Barely: A Stepbrother Story

3: The Cotton Candy

[ K A R A ]

Throughout the rest of the car ride, Ryder and I were mostly silent. I was slurping my milkshake and he was humming to the music in his car, but that was about it.

After a while of driving, the car finally stopped by this cliff. It was a beautiful place, with the whole ocean standing gloriously below us. The sun outside was barely setting, and the sky was pastel pink and orange and purple. Even the clouds looked like they were cotton candy. I had never seen a sunset this beautiful in the city.

"Well, little sis, I present to you, Hawaii," Ryder said proudly. "Not too bad, huh?"

"Wow,” I gaped. “This is even better than my desktop wallpaper. Is this like a national park or something?"

"No, this here is just one of my favorite spots on the island,”

“Do you come here a lot?”

“Sometimes,” he shrugged. “I come here mainly when I want to be alone and think,"

Somehow, I sensed that Ryder was staring at me, and not at the view. But when I turned to him and caught him looking at me, he quickly turned away and opened the car door.

"Come on," he said.

Stepping out of his tuck, he walked around and leaned against the front part of his truck. I decided to follow him out, taking the spot next to him.

Looking out into the marvelous sight before me, I realized that my mother was right about one thing. The ocean in Hawaii was amazing. I had never seen anything quite like it. Sure, in the city we had Brighton Beach, but the comparison between the two was like night and day.

Taking in a deep breath, I could smell the ocean from way up here. A warm summer breeze was blowing softly through my hair, and below us, I saw the waves came colliding towards the shore, again and again. And that sound was like music to my ears.

I couldn't help but smile.

"Can't get this view in New York City, huh?" Ryder said, taking off his sunglasses.

"Yeah, you really can't," I said with a bright smile.

Somehow, I found myself looking at Ryder again. This was the first time I got to see his eyes in such close proximity. The sun was hitting his face at a perfect angle and he looked like Edward Cullen glowing under the sunlight. He was properly beautiful, and his eyes were so captivating to me. It was a deep shade of blue and it seemed to hold many stories, many mysteries.

Ryder's eyes were fixed towards the ocean with a longing gaze. A somewhat melancholy gaze. And suddenly, he turned to me and caught me looking at him, again. Dang it. I quickly flipped my brain, trying to find something to say to distract him.

"Err... hey Ry, what's that tattoo about? What's it say there?" I pointed to a tattoo on Ryder's arm. He pulled out his arm to give me a better look. The tattoo spelled "Layla".

"This one is a special one," Ryder smiled.

"Layla... is that your girlfriend?" I laughed teasingly. "What is that 05 09 08? Is that like some special date or something?"

Ryder’s face suddenly became serious, and he said, "Layla was my mother's name. And that was the date she died,"

I felt my heart dropped to my stomach in an instant. My smile fell to the ground. I couldn't believe how insensitive I was.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said slowly.

"I would never tattoo a girl's name on my body," he said with a scoff. "It's only for my mom," he said again, and I knew he meant it.

The atmosphere became somewhat gloomy as the topic of Ryder's dead mother came up.

"I'm really sorry, Ry, I didn't mean to.. uh.." I mumbled my words out.

"It's fine. It's been a long time. She's in a better place now,"

Both of us were looking to the front now, towards the sky, and not at each other.

"It's funny that you call me Ry. All my friends call me RJ, only my family would call me Ry. My mom gave me that nickname," he said after a while of silence.

"Oh, well, should I just start calling you RJ, then?"

"No. You can call me Ry," he smiled. That smile was different to the other smirks that he often gave me. It looked like one of those really genuine smiles that you don't often see on his face.

I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I just froze in my spot. Ryder then turned his gaze to the churning waves below us. He narrowed his eyes to the blue water, looking intently at it.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked cautiously.

"Nothing," he said shortly. But I knew it wasn't nothing. I could tell that his mind was filled with something; some deep thoughts, maybe even some painful thoughts.

"If there's something on your mind, you can tell me, you know," I said somewhat nonchalantly. One of the perks of being an introvert like me was that I could be sensitive towards people in pain.

He was quiet, probably debating whether or not he should say anything.

"When my mom died, we spread her ashes there in the ocean. I think that's why I like surfing so much... In a weird way it makes me feel like I'm near her again." he paused for a moment. "She was one of the reasons why I wanted to be a pro surfer."

My heart broke at his words. My hand reached up instinctively to his elbow, giving him a gentle squeeze.

"I think your mom would be really proud of you," I said softly.

"And another reason is..." he said again as he turned his eyes to me, "surfers get laid."

I smacked his arm almost instantly, and he just laughed away.

"Is that all that you can think about? Girls and s*x?" I groaned.

"And surfing," he added while laughing.

Oh, my good Lord. I swore, he was just like one of those Jersey Shore man-w****s I saw on TV. Except it wasn't Gym, Tanning, and Laundry for Ryder, it was Girls, Surfing, and more Girls. I smacked his arm again as he wouldn't stop laughing.

"It's what they call 'the good life' little sis, you should try it sometime."

"Thanks. But I'll pass," I rolled my eyes at him. 

As his laughter winded down, suddenly he turned to me and said, "You know, you're surprisingly fun to talk to."

I didn't understand what he meant by that. So I just mumbled "whatever," under my breath.

"You've got character. You're... intriguing," he said with that smirk playing on his face.

My breath hitched suddenly. Wait, is he... flirting with me?

"Well it's only because your character lacks depth," I spat back, easing down the tension.

Yes, girl. Don't let that smooth mudderfudder get to you.

Ryder’s mouth fell open at my response. But he was quick to gather his composure. He went back to smirking again, and his eyes grew wider.

Well, at least that shut him up for a bit.

Decided to ignore him, I turned my gaze back towards the sky. It was a beautiful day and it was a beautiful place. I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate this and forget about the blabbing man-slut next to me.

So, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and I felt the warm air gently brushing over my face. And for what felt like an eternity, I focused my ears on the sound of the waves.

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For the longest time, there was silence between us.

My eyes were open slightly, and in the corner of my eye, I noticed Ryder looking at me. My long brown hair was blowing in the air. His eyes darted from my lips to my cheeks, then to my eyelashes, the tip of my nose, and back again on my lips.

There was something about the way he was looking at me. I didn't know what had gotten into him, but all of a sudden, he reached his hand out to touch my face. His hand landed on my cheek, and his fingers tilted my chin to bring my lips closer to him.

My eyes were open wide in shock. His dark blue eyes were fixed unto mine, like he was searching for something.

For a moment we just looked at each other. I wasn't sure of what he was thinking. I wasn't sure of what I myself was thinking of. With his hand resting on the side of my face, I stood frozen still.

Ryder's hand slowly caressed my cheek and then the side of my lips. His hand moved so slowly, so gently, as if I was a fragile thing and he could break me if he moved too much too fast.

I could feel the knot in my stomach coming back now, and it was stronger than ever before.

Ryder slowly moved closer towards me and his hand gently pulled my face closer towards him.

It felt like an eternity. He held his gaze unto mine. I looked up at him, waiting for the uncertainty. Our noses were now touching and I felt the butterflies in my stomach fluttering. My heart was beating so fast, I was afraid that he might have heard it.

A subtle smile appeared on Ryder's face, so small that you would miss it if you didn't pay attention. But I noticed.

I could feel Ryder's warm breath on my cheeks, and he smelled like a Vanilla milkshake. It made me wonder if he'd taste like it too.

The anticipation was killing me.

Both of our lips were parted as they were a mere inch away from one another, getting ready for what's to come. And as they barely touched...

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