Chapter Eleven: Closing the Trap

A Chapter by Karli

Chapter Eleven of Hold Your Peace

I needed Laurel. Kimmy opposed my plans too much. There was no one else who could truly understand besides Laurel. So, I called her up one afternoon to go out to the beach to get tanned. I told her it was very important.

We lathered ourselves with Banana Boat tanning oil before lying back on our soft towels. Laurel immediately asked what was wrong, and I told her all about how I was still madly in love with her cousin, sparing no details. I babbled away, not caring if she knew far too much.

"Erin," she stopped me mid-sentence. "If you want Ryan, you can have him."

"What?" I sat up into a cross-legged position. She mimicked my posture to explain.

"If I tell you this, you have to promise you'll never even mention it again." she leaned foward and brought her voice to a low whisper.

"I promise." I stuck my right hand up.

She bit her lip before explaining.

"Ryan has told me, countless times," she stared down the sand around us. "He's still in love with you, Erin."

Before I leapt around North Carolina to express my joyous mood, I had to confirm the absolutely amazing secret my friend had just spilled.

"When...when was the last time he told you this?" I attempted to contain my excitement.

She tightened her eyes and sighed in defeat.

"Last night." she spilled.

"Last night?" I let out in a squeal.

"Hush!" she hissed. "Yes, last night, after he got home. He told me he kissed your cheek out of habit, but didn't regret it."

"That's so sweet!" I beamed. My lifelong dream was coming true! "If he loves me, then why is he with Rachel?"

"You can't even tell Kimmy if I tell you." her face was cold and firm.

"I promise I won't." I was growing restless.

"He doesn't love her. When he saw you at the beach, he immediately knew he was making the wrong decision by marrying her. Erin, he honestly didn't know what he was doing when he proposed to her." she explained as carefully as she could. She was probably my favorite person at the moment. "He feels horrible, and doesn't want to break up with her, but he has no intent on marrying her. They don't even have a date set yet."

"What does he plan to do?"

"He doesn't know!" she laughed, daring to look me in the face. "That's the problem. He's stuck. He doesn't believe you still love him, but he doesn't want to lead Rachel on."

"He can't live like this forever." I crossed my arms, thinking of what to do about this.

"You need to prove to him that you still love him. Don't be all romantic, though." she planned.

"I have an idea."

That night, I gathered up enough bravery, and walked as quick at I could over to Ryan's house. If I was paced any slower, I would've turned around, fear haunting me.

Before I could turn back, I knocked carefully on his door, only three times. I didn't want to seem needy. He opened it after a few seconds. His face didn't look surprised, but sort of glad, to see me.

"You want to go for a walk?" I invited, clasping my hands together in front of me. He just grinned and stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

We walked in peaceful silence until we reached the lake behind his neighborhood. It wasn't awkward, but a content feeling stirred among us. I don't believe we've ever had an awkward moment in our entire lives.

I didn't mention a word about Laurel had said to me earlier. We barely spoke at all, honestly. At one point, he held my hand in his, swinging our arms back and forth.

He walked me back home after nearly an hour of our evening stroll. I knew Kimmy would be inside, wondering where I was, so I told him just to drop me off outside my neighborhood.

"Tonight was a nice night." I grinned. He released my hand carefully and nodded in agreement.

"We should do it again sometime." he spoke what I was thinking.

I felt like a high school girl coming back from her first date. It was a nice feeling, to be honest. I remembered our actual first date, and how he'd taken me to a carnival in the summer. It was one of the best nights of my life.

I began walking away, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me back towards him. Before I knew what was happening, we were kissing. I didn't even know who kissed who first. All I knew was that I was kissing back.

The kiss was sweet. It was gentle, and soft, yet very anxious. We knew we'd have to break away eventually. It was so loving, like this was what we were born for.

"Bye," I smiled as we finally broke away.

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