A Fresh Start

Chapter 11-Day after Thanksgiving 2012

Ryan

"That was a really good movie. I'm surprised sometimes that Keira Knightly can actually act," I say as TK closes his laptop.

"What!? She's the best. She got an Oscar nomination for that movie," he says with a smile.

"Right. Cause for once, she was good. I mean, look at the pirates' movies. She's not that good," I say.

"I wouldn't know. Add those to the long list of movies I've never seen," he says with a shrug at my shocked face.

"Do I even want to be your friend?" I say and push him.

"Yes, you do. Cause I'll always be excited to watch your favorite movies. Just not on this beast. Sorry about the cracked screen," he says and pushes his MacBook away.

"No worries. I'll bring my iPad next time. It's nice that your parents got you a laptop for school. Even if it's busted," I say, not making eye contact. TK can be a little sensitive sometimes.

"That was my dad's old laptop. He bought himself a new one last year. When He broke the screen," he says quietly. "But it works. Like most of my broken stuff." He adds with a smile and waves his broken iPhone at me. I can see the screen is held on with masking tape.

"Broken stuff has value, but I'm just prideful enough to admit my prejudice against broken screens, though," I say with a smirk. "Did that work? I was going for cute.

"Swing, and a miss, champ. You need the sensibility to have some sense," he says back with a laugh.

"Wow. Ok. Ok, well played. Ok, I have one. Ready?" I say with a grin, and he nods.

"I think I need to give you some Persuasion to get Chipotle with me tonight," I say and bat my eyes at him.

"Ugh. You win. Cause all I can think of is just saying the name "Emma" like it's an actual word," he says, and he starts laughing again and mutters "persuasion" under his breathe.

"Ok. Let's go get some food. Wait, What's wrong?" I ask.

He had a sad look on his face, but it's gone right away, " I have to save my allowance money for Christmas stuff. For once, I have people I want to give gifts to."

"My treat then. Oh, come onnnnnnnnnn. I finally get the car cause Josh got grounded for sneaking out. LETSSSSS GOOOOOOOOOO," I say and pull him up.

"Ok, let me ask Dan and Mandy," he says, and he runs up the stairs. I flop down on the bed, and I kind of can't help but smell his pillow. It smells like him.

He wears a body spray somedays, and I can smell it here. It smells nice, but it seems like his normal smell. God, I've got a problem. It's bad.

He comes down defeated. "They said no. It's snowing, and they don't want you to be distracted," He says.

"Oh shit. Can I spend the night?" I ask. "I don't want to drive in the snow."

"Umm. You want to spend the night. Like a sleepover?" He asks, and I nod. "I'll ask." At that, he runs back up the stairs, and I can hear his voice, but not the words. I can hear his awkward laugh. I wonder what was funny.

He comes down and shouts, "they said yes if your parents are cool with it."

My mom is always on her phone for work, so I text her and ask. The response comes back in less than 30 seconds. she agrees, but I need to behave. 

I nod with a smile, and his smile can't be contained.

"What do you wanna do?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I don't know. I've never had a sleepover before. I guess we should gossip about our friends and play pranks on each other."

"Ok. Can we talk about how Trevor's not good enough for Jamie, but also Jamie isn't good enough for him? It's weird. But I feel that way," I say.

TK laughs and sits down on his bed, and I pull my legs up to give him room and then lay them on him. He looks happy with this position; I secretly get to feel him touch my legs.

"Jamie is......so sure of herself it's amazing. Like how can that happen? Trevor needs that in his life. He seems lost sometimes, BUT Jamie is so FULLLLL of herself Trevor keeps her grounded. That's all I mean," I say. TK's resting his head against the wall, just looking at me all quiet. I feel his hands on my legs, and I love that feeling. Maybe I'll kiss him tonight. "Am I crazy?"

"What? No. Sorry. No. That makes perfect sense. Sorry, I was just thinking about stuff," he says.

"What's going on? Bryce still mad at you," I ask.

"Probably. Alex noticed my lack of texts, but I blamed school. It's just been a crazy couple of months," he says.

I lift my head and look at him. He has his glasses on today, and He's so fucking cute. "You ok?" I ask.

"I mean......ok. Look at this," and gestures to us on his twin bed. "You're straight, BUT I spent the day with a guy. We watched a great movie, and now you're in my bed. Like the Tyler of the summer would have KILLED to know this was happening."

I just nod and reach out for his hand, and he lets me take it.

"I'm glad you're my friend TK. I'm glad you get to be yourself. Not everyone's so lucky," I say, and my eyes go wide. "Fuck. Not lucky. Shit. I'm sorry. Why are you laughing?"

"I know you what you mean. Don't worry," he says.

"Ok, god. That was dumb. Hey, what were you laughing at upstairs anyways? Tell me the joke," I say.

"It was nothing. When I asked if you could spend the night, Dan asked.....he asked if we were dating. And I had to make it really clear you're straight. He said you can sleep on the pull-out couch," he says with another beautiful smile.

"What we don't get to share your twin bed? That's mean," I say jokingly. "I mean, I barely fit on it as it is, so that's probably for the best."

He laughs, and I'm pretty sure he's checking me out. I wonder what kind of Guys he likes. Am I even his type? It's annoying that I want to know so badly, but I can't seem to put the words out there. 

Dan knocking on the door startles us both out of the trance. Whatever just happened there, it was mutual.

We look at Dan, and he has his concerned Dad face on for a second before he shifts it to passive.

"Come on up. Mandy's making turkey sandwiches for dinner, and It's Conner's turn to pick the family movie," he says, and TK groans out in physical pain.

"What does that mean?" I ask.

TK answers and pushes my legs off of him harder than he probably meant to, and now I'm annoyed. "That means Star Wars. It's always Star Wars. Can't Ryan pick cause he's our guest?"

Dan smiles, "worth a shot. Probably for a price."

"Anything to save Ryan from listening to Conner mouth the words," he says and smiles at me.

We head upstairs, and I love this side of TK. Lovable and happy TK.

In the end, TK trades his next two movie picks to Conner so I can pick the movie. He almost tackles me when I start looking at the Star Wars DVDs, but I grab Independence Day. Everyone seems happy with it. Eric and Conner fight over the love seat. Dan and Mandy cuddle on the couch, and TK and I take the spots on the floor.

The rest of the night it's incredible. We stayed up way too late talking until TK starts to fall asleep.

I almost kiss him, but I'd rather he be AWAKE.

It's coming. Every day I get more comfortable.