little charm your way and you were putty in his hands," she taunted derisively."By yourself, you probably thought about how if you don't go his parents will be disappointed and then they'll find out about everything. Because you always tried to keep any problems you guys had under wraps."

She shocked me into silence, here she was voicing some of my thoughts, although those weren't the only reasons I wanted to go to New York.

"But what about your parents? You told me you weren't leaving because of them. They won't take this well especially not when