hello, goodbye, hello.

Chapter 15: A Window of Opportunity

The main question in Ricky's head was: What now?

He was mortified having gotten a hard on right next to EJ, but it was probably safe to assume he didn't notice seeing as he had made such a quick exit. He couldn't exactly get out of bed and start wondering around in his current state and he wasn't about to 'take care of things' in EJ's bed, so he decided to just mindlessly scroll through his phone until the problem went away.

Luckily, his body listened to him, and a minute or two later he was able to get out of bed safely. Ricky really just wanted to get his clothes and get out of there before anything else embarrassing happened and, assuming no one else was home, he headed down to the bathroom to ask EJ where the laundry room was. Ricky was about to knock on the door when he heard an unusual noise from inside. He couldn't hear that well over the sound of the shower, but he was almost certain he had just heard EJ...moaning?

He wouldn't have thought much of it. The Caswell's probably had some deluxe showers, not to mention the immaculate water pressure. Perhaps it was a moan-worthy experience? What caught Ricky truly off guard was when EJ moaned, particularly loudly: "Ricky!" and then all went silent.

What the fuck was that about? Was EJ just...doing that....in the...to the thought of...Oh god. Ricky ran back to EJ's room and shut the door. No no no no no. Clearly Ricky was just imagining things. Surely he didn't just hear what he thought he heard. He was interrupted in his attempt to rationalize everything when he heard a car pulling up outside.

Oh shit!

It was probably EJ's parents. They'd probably be pissed if they found out EJ had a friend over while they were gone. And even if they weren't, Ricky really didn't care to greet EJ's parents by surprise, wearing EJ's clothes. No way he could explain his way out of that one, or survive such an awkward encounter. Ricky decided there was only one rational solution. He slipped on the sweatpants that EJ had given him the night before and tied them as tight as he could. He then grabbed his phone and wallet from the charger and slipped on his shoes which he found by EJ's desk. Looking particularly ridiculous, Ricky opened EJ's window and looked down. He was pretty high up, but there was another little roofed area right below him. If he could land there, he could probably make his way to the ground with hurting himself...probably.

Ricky heaved himself over the edge of the window sill and dangled his legs down until he felt the roof beneath his feet. He then inched along the side of the roof and was doing well, until he lost his grip on the side of the house and fell backwards into the flower bushes below.

Ricky didn't really have time to review how stupid his plan was now or how bruised he was going to be. But, at least he was on outside safely now, albeit a little banged up. He brought himself to his feet, climbed out of the bushes, and took off in no particular direction but away from EJ's house.

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Minutes later...

EJ had just arrived at his, surprisingly, empty room. Ricky and all Ricky paraphernalia was gone and the window was slightly ajar. The pieces fell into place.

"God damnit Ricky." EJ said to himself.

Ricky was always kind of a strange kid, and granted, the situation that had both found themselves in this morning was extremely weird. But, EJ thought he had shown enough hospitality last night to make Ricky comfortable enough to leave, announced, through the front door.

Unless, perhaps, Ricky had seen EJ's predicament this morning. If that was the case, then thank god, and no wonder, Ricky decided to jump out the window. It made EJ kinda want to do the same thing. This thought brought up another. Ricky had just fucking jumped out of a second story window!