My Best Friend Prince Charming: A Sweet YA Romance (Sweet Mountain High Book 6)

by Cindy Ray Hale

  I’d convinced myself that UNC would be just as good as UCLA because Ryker would be there with me. But now that was a thing of the past. And heading to UNC by myself didn’t sound nearly as appealing. I felt awful for feeling jealous of Ryker. It officially made me a terrible friend.

  I trudged back to my room and opened my computer. I needed to write to get all these feelings out, or I would go mad.

  Ryker and I drove to school the next morning. It wasn’t unusual for us to ride to school together from time to time. But today we traveled with a trail of paparazzi in cars behind us. When I suggested I ride with him earlier that morning, he tried to warn me that we’d be bombarded with the media, but I didn’t realize how bad it would actually be.

  “Do you think the media is going to try to say there’s some romance in the air with you and Gabi?” I asked.

  “I would be surprised if they didn’t,” Ryker said in a matter-of-fact voice.

  “I guess that makes sense. You’re about to film a pretty romantic movie with her. Everyone will want to think it’s real.”

  “It’s just the nature of the beast. I don’t pay too much attention to all that nonsense. If there’s a problem with the media, my agent will let me know what to do. That’s his job.”

  “Do you think she’s pretty?”

  “Of course, she’s Gabi Richardson. Everyone thinks she’s pretty. Any girl cast as Cinderella in a big movie is required to look pretty,” he said in a businesslike voice. Just like any guy cast as Prince Charming was required to look hot. But I wasn’t about to admit that to Ryker.

  The truth was, he was incredible looking, and I was beginning to see it more and more every day. How had I gone this long without seeing that? I guessed it wasn’t that I didn’t see it, I just didn’t do anything about it. I wasn’t sure that was always going to be the case between us. I’d felt something strong with Ryker in his room the other day, and I was having a hard time forgetting about it.

  “Don’t you think it’s weird that you’re going to have to kiss her and stuff?”

  “I kissed Camille. It’s just part of being an actor. Sometimes you have to kiss people. Does it bother you?”

  “Me? Why should I care? You can kiss whoever you want. I was just curious.”

  “Were you trying to ask if I’m crushing on Gabi?”

  “No. I know you’re not crushing on Gabi,” I said quickly.

  “You’re allowed to know how I feel about Gabi. You’re my best friend.”

  “I don’t mean to pry, I swear.”

  “Just because I objectively find someone attractive doesn’t mean I’m crushing on that person or that I want to pursue a romantic relationship with the person.”

  “You’re allowed to like whoever you want.”

  Ryker laughed. “I realize that. It’s good to know I have your permission.”

  “I don’t mean it like that. I just . . . Ugh. Nevermind.” My cheeks heated. This conversation was getting more awkward by the second.

  “But in case you were wondering, there is someone I like.”

  My heart stopped beating for half a second, and my stomach jumped into my ribcage. Did I want to know who it was? Ryker never mentioned his crushes to me. He was pretty tight-lipped about it.

  “Does she know you like her?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Do you think she likes you back?”

  Ryker’s smile faded, and his face grew pensive. “I’m not sure.”

  “I bet she does. Maddie says the entire school calls you ‘the hottie’ now.”

  Ryker laughed. “How have I been completely oblivious to that?”

  “I don’t know, maybe because you’re too busy trying to graduate while preparing to move to California to start a successful film career.”

  “Yeah. That probably has something to do with it.”

  We pulled into the school parking lot. The only open spot was near the back of the lot, and we had to walk a ways to get into the building. We got stopped by the paparazzi three separate times as they tried to ask us questions. By the time we got inside, the bell was ringing. Great. Another tardy. Why did this always happen when I rode with Ryker?

  We turned a corner and saw Austin and Tabby walking down the hall hand in hand. She was holding a white ceramic vase with a dozen red roses. Prom? was painted on the vase in red letters.

  Austin was supposed to take me to prom. I knew it wasn’t going to happen, but it still hurt to get rejected. Seeing that vase of roses gave me a tiny glimpse of what my mom went through with my dad and his new wife.

  “Are you okay?” Ryker asked after Austin and Tabby were out of earshot.

  I turned to him and gave him a brave smile. “Yeah. I’m fine. I’m better off without him.”

  “Yeah. You are. You deserve to be with a guy who will always respect you. Austin was the complete opposite of that.”

  “He sure tried to put on a nice-guy face, though.”

  “It wasn’t hard to see through it. For me, anyway. But I was around you guys a lot. I can see how maybe someone would have thought he was a great guy from a distance. He has all the right words. The problem is, he doesn’t mean most of what he says.”

  “Well, I’d better get to class. This is my third tardy this semester.”

  “Oh, no. Your third tardy? How devastating.”

  “Are you making fun of me, Ryker? Oh yeah, I forgot. You’re the guy who probably has three tardies a week. It’s a wonder they haven’t kicked you out by now.”

  “They don’t kick you out. They just send a letter to your parents or something. I wouldn’t know. Despite what you may think, I don’t actually get that many tardies. And in my defense, it’s not my fault that there was a crowd of money-hungry reporters outside the school.”

  “Kind of reminds me of Lindsey Beck,” I said when we got to my locker. I twisted the dial and swung open the door, exchanging some books. “Do you think she’ll ever become a member of the paparazzi? I mean, she already has experience as a reporter for the school newspaper.”

  “You really don’t like her, do you?”

  “She’s the reason I found out you had decided to accept the role in the movie.”

  “Yeah, I remember. You know why I didn’t tell you right away?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I felt guilty. I didn’t want to upset you. I knew it meant that you’d have to go to UNC on your own.”

  “Oh, Ryker. You shouldn’t feel guilty about that. You have your family and your own future to think about.”

  “I just thought you should know. I wasn’t trying to hide things from you. I just didn’t know how to break the news to you in a way that wouldn’t hurt you.”

  I smiled sadly. “I don’t think there was any way you could have accomplished that.”

  Concern clouded Ryker’s eyes. “Are you saying you’re hurt by the fact that I accepted the role?”

  I slammed my locker shut. “I don’t want to admit it, but yes. But only for the most selfish reasons. I was looking forward to hanging out with you at UNC.”

  “I know. I was looking forward to it too. We had it all planned out. When we found out you got the scholarship too, it felt like everything had fallen into place. I wasn’t even going to consider going to the audition.”

  “I remember. But life doesn’t always go as planned. Sometimes it has better things in mind for us,” I said. “I want you to know that I’m glad you got the part. You get to go off to beautiful California and the constant sunshine. Think about how often you’ll get to go to the beach and meet amazing people.”

  “I just wish you could come with me,” Ryker said, surprising me.

  My heart leaped into my throat. I could feel heat creeping across my cheeks. Why was I blushing? “You do?” I’d thought he was ready to move on from me to more glamorous friends like Gabi.

  “Of course, I do. You’re my favorite person in the entire world.”

  I noticed that he hadn’t called me his b
est friend as usual. Did that mean he viewed me as something more?

  9

  Ryker

  I walked across the football field, and I spotted Shannon sitting on the bleachers. She had a textbook spread on the seat next to her and a notebook in her lap. The sun was out, and it was a beautiful, warm day. Shannon had taken her cardigan off and sat in just a tank top with an anime character on it, tanning her shoulders. She looked beautiful.

  Had she been blushing earlier this morning when we were heading to class, and I told her I’d wanted her to go to California with me?

  As I approached, Shannon looked deep in thought. I knew her better than anyone, and I could tell something was on her mind. She always took off her ring and played with it when she was in deep concentration.

  Several girls had already asked me to prom. The same girls who hadn’t given me the time of day before I was cast in the Cinderella movie were now flocking to go out with “the famous Ryker,” or “the hottie,” if you asked Maddie. I rolled my eyes.

  Freshman year, before Shannon started dating the loser, I’d considered asking Shannon to homecoming. Now that she wasn’t dating Austin anymore, she would need a date to prom. I couldn’t leave her dateless on one of the biggest nights of a high school girl’s year. Should I ask her to prom? Did I have a chance?

  Large droplets of sweat formed on my brow. I could do this. I decided to run up the bleachers so I would have an excuse for the sweat. When I reached her spot, I sat down next to her.

  “What are you thinking about?” I asked Shannon, who was still playing with her ring.

  “I’m thinking about our conversation before school,” she said with a half-smile.

  “What, um, what about it?” I asked, stumbling over my words. I felt like such an idiot. I’d never been so nervous around Shannon before. But then again, I hadn’t ever asked her to prom either.

  “I’m scared, Ryker.”

  “What’s scaring you?”

  “I don’t want to lose you.”

  I took her hands in mine. “You’re not going to lose me. I promise.”

  “I don’t know how to go forward,” Shannon said.

  “You just take one step at a time. I’ll be here with you as much as I can. And even if I’m on the other side of the country, you’ll have me just one video call away,” I said. “I told you that you’re the most important person in my life.”

  “Not Gabi?”

  “Not Gabi. I barely know her. She’s a nice person, and I’m glad to be working with her, but I’ve cared about you for years.” I was getting dangerously close to admitting my true feelings, and I wasn’t so sure how Shannon would react. I could at least start by taking one step forward.

  Shannon fidgeted with her ring, spinning it around and around in slow circles between her fingers.

  “Shannon?”

  “Yeah?” She looked up from her ring.

  “Do you want to go to prom with me?”

  “What?” Her eyes widened, and the ring fumbled from her grasp. “Oh, shoot.” She reached for it, but it bounced from her fingers against the side of the benches, before dropping to the depths below the bleachers. “No, no, no!” Shannon panicked, scrambling to her feet. “That was my grandmother’s ring.” She jogged down the steps and I got up to follow her.

  My face felt like it was on fire. Way to make it awkward, dude.

  When we got to the bottom, Shannon circled to the back of the bleachers and crouched in the dirt, searching frantically. I kneeled in the dust next to her. I spotted the ring blinking in the sunlight filtering through the slats in the bleachers above us. Shannon must have seen it at the exact moment that I did because we reached out for it together, our hands brushing against each other. Her hand was incredibly warm and soft. Electricity zapped up my arm and straight to my heart.

  I didn’t want to hold back any longer. Shannon’s eyes met mine. We sat inches apart, the air charged between us. Before I could talk myself out of it, I leaned in and kissed her. At first, she froze in shock against me, but then she melted into me, kissing me back slowly, gradually intensifying the kiss. Her lips were incredibly soft and warm, and they tasted like sunshine and peaches, and everything good in the world. I breathed in her sweet smell and sighed against her mouth. “So does this mean you’ll go to prom with me?”

  “Yes,” she breathed as I kissed the edge of her mouth.

  “Good.” I kissed her once more. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  “You’re really good at this,” she said against my mouth.

  I teased her lips between mine, and she let out a soft moan. I deepened the kiss, savoring the moment as one of the best in my life. How long had I waited to kiss Shannon? Wondered what it would be like? I’d never imagined it would be this amazing, and I never wanted it to end.

  But then it did. Shannon pulled away from me. I looked into her blue eyes and caught the unmistakable fear she held there. She curled her fingers around the ring and looked down, her blonde hair falling around her face like a protective curtain. “I’m not sure that was such a good idea,” she said. She crept from beneath the bleachers and stood, brushing the dust from her hands, shaking the dirt from her ring. She headed back to the bleachers where her books were still resting.

  “Shannon, wait.”

  She didn’t stop. I followed her back to her seat. She was shoving her books and notebooks back into her backpack. “I have to go. Please don’t follow me.”

  I sunk onto the warm metal beneath me as she shouldered her backpack. She dashed down the bleachers and disappeared around the corner.

  My hope plummeted as I watched her leave. Had I just ruined my relationship with my best friend? I could still feel her kiss lingering on my lips. Everything had seemed to be so perfect. She’d even agreed to go to prom with me. What had I done wrong? And did her hasty departure mean she was withdrawing her agreement to go with me? Was she just caught up in the moment?

  At this point, only time could tell.

  10

  Shannon

  I made my way through the parking lot for my car before I realized I had driven to school with Ryker. Which meant he’d have to drive me home. Everything was getting so awkward. I wanted to be mad at Ryker for messing everything up. We were fine before. It was hard that he was leaving to go to California, but we’d still at least have the chance to talk every day when he was done filming.

  Now? Everything would be strained and weird between us. Because how could we get over that kiss? That kiss had been life-changing. I didn’t even know a kiss could be that electrifying. I could feel my heart calling out to his, and that was what terrified me the most. It wasn’t safe for us to feel this way, especially me, because he was about to leave and be surrounded by even more girls. California girls. Celebrity girls. How could I ever compete with that? I wasn’t going to kid myself into thinking that Ryker would choose me over them.

  Ryker was the best thing in my life, and I was worried I was about to lose him. I couldn’t let my feelings travel down the road they wanted to go. It would only end in heartbreak. Just like my mom. I had to figure out a way to keep everything as normal as possible between us. Maybe we could just pretend the kiss had never happened.

  “Shannon.”

  I spun around to see Ryker approaching me in the nearly empty parking lot. Why did he have to look so good? My body begged me to kiss him again, but I suppressed the feeling.

  “I know you said you didn’t want me to follow you, but you’re standing right by my car, and I need to get home. You’re welcome to ride with me—if you’re okay with that.”

  His eyes . . . I couldn’t stand to see the pain there. Guilt stabbed my heart. I’d hurt Ryker by running away after our kiss. Did that mean he felt as strongly about it as I had?

  “Yeah,” I said, trying to keep my voice sounding as normal as possible. “A ride home would be nice. Thanks.”

  I climbed into the passenger side of Ryker’s car. But the entire car smelled like hi
m, and he was so close. My senses were whirling out of control.

  “Look,” Ryker said, cranking the engine. He bit his bottom lip nervously, and my breath caught. What was wrong with me? “About that kiss . . .”

  Before I could stop myself, I leaned toward him and slipped my hand around the back of his neck. I pulled him toward me. His warm lips met mine, and I ran my finger over the stubble on his jaw. We stayed like that for a few minutes, making out, and I didn’t care who walked by and saw. I needed him. I needed this. My heart exploded in my chest, and I wanted to pull my body even closer to Ryker.

  I forced my eyes open and pushed away from him. What was I doing? I couldn’t kiss Ryker like this. I had to put a stop to our nonsense, and right away. It was one thing to write about it in my book, where my characters were growing increasingly closer, but this was real life. And real life had consequences. I wasn’t going to be the first girl on a long list of hearts that Ryker decided to break over the coming years. I had to remember who he was now. A celebrity. And celebrities didn’t have real romances with the girl next door.

  I pulled the seatbelt across my body and snapped it into place. “Can we just pretend that never happened?”

  Ryker looked straight ahead with his hands on the steering wheel in front of him, his face grim. “Shannon.”

  I shook my head. “I just can’t talk about it right now. Is that okay?”

  Ryker blew out a frustrated breath. “I guess so.”

  “Let’s just go home.”

  We took the drive home with an awkward silence hanging between us. When we pulled up the driveway, I turned to Ryker. “I’m sorry I’m being like this. I have a lot in my head I’m working through right now. Please just be patient with me. In the meantime, I still want us to be friends. Please. I don’t know what I’d do without keeping you as my best friend.”