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ryan atwood

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Though Ryan may have insisted before that Lucy's mood brightening had nothing to do with his being around, the fact that she'd been feeling better over the past few days than she had in months seemed to dictate otherwise. She wasn't sure what it was about him, but she didn't think she needed to, either. It was enough that he'd been feeling the same way she had for all that time; knowing that, she saw no reason to question it.

One of the up sides to what had wound up happening with them was that she no longer needed an excuse to drop by his hut. After the long walk from the treehouse, she was tired and it was late afternoon by the time she got there, but it was better than running all that way. The door was closed, but she couldn't help but smile when she reached it, raising one hand to knock and then rocking back on her heels expectantly.

Maybe they were taking it slow, and maybe the island wouldn't let it last all that long, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to enjoy it.

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Though hers wasn't the only mood that had brightened lately, Ryan was a little more reserved. Whatever this was between them, however much he enjoyed her company, he still wasn't convinced he hadn't been right from the start about its being a bad idea. There was no doubt they were setting themselves up to be hurt, and he was generally too cautious for this kind of in the moment behavior. On his own, he wrestled with indecision and uncertainty. With her around, though, doubts cleared away. She was too difficult to resist now they'd begun.

He still kept to himself a lot of the time, and today was no exception. The sound of a knock made him put down the sketchbook, though, and roll from the bed to his feet, crossing the room to open the door. He might not yet have known what to call the pair of them, but the sight of her there still made him smile. "Hey." He stepped back to let her in, hands settling at her waist to draw her in after him. "Just in the neighborhood?"

Lucy might've been cautious, were it not for the fact that she was convinced the island itself was set up to hurt people. If it didn't work out, it wouldn't be either of their faults, if she had anything to say about it. She'd spent enough time around him to be sure that he wasn't going to wind up being like Jude had, and that in itself inspired confidence in her. Besides that, like she'd said to him, if she held herself back, she'd never get anything done. That just the sight of him, the touch of his hands to her waist, could fill her with a certain content, make her smile widen, was reason enough for her not to doubt what they were doing.

"You could say that," she replied, half-teasing, as she let herself be led in. "Thought I'd stop by, you know, see what was going on." See him, more like, but chances were that was apparent, and she didn't much care to hide it.

"Ah, yes," Ryan said, nodding, closing the door behind her before drawing her a little nearer, "because it's so exciting out here." The last few days, at least, had been a little more so, and more to his taste than the excitement of that first week on the island. In the meanwhile, he had something to look forward to around here, something good to hold out for. The rest, they'd figure out when they came to it. He slid a hand to the small of her back, letting go of his thoughts for a while to just enjoy the way she felt against him. "Well, nothing's going on, but that could be changed."

"Oh?" Lucy asked, one eyebrow raising along with a corner of her mouth, arms sliding around his neck when he pulled her closer. It made sense to have spent a month becoming friends before either of them made a move, but now that they had this, she couldn't help but relish it. Far too long had passed since someone had touched her like that. "Well, that sounds good to me." She leaned in, just a little, but not enough for any contact. If they were taking it slow, she would follow his lead, and she was fine with that. "What did you have in mind?"

Ryan tipped his head back with a small sigh, pretending to consider that. There were things he wanted to do, but they were taking their time, which was as much his idea as hers. They'd both been through too much just to jump into things. "I don't know," he said, looking back down to her again. "But I'm sure we can think of something." Taking another step in to close the distance between them, he brought his lips to hers, reaching a hand up and into her hair. It was a brief kiss, though. He slid his hand forward to touch her cheek, a little more serious now. "At some point, though, we should probably, you know, talk about this. Us."

While a statement like that from anyone else might've been disheartening, its being preceded by a kiss and his moving closer to her just made it oddly nice to hear. Lucy had considered the same thing, of course, especially since there'd never been a conversation like that with either person she'd been with before. It made sense, with them, to go slow, to work out the details before they rushed into anything. That would make it all the more worthwhile, too. As far as she was concerned, it was the only sensible option. Besides, having him call them 'us' would've made her smile if she hadn't been already.

"Yeah, okay," she agreed after he'd spoken, fingers of one hand curled gently around the back of his neck, the other sliding down to rest over his shoulder. "You're right. We should." When she leaned in to kiss him again, it was even briefer than the one before it, but it seemed appropriate to add, too.

"We should," he echoed, nodding. Whether or not he was sure what this was, he wanted to manage it right, to do right by her, and running headlong into anything wasn't going to accomplish that. Much as he wanted to kiss her again, there wouldn't be much talking if he kept that up either. That there was nowhere to sit but the bed was unlikely to help. All the same, he turned, guiding her over there to sit. As he did, his hand slid from her back to the curve of her waist, keeping her near. "I mean, we haven't exactly been clear about what we're doing here."

Following his lead, Lucy took a seat on the edge of the bed once they'd reached it, as close as his grip had brought her while still looking up at him. Unfamiliar as this territory was, she still couldn't deny the sense it made, and that she was so at ease around him already could only help. "No," she mused thoughtfully, biting down briefly on her lower lip before she spoke again. It still seemed important to phrase everything properly; she didn't want to risk screwing anything up so soon, even if the two of them sitting on his bed was not the easiest thing in the world. "Well, for what it's worth, I like you more than just... randomly hooking up, or whatever," she began, with a sound that was nearly a laugh. That seemed to be the benefit of having spent a month becoming friends first. "But I don't want to push anything. Or ask for too much."

"You're not pushing," Ryan said, shaking his head. "I like you, too, and not just as friends and not just for kissing. Although the kissing is nice, we can - we should keep doing that." With her looking up at him, it was a little bit more difficult to focus than he could've asked for. He couldn't continue, though, in good conscience without talking to her first. "I just... I want to do this right."

He wasn't really sure himself what that entailed, not yet. Maybe it was another of those things they'd figure out as they went. It wasn't like he could take her on dates or anything here, anymore than he knew if they'd both still be there tomorrow. Relationships were confusing enough without dragging time and space and all that uncertainty into it, let alone his own lingering issues. He tried not to put himself out on the line like this, and still he found himself doing it over and over again. "It's just kinda tough to figure out what that really means around here."

"Well, the kissing is definitely right." Lucy replied, almost teasing, as her smile widened. She was slightly more serious again a moment later, though; even if she wasn't used to the whole talking it over thing, she knew better than to joke the entire time. "So... it just depends, I guess, on what you're - we're - ready for." There was no way to make it simple, though. Both of her relationships, though in different ways, had gone far with little time at all. She'd dated Daniel her junior and senior years of high school, and while it was never official, they were as good as engaged before he was killed. With Jude, they were living together the day she first came to New York, sleeping together after the first night they kissed. That first part, she was sure, would've been too much for her -- after finding Max in Jude's bed, she wasn't about to go inviting herself to live with someone -- but any official title, or anything beyond just kissing, was in his hands. She was far enough removed from Jude that she'd be able to move on. Where he stood, after the news he'd received about Marissa, was what would really determine it, as far as she was concerned.

That was what it came down to, in the end. She was fine, she could move on, but he was still trying to distance himself from the business with Marissa. It had been months, though, since he'd been with her, and though he was still set on going home to save her, it had been a long time since she'd been his girlfriend. There was no reason not to move forward. He had a feeling Summer would disagree with his logic, but Summer didn't need to know yet. This was something separate, and they could keep it theirs a little longer.

"See, that's hard to figure out," he said slowly, turning his head toward her, "because I have no idea what to do for dates in this place." One corner of his mouth quirked a little higher, his free hand coming to rest on her knee.

An answer like that, despite the uncertainty in the proposal of it, was one Lucy liked to hear, and that was apparent, especially after he'd placed his hand on her knee. "Well," she began, the syllable drawn out, only somewhat exaggerated, "could we be dating, you think, without traditional dates? I think I'd be okay with that, if you are." She'd never been the conventional dating type anyway, at least not after Daniel. With Jude, she'd skipped that step entirely, gone straight to sharing a bed, and after Max left and she'd been working two jobs with protests in between, there hadn't been time for luxuries like going out to dinner, or whatever it was people did while dating.

"I think I could manage that," Ryan said lightly. It was just as well. He'd never been much good at the dates part of dating. Before Marissa, what he'd done generally couldn't have been called dating at all, come to that. None of the relationships had been serious, at least. There'd been plenty of girls but no real girlfriends. For all his experience, he really didn't know what to do. Pulling his hand from her waist to steady himself against the bed, he turned to better face her, the hand on her knee moving to rest against her jaw and pull her in for another kiss, deeper this time. That was clear enough for now.

That certainly wasn't logic Lucy could argue with. Her own outside hand moved back to his shoulder so they could have an easier time of facing each other, the other sliding around to his back. His supporting himself on the bed would be enough for both of them. Their decision had yet to fully sink in, but she was pleased all the same, even if all they did was kiss while sitting on his bed. It was only two years since she'd been in a conventional relationship, or whatever they were calling it, but there was no doubt in her mind that it felt right with him, if only because he'd come to mean so much to her even before they'd first kissed. She didn't want what she'd had with Jude; chances were, the speed they'd moved at only accelerated their eventual splitting up, anyway. This was different, steadier, just explosive, and she was already almost positive that she liked it better that way.

With this, at least, he knew exactly what he was doing. The position wasn't an easy one to maintain, though, all his weight on one hand as he leaned in toward her. It wasn't long before he just wanted to get closer, and with the way they were sitting, that wasn't happening. They might still have been moving slow, but that didn't mean they had to sit at the end of the bed like children. They could take it slow just as easily further up onto the bed. Slipping his hand a little lower down her neck, he broke the kiss. "Get up here," he said, pulling his other leg up onto the bed and inching back, reaching to tug her after him. They'd be more comfortable that way.

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