mystery boy

confrontations

RYAN POV

School's out.

I watch the kids rush out of the buildings, some hopping on to busses, some grabbing their bikes, or waiting for their families to pick them up. The Joey kid walks out and looks around. Then he puts something down in front of him and stands on top of it. He pushes off and glides onto the sidewalk.

A skateboard. Of course he rides a fucking skateboard to school.

He shoves his hands into his pockets and pushes off with his right foot every few seconds, gracefully loving across the pavement. Then he turns his head towards me. Shit.

I turn and start sprinting back, trying to find somewhere I can hide, and then I realise - I'm in the most open space there is near the school. There's nowhere to hide.

Joey yells something to me, that resembles "Wait!", but that's the last thing I can do. There's no way I'm going to let him talk to me. I start running as far back as I can. Joey is gaining on me, spitting out random words and telling me to stop. I'm finally getting away until my foot catches on something hard, and suddenly, I'm flying.

After what feels like eight days of being in the the air, I slam face-first into the grass. When I look up, Joey's standing over me, staring.

"Are you okay? You looked like you were floating for like, a good ten seconds." He crouches down next to me and stares, and his deep brown eyes seem to look directly into my soul. I back up. "I'm fine," I mumble. He looks at me, clasping his hands around my arms, holding me down. He's strong. I can't get out of his grip. I start to wriggle in a pathetic attempt to get out.

"Let me go, I'm fine."

"No. I want to talk to you." He doesn't break eye contact. I look down.

"Well, I don't want to talk to you, so piss off." 

He grins, and his teeth almost seem to smile on their own with him. "Feisty." He moves closer. I jump back, but his tight grip around my arms tugs me forward and I lean into his chest unintentionally.

"Let me go!" I shout, trying to pull away. He releases my arms and I scramble to get to my feet. He looks up at me from the grass, with a sad look on his face, his eyes shining. I start to walk away, cautiously and to make sure he's not following me. But goddammit, I can't just walk away now. I made him sad. I don't want to leave him alone now, especially since I was the one who did it. I turn. "Ok, what do you want from me?" I yell.

He grins for a second, then his expression changes. "I-" he sighs. "Well, now I don't know how to ask this. This situation played out so much better in my head."

I walk up to him and stand about an inch in front of his face. "Well, we're not in your head, Joey." He smiles. "Hey, you remembered my name, Ryan." He looks down and shoves his hands in his pockets. "I wanted to ask you..."

He looks up. "D-do you have anywhere to stay? Like, do you just sleep on the grass? Because-"

I cut him off. "Why do you need to know? It's none of your business, s-so fuck off." I look down.

He steps closer. "Ryan- we have like two extra bedrooms that nobody is using. You're free to-"

"NO! I don't need you to do anything for me!" I scream. Brendon steps back, shocked. I look up and take a deep breath.

"If I needed something, I would have asked someone already, ok? I'm fine." I sit down on the damp grass. Joey looks to the side and stares for a good ten seconds. Then he looks down at me and nods. "Ok."

He grabs his skateboard and walks to the sidewalk, places his board down, turns back at me, and stares, as if to say, "You can still change your mind." I shake my head and look away. Then I hear the rumbling of wheels against the cement, and when I look back, he's gone.

I sigh, staring at the empty space that he filled just a minute ago. 

I should have said yes.