. . .
ryland's pov
it's been a whole two weeks since shane had stood up to mr jefferson in front of everyone, and today was the last day of term before the christmas holidays started. i was genuinely so excited. not just because we would have no school, but today i was ungrounded. my mum had gone crazy after shane dropped me off that night, cursing and yelling about how disrespectful i'd been. i listened to her complain for a full hour before she told me i was grounded for two weeks. before, it wouldn't have bothered me that i couldn't go outside or hang out with my friends, but now i was friends with shane, garrett and drew, i wanted to hang out with them but i had to be home as soon as school ended.
nothing had happened romantically between shane and i but we'd grown really close and we would always walk together between lessons, and i'd sat with them every day for lunch. i grew close to garrett and drew too, and occasionally when trisha would eat lunch with us i'd join in the conversation.
the news of shane being bisexual had gone down well with the school, and now shane had even more admirers than before. his ego was thoroughly boosted when guys began looking at him in the corridor, and he would wear his cocky smirk as he laughed.
however, shane appeared at our lunch table ten minutes late last week with a hickey on his neck and his hair messier than usual. when drew had asked, he brushed it off as some random girl in his maths class. he looked down at me through his eyelashes. our eyes connected and i looked away, feeling sad. i felt better by the end of the day when he told me that my hair looked cute, and we were back to normal again.
nothing had happened since then, though, and i was excitedly jiggling my leg up and down, eager for my history class to end and for us to be free. shane sat at the back of the classroom in history, next to trisha, whereas i sat right at the front thanks to the seating plan. i glanced at the clock. we had five minutes left. i turned around and grinned at shane, tapping at the imaginary watch on my wrist. he smiled and gave me a thumbs up back, clearly excited too.
the bell rang and i was out of my seat the second it did so, shane immediately by my side as we walked to my locker. "treehouse?" i asked him, smiling.
"definitely," shane confirmed, "garrett's mum is driving him and drew there after they go home and collect a few supplies. we can go back to mine and then drive there. can you sleep round?" he talked quickly.
i nodded. "hopefully. i'll text my mum and ask if i can sleep at joey's. she doesn't know who you are so she might get funny about it. you know what mums are like. so we're going back to yours? i've never been there before."
we stopped outside our lockers and grabbed our bags. "awesome," shane said as i composed a text to her, "yeah, we'll grab some food. garrett and drew should have drinks covered, and they're bringing a duvet and the plug in heater from garrett's mom's shed. she says she doesn't mind if we keep it there since she brought a new one for his dad for christmas."
i smiled, looking forward to it. i sent the message to my mum and waited for a reply.
me: would it be okay if i slept at joey's house tonight? we're having a sleep over if that's ok x
mum: sure be safe xx
i showed shane the message and he grinned, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards his motor bike. i climbed on beside him and wrapped my arms around his torso as he pulled off. luckily not as many people cared about shane giving me a ride home anymore. they probably knew that the most popular guy in school wasn't going to date me in a million years.
after twenty minutes we reached shane's house and i smiled at it's idyllic appearance. he put the bike in park mode and led me inside, stopping at the kitchen door. "mom, this is ryland, my friend." shane said happily. a woman with shoulder length brown hair appeared and smiled, introducing herself as teresa.
"shane i made cookies for you to have tonight. and there's some other snacks. it's all in that backpack. can you hold it on your motorbike?" she asked, frowning as she looked out the kitchen window and eyed the vehicle.
"it's cool. ryland can carry it on his back and it's only a five minute drive from here. thanks for the food mom, i'll be back tomorrow morning or afternoon." shane told her, sending a quick smile at me and kissing her on the cheek. i pulled the bag on my bike and smiled.
"thanks for the food, teresa." i added as we headed out the door.
she smiled. "anytime ryland. come back soon." she told us as shane jumped on the bike and made room for me to climb on behind him. i sat down and we said goodbye, pulling out of the driveway and driving towards the woods. shane muttered something about her being embarrassing, which i denied and said how kind she was for making us food.
we arrived at the woods a few minutes later, parking the bike and walking towards the treehouse, laden with bags. climbing up the ladder, i noticed that the door was open and drew's laughter could be heard from outside. shane passed me the bags before climbing up himself, walking in.
the room looked a bit different to how it did last time. for one, there was an extra sofa, filling the empty space from last time, and more cushions and blankets were scattered amongst them. i also noticed the electric heater which warmed the room up, and that there was now a small christmas tree, perhaps three feet tall, in the corner. it looked more like a potted plant but it was still adorable.
"you're here!" drew cheered from the couch as he flicked through channels on the tv.
"hey guys." garrett smiled, looking up as he filled the fridge with drink. i noticed bottles like smirnoff vodka and wkd blue being packed in, much to my surprise. i'd only ever had one bottle of wkd when i was much younger, which my dad had let me try. i think i was thirteen or fourteen.
i rushed over to the fridge and sat down next to garrett. "how did you get all this?" i asked in disbelief. he laughed at my shocked expression, running a hand through his blonde hair and explaining how his dad has a shed full of alcohol that he never uses, ever. whilst drew had distracted his mom, garrett had ran down and shoved as much as he could in his bag and returned without her knowing. i was impressed that drew and garrett had the courage to be so mischievous but i wasn't surprised. they were such good friends, they could practically read each other's minds.
"this is so cool." i sighed in disbelief and sat down next to shane on the couch. his arm was resting on the back of the seat behind me and i prayed that he would try put his arm around me. he didn't.
we spent the next few hours messing around with garrett's new camera, reenacting movie scenes and playing monopoly. by the time it was ten o'clock, shane was pouring vodka shots for all of us and singing 'bon appetite baby' at the top of his voice. he'd already had two beers whilst we were playing monopoly.
"let's play never have i ever!" drew exclaimed gleefully as he downed his shot. the remaining three of us gulped the burning liquid down our throat. shane cheered making garrett and i roll our eyes at each other. the four of us sat in a circle with the bottle of vodka and four shot glasses inside.
"okay, okay, ryland you know how to play?" garrett asked, grinning. i shook my head. "ok, so basically, you have to say something, and if the other three people have done it then they have to drink. if you haven't done it, you don't drink. it's pretty simple."
drew started, since it was his idea to play, by saying "never have i ever... wanted to fuck someone in this room" and laughing. drew didn't drink, and neither did i. i liked shane, sure, but not enough to have sex with him yet. but garrett laughed and threw his head back, drinking his shot. shane looked me directly in the eye, before yelling "bon appetite" again and gulping his drink.
then it was shane's go. "never have i ever... had sex in school." shane, drew and garrett all drank, and i stayed silent. "wait, ryland, you've never hooked up with someone between lessons?" shane asked.
i turned red. "i'm, uhh, a virgin?" i admitted, yet it sounded more like a question than a statement.
garrett nodded, smiling at me. "cool. anyway, my go." i was thankful for garrett changing the subject, yet i could feel shane's eyes boring into me as we played. the bottle was empty within an hour, i'd drank about three shots and was fairly tipsy.
it was at midnight when the town clock struck far away in the distance that shane had the idea to play hide and seek. he proposed that we go in pairs and take our phones with us, so if there was a situation we could call the other pair. and plus, our phones had flash lights on which would be helpful in the pitch black, californian sky.
garrett was unsure but drew convinced him they'd be fine. i paired with shane, and drew took garrett. grabbing my hand, shane led me into the woods using his flashlight and we walked for about five minutes until he finally stopped and leant against a thick tree.
"i'm so fucking drunk." shane giggled as he stumbled into me. i stood next to him, muttering same, and rested my head against the rough bark. he fiddled with his phone for a few seconds before placing it on the ground, the torch facing upwards and creating a beam of light. a song by the plain white tees called 'hey there delilah' started playing and he grabbed my hands.
"let's dance." he proposed, pulling me away from the tree but tripping and falling onto the ground and pulling me along with him. dead autumn leaves cushioned our fall as shane and i laughed loudly.
"fuck. are you okay?" shane asked, suddenly more sober. the fall had clearly shook a little reality back into him, but his slightly slurred tone told me he was probably just as drunk as me. in my tipsy state, it was only at this point that i realised shane's whole body was on top of me. he lifted his head away from the floor, propping himself up with his elbows, our faces millimetres away from each other.
he leaned down and pressed his lips onto mine, softly with passion. a spark ignited inside of me and butterflies filled my stomach. he pulled away and shook his head, standing up and running his hands through his hair. "i'm sorry, i shouldn't of done that. i'm not good for you." he took a few steps away from me, leaning against the tree and glancing at me. i was still laid on the floor amongst the leaves.
"what do you mean?" i asked, touching my lips and shakily standing up, a few feet away from him.
"i'm the guy your parents warned you about, and told you to stay away from. you're a good guy, ryland. you don't need me to fuck you up." shane said, raising his voice.
i walked up to him and pushed him against the tree. this time, i pressed our lips together, sucking on his bottom lip slightly before pulling away as the chorus of the song kicked in.
"does it look like i care?" i whispered into his ear.