Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Ryan figured he needed to speak to Jessie. He hadn't seen or spoken to her all day—actually, not since last night’s incident. He felt like he owed her an apology, at least for how things had transpired. Leaving her mid-conversation to answer his mom’s call had been careless. He could have handled it better.  

Now, as he sat at the café with Lana, he found himself distracted, tapping his fingers against the table while Lana was completely busy with taking pictures of their food. He sighed. Somehow, she had convinced him to buy lunch for both of them, and now she was treating their meal like a personal photoshoot.  

"Are you planning to eat that or frame it?" Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow as she adjusted the angle of her phone.  

Lana smirked but didn’t look up. "Food this pretty deserves appreciation." She snapped another picture. "Besides, you paid, so I get to enjoy it however I want."thanks for buying by the way , you owed me after all 

Ryan rolled his eyes, but his mind was still elsewhere. He leaned back in his seat, his thoughts drifting back to Jessie. Finally, he asked, "Hey, have you seen Jessie today?"  

Lana stopped mid-photo, looking at him over her phone. "I should be the one asking you that," she said, arching a brow. "I was left at Zach's place, *remember*?" You left me there 

Ryan groaned. "No, you weren’t. You chose to stay. You made it pretty clear you wanted to."  

Lana shrugged. "Yeah, you’re right," she admitted, popping a fry into her mouth. "But no, I haven’t seen her. I went straight to class after that, then just hung around until *you* called me, and we’ve been together for the past few hours."  

Ryan sighed, rubbing his temples. "Great. That means she’s probably avoiding me."  

Lana gave him a knowing look. "She wasn't going to let herself be disturbed by the image of Ryan and Jessie 

Well, there is something you are not telling me , what happened to you and her ? Did you ditch her or try to kiss her last night?"  

Ryan groaned again. "It wasn’t *like that*. Nothing like that happened. My mom was calling and I had to go. I was kind of in a hurry , so I told her goodbye abruptly and didn't really have a choice."  

Lana rolled her eyes. "Please, Ryan. You *always have a choice. You could’ve texted her, tell her it was something important 

   Lana couldn't believe she was actually saying this to Ryan , a part of her wanted to sabotage this but she didn't have the strength for it at the moment 

    Yeah you are right , was just upset with the whole incident and went straight to sleep , I feel like I should apologize to her or something 

   As always Lana felt irritated by it 

   She forced a smile, well that is nice ,why don't you call her then , if you are in such a hurry to talk to her 

    Yeah that's right , Ryan whipped out his phone and called, it didn't go through 

    Dang, the call isn't going through, he said to Lana 

  You see to forget how terrible the reception her is and it's almost dark also, it's going to be bad 

  Hmm, ryan sighed , then smiled or better still how about I follow you to your room and them apologize to her in person 

     

"Arghhh," Lana groaned, throwing her head back dramatically. "Are you seriously willing to do that much?"

She couldn't believe Ryan was considering this. Marching all the way to their dorms to apologize? It felt a little over the top. The mere thought of him and Jessie having some big emotional moment—and possibly even kissing—made her stomach turn. She wasn't sure why, but suddenly, she was very against this whole idea.

"I personally don’t think it’s such a bright idea," she added, crossing her arms.

Ryan leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "Come on, Lana. It’s a great idea. I’ll just go over there, apologize properly, and make things right."

Lana narrowed her eyes. "Ryan, I need you to relax for a second. Have you even asked her to be your girlfriend yet?"what do you mean by make things right , sounding like you cheated or something 

Ryan hesitated, shifting in his seat. "No, not really," he admitted. "I was planning on asking, but I just haven’t found the right time yet. But I’m certain we connected yesterday."

Lana gave him a skeptical look. "Connected?? Really, Ryan? Are you sure you’re not doing too much at this point?"

She leaned back, shaking her head. "Going to our dorm sounds desperate. Trust me, showing up unannounced isn't going to win her over. If anything, you might just freak her out."

Ryan scoffed. "No, it doesn’t! I will be going with you ,it's just going to be like a case of me following you to your dorms then seeing herIt’s a good gesture, and besides…" he smirked, sitting up straighter, "you’re going to help me out with it."

Lana looked at him in shock"Excuse me? Help you?"

"Yes," Ryan said matter-of-factly. "You know Jessie better than I do. You can make sure I don’t say anything stupid."

Lana groaned again, rubbing her palms "I don't know her any better ,just the same duration of days like you Ryan, this is such a bad idea."

"Or it’s a genius idea," he countered,his face lit up with a grin.

She rolled her eyes. "I hate you sometimes."

Ryan chuckled. "No, you don’t. I Know, come on, help me plan this out."

Lana sighed, knowing she was already getting roped into this madness.

"Fine. But if this goes terribly wrong, don’t say I didn’t warn you."

   

"And what are you even planning to do, anyway?" Lana asked, raising an eyebrow at Ryan.

Ryan leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin as if he had it all figured out. "I was thinking... maybe I’d get her a little note, some chocolates—something sweet, you know? Then I’d apologize, and after that, I’d ask her to be my girl."

Lana blinked at him. "Wait, hold up. So, you're planning to bribe her with chocolates, mumble an apology, and then—boom—ask her to be your girlfriend?"is that not a bit extra 

Ryan rolled his eyes. "It’s not bribery, it’s a gesture!"

Lana snorted. "It’s a disaster waiting to happen."

"You don’t know that," Ryan argued. "Jessie might like romantic stuff, right? It shows I’m making an effort."

Lana sighed, shaking her head. "Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you when this crashes and burns."

Ryan grinned and shot up from his seat. "Come on, let's go get the stuff before you change your mind."

Lana groaned but stood up anyway. "I already regret this."

   This was the kind of things she was willing to do for Ryan. Even if it hurt her 

They walked to the campus convenience store, which had a small section for gifts. Ryan paced in front of the shelves, inspecting different chocolates as if he were picking a diamond ring.

"Milk chocolate or dark chocolate?" he asked, holding up two options.

Lana gave him a tired look. "Are you serious? Just pick one, Ryan."

"It matters!" he insisted. "What if she prefers one over the other?"

Lana grabbed the milk chocolate from his hand. "Everyone likes milk chocolate. You're overthinking this."

He sighed dramatically. "Okay, fine. But what about the note? Should it be funny? Romantic? Casual?"

Lana rolled her eyes. "Dude,make it simple, the gesture is already extra and you definitely don't need more .just write something simple. Like, ‘Hey, I was a jerk, and I’m sorry. Want to be my girlfriend?’"

Ryan groaned. "That’s so basic!"

"Exactly. Because this doesn’t need to be a full-blown grand statement. Just apologize and ask her out like a normal person."

Ryan grabbed a small greeting card and a pen from the counter, stuffing them into his basket. "Alright, alright. Let’s check out and head to the dorms before I get more nervous