6 Chapter Five - Ryan...
*Apologies in advance for the lengthy chapter*.
A few days have passed, a few days of Briella trying to secretly look at Ryan, admire his handsomeness but would fail miserably, as he would catch her red-handed each and every time.
"All in all, nothing much has happened over the last few days, Nadia...".
"Whaaa! Like, nothing-nothing, or just nothing?" Nadia inquires.
"What exactly is the difference, Nadia?...".
"Well, in one of them - that being the 'nothing', you are hiding the truth of something that you did. While for 'nothing-nothing'... Hmmm..." Nadia stops for a quick second. "Well, that one means that you really didn't do anything, therefore meaning that you didn't lie...".
"Nadia?..." Briella begins.
"Yes?".
"Why exactly would I lie to you?... You are the first - and the only - person who knows about my crushes...".
"... Good point..." she replies.
They walk towards the exit of the school grounds.
"Well, the weather is pretty good..." Briella says.
"It won't be long until it all turns for the worse...".
"Don't look at it that way, Nadia. Sure, Summer with its nice weather will come again," Briella says. "Besides, don't you like Winter? All the snow, the cold... sitting by the fireplace drinking a warm mug of hot chocolate..." she adds.
"Nope..." Nadia replies.
"WHAAAA!? Why???".
"It's too cold... also, snow is not really my thing..." Nadia adds.
"But how come? Every Winter, I see you run around like a lunatic, throwing snowballs at people...".
"See... Putting snow down peoples' backs is quite fun... but its a whole different story when it happens to you..." Nadia replies.
"Ahh, I see..." Briella says.
"Besides..." Nadia begins. "Is there a specific reason why you like Winter so much?... That is, minus your birthday...".
"Hmmm... Why I like Winter?... Well, as you said, despite my birthday, I really like the cold and the snow in Winter. Even though I like Summers and the summer heat, Winter, snow and all the cold have a special place in my heart..." Briella says. "Also... the way that people get closer during Winter, cuddle together during the freezing nights... it all sounds so lovely and romantic..." she adds, as a pleasant smile takes over her lips.
"Ahhh, I see... so this Winter I can expect seeing you alongside Ryan more often, eh?" Nadia replies, giggling teasingly.
Immediately, Briella's face goes deadpan. "Nadia?"
"Yeah?" She responds, with a teasing smile still on her face.
"Shush...".
The two young women reach the gate of their school and like every evening, they both go their own ways. Nadia towards the busy city centre, while Briella around the beautiful countryside.
They both exchange their goodbyes before making their way to their homes.
Briella climbs onto her bike before pedalling off.
She rides down the familiar path, letting the wind caress her skin, as it also goes through her hair, causing it to move in a slow, wave-like motion.
Then, she noticed her pedals skip before everything ticks back into place. She lowers her eyes down to the chair, everything seems to be fine.
She continues cycling, but, she once again feels the jitter and again, it ticks back to normal.
Briella continues on rotating her pedals, but she notices something strange a few seconds later. Instead of speeding up, she is slowing down. Naturally, she quickens her pace, she tries to cycle faster but to no success.
Deciding to stop, she gets off her bike before, once again, examining the pedalling system of the bike. Instantly she sees the problem.
Her eyes widen as she sees the chain has gotten off of the gears. Explains why she couldn't speed up her bike...
'Ughhh... why now?...". Briella looks up, down the long pathway. Her face grows more and more emotionless as the realisation sinks in that she will have to walk her bike home... if she knew this would have happened, she would have happily took the bus. Plus, she would have Nadia by her side, at least she would keep her company.
'Maybe I can call someone???...'. Pulling out her phone, she tries to turn it on... nothing. She tries again to power it up... nothing. 'It... it can't be!... It's dead...'.
Briella surrenders with a sigh before taking the situation into her own hands. Lowering the bike leg, she lets it lean onto it. From there, she lowers herself and attempts to place the chain back onto the gear. Managing to get the chain around the big gear, she tries getting around the second one, but it was near impossible.
She tried not to touch the chain as much as all of the oil managed to stain her fingers. A couple attempts later, she gives up.
'I guess I'll have to wait until I come home and as dad what he can do...'.
Just as she was about to go off, a deep voice stops her. "Hey, you!".
Briella looks forward, then left and right, before finally turning back. Amongst a few people scattered here and there, she sees a tall, broad, slightly muscular figure approaching her. Straight away, she knows who it is.
Her knees tremble ever so lightly as her heart begins to pound against her rib cage. Her breathing becomes faster.
'I-its Ryan...'.
He continues his walk towards her before stopping, with at least a meter of separation.
"You look familiar... your name begins with a 'B', right?..." he asks.
Instantly, Briella's cheeks redden ever so slightly. 'He... he knows the first letter of my name...'.
All she can do is nod as a reply.
And then he went on to trying to guess her name...
"It's Brianna, right?".
Briella shakes her head while managing to keep her eyes onto his.
"Betty?...".
She shakes her head once more.
"B, B, B, B... Hmmmm..." Ryan speaks under his breath. Suddenly, his eyes open wide. "Aha! It's Bethany!".
"No..." Briella replies, furrowing her brows ever so slightly.
"Oh?... Well, what is it then?" Ryan asks.
"Briella, my name is Briella...".
Suddenly, they both went quiet as they looked at each other...
'This moment... this one right now - with how the sun is lowering, the weather is nice, and the slight breeze blowing through our hair - it all feels... feels so...'. "Cliche...".
"Huh?" Ryan looks down at her.
"Umm!! Nothing!!!!".
"Oh, by the way, my name is Ryan...".
"Yeah, I know...". Suddenly, Briella's eyes widen at what she just said. "I-I-I mean!!! Nice to meet you, Ryan! I'm Briella!...". 'You know you already told him your name, right???'. "As I said like a minute ago...".
Internal Briella sighs in pure disappointment. 'I should have practised talking and introducing myself beforehand... but then again, how was I to know I would run into Ryan??... My bike is all to blame!!!'.
"So, what happened with your bike? I see the chain has fallen off the gears...".
"Yeah..." Briella says, rubbing the back of her head in slight awkwardness. "Can you fix it by any chance?...".
"Well..." he begins. "I can certainly try...".
Ryan flips the bike and begins working on trying to fix the bike, all while Briella took a few steps back and is closely watching at what Ryan is doing.
Quickly after, he managed to fix the bike. "There we go..." he begins. "Just like brand new...".
"Oh... I-I... thank you, Ryan..." Briella says as she tries to help him with turning the bike around onto its wheels.
"Of course..." Ryan replies with a smile. "Should we get going?".
Briella widens her eyes. 'B-both Ryan and I?... To walk together??'.
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"So tell me again, it's... Briella, right?" he asks.
"Yup.".
"Okay... Briella... Briella...".
'The way that my name rolls off his tongue...'. As if Briella's blush couldn't strengthen any more, him calling out her name did just that.
Then Briella looks at Ryan as he pulls out a small pocket notepad and jots something down. Reorienting her head a little, her eyes almost pop out of their sockets when she sees her name on the page. 'He... he wrote down my name...'.
"Oh, I can't believe I forgot to ask, would you mind if I used your name for one of my characters in a book that I'm gonna write very soon?".
Ryan's words bring a huge surprise to Briella.
"WHAAA! Ryan, you write!?".
"But its nothing big, to be honest, nothing overwhelming..." He replies. "I do it as a hobby...".
"I see..." Briella replies. "I just... you don't seem like a person who would write..." Briella says. "Of course, in a good way. I am pleasantly surprised to know that you write.".
"Really?" Ryan asks.
"Yeah... I think that writing is a very good past-time, also a challenging one.".
Briella hears him chuckle ever so slightly. "You don't know how glad I am to hear that... most of my friends say I should drop writing. They say that it's too lame...".
"What! Really!?...".
"Yeah..." he replies.
"You know... The fact that they are putting on their opinions onto you sounds pretty lame of them..." she says, causing Ryan to once again chuckle.
"I made my friends seem like they are pure meanies, they are not, it's just that they want what is best for me..." Ryan replies.
"Ahhh, I see...".
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'And for the many minutes that followed, not many words were exchanged between Ryan and me, mainly because I, once again, became very shy, while Ryan pulled out his notepad and began to note everything around us. The dedication this man has! He is ever recording the way we walk.'.
"Well..." Ryan begins. "See you tomorrow!".
"Sure thing!" Briella says. "By the way, I am so sorry if I caused you a hassle to get home, you possibly have an awful lot to walk to get to your place. I'll ask my parents if they can drop you off".
"No, that wouldn't be necessary..." Ryan says, "I like about ten minutes from here, maybe even eight...".
'WHAAAA! That close to my house!' Briella exclaims in her thoughts.
"Well, anyway, see you tomorrow! Bye and good night!".
"Good night, Ryan!".
With that, Briella leaves her bike in its usual place, before walking inside.
'I just walked home and talked to Ryan, I just walked home and talk to Ryan, I just-'. Then as if the realisation has just now set in. 'OH MY!!! I JUST WALKED HOME AND TALKED TO RYANNNN!!!'
Immediately, Briella rushes up the stairs and into her room. She gets her notebook and a pen before beginning to write.
'I have to get all the information accurate, this is all very important!!!' Briella says to herself.
'Monday, 8th of September.'
'4:46:06 PM...'.
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With a sigh of exhaustion, Briella closes her homework notebooks and leaves everything aside, placing the notebook about her crush in the drawer where it always stays in. Next, she goes onto the website she uses to read a book she is currently going through by R. C. Hale, Briella's favourite author.
He published a new chapter today. So, Briella goes under before letting herself indulge into some more of his heartbreakingly good romance...
