The Music In Me (boyxboy)

10

My fingers tightened around the decorative box that Dyani and I used to put the chocolate chip cookies in. I was a little excited, to be honest, to present it to Riley. According to his mother, making him happy would make me happy.

I highly doubted it, but I was willing to see if it worked.

I spotted him first thing in the morning, speaking to his one and only friend in the hall. Well, his friend was the one doing all the talking from the way it appeared.

I sighed, carefully walking up to the two of them, causing their conversation to come to a halt. I could almost feel the tension radiating off of Riley in waves as he avoided my eyes.

"Can we help you?" Wyatt asked, bold for no reason. I wanted to roll my eyes but I reminded myself to play nice.

Make others happy and you'll be happy.

I hoped Dyani was right about that. I looked at Riley. "Um... I have something I wanted to give you, Rap-" I cleared my throat, almost letting the mean nickname Rapunzel slip. "Riley," I corrected myself. "Could we talk for a second?"

Still not looking at me, his eyebrows drew together in confusion. I understood his surprise; when have I ever asked his permission to speak to him?

"Y-yeah, sure," came his demure voice.

"Seriously?" Wyatt piped up defensively.

"It's ok, Wyatt. I'll catch up with you before homeroom."

The blond boy subtly glared at me, then huffed. "Okay. I'll wait for you." He gave me a warning glance before giving us the privacy I'd requested.

I hesitated for a moment. "So you've officially moved, huh?" I asked.

Riley nodded. My shoulders fell in disappointment, knowing it would take a bit of work to get more words out of him. Dyani said I should try to get to know him, but how could I do that if he barely spoke? Maybe I should compliment him...

"You look really good today," I said, realizing how true it was. In fact, he was incapable of looking bad. In battered clothes or clean ones, unkempt hair or styled, nothing was able to diminish his beauty.

My compliment came as a bigger surprise, as he finally glanced up at me with wide eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah, of course," I affirmed. "Oh, uh your mom told me you like chocolate chip cookies?"

I watched as his cheeks became a little rosy, a smile creeping onto his face. He tried to stop himself from seeming so enthusiastic, but he couldn't help but be delighted. I found myself practically lost in a trance the moment his dimples appeared. The indents they made in his cheeks were perfect and prominent.

Dear God.

"I do, very much," he admitted. "Are those cookies?" He looked at the box in my hands and I handed it over.

"Yeah. We baked an entire batch together."

He carefully opened the lid just a tad, his smile growing a little bigger. I noticed a twinkle in his piercing blue eyes as he looked back at me, and that was it. That look right there, one I'd never seen, captivated me and made my heart squeeze.

And just like that, it was like everything shifted, and it was worth it.

"Thank you," he appreciated, a musical giggle in his voice.

I forgot how to even speak. "Y-yeah. It's nothing, really." I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "They turned out great though. If you ever want more, I'm pretty sure I got the hang of it."

He opened the lid a bit more and picked up a cookie before extending it to me. I gently took it as he grabbed another for himself. We stood there, smiling softly at each other, eating our cookies.