The Misswipe

A few notes before we start:

I already posted this story a little over a year ago, originally it was meant to be much longer but I ended up posting it with an abrupt ending and well before it was actually done.

Sometimes life happens, sometimes it's not that pleasant, and sometimes you gotta take time for yourself to get back on track. But now I'm back on track and returning with my story, now with some slight changes here and there, and a part two coming soon. Along with many more stories (Just because I wasn't posting doesn't mean I wasn't writing) so follow, leave a comment, or just enjoy. It's honestly not any of my business from here on out what you do with your time.

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People need to stop romanticizing small towns.

I'm telling you this as a 22 year old woman who currently is and always has lived in a small town in Michigan. There is nothing romantic about these places.

All there is to do is a whole lot of nothing, no new places to go, no new people to meet, no excitement. Nothing to see except for the same faces you've been looking at for as long as you can remember, day in and day out.

You can't date any of them either because every time you look at them you think of something cringe worthy thing they once did, still unable to forget even years later as they are constantly around to remind you of it. Or you already made that mistake at one point or another, or they dated someone you know. Speaking for myself here, I'm not in the mood for any more of that small town drama.

I've been down that road of entering the gas station to see the clerk and the usual customers that always seem to be there start side eyeing you as they whisper their most recent gossip about you to each other. I've heard the passive aggressive comments from people getting themselves involved when they shouldn't as you pass by them when you're just trying to have a fun night at whoever happens to be having a bon fire that weekend. I've seen the arguments unfold time and time again.

I'm sure these kind of places are great for people that are ready to settle down after already having gotten the chance to go out and see the world and experience all of it's beauty and options. It's not a dream world for 20 something year olds that still got one year of community college they got to get over with. I feel like I'm never going to find myself in a place like this, I'm just spending my time restlessly waiting. It's like that feeling you get when you make an appointment somewhere but still end up having to wait an hour, except I have it 24/7.

This restlessness is what made me download various dating apps a while back. I set the locations to nearby towns with some hope for some new faces, something exciting and refreshing. At first.

I really did give it a fair shot in the beginning, even agreed to meet with quite a few guys but it was one disappointment after another.

Now I just swipe like it's that game I used to play with flower petals as a kid.

'He loves me, he love me not.'

And this was exactly how I was spending my Friday night, not in the mood to go join my friends at the bar they were all hanging out at once again. I was barely even looking at the guys faces as I swiped, more just wanting to see who was a match.

Right he loves me, left he loves me not.

I decided to put my phone away once my eyes began to blur from the quick swipes and the glances at my show I had running on my laptop next to me, and pressed the back button on my phone once to get the prompt about exiting, quickly stopping myself when I realized whose picture I was looking at right then.

I brought my phone closer to my face to get a better look at him, grinning to myself as I let my imagination run wild for a moment with the various fantasies I had already had many times over the years before snapping back out of it and going to swipe left.

There were just something's better left untouched, even if he was the only person in my town that I would actually ever want to date. It was especially because of that actually.

And then it happened. I told my thumb left, but my thumb went right. Was it a muscle memory mistake? A subconscious yearning? Impulse control issue? Sheer stupidity?

I'm asking you. Please don't keep reading like the answer is going to appear, because just like you I also don't know why I did it.

I quickly sat up on my bed as I tried to figure out how to undo it when a notification that it was a match suddenly popped up. I felt the color drain from my face as confusion kicked in.

'What the actual fuck?'

I was still staring at my bright pink screen trying to figure out what I should do when my phone buzzed suddenly, a message from him coming in already.

I opened the messages tab nervously, chewing on my bottom lip as I held my breath and read his message.

Ryan

lol

I rolled my eyes as my stomach did a flip. Of course that would be all he would say, probably only having done it to fuck with me.

Another message came in from him before I could respond. Thankfully, cause I still had no idea what to say at that point.

Ryan

You actually swiped right.

Skylar

It was an accident

Ryan

Oh?

Ryan

It wasn't for me. ;)

Skylar

Oh

I felt like an idiot, it seemed like my older brother's hot best friend, the very same guy I had had a crush on for years already was suddenly hitting on me, and I was fumbling it already.

And I was panicking, cause what the hell was Ryan actually doing? I was not just his best friend's little sister, I was the little sister of a brother that was annoyingly over protective. He would kill Ryan. And then he would kill me.

I looked back down to my phone when it buzzed again as another message came in.

Ryan

What are you up to?

Skylar

I'm at my house, why?

Ryan

Wanna hang out?

Skylar

Are you insane?

Ryan

Not any more than usual, why do you ask?

Skylar

You know exactly why. Besides my car is still in the shop. I can't leave.

Ryan

No, I don't know why.

I stared at his message for a moment, curious as to why he was playing dumb. He surely knew I had a crush on him, my brother teased me about it all the time.

Skylar

You know Tyler would kill you if he even knew you were writing me on here.

Ryan

So let's not tell him

Ryan

I can come pick you up :)

My stomach dropped at his last message, a part of me wondering if this was some kind of sick prank.

Skylar

Okay fine. Only to hang out though.

Ryan

Well yeah. Did you think I was just gonna drop you off in a parking lot and leave you there?

Skylar

You know what I meant, just park down the street so my parents don't see your car.

Ryan

Alright, I'll be there in twenty.

I tossed my phone as I jumped off of my bed and rushed over to my closet, frantically going through everything I owned for a moment before stopping myself again. If I went out there looking any more done up than how he usually saw me it would be obvious, and he had seen me at my worst already after having spent nearly every day at our house growing up.

I turned away from my closet and let out a frustrated sigh.

'This is why you think before you swipe.'

I wasn't feeling any less nervous by the time I was leaving my room twenty minutes later and could feel my hands shaking as I reached for the stair railing to go downstairs. I stopped once I got the bottom of the steps before coming around the corner where my parents would see me to steady my breathe for a moment. The last thing I wanted was for them to start asking me questions about my plans, I had never been a very good liar, and my parents always smelled lies from a mile away. I straightened my shoulders once I felt calmer and tried to come around the corner as naturally as possible as I gave my parents a smile and rushed past them. "I'm going to go meet Lisa and some of the others at Spikes, don't wait up."

I tried to sound natural as I reached for my shoes and avoided eye contact, just wanting to get out of the house quickly.

"Alright, be careful." My mom responded absently without looking at me as they both were fully immersed in some movie on the TV, it seemed like luck was on my side for the night.

"Will do, love you!" I didn't wait for a response as I headed out and down the road to where Ryan was already waiting for me in his car.

I tried to keep my cool as I walked over, still not sure what he was up to and not wanting to get my hopes up too much. It didn't help that he looked handsome as ever, giving me one of his wide smiles as I opened the car door. "Looking good Sky."

I could feel my face start to burn as I got in, and tried to force a smile as I reached for my seat belt. "Thanks."

Ryan let out a laugh as he started his car. "Don't get me wrong, you also look like you're about to have a panic attack and make a run for it."

"Honestly, I might. All of this is so weird."

"It's only weird if you make it." Ryan quipped back teasingly, turning his car around and heading out of my neighborhood. "We're just two old friends hanging out."

I shot him a look. "Don't act like this is a normal Friday event." I squinted my eyes at him. "I swear if you're just messing with me."

Ryan shot me a look back though. "When have I ever really messed with you? That's all Tyler. I'm the nice one, remember?"

He wasn't lying actually, he usually always held back when Tyler was being a typical older brother, rather playing audience member at most. Thinking about it now, Ryan had actually always been kind to me when we were growing up together, whether he was inviting me to his birthday parties along with Tyler, including me in their games when Tyler would allow it, saying hi to me in the school hallways when I was a freshman and he was the senior all the girls had crushes on, or just checking in with me on a regular basis about how life was going.

"Okay fine, but it's still weird."

"Why though?" Ryan was having fun watching me squirm under his questions, I could tell by the little grin as he looked away, returning his focus to the small amount of traffic in our town. "What do you mean why? Because you've never even looked at me before."

"I've looked plenty, you just never noticed." Ryan glanced back over at me, actually looking a little more serious as he spoke. "Did you really swipe right on accident or were you just saying that?"

I hesitated for a moment, still feeling a little unsure about everything. "Kind of, I was just swiping on guys that were cute but not really looking." I finally replied, hoping he wouldn't notice I wasn't telling the complete truth.

Ryan gave me an amused grin as he leaned towards me. "I wouldn't describe myself as cute personally."

I rolled my eyes at him as I tried to hide my smile. "Yeah, annoying is probably more accurate."

"I thought I was cute?" He nudged my arm, turning back to me as we came up to a red light. "You gotta pick one."

"Where are we heading actually?" I asked him, changing the subject as I looked out my window.

"My place." I turned my head back quickly and raised my eyebrows at him, not needing to say anything as Ryan got my point and gave me another cheeky smile and shrugged at me. "I mean, unless you wanna go down town and see if we run into some people we know. I'm down if you are."

"That's not funny."

Ryan was laughing though, shifting his car up a gear then as we continued making our way to his place.

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"You want something to drink?" Ryan asked me over as his shoulder as he led the way into his apartment, already heading into his kitchen. "Yeah, anything's fine." Ryan stopped in the doorway to his kitchen and turned back to me. "Alcohol or no alcohol?"

"What are you having?" I felt like a young teen again, hanging out with boys for the first time and unsure of what the protocol is. I felt nervous, but not because of Ryan, but because of the fact that it was Ryan that I was in this scenario with.

"Beer."

"I'll have the same then." I replied as I headed towards his living room, making myself comfortable on his couch then as he got us some drinks, my nerves only getting worse as I sat down. I had already been to his place dozens of times before, but never to hang out alone. I had never actually really been alone with Ryan I was noticing then. I had practically known him my whole life, but I only knew Ryan when he was around others and now I didn't know what to expect.

Ryan held my beer out to me when he came to join me, a small grin twitching at his lips as he sat down and took a look at me. "At what point are you going to relax Sky?"

I gave him a side eye as I took a large swig of my beer before answering him, shaking my head then as I spoke. "I'm hoping soon."

"What is it that you think is going to happen?" Ryan asked me curiously as he sat back, resting his arm on the back of his couch as I let out a shaky laugh, I had already imagined every possible scenario from sitting in absolute silence to tearing each other's clothes off as he carried me to his bedroom. "You tell me."

Ryan gave me a strange look for a moment before answering, as if my question had offended him. "Well nothing you don't want to do."

"What do you want to do?" I blurted the question before thinking, not even sure if I wanted to hear his answer. Ryan didn't seem fazed as he raised an eyebrow and grinned. Not answering me for a moment as he brought his bottle to his lips and took a drink.

"Let's hang out for a bit before I answer that question."

His answer didn't help with my nerves very much, and Ryan seemed to be having fun with teasing me. He leaned towards me then, his face shifting slightly as he moved, making my stomach do a flip as I thought he was leaning in to kiss me. Only for the feeling to quickly pass as my stomach did another flip back when he continued leaning forward and reached for the PlayStation controllers on his coffee table next to me and held one out to me then. Playing games was the one thing we did when I was at his place with Tyler so it was at least a little sense of familiarity.

I took the controller and got settled into the couch next to him, going over what had just happened in my head. It had been such a quick switch between excitement and disappointment, a moment that had answered my previous uncertainty of what it was that I wanted to happen. I had told Ryan that I was only coming to hang out, and I had no doubt in my mind that Ryan would respect that if that was what I really wanted, but now all I wanted to do was way more than hang out.

I'm not sure if it was my own sudden horniness clouding my senses but it felt like there was tension slowly starting to build up between us, filling the room as we sat together and played a racing game on his PlayStation. Our bodies moving closer and closer to each other with each race until our arms were eventually touching.

It wasn't helping ease my nerves in the slightest though, rather making it worse as the mood continuously swayed between friendly and flirtatious. It depended where the conversation moved really, if we were talking about the game or my school I was fine, but when the topic got to things like dating I felt my hands getting clammy again.

"So you never meet up with people you match with?" Ryan asked me after I had explained a bit of my dating history to him.

"Not really, the messaging part is more fun than meeting up in my opinion." I thought about it for a moment before continuing with my explanation. "I guess it's just that that's when the guy is still putting in some kind of effort to reel you in, he's not gonna do much else once he's got you in the net."

Ryan had an amused expression as I explained, finishing his drink then. "Want another beer?" He asked, standing up from the couch as he picked up our collection of empty bottles up from the coffee table.

"What else you got?" I asked, the two beers I had already had felt like more than enough for me for the night.

"There's a few things." He started walking away already so I got up, following him into his kitchen then and leaning against the kitchen counter as he listed off the drinks in his fridge.

"I'll just take the soda."

He held a Coke out to me and grabbed another beer for himself, opening it and tossing the cap in his trash before leaning on the counter across from me. "So why are you still on the app if you don't actually want to meet up with people?" He asked me, continuing our conversation from the living room.

"Just to pass time I guess. I did a few times at first but it was like each time was worse than the time before."

He gave me a curious look. "The guys or the sex?"

I blinked at him for a moment, not sure how to feel about the sudden forwardness of his questions. "Both I guess."

Ryan didn't say anything else as he kept his gaze on me for a moment, slowly bringing his beer to his lips, seeming to draw the moment out for much longer than he needed to.

I thought of when he had done the same thing earlier in the evening to avoid my question and wondered if he was doing the same again. "Are you ready to tell me yet what it is that you want to happen tonight?" I asked, feeling bold suddenly.

Ryan let out a chuckle as he set his beer down on the counter behind him and turned back to me with a smirk. "That's actually what I was just thinking about."

I swallowed as I nodded at him, my boldness leaving as quickly as it had came. "Okay."

He didn't say anything for a moment as he stepped over to me and placed his hands on his counter behind me, trapping me where I was standing. It seemed like Ryan was hesitant for the first time that night. "I think you should stay here tonight." He finally spoke, sounding surprisingly confident as he said it. I couldn't read him at all any more it seemed, and it was leaving me feeling helpless as I looked back at him. "What?"

"We can make a deal."

"A deal?" I asked him with a shaky voice, swaying between wanting to stay and run. I felt like the whole room was swaying, as if I had way more than two beers.

"Like a one night only kind of deal." Ryan on the other hand spoke with ease as he leaned closer, his breath hitting my face with each word. "Stay the night here tonight and I'll bring you home in the morning and no one but us two will ever know."

"What?" I repeated my question in a now high pitched voice, trying to buy myself another moment so I could come to my senses. Everything felt so real suddenly, like I had reached a moment of no turning back. I knew I should go home, tell him that nothing was ever going to happen between us. One of us had to be the smart one.

"Yes or no, Sky."

'No. Say no Sky.'

I blinked at him again, giving him an incredulous look, he was actually insane, apparently having lost his mind since the last time I saw him. I opened my mouth to tell him no and drive me home. "Yes."

Ryan smiled at me again as I realized what had actually just come out of my mouth, opening it again to take it back as Ryan cut me off. "So it's a deal?"

"Yes."

'What the actual fuck Skylar?'

I guess I'm also insane.

Ryan took a satisfied step back then, turning to pick up his beer before heading back to the living room as I stayed stuck in the same spot as if he still had me pinned there. "What are we doing?"

"We still have a race to finish." He didn't even look over his shoulder as he answered me, seemingly in no rush to get to the deal I had just agreed to for reason's that were still beyond me.

This was trouble waiting to happen and I already knew it.

And yet, I still found myself following him back into his living room to rejoin him on the couch where we resumed playing for our last race before he switched the TV to late night sitcoms to let them run in the background as he turned his attention to me.