The One Thing I Never Expected | Ryden | By Ericasaur on LiveJournal

Chapter Sixteen (Part One)

            "So...you're together too?" Frank asks Gabe and William awkwardly at lunch. He's been sitting with us for three days now, ever since I told him he could on Monday. He failed to notice until today that Ryan and I aren't the only ones together.

            "Yeah!" Gabe says proudly, slinging his arm around William. "And so are Jon and Spencer," he adds. Frank looks a bit overwhelmed.

            "We didn't used to all be together," I tell him. He turns his focus toward me. "We all just used to be friends. But Ryan and I are the only two of us that are actually gay. Gabe and William both don't care about gender, and Spence and Jon aren't attracted to guys at all besides each other. It's weird, I know," I shake my head.

            "Well...cool?" Frank says, laughing nervously.

            "Don't worry, we aren't as weird as we sound," Ryan jokes. Frank bites his lip for a minute before looking at Ryan.

            "I don't want to sound rude or anything, but...I thought you didn't talk because you're...you know," he says awkwardly.

            "He got his hearing back," I smile, gripping Ryan's waist tighter. Frank looks surprised.

            "Oh. That's awesome," he tells Ryan, who smiles at him. Just then, Gerard and Mikey come up to our table. They're brothers; I've known them both for a long time, but they're really only acquaintances.

            "Hey, guys," Mikey says. Gerard is a bit quieter, doesn't talk as much. "So we're—" Gerard coughs pointedly, interrupting him. Mikey sighs. "Okay, fine. I'm having this party tomorrow night. Our parents are gone for the weekend. We wanted to know if you guys wanted to come?" he asks, eyebrows raised. I'm not really the partying type. I've only ever been to three.

            William mumbles something to Gabe, and he nods. "We're in," William says, nodding to Gabe. Like he even needed to ask Gabe. I'm pretty sure he's been to every single party held by anyone ever since he's been at this school. Everyone loves him, so he always gets invited. The thing is, William and Gabe are really kind of popular. They just don't acknowledge it. I'm kind of in the middle. Spencer and Jon also agree to go, and I'm about to decline when Ryan nudges my shoulder.

            "Let's go," he says.

            "You want to?" I ask hesitantly. Since when is Ryan the type to go to parties? He hates them more than I do. Out of those three I went to, I only managed to drag him to one, and he was miserable.

            "Yeah," he shrugs. "We don't have anything else to do. It could be fun. Plus, don't you get tired of just sitting at home every day?" he asks. Of course I do, but I still don't want to go to a party.

            "Um, I don't know," I mumble. "Parties aren't really my thing, you know that."

            "Come on, Bren. I wanna go," he pushes.

            "Well, you can go without me, you know. I don't mind," I half-lie. It's not that I care if he goes somewhere without me. It's just that I worry. He doesn't do well by himself. But he'd have William and everyone else there.

            "But I don't wanna go without you, that wouldn't even be fun. Please?" he says, clearly determined on making me go. I roll my eyes and turn to Mikey again, who is patiently waiting.

            "Sure, yeah," I mumble half-heartedly. I don't know, I just really don't want to go to this party. But if it'll make Ryan happy.

            "Cool, well you know where I live, and the party starts at eight!" Mikey informs us before smiling and heading off; to tell other people I'm sure.