The ticking of the clock on the wall was keeping Rylee awake.  The rest of the apartment was silent, causing the ticking to become obvious to a point of annoyance.  Rylee rolled over on the couch and stared at the ceiling, a breath of air escaping her body.

She was attempting to sleep in the living room because she had given her parents her bed.  Her parent’s lived back on the East coast and they made a twice-yearly trip out to see both she and Ben.  Ben lived in Northern California, about three hours from Rylee, so they didn’t see each other that often.  Tonight, he was at some friend’s house and Rylee’s parents were staying the night with her before they would return with Ben to his place and leave for the East coast in a few days.

She decided that sleep wasn’t going to come any time soon so she stood from the couch and stretched her tired muscles.  The conversation she had with her brother kept playing through her head.  Everyone kept telling her that Justin had feelings for her, but it wasn’t until her brother said it that she really started to believe it.  She just wished he would stop acting like a high schooler and quit messing with her.  It was getting annoying.

Rylee mad her way into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water.

“Rylee.”  A voice behind her startled her and she jumped, causing the glass to slip from her hands and bounce once on the floor before shattering into pieces.

“Shit, Justin, you scared me.”  He stood in the doorway and watched as Rylee placed a hand over her racing heart in an attempt to calm down.

“Sorry, I thought you knew I was up.”  She shook her head before bending down to start cleaning up the mess on the floor.  Justin was about to caution her when she let out a loud curse.  A piece of broken glass had lodged itself into her foot.

“Fuck.”  Blood spilled from the cut and Rylee hopped around on her good foot, trying to figure out what to do.

“Stop, just stop moving.  You’re going to get glass in the other foot if you keep moving like that.  Here,” he stepped over in her direction, careful to avoid the mess, “jump up on the counter and I’ll clean this up.” 

Rylee did was she was told, hoisting herself onto the cool surface of the counter and bringing her foot close to her body so she could inspect the damage.

Justin grabbed paper towels and started to mop up the water.  He picked up the larger pieces of glass with his hands and deposited them into the trash.  Then, after the majority of the water was sopped up, he disappeared around the corner before returning with a dust pan and brush to sweep up the rest of the glass. 

He seemed satisfied with his work, so he turned to face Rylee.

“I don’t think it’s too deep.”  She mumbled, “but I can’t get this piece of glass out.”  Justin stepped close enough to her so she could feel his breath on her face and she forced herself to concentrate on her injury.

“Let me look.”  He gently took her foot in his hands and peered at the abrasion.  He grabbed a napkin to wipe up some of the blood, and he then gently removed the nickel-sized piece of glass from her foot.

“Thanks.”  She whispered, very aware of how close he was and how much she was starting to enjoy it.  He smelled good.

“Ry,  I’m really sorry about earlier tonight.”  His voice was soft and sincere and Rylee found herself gazing into doleful blue eyes.  “I was completely out of line with the things I was saying, and I’m sorry that I upset you.”

Rylee shrugged and turned her face to break their eye contact.  The situation was getting intense and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could stay in this position without having to act on her mounting desire to kiss him.

“It’s over and done.  As long as my parents leave me alone about it, it’s fine.” 

“So you and Trace really aren’t together?”  Rylee’s eyes snapped back to meet his and she had to smirk at the hopeful look on his face.

“No, we’re not.  We were trashed, Justin, I can’t remember a thing about that night and neither can Trace.”

“That sonuva bitch, he’s been leading me to believe that the two of you were this hot item now.”  He chuckled with relief upon hearing that there really wasn’t anything going on.  He knew that he should back off and put space between them, but being close to her felt really good and as long as she wasn’t protesting, he wasn’t going to move.

“He was doing that to piss you off.”

“I get that now.”  He smirked at her before his face turned serious again.  “Are we OK, Ry?”

She studied his face for a moment, trying to capture the look that settled upon his features.  She gave him a quick nod before responding.

“Yeah, we’re OK.”  The two stayed in silence for a moment, their bodies’ inches apart as Justin had maneuvered his way between her knees when he was helping her with the glass.  Rylee sat perched on the counter, her eyes closed as she fought to control the surging emotions within her.

A sound broke them from their trance and Justin jumped back, putting distance between them quickly.

“What’s going on?”  A groggy Christina shuffled into the room, bleary eyed and barely coherent.

“Nothing, I dropped a cup and stepped on glass, so Justin was helping me get the piece out of my foot.”  Rylee answered, hopping down from the counter and putting even more distance between she and Justin.  She hobbled over to the cabinets and grabbed a band-aid before sitting at the table and applying it to her foot.  She avoided Justin’s stare.

“My baby is such a knight in shining armor,” Christina’s sleepy compliment brought reality crashing back down on Justin and he remembered that the woman he was in a relationship with was standing in the room.  He decided it was time for him to get out of the kitchen.

“I do what I can,” he offered lamely before moving toward Christina and ushering her out of the room.  “Good night, Rylee.”  She waved a hand in acknowledgment and he left the room without another word.

Rylee sat in the kitchen chair for a moment, her head titled back and her eyes trained on the ceiling light. 

She wasn’t really sure what had just happened between them, but something had changed.  Despite all the crap that he’d been putting her through, Rylee really wanted them to be able to work past things.  She was a little apprehensive because if their friendship grew it could mean their attraction would grow too, but she was hoping that they were adult enough to deal with it.

Letting out a breath that she’d been holding, Rylee stood and hobbled back into the living room.  The cut on her foot was throbbing and she could see blood from under the bandage.  She was probably going to need stitches, but it was too late and she was getting tired.

Things would just have to wait until morning.

~*~

So the little cut on her foot wasn’t as little as she thought it was.  After two hours in the emergency room, Rylee left with five stitches, two crutches, and one huge bill.  Needless to say, she wasn’t really excited about it.

Her parents had planned a day out for the family, but they ended up spending it in the hospital and by the time Rylee was done, it was time for her parents to go back to Ben’s and the airport. 

She sat dejectedly on her couch, staring at the bandage on her foot and wishing the wound would heal faster than it was.  You never really noticed how much you used something until it hurt to use it.  Well, Rylee knew that her foot was a pretty important body part and she hadn’t figured that she’d taken it for granted, but damn…she missed being able to walk on it.

“Hey, what happened?”  Christina had just come through the front door and she noticed her friend and the crutches that sat against the edge of the couch.

“Do you remember the glass that broke last night?”

“Vaguely…I thought I’d dreamed it until Justin mentioned it this morning.”  She dropped her bag on the floor and took a seat next to Rylee.  Rylee rested her head against the arm rest and draped her legs over Christina’s lap.

“Yeah, the cut was worse than I thought.  I had to get stitches.”

“Ooh..that blows.”

“Yup.”  A lull formed between them and Rylee could almost feel Christina’s need to spill something.  “OK, Tina, what is it?”

“What’s what?”  She feigned innocence for a moment until she noted the roll of her best friend’s eyes.  “Ok, well…Justin asked me to move in with him.”

Rylee’s jaw dropped and she became momentarily immobile.

“Yeah, I know…my reaction was the same thing.”  There was very little enthusiasm and Rylee was intrigued.  Normally this little confession would’ve elicited a squeal and a string of “Oh my God’s!” before Christina erupted into a fit of giggles.

This was oddly demure and void of any girly add-ons. 

“What did you say?  Are you ready for that?”  Rylee watched as Christina shrugged and played with her hair.

“I told him I’d think about it.”  She glanced up at her friend and gave her a rueful smile.  “I feel like things have gotten so serious with him all of a sudden.  I mean, he was so chill at the beginning and in the past couple of weeks he’s just gotten…clingy.”

Rylee cleared her throat and shifted on the couch.  She was at a loss for words.

“I didn’t think things were at this level with the two of you.”

“I didn’t either.  I know I’ve spent a lot of time at his place, but…I guess I thought we were just having fun.”

“And it isn’t fun anymore?”  Rylee really cringed and prayed that her voice didn’t sound as hopeful as she thought it did.

“Oh, it’s still fun, I just…I don’t know.  You know how I am with commitment.”  Rylee managed a smile and she nodded.

“I know.  I don’t think I’ve seen you take a relationship past five months.”  She chided and Christina mocked hurt.  The two laughed together and it almost felt like old times.

“Let’s talk about something else.”  The grin that spread across her features could only mean bad news.  “How about…Trace?”

Rylee groaned and threw her head back.  This was really the last topic she wanted to talk about.  Why couldn’t people just leave her alone about it?  Maybe she should get together with him just to shut everyone else up.

“There isn’t much to talk about on that front, Tina, sorry to disappoint you.”

“Oh, come on…you don’t even like him a little bit?”  There was a sparkle in her eyes and Rylee had to laugh.

“No…no, I don’t.  He’s a cool kid and we have fun together, but…he’s not my type and I think I’d get annoyed with him too quickly.  Besides…”  She trailed off, suddenly aware of where she was about to take this conversation.  Unfortunately for her, Christina was a pro at reading her and that comment didn’t go unnoticed.

“ ‘Besides…’  That’s got to mean that there’s someone else.  You don’t like Trace because you’re lusting after someone else!”  The previously absent squeal made an appearance.  “Spill it girl!  Who is it?”

Rylee inwardly panicked.  Now what was she supposed to say.  ‘Oh, hey, by the way, I’ve wanted to bone your boyfriend from the moment I met him.’  Yeah, that would go over well.

“Uhm…It’s…it’s a guy at work, you don’t know him.”  And that had to be the save of all saves.  Christina looked momentarily disappointed that she didn’t know the man in question, but that didn’t stop her from asking all those annoyingly intrusive questions.

Rylee answered the best she could, and when Christina accidentally knocked her injured foot in a moment of excitement, Rylee took the moment and ran with it. 

“Oh fuck!”  She grabbed at the bandaged appendage and seethed with exaggerated pain.

“I’m so sorry!”  Christina jumped off the couch and ran around the room looking for something to help.  “What can I do?”

“Grab me some water, I think I’m gonna take one of my pain meds and pass out.”  Christina hurried into the kitchen and Rylee let out a sigh of relief.  For now, the disaster was averted and she could put off the conversation that Christina was dying to have.

Why did things have to be so damn complicated?