Mom wouldn't stop talking about prom throughout dinner and was already planning where I would buy my suit. I was excited, of course, but it was months away. I didn't even know the week, but Mom was already planning what limo company we would use (I wondered if she was so excited because none of my sisters were really all that into prom and I turned out to be gay (she really liked planning things for some reason)).
Dad seemed indifferent, as he always did, and left us to go channel surf until he went to bed.
The next day, I checked the date of prom so I could give it to Mom and went over to the Ross-Smith-Stump house to listen one of Ryan's albums. I noticed he had changed the framed picture on his desk of him and Daniel to the blink tickets and the date looked too familiar.
I nudged Ryan, who was next to me, putting the record in.
He jumped and cursed under his breath. "You almost made me scratch the record!" he exclaimed, placing it delicately on the turntable.
"Sorry," I said. "But look at the date on this!" I pointed to the tickets.
"What about it?" he asked, pushing imaginary hair from his face (he had gotten in the habit of doing that when it was long (and it was adorable)).
"It's the same day as prom," I said. "And they're at the same time; we can't go to both."
"What are we gonna do?" he asked, leaning on his desk.
"That's what I was wondering," I sighed. "My mom is so excited for prom, I just..."
"But seeing blink is kind of like a once in a lifetime opportunity. For me at least."
"Yeah... And I spent a lot of money on those tickets..."
He locked his eyes on me. "So...?"
"We gotta go see blink," I said. "But I still feel bad about skipping out on prom. It like skipping out on Mom."
Ryan giggled. "That rhymed."
I rolled my eyes at him. "Turn it into a song later, Ryan. Let's listen to your album."
*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*
A week(?) passed and I was still caught between making Ryan happy and making Mom happy. I'd already asked myself what would make me happy, and I decidedly would be equally unhappy doing either.
It was a Saturday morning and I was dreaming that blink preformed at prom and Ryan was crying because they pulled him up on stage to sing with them and he showed them his tattoo and it was great. I was woken up by a knock on my door. I grumbled and rolled over, pulling the covers over my head. I kind of regretted it because I had morning breath.
"Brenny-Bear, it's getting a little late," Mom said. It didn't really sound like Mom, but that may have been the sleepiness. I grumbled again and rubbed my eyes. The door closed and I knew that if I didn't get up, Dad would come up and pour ice water on me (no, seriously. He did that once (never again)).
I went into the bathroom (for bathroom reason) and rinsed with some mouthwash (because my mouth tasted horrible) and went down stairs (I had also slept in my pajamas pants (it got kind of cold that night)). There was someone sitting at the table across from Mom, facing away from me. This mysterious person had black, long-ish hair that looked really greasy. I furrowed my eyebrows and went to the fruit bowl to grab a banana or something (I didn't. I just got a bottle of water from the fridge (my throat was really dry)).
"Who's this?" I asked, taking a sip from my water then putting the cap back on it and setting it on the counter.
"I can't believe you, Brenny. Don't even remember you're old bestest friend of all time," they turned around and I gasped.
"Kelly!" I exclaimed. He stood up and I ran to him, hugging him tightly. Kelly (or Kellin (Kelly is my nickname for him)) had been my childhood friend, but when I moved, we lost contact.
"Oh my God, you've grown up so much!" he said, pulling away slightly to look at me. "You're as tall as me now!"
"Yeah, I am!" I squinted at him. "Did your eyes get bluer or is that just me?"
"They probably did," he chuckled. "You sound like a bitch. Are you alright?" He pulled away from the hug completely.
"Dude, I just fucking woke up. Of course I'm gonna sound like a bitch," I said with a slight chuckle.
Mom cleared her throat.
"Sorry." I turned to Kellin. "Let's go up to my room."
He smiled and we went up to my room, sitting on my unmade bed.
"So Kelly, what are you doing here?" I asked, crossing my legs and sitting crisscross applesauce.
"Well, I got married and had a kid--"
"Yeah that's great and all, but why are you here?"
He chuckled. "I'm looking for houses. What's been up with you?"
"Uhm, I got a boyfriend." There really wasn't much to talk about, to be honest. I'm kind of a boring person.
"I always knew you'd turn out gay," he said with a sly smile.
"Same here."
He laughed. "I got married to a woman."
"Well shit. There goes that bet I made with myself."
He laughed again. "I'm bisexual."
"I still won, then!" I pumped my fists into the air. "Well, half won."
Kellin laughed again. "So what's his name?"
"Ryan, and he's the cutest yet hottest thing ever."
"Oh my god, I need pictures!"
"Only if I get pictures of your baby!"
"I was planning on it." He pulled out his phone and started looking through what I guessed was his pictures. I thought that I should do the same, but I figured that we would be stuck on his baby for a while, because I loved babies. He squealed and turned his phone to me and I 'awh'ed really loud.
"Her name is Copeland," he smiled.
"Awhhh! She's so cute!" I exclaimed. "How old is she?"
"My wife says 18 months, but I say a year."
"She's adorable."
"Yeah. But let's see your baby now."
I chuckled a little and handed him his phone back, thinking of where I had left mine.
"Shit, I think I actually left it at his house. And I can't call him to tell him that."
"You can use my phone." He held his phone out to me.
"Really?" He nodded. "Thanks, man." I took his phone and called Ryan.
"Hello?" I was grateful he had picked up (on the fifth ring).
"Heey, Ry-Ry," I said.
"Don't call me that," his voice sounded groggy and I wondered if I had woken him up.
"Sorry," I felt kinda bad if I had woken him up. "Did I wake you up?"
"A little," he yawned. I smiled a little because I imagined him yawning, and it was cute (he yawns like a cat (how cute is that? (hey that rhymed))). "So what do you want?"
"Uhm, I think I left my phone at you're house when I was over there last night," I said, feeling a little embarrassed. Kellin 'ooh'ed and I flipped him off, which only made him laugh (he had a cute laugh (not as cute as Ryan's) that was kind of high pitched (but he had a high voice so I guess his laugh would be kind of high pitched)).
"Who's that?" Ryan asked.
"A friend," I said, but it came out more as a question.
"It better be a girl."
I chuckled a little. "He looks a lot like a girl."
"I can hear you, you little bitch," Kellin gasped. I laughed again.
"He kind of sounds like one, too." He rolled his eyes. "Ryan, you don't have to worry; I would never cheat on you. Especially not with Kellin."
"Oh, fuck you, Brendon," Kellin scoffed. I rolled my eyes and continued talking to Ryan.
"So do you have my phone there?"
"Uhm, I don't know. I'll--" he yawned "I'll look around for it." I heard his bed squeak and I knew he got up. "Is it alright if I take a quick pit stop to the bathroom first?"
"Yeah, I mean, it's your bladder, not mine, so..."
He laughed and I heard his door open then a thud and Ryan grunted.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I just hit my arm on the door frame."
I frowned. "I wish I was there to kiss it better." Kellin chuckled and started making kissy faces at me. I waved him off as Ryan giggled.
"It doesn't really hurt. I'm fine."
"Alright. Is Vic there?"
"Unfortunately, yes. They were talking all goddamn night. I'm two rooms away from Spencer's room and I could still hear them."
"I'm sorry, but I'm even more so for Patrick."
"Oh my god, Patrick had to come into my room and sit the farthest away from the door and cover his ears."
"Awh, poor Patty-Cakes. What were Vic and Spencer doing anyway?"
"Probably, like, having animal sex or something."
"But Vic's like, only 16 right?"
"That won't stop Spencer. Jon is 27 and they had crazy animal sex on Christmas. Those bastards were making so much damn noise. You were there; you know how loud they were."
"Are Spencer and Vic louder?"
"Oh hell yes. They were talking and laughing so much I had to go in there and threaten to take Vic into my room so they wouldn't be together. I'm telling you, there's just something about Vic that's just off." He paused, I guess waiting for me to say something. "I found your phone."
"Oh thank god. Where was it?"
He laughed. "In the living room."
"Damn," I said. "Must've Rock Band'd too hard."
"Do you wanna come over and get it or should I bring it over?"
"Uhm... You bring it over. I came over last time."
"Alright. I'll be over in like, twenty to thirty minutes."
"Twenty to thirty?!"
"Hey, you woke me up and I have to come to you, the least you and you're girly man friend can do is wait a little while."
"Alright... I love you."
He chuckled slightly. "Love you, too. Bye."
"Bye." I was sad that I had to stop talking to Ryan, but at least I had Kellin.
"Ooh, I didn't know you were in love!" Kellin exclaimed.
I blushed. "Shut up."
"No, it's cute! You got your little boyfriend and you're so in looooovve—"
"Stop."
"Ok, ok, sorry." He was silent for a moment. "So you really love him?"
"Well, yeah. I mean," I gestured to the phone lying between us "I wouldn't've told him if I didn't mean it."
"Aww! How long have you been dating?"
"Since November. He's just... He's perfect." I smiled to myself. "He's everything."
He 'awh'ed again and pulled me into a hug.
"So when's the wedding?" he asked, and I knew he was joking.
"We were thinking June," I joked back.
He laughed. "But seriously. Have you guys talked about that?"
"Nah, all I know is that he's gonna be the one who proposes, because I was the one who asked him to prom. And besides, I'm not even eighteen yet."
"Yeah, but that's only a few months away. If I were you, I'd be looking out for tiny velvet boxes," he said, sing-songing the last sentence.
I laughed, then blushed. "I've only been checking all his coat pockets."
We laughed and he picked up his phone.
"Speaking of weddings, I have to show you some pictures from mine."
And that's basically how we spent our time until Ryan got there. We just went through Kellin's pictures and videos, laughing and 'awh'ing.
When the doorbell rang, I got up and heard Kellin follow behind me. I got down the stairs first and smiled at Ryan standing at the bottom.
When I got down to him, he held out my phone."Got your phone," he said.
I giggled and pinched his nose, saying, "Got your nose."
He nodded off in a way, or momentarily passed out, dropping my phone, then looked at me in a very cat-like way.
"Whoa, what happened?" I asked, ignoring my phone on the floor.
"Uh, my nose does this thing—I dunno if it's because I've broken my nose so many times or what—but I just kinda pass out when people poke—" He was interrupted by me booping his nose and him doing the nodding off thing. "Stop that!"
I giggled. "Ok." I picked up my phone from the floor and clicked it to make sure it was still alive as Kellin walked down the stairs.
"Sorry it took me so long to get here," he said. "Had to make a pit stop." He reached the end of the stairs and smiled at Ryan. "Hi."
"Kelly, this is Ryan, Ryan, this is Kelly," I introduced them.
"Please," Kellin said, "call me Kellin."
Ryan glanced at Kellin once before averting his gaze to his shoes. "H-Hi," he said shakily.
I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "You alright?" I asked.
He nodded in a way that said 'no' more than 'yes'. "I just, uh... Need to get home. You can call me now so..." He turned around and walked away.
"Wait. Ryan." I walked over to him. "What's up? Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I just..." He glanced nervously at Kellin's shoes. "I'll tell you later."
"Ok." I planted a kiss on his cheek and opened the door for him. "But later better be soon."
"It will," he said, staring into my eyes like he was trying to absorb them. "Later."
"Later." And I closed the door.
"What's up with him?" Kellin asked.
"I dunno. He's really shy."
"Oohhh. But that's part of why he's cute."
I nodded. "Yeah."
We were silent for a moment before he asked, "When was the last time you played Mario Galaxy?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
sorry this chapter was, like, really late. we still had a lot to do with unpacking and such, so it's really hectic. we will try our very best to try to update on time, now that we have pretty much everything unpacked an put away
picture to the right/at the beginning is Kellin