Barely: A Stepbrother Story

2: The Purity Ring

[ K A R A ]

"So, this is your first time in Hawaii, right Kara?"

Peter was making small talk as the four of us sat together for lunch later that day. It was supposed to be a friendly get-to-know-you kind of event.

"Yes," I replied shortly. I was always awkward with these kinds of things.

"Well, you're gonna have so much fun, what do you like to do?"

"I don't know,” I shrugged. “Read books, watch movies, maybe do some writing…"

"Oh, Kara is a fantastic writer, she got a full ride to study writing in Columbia," Lacey exclaimed proudly.

"That's fantastic, good for you," Peter said, and I smiled politely back at him.

As all of this was happening, Ryder was sitting in front of me, not giving much thought to this conversation. He was busily typing on his phone.

"What about you Ryder? Are you going to college in the state or…?" Lacey turned to Ryder but he did not respond, still busy on his phone.

Peter kicked Ryder's feet under the table. He looked up in shock, and I found it amusing.

"Ry has decided that he will not be going to college. He graduated last year and for the past year, he's been training professionally to be a pro surfer. He actually just got a contract with Quiksilver and Volcom, he's going pro now," Peter explained.

"Oh, that sounds exciting," Lacey responded.

"Yeah, he'd be going on a world tour for surfing, starting this September. He'll be gone for at least three years,"

"Well, congratulations Ryder, you're gonna go out there and see the world, I am excited for you," Lacey beamed at Ryder. Ryder smiled and gave her a polite nod.

"But, I still think that a man needs an education, you know, especially in this era. I mean, surfing's not gonna last forever—" Peter rambled on and Ryder cut him off suddenly.

"Dad. I'mma go outside for a bit, okay?” he said as he stood up abruptly. I sensed that he did not like where this conversation was going.

“Where are you going?” Peter asked.

“To the beach maybe, and meet some friends,"

"Oh, okay... well... oh, Ry! Take Kara with you!" Peter said suddenly, and I almost choked on my asparagus.

"Oh, that'd be nice won't it, Kar? Ryder can show you around the island," Lacey added.

Ryder looked at me, who again had lost my ability to speak.

"Sure, let's go," he gave me a quick nod.

It seemed like everyone had made this decision for me, so the only thing I could do was follow it. Without saying a word, I slowly got up from my seat and went to follow Ryder. But as I was doing that, for some unknown reason, I felt a knot in my stomach.

That’s weird.

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I followed Ryder out of the kitchen as he grabbed a T-shirt from the sofa and quickly slipped it on. It was weird, but I never knew that watching someone put a shirt on could look this sexy.

Ryder didn’t say one word to me and kept on walking, so I kept walking too. Outside of the house, Ryder jumped into his truck in one swift move. Once inside, he grabbed a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses from the dashboard before putting it on.

Oh dang. How can a guy be this cool?

Quietly, I followed him into the truck, struggling to get on. Yes, I'm not the most graceful of creatures, I sighed to myself.

Moments later, Ryder started the engine and the truck pulled out of the driveway. Ryder's right hand was on the wheel and his left one was hanging by the car’s window. I found myself looking at him and I wondered what the tattoos on his arms meant, maybe someday I'd ask him about it.

Ryder then caught me staring at him for a second too long. Letting out a chuckle, he said, "Wanna tell me why you're staring at my face?"

I lit up in embarrassment and quickly turned away.

"Uh sorry. I wasn't..." that was all that I could muster out.

What is wrong with you? Darn girl, be cool!

Normally, I wasn’t like this around guys. In fact, I never paid attention to any of them. Why was this one so different? Why was I so nervous around him and I couldn't speak, like English wasn't my first language anymore?

I decided to turn my head to face the side window, to avoid looking at Ryder. But after a few moments, I noticed that he was looking at me.

"What are you looking at?" I asked, trying to stay cool.

"You. You're beautiful," he said it as if he was just commenting on the weather.

Woah, woah, woah!

Okay, I was not prepared for such an answer. I struggled to hide my cheeks from blushing and shuffled uncomfortably in my seat.

"Hey— Ry, uh, do you have music or something?" I quickly changed the topic.

"Of course," he replied as he turned on the audio.

"Wow, I haven't seen a person used a CD player in so long," I noted at how his truck still had one of those old CD players attached to it.

"I preferred them over digital. I like their quality better," he answered.

As the music began to play, I soon recognized the intro that was playing. It was the song "Yellow" by Coldplay. I liked this song, and my head slowly nodded into the rhythm of the music.

"Look at the stars, look how they shine for you, and everything you do, they were all yellow," Ryder started singing to the song, and a small smile escaped my lips.

I braced myself.

"Your skin~ oh yeah your skin and bones, turning to something beautiful," I joined him at the chorus. He turned to me with that smile again, and we started to sing louder as we finished the chorus in harmony.

"Not bad, you a Coldplay fan?" Ryder said.

"Are you kidding, who would not like Coldplay?" I responded.

“Their older stuff is the bomb,” he commented.

“I know,” I nodded furiously. “The newer ones are blah,”

“I agree with you one hundred percent!”

The song went to the chorus again and we continued singing until the song ended. And then we found ourselves laughing as we ended the last note in perfect harmony.

"Nice!" he gave me a high five. I tapped his hand awkwardly.

"So, what other music do you listen to, other than Coldplay?" Ryder asked.

"Umm, I like a lot of indie bands… like The Temper Trap, The Boxer Rebellion, Of Monsters and Men, The Lumineers..." I found myself trailing off. "Do you know any of them?"

"Honestly, no," he let out a short laugh.

"Well you should, they're great," I replied.

"Alright, I’ll believe you," he said again.

There was an awkward silence again as I ran out of things to say. I was uncomfortable with this silence and I was desperate to make the situation better.

Okay, what do I say now? Uh... Make small talk! It's not that hard! Come on, say something, or he'll think that you're some kind of anti-social weirdo. Talk about the weather!

"So, the weather's nice here..." I stumbled with my words.

He raised an eyebrow and said, "The weather?" in a mocking tone.

Okay, that was annoying. I was just trying to be friendly.

"Hey, what's with that ring you keep playing with?" Ryder said, motioning to the small ring on my finger. I had this bad habit of playing with my ring whenever I got nervous. I guess he must've noticed it.

"Oh, it's my purity ring," I answered.

"Your what?"

"Purity ring, you know?" I repeated myself. "People wear them as a sign of abstinence until marriage,"

"No, I know what it means, but why are you wearing it?" he paused for a second to think. "Oh wait, are you saying you're actually doing that?" he waited for me to answer.

I nodded slowly.

"Are you serious? Wait— you're a virgin?" I sensed the condescending tone in his words.

I chose not to respond to that remark. But I saw Ryder's eyes lit up as he found this topic super interesting.

"Don't tell me, are you one of those crazy Christian freaks?" he teased.

"No," I said, feeling slightly offended. "I didn't do it because of religion. I chose to do it because I want to. I just happen to think that it's a wise decision," I tried to stay calm and not to sound like I was angry.

"Well I'll be damned!" he chuckled in disbelief. "Look honey, you have to have s*x before you get married to a guy, ok? Otherwise, how would you know if you're compatible with each other? What happens if you got married and then you realize the s*x is bad?" he spoke to me as if I was a child.

"Well, first of all, I believe there's more to marriage than just s*x, heck, there's more to a relationship than just s*x. Second, if I never have s*x in the first place, how would I know if the s*x is bad? And third... don't call me honey," I was fuming, my inner NYC diva had made its entrance.

Ryder couldn't help but smile. I hated that he found my decision to stay chaste to be so amusing.

"Okay, so if it's not because of religion, why'd you choose to do it?"

I wondered if I should tell him. I knew he was going to make fun of me either way. I knew his type, he'd probably label me as a prude.

"Because... I like to believe... that love really exists, you know?" I finally answered.

"What do you mean?" he pressed on.

"I don't know, I'd like to believe, that there's a guy out there who's willing to wait for me, and love me no matter what, no matter how good or bad the s*x is between us, no matter how rich or broke, how pretty or ugly I may get..." I trailed off.

Ryder couldn't help but stare at me. His jaw fell to the floor, and then he broke into laughter. I rolled my eyes at him, clearly offended.

"Good luck finding that unicorn, honey," he said through his laugh.

"My name is not honey. Stop calling me that," I hissed. “It’s Kara. With a K,”

"Ah sorry, a force of habit," he responded. I looked at him quizzically, waiting for him to explain. "It's just that I hang out with so many girls, I can't possibly remember all their names, you know? So I just call everyone honey," he explained. And he seemed to be proud of it.

"Holy s**t, Kara with a K, you're a virgin," he repeated to himself in that teasing tone.

I wished I could smack that annoying smile off his face. Why was the fact that I'm a virgin so amusing to him?

I'm a virgin, sure, big whoop. Surely a lot of other people in the world were too. But probably not him though. Yeah, definitely not him.

"So, Ry, I suppose you go out on a lot of dates, huh?" I said, making sure I sounded like I don't really care.

"Eh, not really, I don't do dates, it's too much work. Dates are just appetizers, I like to go straight for the main course, you know what I mean," he replied with a wink.

"Ew, gross. That's enough information," I cut him off. "Man-w***e" I muttered under my breath, almost in a whisper, I thought he wouldn't hear me.

"You calling me a w***e? Yeah okay, prude," he spat.

"Oh, better that than a man-w***e," I snapped back.

"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night. But as for me, I sleep really good at night, especially after one or two rounds of—"

"La la la la!" I cut him off as I put my hand over my ears and sing-song loudly, drowning his voice.

He laughed at me with a wild grin. Sure, make fun of me, the good ole' prude, whatever. I rolled my eyes at him and scooted towards the edge of my seat, throwing my gaze to the window, not wanting to talk anymore.

Ryder took the hint. He knew that I was mad at him now.

"Hey, don't be mad," he nudged my shoulder but I quickly brushed him off.

Sighing to himself, he then looked out his window and spotted this homey-looking diner. He must be thirsty or something, because the car pulled up to the drive-thru window and Ryder ordered two large milkshakes. Once he was given the two large cups, he gave one of them to me and sipped the other cup.

"Mhhmm, damn this is so good, maybe even as good as s*x," he said teasingly.

Why are we still talking about that?

"What's this?" I motioned to the large cup that he gave me.

"Why it's only the best milkshake in the whole world! Consider it a treat, to welcome my new little sister to Hawaii," he said proudly.

Eyeing him suspiciously, I shoved the cup back and said, "I don't want it,"

"The milkshake or the s*x?" he teased me again.

I rolled my eyes and turned my face away, ignoring the milkshake being offered in front of my face.

"Oh come on, I promise, it's worth your while," he moved the cup around in front of my face, and the straw poking at my lips. "Come on, just take a sip, try it, try it, try it,"

"Agh! Ryder! You're so annoying!" I grabbed the cup angrily.

"Ha-ha. Look at us, barely a day and already fighting. We'd make a great sibling, don't you think?" he grinned.

Psh. Bribing me with a milkshake? What am I, a five year old?

And as angry and as annoyed as I was, I took a slurp of that darn milkshake. But dang it! He was right. It was the best milkshake in the whole entire world.

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- - - - - To Be Continued - - - - -