âââ
"Thank you so much Lydia!"
"It's totally fine. I'm happy to know that you guys are finally together." I hug Trish back, squeezing her tight before letting her go. Beaming at her, I push her towards a very happy and content looking Bruce who's been looking at us from the past few minutes. "Now go spend sometime with your boyfriend."
"You are my second favorite person in the whole wide world, Lydia Herrington!" Bruce exclaims, embracing me and Trish both. I giggle softly. These two are hopelessly sweet.
"Now shall I take my girlfriend with me or will she sleep with you guys too?" Ridge voices out, making everyone know that he's also present here. I untangle myself from their hold and take a step back.
"Stop being so possessive, honey. She's all yours." Trish smirks, nudging me with her elbow suggestively. I roll my eyes at her, but do not bother replying. Not like it's gonna make any difference.
Laughing loudly, rest of the group walks towards us, bright smiles illuminating their faces. Everyone is huddled in the small dusty, compact store room but no one seems to care about that, when the reality looks so damn promising. A nostalgic smile makes it's way on my face when memories of Tanner, Em and I, laughing happily back in Washington crosses my mind. And right here, right now, I realize that nothing has changed. I'm here, with my family. Happy and content.
Ridge wounds his arms around me, gazing at me with concern. "Hey, you fine?"
I give him a reassuring smile, putting my head on his shoulder. "Never been better."
âââ
It's our second day at this beautiful place, and I'm so excited! Today we are all going to the beach so we are all currently gathered near the hotel lawn, from where we'll board the bus. When the teacher announces to board the bus, excited murmurs roam around, happy smiles etched on everyone's faces. The crowd is buzzing zeal and eagerness to get to the beach. Since the beach isn't far from the hotel, we reach there in about 10 minutes give or take.
Everyone gets down as soon as the buses are parked near the entrance of the beach. My group of friend and I are all walking together, Trish and Bruce hand in hand skipping through the pathway happily. They look so good together. The teacher asks everyone to pick a place to put their belongings together and get wild. Yeah, that's what she actually said which caused a roar of laughter around the students.
Running and sprinting towards the assigned place, we all put our bags down and then Bruce called for us.
"Yes?"I ask him, walking hand in hand with Ridge.
He waits until everyone is collected at a spot and give us a big grin. "A match of volleyball, losers?"
Em quirks an eyebrow at his confidence. "Losers? I would not like to brag or anything but I'm a pro at volleyball and I can easily kick your slimy ass with a single shot."
"Oops." Tanner mutters.
Bruce pouts, putting his hand on his heart like he's hurt. "You wound me honey. My heart can't take this damage."
"I'm so ready to play this game and make sure you don't score a point." Ashton smirks, putting his arm around Bruce's shoulder, giving his jaw a light squeeze like he's a child. "But please don't run to your girlfriend, crying like the loser you are."
Bruce glares at him, nudging him with his elbows. "Fuck off, dickhead."
"I'm not his girlfriend." Trish grumbles, putting her hand on her waist.
'Yet, baby. You're not my girlfriend, yet." Bruce flicks her nose, winking at her.
'Ugh, this lovey dovey shit is making me all nauseous." Tanner scrunches his nose up like he's disgusted.
"Because no girl likes you Tan." Kiara laughs, patting his arm in sympathy.
"Excuse me, what's not to like, huh?" Tanner gestures to himself, acting astonished. "I have everything you can ever want. I can give you a trailer."
"Excuse me, that's my girlfriend you're talking about." Eric remarks, glaring at Tanner, pulling Kiara close to him. "Back off."
Tanner chuckles loudly. "Sorry dude, I was just joking. She's beautiful and all but I'm no homewrecker."
"Now that we've established the fact that Bruce is a loser, Trisha is not Bruce's girlfriend yet and Tanner is not a homewrecker, can we go and fucking play?" Erica comments, glaring at each one of us.
"Finally, someone had to say it." I laugh.
Everyone succumb to Erica's glares and scurry off towards the beach to play but I notice Ridge standing in his position, still. I pull at his hand to bring his attention to me. His eyes flicker to mine and then I see the emotions swirling in them. Uneasiness and fear.
Oh my god, how did I forget such an important thing?! Ridge is scared. Of water bodies.
Fuck. Hydrophobia!
"Ridge. look at me." I hold his face in my hands, titling his head so this his eyes meet mine. He doesn't say anything, not even a single word comes out of his mouth but I know what's he's feeling. He's scared and terrified.
"I'm fine." He whispers, closing his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I just need a moment to collect myself."
I nod. "It's alright. I'm here."
His hands clasp around my wrists for support. I don't know if it's emotional or physical at this point but I let him be. Moments pass but his breathing doesn't return down to normal. He staggers back, away from my hold, his hands coming up towards his chest, as his breathing labors. His steps falter, making him lose his balance ans stumble upon the sand, his breathing in no mood to simmer down to it's normal rate.
He's having a panic attack.
Hurriedly, I take a step forward and crouch down in front of him. Without giving it a second thought, I descend my lips on his softly, slowly. He startles but doesn't push me away, instead wraps his arms around me, caging me in his arms. The kiss lasts for a few seconds before I pull away, pecking him on the lips one last time.
"What was that for?" He whispers. his fingers unconsciously rubbing my back.
How do I tell him? I bite my bottom lip, embarrassed. "I saw this on Teen Wolf. When I kissed you, it stopped your panic attack."
He raises an eyebrow, giving me a dry look for a second before bursting into fits of laughter, his whole body shaking. He splutters and gasps for air, but his laughing doesn't stop. Eventually, his laughing dies down to low chuckles. "So, does that make me your very own Stiles?"
"Shut up." I retort, hitting his shoulder softly.
But he's on a roll right now. "So that means we are meant to be?"
I punch him on his shoulder instead of granting him a verbal reply.
His expressions shift from humorous to peaceful in a second, his tongue sweeping out to lick his bottom lip. "Thank you sweetheart, for distracting me."
"It's okay." I give him a smile. "Do you wanna go play with them or just stay here?"
He shakes his head, sighing. "No, I don't think I can go there now. But you can go play, I've already stolen a lot of your time anyway."
"If you're staying here, then I'm staying here too." I tell him.
My phone buzzing captures my attention. It's a message from Bruce.
Bruce - I just say that happening. Did Ridge have a panic attack again? Is he fine?
Or are you guys just getting frisky in the middle of the day, in the middle of the beach?
A laugh escapes my lips. Damn Bruce!
Me - Yeah, he had a panic attack but it's all fine now.
I took care of it.
Also, I don't think we'll be joining you guys today.
Inform the others too please.
Bruce - Good to know. I told everyone.
Just text anyone of us if you need something, okay?
I reply with an okay and put my phone in the pocket of my dress.
Ridge raises an eyebrow at me. "Who was that?"
"Bruce." I told him. "I texted him, informing that we won't be joining them in the game."
He frowns, sighing. "Please don't cut out on your fun because of me. I'll be fine, I promise. I'll just sit near a palm tree and read a book. You don't have to worry about me."
"Shut up. We'll both read a book then. Let's go." I stand up, brushing off the sand sticking on my legs and dress.
Together, we walk to a nearby palm tree and sit down, shoulder to shoulder. For a few minutes, it's a comfortable, thoughtful silence, both Ridge and I sitting quietly, hearing the cheers from the crowd, the laughter of our friends playing and the sounds of waves lapping over each other. It's surreal. Alive and refreshing.
But an unusual though crosses my mind, making me break the comfortable silence. "Do you believe in past lives and incarnations?"
He gives me a confused look. "What do you mean?"
I sit up straight, crossing my legs underneath my thighs to get comfortable. "I mean, what if you have a phobia of water because you were drowned in your past life or someone pushed you in the swimming pool or you fell off a boat and died. Or maybe you were on Titanic and were among the thousand people who died. This can be a possibility, right?"
He narrows his eyes at me and then unexpectedly, laughs. "I never thought about that. It's an interesting theory."
I give him a calculative smile. "Think about it! What if I have a phobia of heights because I was thrown off a building in any of my past lives? Or during an earthquake, the building I lived in fell off, taking me with it? Or I killed myself by jumping off a tower or a high rise building?! Like this is so scary yet so cool."
Ridge sits up straight, facing me, mirroring my sitting position. "This is what brews up in your mind when everything's silent around you?"
I give him a sheepish smile. "Not exactly. I was just re-reading this book by Dr. Brian Weiss a few days back and these thoughts have been kind of running through my mind ever since then."
His eyes widen slightly, then he nods his head in realization. "Through Time Into Healing?"
I nod my head with utter eagerness. "That's the one I was talking about. That book touches the subject of Past Life Regression Therapy and Incarnations and it got me all curious and bothered because I don't know about any of this at all."
"Even I don't know anything about this but one thing's for sure, this field is damn fascinating to study and practice on. I mean, you get to know about things you cannot even comprehend and make sure that they exist. I mean, you hypnotize the person and then it all depends on the said person to give you the details. You don't even know whether this is actually possible or if it's just a figment of their imagination."
I look at him, I mean really look at him as he keeps on talking about past lives and things that don't even matter to me right now. I look at the way his eyes twinkle in exhilaration ans zeal to learn something new, the way his lips move when he speaks, the way his hands move, gesturing and explaining what he's talking about and the way his lips are curled up in a warm, pure smile. He looks beautiful, like --
I shouldn't be looking at him like that.
He's not mine to look at. Well, he's temporarily mine but this is not what I was signing up for when we accepted that dare.
I cannot feel this for him. I cannot!
But I am.
Fuck. I have a crush on him. I have a crush on Ridge Meanders.
Fuck me!
âââ
Hello beautiful quarantined people! How's life amidst mid life crisis? I hope everyone and everything's safe and sanitized :-)
So, how was the chapter? No that Lydia has finally admitted that she has a crush on Ridge *scoffs, just a crush?*, what do you think will change? I'd love to hear your thoughts about it!
Next update soon!
Until then,
Stay Happy! <3