you could be my silver spring.

RYDER LYNN. freshman at julliard university. drums. guitar. keyboard. dj. survivor | dreamer | lover

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

Text 🥁 Ryder

Rachel: They go hand and hand don’t they? We don’t have to drink though.

Rachel: That’s okay. :)

Ryder: No no. Drinking is good. That sounds like it'll be a lot of fun.

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

Text 🥁 Ryder

Rachel: What do you prefer? I was mostly thinking we could go out dancing.

Rachel: Isn’t that a shared parent trait? I don’t think it’s a bad thing...not that I think you are saying it is.

Ryder: Dancing? Does that include drinking as well?

Ryder: I'm not really sure. I never paid attention to the genetics side of things in Science, to be honest.

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

start of something new | rydel

Rachel: shakes her head, "No, we really don't have a relationship. She couldn't be what I needed and things went south my freshman year here with her. She checks in on me from time to time but I don't think there is any hope in her ever really being my mom if that makes sense." She laughs, "But it's okay. I've survived this long without one and now I'm an adult who needs to mom herself." She scrunches her nose up at the term, hoping it came off how she meant it; that she needed to take care of herself for once. "I'm glad you're making good choices here Ryder. It is important."Her voice gets all preachy and she doesn't stop it from coming off that way. She melts as he obliges her, giggling delightfully at him. "I think your jokes are funny and great. I quite like puns myself." They make it to the coffee shop and Rachel rushes to the door to hold it open for him. "It will be warm in here and you can properly see my outfit." She grins.

Ryder: "Well then screw her. You've gotten this far without having a mom at your side, so you're unstoppable." He was trying to be encouraging, but truth be told, if he didn't have one of his parents at his side throughout his entire life, he would be completely wrecked. Ryder glanced over at her, nodding his head dramatically at her words. He liked that even so soon, she seemed to care about his well being and standing at the school. That was always something that could be rare in a person. "I plan to continue these good choices, Rachel Berry." He laughed before he was looking down, a sense of shyness coming over him again. "Puns are the absolute best thing in the whole entire world. I have a book of puns," he stated as he walked through the door, smiling widely at her as a thank you. One of Ryder's biggest pet peeves were the fact that women couldn't open doors for themselves. He didn't understand why the polite thing could just be mutual. "Absolutely take your jacket off. I gotta see the whole glory," he said with a smirk, knowing exactly how that sounded. He had always read it was useful to make things know about feelings, so this was his shot.

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

Text 🥁 Ryder

Rachel: I guess it is my turn to pick the date destination, yeah?

Rachel: Are you close with your mom?

Ryder: If you want. I can do it again though.

Ryder: I love my mom. She's great. She worries a lot though.

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

Text 🥁 Ryder

Rachel: Tomorrow night sounds great. If you're honestly up for it.

Rachel: I do like them.

Ryder: I'm honestly up for it.

Ryder: My mom does too.

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

Text 🥁 Ryder

Rachel: Then okay.

Rachel: Awful? It’s cute!

Ryder: Tomorrow night?

Ryder: I'm glad someone likes them, honestly.

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

start of something new | rydel

Rachel: “At the time it was but I grew up and came to an understanding with it all and I’ve met my mom since then as well.” It has been a long time since she’d talked about something like this, something personal in general, really. No one cared and she didn’t hold much trust in others. She’s surprised she’s letting him in when she’d never given him a chance back in High school. “As long as you’re putting effort in you’ll do fine and showing up to class is a plus too. My freshman year we had a class and only two people had to take the exam the rest of us were excemt for our perfect attendance. “ Her grin widens and she can’t help the infectious giggles that bubble out of her. “Can you do the finger guns again and say cool beans afterwards?” Rachel skips forward, “You’re a funny guy did you know that Ryder?”

Ryder: smiled as she opened up to him so much. From what he knew from high school, the subject of her mother had always been something complex and never up for conversation. "Do you have any kind of relationship with her now?" He questioned, not sure if he was asking something far too personal for her liking. Quite frankly, he never really knew what his boundaries were whenever it came to things like this. He was a tight lipped kind of person, but not everyone was the same. "Oh that's sick. Hopefully I get that lucky. I haven't missed any class, so I'm on the right path," he explained with a chuckle, instinctively leading them to the coffee shop that was located a couple blocks away. Biting down on his lower lip, Ryder tilted his head to the side as he shyly brought his hands up, displaying his finger guns. "Cool beans, dude." He deadpanned with a wink after he was finished, laughing to himself. "I did not actually. Sometimes people don't really know how to handle my jokes and stuff. Thanks."

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

Text 🥁 Ryder

Rachel: Is it what you want?

Rachel: I like your finger guns.

Ryder: I wouldn't be asking if I didn't.

Ryder: I do those a lot. It's awful.

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

Text 🥁 Ryder

Rachel: Really?

Rachel: [unsent] you could have fooled me

Rachel: That’s very sweet of you.

Ryder: Yeah absolutely! We should do it again sometime, if you want?

Ryder: I’m just being honest with you.

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

start of something new | rydel

Rachel: “That's okay I was mostly teasing. But if you want to text your Mom and find out I wouldn’t mind knowing that about you. I always found that unit in school to be pointless but it could also be that it didn’t really help bring me closer to my roots. It made me feel worse about them being a kid that didn’t know their mom and all that.” She shrugs,”I do know I’m Italian.” A gasp leaves her lips when he tells her the humans win the race but she’s genuinly more curious about his feelings about being in the city. “You guess?” They bump into each other and Rachel looks down at her feet as she took a deep breath, tapping two fingers against her other hand. It’s enough to ground her and she skips ahead. “If you aren’t interested in learning why don’t you try alternatives?”

Ryder: listened closely to her words, nodding where appropriate. “I bet that was tough,” he tried, knowing that was less than the right amount of understanding. Whenever it came to things like that, he never really knew how to handle things “Italians are cool.” He deadpanned before he was narrowing his eyes at himself and groaning softly. He was an idiot sometimes whenever it came to his nerves trying to work through small talk. Ryder swallowed hard, not really knowing what he was supposed to do right now. Wasn’t the natural walking thing supposed to be trying to hold hands? He couldn’t do that. “I like learning about different techniques, but that’s really it. Music, to me, is all about feeling and reading the music. I don’t have the capabilities of paying attention to the history or anything like that, but I’m trying.” Ryder explained, finishing off his words with finger guns.

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

Text 🥁 Ryder

Rachel: [unsent] I’m sorry it wasn’t everything you were hoping for.

Rachel: I had a nice time.

Ryder: I did too. I really did.

Ryder: You're a lot more interesting than you give yourself credit for.

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

start of something new | rydel

Rachel: "So you don't know if you do?" She can't help but laugh, not sure she's completely understanding but she was trying her best. "Either way you are quite lucky, genes and all. How is the weather up there?" She teases, feeling like she could say that because she heard about her own height like that. "I don't think I'll ever watch that, it sounds scary. So can you tell me who makes it to the W.H.O first?" She bounces on her toes, hopeful that he will give her the spoiler. She never liked not knowing things. "Yeah. I don't regret my choice, it's pretty decent here. First year was a bit of a trial period but I've definitely landed my footing at this point. How are you liking it? Are you feeling confident and eager to learn?"

Ryder: "I'm not really sure what my genetics stuff is. My mom tried telling me once, but I didn't really care... until now. I can text her later, yeah." Ryder explained before he was laughing softly, getting on his tip toes and looking down at her dramatically. "It's a little warmer up here." Ryder scratched the back of his neck before he was shrugging his shoulders. "Well of course they both get to the W.H.O. and it's an epic battle to get the cure. Hint - the humans win." He laughed before he was looking over at Rachel and smiling. "I like it here. It's different than back home, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm never that eager to learn, but I like what I'm learning I guess." He swallowed hard, feeling like everything may be going smoothly. They bumped into one another and Ryder quickly moved away from her, looking down at the ground. He hated that he was like this.

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

start of something new | rydel

Rachel: "What exactly is keeping you resilient to the cold? I think I'd to get on board with that so I can properly show off my pretty dress." She's half tempted to unzip her jacket and do a little twirl for him, but she just pulls her jacket tighter. "I don't think I've ever heard of World war Z but I've heard of The Walking Dead. Is that the same thing?" She looks at him curiously, genuinely interested in what he had to say. She doesn't know why but she finds him to be so cute right now, banging on fake drums, and it's hard to stop smiling. "I double major in singing and dance actually. I had thought of going to NYU:TISCH to pursue musical theater but this seemed to be the better fit for me."

Ryder: "I like to think I have some ancestors from Russia or... Greenland... or somewhere else cold that passed along their resilient genes to me." Ryder rambled on before she was shoving his pockets further into his jacket. He seriously felt like he was blowing this entire date but talking so much, but maybe not? She seemed interested enough so maybe, just maybe, he was doing a good job. "Ah man World War Z is a zombie movie starring Brad Pitt and it takes a different approach on the zombie apocalypse. They're portrayed differently - a lot faster than actual zombies. And so it's a race to get to the World Health Organization to get the cure." Ryder stopped abruptly before he was smiling awkwardly at her, knowing he had just given way more of a synopsis than what was necessary. "I think you're a good fit here honestly. Music theater is amazing, but you can do a lot more and have a bigger reach with just singing and dancing."

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

start of something new | rydel

Rachel: "You're wrong." She says softly, "I mean, you're wearing a lovely shirt and you're risking a cold to show it off." Her hands easily move to pull on the openness of her coat, but she doesn't make it that far. She knows that not everyone has a problem with being touched abruptly and she didn't as much as before, but she tried to be aware so she pulls back. "I think that sounds great. I admittedly have a coffee problem, though most college students do." She follows him up onto the side walk, moving in a bit closer, as she walked. She is thankful it isn't that cold and that despite how dark it was getting, there was enough light illuminating the space surrounding them. "So you're here for percussion, right? I think I saw your name on the list in the program."

Ryder: laughed lightly at her words before instinctively pulling his jacket closer to his body. "I'm built to handle all this cold weather, so I think I'll be okay." Ryder noticed how she was walking closer to him, knowing that he needed to calm down his thoughts and anxiety. There was nothing wrong with a little bit of subtle touching happening whenever two people were walking together. "Coffee is everything to me, I'm practically a killer zombie from World War Z whenever I don't have it," Ryder explained, knowing that he needed to stop talking immediately. So he did. He walked next to her, trying to think of something to say before she did so for him. "Yeah, I'm here for percussion. It's really cool. There's nothing like banging on a couple drums to really get the blood flowing." Ryder raised his hands, acting like he was banging an array of drums before he was getting quiet again. "I'm guessing you're here for singing, right?"

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

start of something new | rydel

Rachel: feels like she is back in her sophomore year of high school again. Overly excited, hopeful, and questioning of any good thing that came her way. Ryder was good and pure and kind but she knows how easy it is to be influenced. Was she being set up? Was he dared to ask her out? All of these questions fill her head as she gets ready, rides the subway, and walks towards the entrance of Central Park. She has half a mind to turn back but then she sees him and he’s walking towards her. “Oh. That is nice of you to say. You look great too.” Rachel assured with a nervous smile. “It’s not always easy to dress in the winter because you have to work around boots and jackets but I like to think I make it work.” She looks expectantly I’m from of them at the view ahead.”So are we walking the park or was this a meet up destination?”

Ryder: smiled at her words, liking the way her smile seemed to hide something behind it. She seemed just as nervous as he was, which was to be expected. After all, the pair spoke barely in high school, and barely before their date. It was only natural. "I think you make it work too. I could never be a girl. All I have to do is just dress normal and pop a jacket on." He said with a shrug of his shoulders, knowing he was lying. Most would say he was slightly metrosexual with his style, but honestly, he just liked to look nice. "I figured we could walk around and get to know one another and then stop for coffee to heat up?" He asked before he was nodding towards the sidewalk and started walking. He could already tell the word vomit was about to start spewing from his body at any minute.

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

start of something new | rydel

Ryder: pushed the door of his apartment open as he walked outside, instantly feeling the nerves filling his entire body. He was never one for going out on a limb and asking a girl out, but something about Rachel reminded him of home and that brought comfort to him. He honestly had no idea what to expect from this date, but he knew he was about to blow it big time. His words always left his mouth faster than his brain computed, putting him in for a treat of embarrassment with the girl.

His feet planted onto the cement sidewalks of Central Park as he glanced around, trying to find her. He should have been more precise as to where to meet up. For the next few minutes, Ryder shuffled around before he finally found her, smiling as he approached her. "Hey you," he said with a smile, smoothing out his button up shirt as a rouse to wipe off the sweat forming on his nervous hands. "You look good. Great. You look great."

[thelynnchronicles-blog]

Text 🥁 RYDER

Rachel: Time?

Ryder: 6pm?