Ryder
I twirl Nathan's ginger hair in my fingers while he lies in my lap reading a book. Nathan is so beautiful, I keep forgetting that he's real. His beautiful doe eyes, his cute button nose, his soft, dark orange hair, his perfectly kissable lips. . .
"You're so beautiful," I say and Nathan looks up from his book.
He smiles shyly and sits up. I take his hand and kiss the back of it while watching a blush bloom on his pale freckled cheeks. I sit closer to him and wrap my arms around his waist.
I kiss the top of his nose. "How did I get so lucky to have you?"
He smiles and leans his forehead against mine. "I think I'm the lucky one here," he says.
I laugh softly. "I think we're both lucky," I say and I cup his face.
I lower my lips to his and feel his soft, soft lips on mine and I instantly melt on the spot. He wraps his fingers around the back of my neck, pulling me closer to him. Man, this feels so good.
It feels so good to have Nathan.
I run my fingers through his hair as his thumb traces my jawline.
"I'm so glad to have you," I say and I can feel Nathan's lips form into a smile.
"Ryder. . . Ryder. . . Ryder. . . RYDER!!!!"
I jolt up and my forehead comes in contact with something hard.
"Ow, shit. My forehead," I groan, falling back on my bed.
"Sorry, bro."
Huh? I open my eyes and look around. A familiar figure looks back at me from the foot of my bed, rubbing his forehead too.
"Nick, what the fuck?" I squint at him, confused.
Nick starts to say something but then I hear someone else say, "Mae in the house!"
And Mae enters my room. She looks around my room like a museum curator, nodding her head approvingly at my band posters.
I think this is part of my dream - a really weird part of it. But my forehead hurts from the contact with possibly-dream-Nick's forehead, so I'm second-guessing everything. (My nightmares are worse than this anyways.)
But the dream just now. . . it felt so real too, and I actually felt his soft lips on mine. I sigh inwardly. I really am hopeless.
Then Mae reaches out to touch my autographed Metallica poster. (Well, it's actually Aunt Cam’s, but she gave it to me for my 14th birthday.)
I sit up now, letting my blanket fall. “Hey!” I growl. "Keep your hands off that.”
"Oh," she replies, then looks at me instead. "That's one toned-ass body," she states, changing the subject.
I grumble again and show her the finger. “Fuck you, dude.”
“No hetero, bro.” She laughs and waves me off.
"How did you guys get in here?" I ask sleepily.
Nick shrugs. "Spare key under the mat."
"Then why are you guys here? It's, like, 1 pm on a Saturday," I say, checking my phone for the time.
"We're going on a field trip to the mall!" Mae says excitedly.
I lie back down, pulling my blanket over my head. "Woah, we're halfway there," I sing as off-key as I can, "Woah-oh! I don't fucking ca-are!"
From under the covers, I hear Mae ask Nick, "Is he always like this?"
"Most," he replies vaguely.
“Most what?”
“Most mornings,” he explains.
"Come on, Ryder, you grumpy lacerated corndog." Mae tugs on my blanket.
"Is that an insult?" I ask. "I'm gonna steal that." And she laughs.
"Nathan's coming too," says Nick.
I immediately sit up again. "What?" I say.
"Yeah, Mae texted him a couple of minutes ago. He said he's gonna come."
I fall back again. "Ugh, fine. I'm going," I mumble.
Then, Nick jumps on me, pinning me down on my bed and shaking my shoulders excitedly. "I knew it! You'll do anything for him!"
"Get off me, Nick!" I try to push him off but he just continues assaulting me. I laugh and poke his eyes, effectively getting him off me.
“Bro, my eyes!” He rubs his eyes, groaning. “Now I’m gonna be blind and maybe become the world’s greatest earthbender!”
“Then don’t touch me,” I mutter, waving him off dismissively. “Anyway, I’ll go take a shower.”
Mae adds in, not looking up from her phone, "Better be quick though, he'll be there in half an hour."
Plenty of time. But I don't want to procrastinate any longer so that he won't be standing alone at the mall waiting for the three of us. That's just mean.
Nick and Mae are already lounging on my sofa when I step out of my room to go take a shower. They're both happily discussing conspiracy theories while my TV's on Netflix. At least he's using his profile - I hope he is. He has a habit of using mine whenever he comes over, so occasionally I'd find American Horror Story or Teen Wolf on my continue-watching.
Anyway, I should take a shower now.
Nathan
I lie in bed, still confused by my dream.
It's comforting to be in Ryder's arms again. But the part that confused me was when we’re suddenly kissing and I. . .enjoyed that. I liked the feeling of his lips on mine, which is odd because we're just friends. But why does my heart race whenever he touches me? Why do my blood vessels dilate whenever he's around me?
Do those usually happen to friends?
My phone buzzes, distracting me from my thoughts. I get out of bed and grab my phone.
Mae: Earth to Nathannnnn
Me: hi mae!
Mae: Wanna hang out at the mall with us?
Me: who's 'us'?
Mae: Me Nick & Ryder
Mae: It'll be hella fun
Me: sure thing
Me: i'll be there in half an hour
Mae: Alright see ya~
I go to the kitchen to tell my parents. Mom's cooking breakfast, Eva's eating her pancakes, with Kirk sleeping by her feet and Dad is reading a newspaper.
"Mom, Dad," I say, "I’m going out."
My dad looks up. "With whom and to where?"
"With my friends and to the mall."
"Be back by 3 pm," he replies.
"Trevor! Let him have fun with his friends!" Mom shoots Dad a look, then she winks at me. "5 pm, sweetie," she says.
"Thanks, Mom." I smile. My parents have been dying for me to socialise with people, and they're probably really happy about me having friends. I am, too, and my days aren't as lonely now.
"I also want to go!" Eva pouts.
"Sorry Ev," I say. "But this is a grown-ups only thing," Eva grumbles and pokes her pancake sadly. "But I'll buy something for you." I remind her and she brightens up.
"I want a unicorn!" She giggles.
I laugh. "Don't worry, I'll find one."
I head off to take a quick shower and dress in an oversized sweater, loose blue jeans and my trusty Chuck Taylors. I should really get new clothes. Oversized hoodies and sweaters are becoming old, but I need them; my self-esteem is too low for anything else.
I get on the train and arrive at the mall a little early. Cold air blasts from the air-conditioners, chilling the warm afternoon air. People amble from shop to shop, some carrying many shopping bags in both hands. I go to the agreed meeting place, a less-known record store. Surprisingly, they're already there.
"Oh my god," Ryder says to Mae, waving a vinyl record in his hands. "My collection's gonna be so fucking happy."
"You should put them on your wall. I’ve seen some people do that," Nick adds in across them, not looking up from the rows of CDs.
Ryder mumbles, "I'm not going to let it rot on my wall-" Then his turquoise eyes meet mine and his face instantly lights up. "Nate! You're here!"
I beam back at him, excitement bubbling in me. "I'm here!"
"He's here!" Nick smiles.
Mae bounces up and down. "Nathan! Man, you were right about Ryder's room. Says a lot about his music obsession."
I laugh. "I told you."
Ryder gives an annoyed grunt and turns away. Mae then leaves him and joins Nick at the other end of the store, speaking in hushed voices. Huh, I wonder what's up with them. I walk over to Ryder and browse with him.
"Why are we here?" I ask.
He shrugs. "It was their idea. They dragged me out of bed for this."
I let out a soft laugh, sneaking a glance at him and I get blown away by how unquestionably attractive he looks. (I mean, he’s always this attractive, but still. . .) He's currently wearing a black hoodie and underneath it, his dog tag gleams in the soft glow of the store. Ryder has really nice and long eyelashes that really bring out his deep turquoise eyes and he has a strong and defined jawline. I like noticing all this but I don't get why I'm getting an odd fluttery feeling about it.
Ryder catches my eyes and turns away immediately, his hands going up to cover his face. He just stands there with his face buried in his hands so I hesitantly tap his shoulder.
“Um, are you okay?”
He jumps back, and his face has turned scarlet. “U-uh, yeah. I’m okay, I’m good. Fine and dandy,” he stumbles. "I- uh, I'm gonna go pay for these." He holds up two records.
"Oh, okay." I nod. He heads off to the cashier and I join Nick and Mae.
"So I was thinking we should hit up the arcade after this," Nick declares loudly.
Mae nods. “Totes magotes. I’m gonna beat the living hell out of those claw machines,” she says - which honestly makes me scared of her right now.
"Sounds good," Ryder says behind me and I spin around.
Then I notice his empty hands. “Wait, where are the records you bought?” I ask.
“Oh, I, uh. . .I changed my mind,” he says sheepishly. “Anyway, we should get going. The claw machines sound good.”
*
So here we are at the arcade attempting to get something from the claw machine. We were actually stationed near the center of the arcade, but Mae complained that it was too loud (she blinked really quickly and covered her ears) so we had to relocate to a more secluded area of the arcade. At least we’re the only ones at the claw machine section. After a good 20 minutes, we are left with just one token and no prize.
"This is probably rigged!" Mae exclaims in frustration.
“I mean,” Nick adds, “aren’t all claw machines rigged?”
“Usually.” I nod.
“This isn’t very cash money of you.” Mae lightly slaps the claw machine and I stifle a laugh.
Ryder takes the last token from her. "Alright, guys." He closes it in his fist. "Hope this works. Third time’s the charm, right?"
“More like the 19th time.” Nick scoffs and Ryder just rolls his eyes at him.
He inserts it into the coin slot and we all watch him. A minute passes with Ryder only moving the joystick. Mae and Nick are screaming at him to press the button already but Ryder waves them away with a concentrated look on his face. Then he pushes the button.
The claw goes down and closes around a plush toy. Mae's screaming again. And the claw slowly goes up, carrying the plush with it. We’ve never actually gotten this far.
Now we are all screaming. "Holy shit! Holy shit!" Ryder yells, tearing a hand through his hair.
The claw finally reaches the dropbox and releases the plush without malfunctioning at all. We all laugh and Nick claps Ryder's back. Mae’s hugging the claw machine and apologising to it (which is actually very funny to watch). Then, Ryder takes the plushie and gives it to me.
"For me?" I ask, incredulous. I've never gotten anything nice from anyone before (except my family, of course).
He rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Yeah," he says. "It doesn't vibe well with me anyway."
I give him a grateful smile and take it. It’s a cute Rilakkuma keychain plush, about the size of my palm. It will definitely look nice on my schoolbag.
"Thanks!" I beam, my heart swelling, and he smiles back at me.
“Uh, guys?” Mae asks after a while. “Is it just me or is that the manager who’s coming towards us?”
__________________
Hello my valid nuggets ❤️✨
I know that's a shit ending cus aren't arcades supposed to be loud and noisy? So like why is the manager going to them? Sorry that's all I thought of X(
If some of yall don't know, I have an art account on Instagram and Twitter (though I'm more active on Instagram) and I also draw Honey and Spice characters :) (Well, mostly Ryder and Nathan cus I'm biased)
So I told myself once I finish this book, I'll include my artworks in a special segment just for my artworks (was that redundant?) It's going to be oldest art (cringe) first and the latest ones last. I'll also be updating that segment every time I post new Honey and Spice art on my social media platform(s) :)
And - I know I've been saying this a lot - but my commissions are open! I'm in need of money to buy me some good food (and by food I mean books) (I'm planning to buy the book "Red, White, and Royal Blue") So if any of yall are interested, pls hit up my social media accounts @babbleduck_
Welp, this is my longest A/N yet. I shall stop now :)
Stay safe and hydrated folks ✨
Remember that I'll be here if any of yall need someone to talk to :))