Sugarcane Chronicles Volume I: One and Lonely (ryden)

Ryan's Smoking (Hot)

I squinted at him and snickered slightly. "Really?"

"Nah, just trying to give you something to relate to so you won't feel so alone."

"Oh."

"B-But I do get what you're saying," he offered. "Gerard can be high-maintenance sometimes."

"Yeah," I said, turning to the carpet. "That's what he is. High maintenance." I looked back at him. "What do you do."

He shrugged. "My mom says he just needs to get over himself, so I just leave him alone to do so. But" he shrugged again "I dunno. I get kinda worried."

I let out a sad chuckle. "Yeah, I kinda do, too." I just worried about a different thing. The England thing. The Daniel thing. All the things.

Patrick stood up then. "Speaking of worrying..." he muttered, walking in the direction of the bathroom.

I heard him knock on the door. "Ryan?" He knocked again. "Ryan, are you ok in there?" He paused, listening. "Well, you don't sound fine." He tried twisting the doorknob. "Open the door. You need somebody in there with you." He sighed before turning away and walking back to his seat.

I watched him as he took the spot to my right on the couch.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Yeah..." Patrick trailed off, looking down at his shoes. He looked up at me. "Maybe you should try; he might respond to you better."

I shrugged. "Nah. If he didn't let you in, he definitely won't let me in."

He shrugged back. "It's worth a shot."

I sighed and stood up. "Ok." I walked over to the door and sat down in front of it (I had an older sister, so I knew how this worked; apologize, explain why you were being stupid and beg for forgiveness until they cave (and it sometimes took a while, so I got comfy)).

I knocked. "Hey, are you ok?" I asked.

I heard him sniffle. "No."

"Hey, look... I'm sorry, I..." I didn't even know what I had done. I replayed it in my head. He walked in, lied, confessed to smoking two cigarettes (or packs; I was still confused on that part), I refused to kiss him and he stormed off. Was he upset that I didn't kiss him? I had a good reason for it. "Just please let me in."

He sniffled. "Why should I?"

"Because... I'm your boyfriend and I love you and I can't kiss you through a door."

Everything was silent, then I heard rustling and heard the door open.

"Fine," he said. "Why are you in the floor?"

I looked up at him. "Because I thought I'd have to beg you to open the door."

"Oh." He stepped aside as I stood up and walked in.

"Hey," I said, reaching for his hand.

He didn't respond. He just stared at the floor.

"Heeeyy," I said, wrapping my arms around his slender figure. "Say something." I pulled away and looked at him. "Talk to me."

He was quiet before he said, "Wh-Why did you re-refuse to kiss me over a stupid habit?" He looked into my eyes with the saddest look I had ever seen and I had to resist the urge to fall to my knees and beg for forgiveness.

"Because it's a stupid habit," I said. "I love you so much and I don't want to lose you over something that could've been prevented."

"Yeah, but... That was my last pack. Your mom took my last pack. I promised..." He looked down. "I promised it was my last."

"Well, the way I see it is you're a few cigarettes further from getting cancer." I leaned closer to him. "Right?"

He shrugged. "I guess."

I stared at him and wondered whether I should kiss him or not. I wanted to stand up for what I believed in, but not if he was just going to lock himself in bathrooms for the rest of our relationship.

"C'mere," I said, giving in to his prettiness and wrapping my arms around him.

"I'm already here," he responded.

"No," I said. I puckered my lips. "Here."

He smiled slightly. "Ok."

We kissed for a while then kissed a little more and then kind of smiled at each other and kissed again. We stopped when there was a soft knocking at the door.

"Are you guys ok?" Mikey's voice rang into the small room.

I looked at Ryan and he nodded, smiling lightly.

"Yeah," I said, reaching for the doorknob. "We're fine." I opened the door and Mikey sighed.

"Good," he said. "Do you guys want some coffee?"

~~~~~~~~~~

we're so sorry this was like two years late. we died

our hair.

picture to the right is Brenny and Spency