no love allowed

Ryan could see the inner turmoil on her face as she tried to wrestle with herself to get an answer out so he lightly rubbed her shoulder to try and ease whatever it was that was troubling her but when she spoke he couldn’t help but find herself confused. “A mistake?” He reiterated lowly once the word came from her mouth, stinging harder than anything that he’d known. “You don’t mean tha—” He started to say to her until she lashed out at him and ran through the door, leaving him broken and alone. This was why Ryan never let anyone too close to him; why he was always the one playing the games; because the last thing he wanted was for him to be played himself.

Stephanie swallowed as he did so, his warmth enveloping her. She shut her eyes as he spoke, trying her hardest to muster up a response instead of just laying back down. "I have to-- I-- We shouldn't of.......... It was a mistake. This was all mistake." she said, pulling herself from him, holding back the tears. "You were a mistake!" she said harshly, the tears threatening to fall as she opened the door of his dorm and ran out, running as fast as her feet could take her, crying harder than she ever had now. after running for what seemed like years, Stephanie arrived at a girls shower room and slammed herself into the wall slipping down it as she cried. 

Ryan let out a small chuckle after he entered his room behind her, looking around almost for the first time himself since he hadn’t seen the room since Nathan had gotten there. “Yeah, you can thank my roommate for that.. And add on the fact that we just got here. My side does tend to get messy after a while… Make yourself comfortable though.” He said, opening his arms to his side of the room before walking over to his desk and opening his laptop to order their pizza. “So, what do you like on your pizza?”

--

Ryan couldn’t help but smile at the beautiful blonde girl before him. When he first met her, she seemed way to opposite for him to even consider dating. Having sex with, probably. But Ryan genuinely wanted more for her and for himself. He could easily see them going on dates and hanging out watching the sun set or anything that required her being close to him. Ryan already knew that he liked having her close to him and he was almost sure by the way he looked at him and the fact that she didn’t fight him that she liked having him close too. At her pizza and dorm room suggestion, Ryan nodded and smiled. “If it’s what you want, it’s what I want. Come on. My dorm is this way.” He said with a smile and took her hand in his once more and led the girl to the building that housed his dorm but before he entered he stopped abruptly. “Let me text my roommate really quick so he doesn’t try to eat out pizza.” He teased lightly before taking out his phone to text Nate about not coming back to their dorm until he said it was okay. Once he was finished, he took Stephanie’s hand once more and headed inside the building to his room.

Stephanie giggled a bit as he said so, nodding quickly. As they finally reached his room, Stephanie walked in after he opened the door and her smile widened. "It's really clean." she said, turning to face the boy, giggling a bit again. "I expected a mess, I'm not gonna lie." She stood facing him silently waiting for a response as she pulled her arms out from her sides and let them fall back, bouncing them off of her sides a few times. 

Ryan discreetly looked the blonde next to him and sighed to himself, trying to figure out where these feelings for her were coming from. He had just met her and already, he’s more into her than he’s been with any girl he dated from this school. It was weird but at the same time, Ryan couldn’t help but kind of like it that this girl had him in the palm of her hands and probably didn’t know. Once their arms linked, Ryan realized he wasn’t satisfied with that so he pulled his arm from hers and held her hand, looking at her with a smile and then down at their intertwined fingers. “I like this better. Now we can go.” He said and started walking around the campus, pointing out the important buildings and the classrooms she would need to for her classes before ending up in front of the Chinese restaurant they had on campus. “Do you wanna eat here or we can go somewhere off campus for dinner if you want…” He said and rubbed his neck anxiously while he waited for her to decide

Stephanie smiled at their hands and back up at him as they began to walk. When they finally were in front of the Chinese restaurant that they'd passed two or so times on the tour, she watched Ryan's eyes as he began to speak again. "Either one works for me, really." she said, looking down as she tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. She'd never been the girl to let the guy choose, she'd always been demanding. But she wanted to see him happy so badly that-- she couldn't choose, she had to let him. She had to know they were eating the food he wanted too, because if it made him happy, it made her happy too. She looked back up a few moments later as she spoke once more, before he even got the chance to answer. "Honestly i'd be fine if we ordered pizza and ate in your dorm. If I'm with you and you're happy, I'll be happy." 

Ryan smiled as Stephanie agreed to let him show her around, it growing wider as he understood the unspoken meaning behind what she said. “I’ll be sure to be extra entertaining then so I don’t bore you to death and then you’d never want to hang out with me again.” He said with a small laugh on his face. “Then after the tour, we can go get something to eat, and then come back to the fountain cause it’s really nice at night and whatnot.” He said with a smile. He really didn’t know where any of this stuff was coming from; why he was trying so hard for this girl but it felt beyond his control at this point. There was something about her that made him this way and from what he could tell, he liked it. “And we’ll have more moments like we did just now.” Ryan added with a grin.

Stephanie just admired him for a bit before answering, "That all sounds amazing." Then linked her arm with his once again, "Shall we then?" she spoke softly after doing so. She wasn't sure what it was about Ryan, but after only nearly an hour of knowing him she was more wrapped around his finger than she'd ever been any boy's. It scared her, it scared her to death. And even though she loved it, she didn't want to. But she couldn't help herself. He drew her in and she couldn't run, not while looking him in the eyes. She was captivated by him and it scared her to death. So she looked forward as they began to walk, gulping softly.

Ryan stayed silent for a few moments as they just stared into one another’s eyes. It felt weird, because that wasn’t something he did with a girl in his usual attempts to charm one, and the feelings he was garnering was different but it wasn’t something that scared him either. It was actually a nice, warm feeling that he got looking at the smaller blonde in front of him and surprisingly, he was welcoming it. His smile grew wider hearing her clear her throat and stumble a bit on her words, shaking his head lightly as she apologized. “Don’t apologize. We were having a moment.” He said bluntly before gently rubbing his head. “Since you’re new here, do you want a tour of the campus? I mean, as nice as the fountain is, it won’t help you get around… And I’d feel crappy if you got lost. Just you though.. Any other new person can wander around campus until their feet fall off.” He said with a smile. “And I rarely offer to be this nice to people so I’d take me up on this.”

A moment, she thought to herself, smiling a bit more just at those two simple words. A moment. She didn't think she'd ever actually had a moment with someone, a sincere, full-hearted moment. But she had one with him, and it was beautiful-- everything she'd could've hoped a moment to be. Stephanie smiled as he spoke, listening to his words. "I'd actually really like for you to show me around campus. Not that I'll be paying that much attention to the campus itself... but, oh well." she stated, hoping he understood that she'd be paying attention to him the whole time. Originally she'd planned to make a snide comment about rather having a jock show her around, usually she would, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. Because really, honestly-- she wouldn't want anyone else in this entire school to show her around aside from him.

When she said that he knew how to charm the ladies, Ryan just shrugged his shoulders. He did know what he was doing but he wasn’t always sincere when he spoke these things. But with Stephanie, he was. And he wasn’t too sure why. But he was intrigued to figure it out. “I’d like to know too, Princess… But I do hope it’s all good things.’ Ryan said with a smile before meeting her eyes and gazing into them, happily staying there for as long as he could.

"All good things." she repeated slowly, her eyes staying locked on his. After a few moments of silence, just staring into the beautiful boys eyes, she found it in herself to speak again. "I-- sorry, that was weird. I just.." she cleared her throat, "Just um, blanked for a minute. Sorry."

"Now that’s the stuff I like to hear." Ryan said with a small chuckle, his eyes trying not to focus on her as she smiled a bit wider. He didn’t want to seem like he was oddly staring at her, when in truth, he was just admiring a quality of hers that he liked more than others that he’d seen so far. "You’re welcome… And they should.. Or you should just smile more in general. But mainly for me though." He teased and saw her fighting against blushing. Ryan liked that as well. And as endearing as he thought her being coy about it was, he wanted to see it so he boldly yet gently put his fingers under her chin and lifted her head to look at him, happy seeing the light shade of pink that managed to flush her cheeks against her will. "This is beautiful too." He said softly with a smile on his face.

"You sure know how to charm 'em, huh?" she let out a breath, letting out what appeared to be a small laugh type of smile as she continued to speak. "God, what're you doin' to me renegade?" she said softly, bite at her lip a bit as she admired his eyes as they stared back into here.

"They might if the Princess gave the Renegade a chance." He retorted, stopping once they got to the fountain but made no moves to let her go. "I don’t see any kings here so I think we’re good. Besides, he doesn’t have too much power here anyway." Ryan said with another smile as he looked down at her. "I like your smile." He admitted softly. "It’s beautiful."

"No king around to tell Princess she can't-- so maybe she will." she said, her smile widening as he spoke. "Oh, thank you. Nobodies ever said that to me before." she looked down at the ground a bit, trying harder than she ever had before to not blush. It wasn't that she didn't get compliments, because she did... but none like that, and none from him.

Ryan let out a small sigh as she linked her arm through his and they began walking towards the fountain. He was expecting a few more snarky remarks from her but was rather surprised when it didn’t come. Stephanie honestly didn’t say anything until they got to the fountain and it was rather nice. Ryan let out a small laugh and shook his head. “I am nowhere near noble, Steph.” He said with a small chuckle. “Maybe some kind of mercenary or something. Or a renegade.” He looked over at the girl in front of him and smiled along with her. She was beautiful when she smiled. He wanted to see her do it more often and maybe even be the one to put the smiles there in the first place.

"Princesses and Renegades don't tend to get along." she stated simply, her arm still linked in his. "I don't think the King would like his daughter hanging out with a renegade... but maybe that's the fun of it all, right?" she said softly, her smile widening as she looked at him.

Ryan let out a small laugh and shook his head before nodding at the blonde before him. He should have been at least insulted with how she thought she was better than him and his friends but that was something he was used to it by now. “First, you need to chill with the holier than thou tone and attitude. No one is going to like it and you’ll have no friends and it’ll suck, princess.” He suggested and extended his arm for her to take so they could walk over to the fountain.

Stephanie couldn't remember a time where anyone had called her out on her shit, but she liked it. She linked her arm with his as they walked to the fountain together. It took her the whole way their to come up with something to say, but it wasn't as snarky as before, not by a long shot. "Princess? Does that make you a pea-- a noble man?" she spoke, looking at the boy, a smile on her face. Or maybe a prince-- her prince. She pushed these thoughts away, waiting for a response.

"Nice to meet you, Stephanie. I’m Ryan." He said with a smile before smiling at her briefly. "Now surely, you can see how big this fountain is. You don’t need us to move so yo can look at it." He said, looking into her eyes and giving her another smile. It was hard not to, no matter how much she scowled at him. There was just something about her that made him want to make her smile and he was determined to do so. "You should join us, Steph." Ryan suggested, nodding his head at the nickname that he brought up on the spot. "What do you say?"

Stephanie coked her head a bit, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Might as well. I don't know anyone in this hellhole, might as well start at the bottom, right Ry?" she said, emphasis on Ry as he'd nicknamed her. Her words were full of hate, anger, spit, and bitchiness-- but she was actually excited to get to spend more time with him. He wasn't her type.... at all, but maybe that's why she was so drawn to him. New surrounding, new type, right? She wouldn't let her self think that though, as she continued to think of how repulsive him and his friends seemed.

Ryan got to his room before his roommate, chose his bed and quickly put his bags down before leaving to go exploring. It was one of his traditions on the first day of school; going to the fountain with a bunch of his friends to watch the lower class men fumble their way to their dorms and classes while smoking a joint or two. Was he supposed to be smoking a joint by the fountain, or even on school grounds for that matter, no. But that was part of the fun for Ryan. And with this being his senior year, he was intended to stick to his traditions. A few minutes later, Ryan saw a blonde approach them. Taking the joint from between his lips, he decided to be the one to get up and approach her out of his friends. A smile appeared on his face as he moved closer to her. “How can I help you, Blondie?”

"Stephanie. My name's Stephanie. And you can help me by moving your and your little posse asses away from the fountain that I'd like to look at." she said, looking into the boys eyes. His voice was stern and nearly a bit bitchy, but she didn't care. She tried to keep a stern, serious look on her face and in her eyes-- fighting the urge to smile at the boy. Stephanie felt she was better than most people, especially people like the boy and his friends that she was encountering. But he had beautiful eyes, forgiving eyes, and that made her want to smile. But she was good at keeping on a bitch face, and so she did.