Chapter 3
The whole day was basically “Nina’s First Everything” featuring Ryan as her personal Disney prince.
“Nina’s never done this before,” became his go–to excuse for literally everything. Holding her hand on the kiddie coaster, fixing her safety harness, going full protective mode when she squealed on Space Mountain.
Random families kept gushing, “Aww, you two are adorable together!”
Meanwhile Sienna was basically a ghost, trailing behind them like the world’s most depressing third wheel.
The guy who used to revolve around her? Yeah, he was gone.
They hit up the orca show at SeaWorld, and of course the host picked couples from the crowd for some interactive thing. Originally called Ryan and Sienna up, but Nina looked so left out that Ryan immediately hit Sienna with the puppy eyes.
“Babe, Nina’s never experienced anything like this. Mind if she takes your spot?”
Sienna just waved him off. At this point, why not?
The whole bit was peak cringe–couples had to kiss when Shamu jumped, cameras rolling, crowd cheering. Total romance novel nonsense.
Nína turned red as a tomato the second the host explained it, and the audience started losing their shit with anticipation.
Ryan glanced at her once, then just… went for it. Full–on kiss while the whale did its thing in the background.
The crowd went absolutely feral.
Sienna watched from her seat, feeling like someone was squeezing her heart with pliers.
If kiss number one was “saving Nina from embarrassment,” what the hell was this?
When they came back down, Ryan started his damage control routine, but Sienna shut it down. “I get it. Show must go on.”
His obvious relief was nauseating.
From Best Friends to Betraval: I Chose Mosall
Chapter 3
That evening they staked out spots for the fireworks finale. Ryan was probably banking on Sienna’s favorite part of the park to fix whatever was broken between them.
Instead, everything went sideways.
A firework misfired, shooting sparks into the crowd. Total pandemonium–people screaming. shoving, stampeding toward the exits.
Someone body–checked Sienna in the chaos and she stumbled backward toward this steep concrete staircase. She was about to eat shit in a major way when-
“RYAN! I’M SCARED!”
Nina’s voice, somewhere in the crowd behind them.
For like half a second, Ryan locked eyes with Sienna as she teetered on the edge.
Then he bolted. Straight toward Nina’s voice.
Sienna hit the concrete stairs hard, bouncing down like a rag doll while panicked people trampled over her trying to escape.
Some random mom eventually helped her up, asking if she was okay.
When Ryan finally came back – Nina tucked safely under his arm – Sienna looked like she’d been through a blender.
“Sienna!” Ryan rushed over, looking absolutely wrecked. “Oh my God, what happened?”
Sienna stepped back before he could touch her, voice scary calm. “I’m good. Just make sure Nina gets home okay.”
Ryan wasn’t having it. He called Nina an Uber and basically carried Sienna to his car, straight to the
- ER.
The doctor said possible concussion – they wanted to keep her overnight just to be safe.
Ryan planted himself in that uncomfortable hospital chair like he owned the place. Every time she told him to leave, he’d just shake his head.
Then Nina called.
“Ryan, I’m literally panicking right now,” her voice trembled through the speaker. “My apartment’s power is out and I can’t find my phone flashlight and I’m scared to be alone in the dark…
Chapter 3
Ryan looked between his phone and Sienna like he was solving world hunger.
“Go,” Sienna said, not even looking at him.
“I can’t just leave you here-”
“There’s literally a nurse call button right there. I’m fine.”
He stood up reluctantly, guilt radiating off him. “I’ll be back in like an hour, tops.”
He was almost out the door when she called his name.
“Ryan.”
He stopped. “What’s up?”
Sienna stared at him, remembering freshman year when he drove two hours back from a debate tournament because she’d texted him about having food poisoning. Showed up with Gatorade and saltines, stayed up all night making sure she was okay.
Now he was ditching her in the hospital for Nina’s power outage.
She almost asked: “Do you still love me, or what?”
But honestly? She didn’t want to know.
“Never mind. See ya.”
It didn’t matter if he loved her anymore.
She was over it. Over him, over this whole mess, over pretending any of this was worth saving.
2013
