The Misswipe

He started pushing me towards the dance floor, placing his hand on my back as he spoke quietly next to my ear so only I could hear. "Have you been avoiding me because you want to stay away from me, or because you can't stay away from me?" He slid his hand to my side and came around me, taking my hand in his other and pulling me closer as he started leading, giving my body no choice but to move along with his. I wasn't fighting it any more though, I couldn't. Not with the way his hands felt on me and his question echoing in my brain.

"I'll tell you if you tell me why you've been avoiding me."

Ryan didn't answer me as he chuckled quietly and lowered his hand to my side, leaning in to whisper in to my ear again after a moment. "No underwear this time either?" He asked, noticing the missing fabric under my dress as his hand stayed on my hip.

"You could see the lines through the dress." I stated, turning my back to my mom then as I noticed her watching us across the floor where she and my dad were dancing.

"I like this dress on you a lot by the way." He gave me a little up and down as he took a step back before returning to dancing, pulling me closer to him again. "Have you thought about our deal anymore?"

"I'm not answering any more of your questions until you answer mine" I retorted as I continued side eyeing my mom as she watched us, making sure to hide my face before continuing then, suddenly convinced that she could read my lips from where she was. "Why were you so keen on hanging with my dad and his buddies these last days?"

Ryan stopped dancing for a moment, taking a step back as he grinned. "What if I told you I was there so I could ask him about dating you?"

I widened my eyes at him as I felt my mouth drop open. "Please tell me you're joking." Ryan started laughing as he pulled me to him again, returning to leading us along the dance floor. "Of course I'm joking. I'm an idiot, not stupid."

Ryan eyed for me a moment, pressing his lips together then as if he was forcing himself to keep the rest of his thoughts private.

He didn't speak again until we had been dancing for a while, whispering into my ear again. "We might have missed out on our chance for a night in Virginia but we still got one left in South Carolina and I still would have liked to have gotten a taste you know."

Any other guy and I would have been disgusted, told him to never speak to me again right there and then. Hearing Ryan say that though had my legs and arms trembling suddenly.

The feeling of his breath on my ear and neck, coupled with the feeling of his body close to mine and the words he was saying were all enough for my legs to start feeling weaker as that little throb started to return. "You can't talk like that." I spoke quietly, physically incapable of making my voice any louder even if I wanted. "Because you don't like it, or because you do?"

I rattled my head, trying to ignore the smell of his cologne that was suddenly overwhelmingly strong. "It can't happen." If he kept going like this there was going to be a wet spot visible on the back of my dress from the moment I sat down thanks to my decision to go commando.

"I need some fresh air."

Ryan took my hand as he stopped dancing, already leading us off of the dance floor. "That's alright, I could use a drink."

We headed to the terrace where there was a bar for the wedding guests and some more seating, moving past the rest of the wedding guests as they danced. I only realized then how lost I had been in the conversation and dance with Ryan other than the occasional glances at my mom I had actually momentarily forgotten about everyone else around us.

I headed to one of the benches in the corner of the terrace as Ryan went to get some drinks, wondering then if anybody else had been watching us as we danced and what it must have looked like to them.

As two old friends just having a dance, or as two old friends that were possibly more than that? Or maybe I was driving myself crazy for nothing and no one had noticed anything at all.

I was still lost in my thoughts when Ryan came over to me and held a wine glass out to me. "I'm sorry if I pushed it too far. I was just teasing you." He spoke genuinely, watching me for a moment before sitting down next to me. I took a slow drink before shaking my head and letting out a sigh. "I think we both might have made a mistake and took it too far."

I creased my eyebrows at him as I searched for the right words, knowing I had to say what was really on my mind. "We gotta stop Ryan. Not only because of my family but because of me." He opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off, continuing my thoughts now that I was letting them come out. "You know I was avoiding you because I can't stay away from you." I pressed my lips together for a moment as I took a moment, feeling really sad suddenly. "I told you that I've had a crush on you for years, and I know this all just fun and a joke to you but." I started shaking my head as I continued, trying to stop tears from forming in my eyes as Ryan quietly waited. "Add sex to all that and I'm just going to get deeper feelings and end up getting hurt and everything will be messed up. And not just for the two of us either."

As if on cue Tyler and Jessica came out onto the terrace then, spotting us quickly and making their way over. My brother seemed to be in a better mood than usual, already beaming from ear to ear as he raised his arms before giving Ryan a joyful clap on the back. "How about we go and take advantage of that open bar?" I felt Ryan look over at me but I turned my attention to Jessica, wanting to get away from this horrible moment as fast as possible. "How about we get ourselves something to drink as well since apparently my brother left his manners in Michigan." I nodded my head at her empty hands, but my brother quickly jumped in, ready to defend his honor. "I literally got her a drink like 20 minutes ago."

Jessica let out a light laugh as she nodded. "He's not lying but I could go for another."

"Well let's go then." Tyler was already off, seemingly having a better night than the majority of the guests. Jessica gave me a shy smile once we were at the bar, neither of us having really gotten a chance to get to know each other properly yet. Unfortunately for her I was going to use the rest of the night to get to know her and avoid giving Ryan a chance to say anything else that could make feel any worse. "So Jessica, what brought you to Manistique?"

"Well work I guess." Jessica answered as she took her drink from the bar and turned to me.

"And what is it that you do?"

"I'm a veterinary assistant."

"Oh nice! And where were you bef-"

"We're gonna head over to the pool tables, you coming?" Tyler interrupted my line of questioning before I had even gotten started, pulling Jessica's attention away from me. "Yeah sounds good."

I got up to follow them over to the lounge where there were some pool tables, taking a seat next to Jessica again as I watched Ryan and Tyler get ready to play. More so Ryan.

Rather said, Ryan's hands. Just like when he had been making stir fry for us, they were now also doing that nice flexing thing as he chalked his cue stick and made his way to the pool table to rack the balls.

"I grew up in Florida but moved to Marquette in high school."

"Huh?" I looked over at Jessica as she tore me out of my thoughts over Ryan's hands and what he could do with them, the feeling of them on me.

"You were asking me where I was before."

"Oh right. Sorry." I gave her a sheepish grin as I held my wine glass up. "Maybe I should take a little break, my head's starting to feel a little foggy."

We ended up staying by the pool tables for the rest of the reception, enjoying the peace from our more exhausting family members as Jessica and I chatted and got to know each other more while watching Ryan lose several rounds to Tyler before finally heading to the elevators together to go to our rooms for the night.

Ryan had had a serious expression on his face since we had been on the terrace, concerned even. As if he was actually somewhere else completely in his thoughts. The several losses of pool only supported the theory since he wasn't usually one to let Tyler get away with winning that often.

We stayed in the elevator and silently watched Tyler and Jessica step out once we had arrived at their floor, only saying our good nights as the doors shut. I glanced over at him as we continued going up but Ryan kept his back to me, his gaze focused on the floor numbers as they changed. "You okay?" I broke the silence, wanting to make sure things were good between us before parting ways for the night. Ryan looked down to his feet for a moment before turning and taking a step towards me and giving me a hard look suddenly as he spoke. "What exactly did you mean with 'things will get messy'?"

I jerked my head back for a moment. "I meant just that Ryan, really think about what I said for a minute."

Ryan looked offended, stepping closer to me so that I had to press my body against the wall. "What makes you so sure things will go bad?"

I let out a dry laugh as I spluttered at him. "Seriously Ryan? Why wouldn't they?"

He looked like he didn't understand, giving his head a short shake as he furrowed his eyebrows.

The elevator doors opened behind us but neither of us moved, letting them shut again as we stared at each other, although my expression was more confused than his offended expression. He shook his head again, as if he was trying to make sense of things.

I waited for him to say something as he opened his mouth several times before closing it again before eventually stepping away from me and hitting the button to open the elevator doors.

I stayed where I was, feeling torn. I wanted him to go to his room.

I wanted him to come to mine.

I wanted him to say all the things he had just stopped himself from saying, and I wanted him to continue to keep it to himself.

I wanted to yell at him. I wanted to take the things I had said back.

Nothing was making sense any more.

"Sky."

"Yeah?"

"You gotta get out of the elevator so other people can use it." Ryan was still waiting by the doors, for I don't even know how long at that point. I finally took a step forward as I gave him a dazed nod. "Okay." I pointed down the hallway towards my room once I was in front of him, speaking as the elevator doors shut behind me. "My room is down there."

Ryan pressed his lips together for a moment, briefly giving me a bewildered look before speaking quietly. "Lead the way."

I did just that, moving down the hallway in a stunned state, still unable to really speak as I went to unlock my door and turned to him, still feeling torn as Ryan gave me a pleading look for a moment, only making things worse. He finally took a deep breath when I didn't say anything and placed his hands on my cheeks as he gave my forehead a kiss before taking a step back. "Night Sky."

I watched him as he began walking away, a wave of disappointment washing over me. "Good night."

I headed into my room, ignoring my body as it told me to go after him, instead tearing my dress off and heading into the bathroom to take a hot shower.

I hated how disappointed I felt, he had done what I told him to essentially. Walk away before I got hurt, and yet here I was feeling hurt.

I started crying as I let the water run over me. I was so stupid, I never should have swiped right on him. Shouldn't have even downloaded the stupid app. I had said that some things were better left untouched and here I was, proving myself right.

I went straight to the bed once I was out of the shower, not even bothering to remove my towels before crawling under the covers and continuing my cry session until I eventually fell asleep.

My eyes were puffy and swollen when I woke up the next morning, instantly reminding me of the events of the night before. I let out a groan as I looked over to the clock, contemplating on going back to sleep before I had to go meet my family for brunch but instead sat up quickly once I realized I only had 10 minutes until I had to be downstairs, and quickly began scrambling out of the bed.

I ran into the bathroom to wash my face, only then getting a look at how bad my eyes looked, there was no way I was going to be able to hide that I had been crying from my family.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." I started speaking to myself out loud as I went to get dressed and tossed my hair up in a ponytail before returning to the bathroom to brush my teeth and give one last attempt at making myself look half decent. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

I headed down a couple minutes later and went to join my family in the hotel restaurant, my luck only getting worse once I noticed that I was the last one to make it. "Sorry I'm late, I forgot to set an alarm last night." I spoke quickly as I sat down at the last empty seat right across from Ryan and my mom, hoping nobody would give me much attention.

"What's the point of having those ridiculous smart phones if you're not going to use their features?" My dad asked with an annoyed tone, never having been a fan of having to wait. "I'm sorry." I started speaking but my mom interrupted me. "Oh leave her, the kids had a late night and we're on vacation."

She gave me a sympathetic look, surely having noticed my face by then. I was too scared to look at any one else at the table, instead turning my attention to the menu so I could quickly pick out some food before my dad had a rage fit.

I started to feel a little better once we had ordered our food and the conversation had steered to Jessica and Tyler and their plans for the drive back as my dad questioned him about the car he had gone to check out that morning and decided to buy apparently.

"Oh well Skylar, you should ride with Ryan then so he doesn't have to do that whole drive back alone." I heard my mom say suddenly and snapped my head up from the napkin I had been focusing on for the last few minutes. "Huh?"

"That's a good idea actually." My dad pointed a finger at no one in general as he agreed with my mom. "We don't need you getting bored and falling asleep behind the wheel."

I didn't know what to say as I desperately searched for a way to get out of this absurd idea before finally coming up with something. "What about my plane ticket?"

My mom waved me off though. "Oh don't worry about that, me and you're dad can try having a chat with the people at the desk about getting a refund but it's not the end of the world either way."

'Fuck, fuck, fuck.'

I looked up at Ryan for the first time since I had sat down and was surprised to see that he wasn't looking much better than I was, just instead of puffy eyes he had bags, as if he hadn't slept at all. "It would be nice to have someone to split the driving with I guess." He finally spoke, sounding a lot more casual than he looked.

My mom looked satisfied as she returned to pouring sugar into her coffee. "It's a plan then."

I watched her for a moment as she stirred her drink, wondering if she had actually caught on to something on the dance floor and was up to something now. That didn't really make any sense though, she had no reason to do that. Nobody at the table would have any reason to do that. It really did just seem like the Gods were against me during this trip.