Lost in You

Ian when he finds out. Besides, I’m your best friend and I like seeing your face light up when you talk about him.”
    I pull her into a fierce hug. “Thank you.”
    She taps me on the shoulder, I look at her and she points. I turn and there he is, dressed head to toe in black with the black bowtie hanging loosely as if we were just returning home after a long night. Alex releases me and walks over to Ryan. His eyes go wide as she reaches for his neck.
    “Let me fix this for you,” she says so sweetly that I want to hug her again. We could have a love-in and I’d be happy missing the party just for that. I stifle my laugh as she tugs and straightens the tie for Ryan. He stands there, stock still, probably afraid to move.
    “There, now you’re perfect.” She turns to me and winks. “I’ll just be outside the door.”
    Ryan watches me as I watch Alex leave. Once the door is shut, I move to him, faster than I mean to, but I need to touch him. It’s been under ten hours and I’ve missed him so much. My hand reaches for his, his fingers interlocking with mine. I pull him gently to me. He almost stumbles into me before he catches himself.
    “Sorry,” he says. He’s biting his lower lip, trying not to smile.
    “Were you trying to tackle me?”
    “Maybe.” He shrugs and looks away before I catch the smile. I reach up and pull his face toward me so I can see him.
    “I would’ve caught you.”
    “You already did.”
    I want to kiss him, desperately. My eyes go from his eyes to his mouth and back again. This time he does smile, but not the ‘ I got a puppy’ smile, but the ‘ Yeah, she’s my girl’ smile. And I definitely like being on the receiving end of that one.
    “So what did you do?” I’ve been dying to ask him since earlier. All he said was to keep the plan as we had it.
    “I snuck out. My parents, they don’t check on me, haven’t in years, so I figured why not? You wouldn’t happen to know how a car ended up in front of my house, would you? One that just so happened to have this tuxedo and invite?” Ryan pulls the ball invitation out of his coat pocket and shakes it.
    “I haven’t a clue about the car,” I say while trying to fight a grin. “I can’t believe you snuck out. I don’t want you to get into trouble over me.”
    Ryan leans in. “Hmm… I heard that you like bad boys so I thought I’d give it a try.”
    I’m not sure if I should be happy or pissed off that he did this to be with me, but the thought of him being a bad boy is exciting. My heart and brain aren’t agreeing once more. The logical part is saying he shouldn’t be doing this, but my heart is screaming for me to jump in his arms and show him how thankful I am.
    There’s a soft knock at the door, I look over his shoulder and move to answer. His hand finds my waist, holding me in place. Before I can say anything his lips are on me, soft and slow. He pulls away too soon, but his expression tells me that he’s happy he did that.
    “I wanted to do that before we went out there.” His head motions toward the door.
    “Yeah, we can’t do that out there with all those people. Listen, when we're out there, you’re with Alex. I don’t like it and I don’t expect you to either, but we can’t be seen together because there will be questions and we can’t have that. I won’t be able to do this,” I press my lips to his briefly. “Know that I want to.”
    He nods and grabs my hand pulling me toward the door. He swings it open, startling Alex. Her smile brightens as her eyes take in our handholding. Ryan gives my hand a squeeze before letting it go.
    Alex opens the next set of doors and stands aside letting me go through. As soon as I am over the threshold, the music shifts and the master of ceremonies announces my arrival. I plaster my bright I’m happy to be here smile and stand there for a few moments allowing people to take my picture. This will be the first time Ryan and I are photographed together even though he’ll be standing next to Alex. Only he and I will know the significance of what tonight means.
    I turn and look at Ryan. He extends his arm to Alex as if he’s done this a hundred times. Alex takes his arm and leads him through the maze of tables, whispering something into his ear. A server signals to my table; I offer him a slight nod. Ryan releases Alex’s arm and pulls out her chair first and then mine, effectively dismissing the server. As soon as I’m seated, he pushes me in slightly