ryland's pov
just over a week had passed since that rainy october morning in which i'd spent moping at shane's house and trying to explain to him what was wrong without directly repeating austin's words. worried you were gay. they still played at the back of my mind as i walked into the empty hallway after the last class of the day and began to take my english books out my locker, sighing heavily. tuesdays were by far my least favourite day of the week; they had absolutely no significance to them whatsoever. unlike mondays, they weren't an opportunity to start fresh, or wednesdays where you have the ability to claim you've made it half way through the week. even thursdays, when you can begrudgingly remember that tomorrow would be friday, held more excitement than the bleak milk and water that formed tuesday afternoons.
not only this, but i was bound to be going home to mountains of homework and i had a biology test on friday which i hadn't even considered opening a book for so far. i grumbled to myself as i took my maths textbook out my kanken rucksack and carefully placed it beside the rest of my belongings with haste. slamming my locker door shut, i spun on my heel to be faced with a smirking boy that made my heart flip over.
"do you always mumble to yourself when you're mad?" he taunted playfully, leaning against the locker beside mine.
i rolled my eyes. "shane dawson. to what do i owe this pleasure?"
"want to come see me direct something for the performing arts department?" he asked and my eyes widened. this would be the first thing i'd ever seen to do with his passion for film and i knew how finicky he was about people watching him direct, so the fact that he would personally invite me made my stomach fizzle into popping candy at the bottom of my abdomen.
i checked my phone, seeing that my mom hadn't asked for me to be home early and realising that i'd much rather spend time with shane than walk home through the drizzling rain for the next twenty minutes. a pathetic excuse for a storm was beginning to brew just outside the fire exit doors, skies darkening and puddles clutching onto the tiny ripples that danced across the water.
"why not?" i smiled, falling into step with the taller boy and beginning to head towards the drama block. i'd waited around ten minutes after our last lesson of the day had finished, sitting on my phone in the hopes that the rush hour traffic that made my skin crawl would cease by the time i'd finished my third scroll of instagram.
after austin and i's confrontation last saturday, nearly ten days ago now, my stay at shane's house was short lived but enjoyable. when he'd finally managed to coax out of me what had happened with my brother, he'd shaken his head angrily and told me to ignore him if i could. then his grip tightened on my shoulders and his head rested on top of mine, making my entire soul embody a frivolous mess of thoughts. his touch was addictive and viral and all i had ever wanted for the past two years, and having him next to me to spend time with as i please seemed inconceivably intangible.
"how've you been?" shane asked as he tucked his hands into his letterman jacket. "i've barely seen you all week."
"it's only tuesday." i giggled, every single muscle in my heart individually
tensing as his hand brushed against my own and his eyes purposefully stared into mine.
"i know, but... we've barely hung out. how about i take you for dinner tonight? bakewell's diner?" he offered, eyes hopeful and wide.
my smile faltered. "people will see us together and then they'll start saying things. you know what our school is like. you don't want people suspecting—" i stopped mid-sentence and he nodded in acknowledgment of how correct i was. we'd spoken last week about how we needed to keep... whatever we were as low-key as possible in order to not attract any unwanted attention from the designated gossips of the school.
we turned the final corner that led us to the drama block and shane opened the door, turning to face me with puppy-dog eyes. "so then a late night beach walk," shane compromised, grinning even wider, "come on, ry. i'll grab us takeaways on the way to your house and i'll pick you up at midnight?"
caving in, a smile appeared on my lips as i nodded and accepted his offer. "fine." i muttered as he over-enthusiastically cheered and his whole face lit up. what a dork, my heart wrote along his sleeve. what a dork.
he let me go through first and followed closely behind before shutting the door firmly behind him.
"shane! you're here!" a girl with long blonde hair and a petite figure exclaimed obviously, sliding her lipgloss into her back pocket and running over to the two of us from across the stage. she had a headset over her curls and her eyes had a soft caramel shadow to accentuate the green in them. i watched a fond look grow over shane's face as the girl stood on her tiptoes to envelope him in a hug, before she pulled back to meet me with bright eyes. "who's this?" she asked, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.
shane grinned. "this is ryland. he's a junior." he introduced, gesturing towards me. "ryland, this is casey. she's in charge of stage crew here, and has also made the majority of the backdrops for this show."
"nice to meet you." i added shyly, stuffing my hands into the pockets of my black skinny jeans. she smiled brightly and said the same back, before excusing herself to assist to help with props.
shane looked down at my blushing face and smiled softly, shaking his head. "everyone's really nice. don't worry." he reassured and squeezed my shoulder before turning to face the big group of teens and clapping his hands.
"okay everyone! listen up! i want to run through the opening number, so if you're in that scene then finalise hair and make up and if you're not then... make yourself useful. i know that shows don't start until next friday but i need to of filmed the whole thing by then and edited it, so for those of you laying around and saying your lines half-ass, just know that it'll be you that everyone's laughing at when your acting his shit for everyone to see." my eyes widened as shane went full on director mode, his voice completely changing. "remember, if you want to go to a stage college, you can send a copy of my film over to them, so act your heart out. okay? okay. let's go. act one scene two."
dozens of sophomores and juniors scrambled round the hall and shane turned around to wink at me before starting to instruct chad halton – a senior who my brother had had many a fight with – to stand a little ahead of the crowd of boys. their costumes were amazing, the guys having thickly gelled back hair and jet black leather jackets, girls having crimped hair and wearing the coolest of pastel pink bomber jackets.
"t-birds, further on the right, for gods sake!" shane yelled, laughing as a freshmen took another step to the left and walking towards the smaller boy with a dash of amusement across his face. "johnny, this is right, and this is left." he pointed to the opposing sides of the stage, grinning widely as though this was his complete and utter passion, regardless of how irritating the actors could be.
finally, after many minutes of me trying to stop myself from giggling as shane ran back and forth from the stage to the camera, repositioning sophomores and dragging them around by their shoulders until everyone fit into the frame. the sounds of the directors board clicking and shane shouting 'action!' as the lights dimmed were enough to send goosebumps up anyone's spine, but the fact that this was the boy i was so irrevocably in love with made it ten times worse.
the familiar music began and the pink ladies launched into song, flicking their hair extensions round as sandy – a junior called emily conley whom i had biology and chemistry class with – began to sing her duet with chad (danny) nose to nose.
"summer lovin' had me a blast..."
*
"c'mon, ry, you can't say you didn't enjoy watching me be all dominant over everyone." shane teased as we walked out of school, slinging his arm round my shoulder playfully.
i actually had had a lot of fun. shane was an amazing director, and his incessant desire to capture a scene completely perfectly – regardless of how many takes it took or how many different angles it was shot from – revealed how powerful his work ethic truly was. he managed to film four scenes and there was only a few more he had to do, but after three hours of running around he had called it a day at 6:30pm. the two of us stayed behind to pack up the camera equipment so we were the last students to leave, the hallways eerily silent.
i rolled my eyes as the soles of my vans scuffed the tarmac road and i glanced up at him with a smirk. the rain was beginning to pick up and our hair was growing damp. "dominant isn't the word. bossy, maybe, but not dominant. you're too soft."
he let out a shocked gasp and shoved me lightly, causing me to let out a huff of annoyance that echoed across the school car park. "soft, huh?" he repeated, a mischievous grin gracing his lips. "i am many things, ryland adams, but i am not soft." he frowned playfully and poked my stomach, his touch burning my skin a little.
"prove it." i retorted, crossing my arms with a smug look crossing my lips. i jumped over a puddle in order to escape soaking my shoes and wiped the droplets of water from my eyes.
shane smirked and leaned down, grabbing my legs and throwing me over his shoulder as i screamed and began thumping his back.
"shane dawson, if you don't put me down right this instant i swear i am not going out with you tonight!" i yelled as he laughed manically and i continued to yelp, the ground spinning below me as all the blood rushes to my head as he began to run towards his car. "what the fuck, shane, put me down!" my stomach began aching with giggles as i repeatedly hit his shoulders, eyes blurred from the rain. my smile was goofily wide and my cheeks had turned the brightest shade of red, i knew that without even looking in a mirror. i could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks as though i was taking the warmth from his eyes to keep my own body alive.
shane gasped for his breath between fits of laughter as we neared his range rover , finally managing to blurt out, "are you sure you want me to put you down?" before falling into another spell of giggles.
"yes!" i pleaded with glee, exhaling heavily as we slipped across the pavement and our laughter grew heavier. at this point, the sky had opened and the rain was thundering down, but this time i had no complaints for the god-forbidden california weather because shane dawson, completely drenched with droplets of water clinging to his eyelashes, was inexplicably beautiful. our clothes were dripping with rain and could quite possibly be ringed out to fill a glass of water, sky so full of clouds it could have been a black and white polaroid. "please, i take it back, you're not soft, you're are the manliest man of all manly men to ever exist." i gushed, making him double over in laughter as i reached the ground.
i could barely catch my breath, because the second my feet hit the floor, my shoulders were pushed against the car door and his hands were in my soaking wet hair and shane dawson was kissing me again.
"i'm a manly man." shane whispered against my lips in his fakest deep voice he could, making us collapse against each other in giggles until his mouth was on mine again and the world was euphoric.
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this chapter was awful i'm sorry lol. anyway enjoy if u can... thoughts? my exams finish june 14th then i have 11 weeks of summer and writing aaaaaaaa