"Y/n, why don't you introduce yourself?" Your mom motioned for you to come to the door from your place on the stairs. You walked down the remaining stairs and stood next to your mom, unsure of what to do or say. Your mom nudged your shoulder, cueing you to say something.
"Oh, uh, m-my name is y/n," you said quietly, still unsure of what to say.
"Nice to meet you, y/n," the woman said a little too enthusiastically. "I'm Susan. This is my husband Frank, my youngest son Manny, my other son Greg, and our oldest," Susan said pushing the tall boy slightly in front of her. "Rodrick." Rodrick held out his hand for you to take, trying to seem like a gentleman. You only looked at his hand, contemplating whether or not you should shake it.
"Well, Susan," your mom interrupted the silence. "I'm sure y/n would be happy to show Rodrick her room. Wouldn't you be, y/n?" Your mom glared at you, trying to tell you what to do. "I'll show the rest of you to the dining room." Your mom left with the rest of the family while you and Rodrick were left behind.
"Okay, uh," you stumbled over your words, trying to find what to say to this new boy. You didn't have a great experience with boys, especially after what happened with him.
"Hey dude, chill out. It's not like I'm going to hurt you or anything," he reached out to touch your shoulder, but you quickly moved to avoid the action. "How about you just show me your room?" He said, noticing how tense you were. He spoke with a quiet and calm tone, which seemed to have some effect on you. He looked at you with kind eyes, almost trying to tell you that everything would be okay.
"My room, yeah," you managed to squeak out before motioning for him to follow you up the stairs. You walked in silence, not sure of what to say to each other.
You made it to the door, opening it for him to reveal the dimly lit room. He looked around in awe, taking in all of the posters and decorations. He pointed to a poster on your ceiling. "You like Twenty One Pilots, too?" You nodded in response to his question, taking a seat on your bed.
Rodrick took a seat on the floor, not wanting to violate your personal space. "So, uh, I don't really know what to ask," Rodrick started with a little chuckle. "Um, where are you from?"
"California," You replied quickly, not wanting to think about what happened in that state.
"Nice, any hot chicks there?" You looked at Rodrick in confusion, not sure if he was serious or not. "Well, I'll have to let you know that there aren't many hot chicks here. Well weren't."
"What do you mean?" You were still a bit confused with his attitude, not knowing whether or not to take him seriously.
"Well, I said weren't cause now there's some fresh meat that I think is rather attractive," he spoke to you in a tone laced with confidence. You were still unsure about what he meant and continued to stay quiet.
"Y/n, you do know I'm talking about you, right?" Rodrick looked at you with an expression you had never seen before. It looked like he cared. You had never seen that from anyone before. You felt a blush creep on to your cheeks, but the innocent idea of him finding you attractive was immediately ruined by your past. Oh god he's just like him. I should've known. He's just trying to lure me into some trap to just use me. He couldn't be serious! "Y/n?" Rodrick noticed your silence and got up, beginning to walk towards you. By instinct you began to back away, scared of what he might do to you. "Hey, hey I'm not going to do anything, okay? I just think you're pretty, that's all," he said in a calm tone once again. Now it was him who was blushing. He took a seat on your bed, staying silent and keeping eye contact with you.
"O-okay," you mumbled. "T-thank you." You spoke again, still unsure of what you should say to him. You did find him attractive, but you couldn't let yourself go into something again.
"Can I come closer?" At the moment, you and Rodrick were on opposite sides of your bed, meaning you were at least six feet apart (that aged well didn't it). You nodded, still a bit uneasy. Rodrick came closer to you, now about a foot away from you. "Is this okay?" You nodded again, looking down. "Are you okay?" You wanted to say yes; tell him that everything was okay. Even though you knew if wasn't. You didn't want to build a friendship on lies, so you decided to express your true thoughts.
"No, not really," You said quietly, hoping Rodrick wouldn't hear. You felt him come closer to you, and he wrapped his arms around your shoulders. You tensed up at the feeling, not liking the contact. Rodrick noticed and pulled his arms away. Suddenly you missed the feeling. "Uh, um, y-you can keep them there," you said softly, hoping that Rodrick wouldn't hear.
"What was that?" Rodrick inched closer to you with a smile on his face. "Did you say what I thought you said?" He got closer to you with each word he spoke.
You felt the blush creep onto your cheeks at his words, feeling a bit better. "Maybe," you said quietly with a smile on your face.
"Well, if you don't mind I'd like to keep my arms there. You work as a pretty good arm rest, y/n." The comment would usually make you feel uneasy or violated, but this time you could see that it was innocent. You could see that Rodrick's intentions were not like his. Rodrick put his arms around you once more, causing you to tense up, but you soon relaxed in his arms. You inhaled his scent, taking in the aroma of cologne and cardboard. Odd, but somehow comforting.
"Y'know you can always talk to me right? I get it like we just met or whatever but if you want someone to talk to I'll be next door," Rodrick said as he was holding you in his arms. No one had ever said anything like that to you before. You were stunned at the gesture, not knowing how to respond. Your cheeks turned an even darker shade of red, causing Rodrick to laugh.
"Thank you," you said with a smile. The moment was sweet, something you had never felt before.
"Guys," you heard your mom yell up the stairs. "It's time for dinner please come down!" Rodrick let go of you and stood up.
"Let's go, yeah?" Rodrick grabbed your hand and brought you up to your feet. You took the lead and showed Rodrick where to go.
----
"So, what were you two up to while you were upstairs?" Susan had finished her conversation about her news column and wanted to get to know more about you. You turned to Rodrick only to see his face bright red.
"Uh, we just chilled, y'know?" Rodrick said trying not to choke on the food in his mouth.
"Yeah, we just hung out a bit," you said a bit quietly, still not knowing how to act around new people.
"Sounds nice," your mom said with a forced smile on her face. Something told you that she knew you had gotten close with Rodrick. Since the situation with him, your mom had always been quite skeptical over boys you met. She could sense that Rodrick took interest in you, and she knew that that was not going to pass with her.
"Yeah," you trailed off. The table got quiet. The silence was deafening and it had yet to be broken.
"Rodrick." Frank had cleared his throat, trying to break the awkward silence. "Why don't you tell y/n and her mom about your band?" Rodrick's face immediately lit up, and you could see the excitement in his eyes.
"Ah yes, Loded Diper," Rodrick said, trying to sound cool. "Well, we started our band in freshman year of high school. I knew how to play the drums and a bunch of my buddies learned some instruments. We started to play more and now we're as famous as ever." Rodrick said with too much confidence. Something told you they weren't as famous as he said.
"That sounds wonderful," your mom said with a fake tone of appreciation in her voice. "Y/n actually plays some instruments herself, don't you y/n?" All eyes were on you.
"Uh, y-yeah I actually play the, uh, guitar and I s-sing too," you said trying not to get too nervous. It was obvious to everyone that you were getting anxious and tense. Rodrick took a strong notice in this and decided to take action.
"No need to be nervous, love. Whatever you say is perfect." Rodrick leant over to you, whispering these words into your ear. You felt your face heat up and you felt less anxious. What is this boy doing to me? I just met him over an hour ago and now he's calling me "love?" Also, why do I feel like this? Usually if a guy is near me or does something like that I get uncomfortable. But this time it feels different.
"I'm sure Rodrick's band would want you to play with them, right Rodrick?" Greg spoke up, causing Rodrick's face to turn a new, darker shade of red. You heard Rodrick kick Greg from under the table. Greg was obviously taunting Rodrick for his liking towards you, yet you were still a bit oblivious to that concept.
"Oh honey what an amazing idea," Susan exclaimed. "Don't you think, Rodrick?"
"Yeah, yeah of course," Rodrick said and turned to you. "Um I'm done eating. Thank you for the meal." Rodrick stood up.
"Yeah I finished too," you said as well.
"Well y/n, don't just stand there! Help the boy clear his plate," your mom motioned with her hands towards the kitchen, which you lead Rodrick to.
"Is she always like that to you?" Rodrick asked as he put his plate down on the counter.
"What do you mean," you asked confused. You didn't see much wrong with what your mom had just said.
"She treats you pretty bad, y/n," Rodrick continued. "Y'know, if you ever want to get away from here I have a van and some cash." As nice as that was supposed to sound, you couldn't help but take it in a weird way. Your past always came up to ruin things, even the things you were supposed to like.
"Uh, t-thanks for the offer but I'm fine here," You muttered quickly as you grabbed Rodrick's plate as well as your own. Rodrick grabbed your wrist, making you flinch and pull away.
"Sorry," Rodrick mumbled. He kept his hands at his sides, not knowing what to do next. "I- what happened to you?" You were aware that that wasn't supposed to come off as invasive, but you were a bit bothered by the question. "Y/n," Rodrick said your name to get your attention. "I want to help you. I don't want to see you hurt. Again, we barely know each other, but I want to be here. I want to be there for you. I want you to know that I care." You blushed at his words. Did he really think that? Or was it just another trap? I don't want it to be a trap. You thought about the subject, only finding it hard to sort out what you were currently feeling.
"Rodrick? We need to go sweetie." You heard Susan call from the dining room, breaking the awkward silence you and Rodrick were in.
"Coming Mom," Rodrick turned around, leaving the kitchen. You followed behind him.
"Thank you for coming you guys, we had a wonderful time," your mom said to your now leaving guests.
"Thank you for having us over. We really had a great time," Frank said to your mother. The parents said their "thank you"s and told the boys to say goodbye.
"Bye, y/n," Rodrick winked at you as he walked out of the door.
You ran upstairs as soon as the family left, not wanting to talk to your mother. You turned on your music, letting your emotions whirl around in your head. What was different about Rodrick? Why did he make me feel okay? No guy has ever made me feel like that since I was with him. Ugh, feelings suck. You drifted to sleep, allowing the music envelope you.
----
You woke up to the sound of tapping on your window. Not knowing the source of the noise, you decided to look out. You saw a light on in the room across from yours, revealing Rodrick standing there with pebbles in his hand.
"Took you long enough, y/n," Rodrick said from across the way.
"What do you want?" You said groggily, saying that you had just woken up.
"I just wanted to see if you were still awake," he said with a smile. "Since you're awake now, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tomorrow? School starts Monday and I wanted to see if you needed anything." The thought of Rodrick looking out for you was nice. It was nice having someone that was actually wondering about what was happening in your life.
"That sounds great, actually," you said without hesitation or a stutter. It felt good to be able to say something comfortably.
"Great. I'll stop by tomorrow and we can take it from there?"
"Sounds good," you said to him. He smiled and winked at you and then proceeded to close his window. You stood there smiling to yourself before closing your own window. You walked back to your bed, laying down once more. You felt the sleep creeping up on you, causing you to soon doze off to sleep with Rodrick on your mind.
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ahah i stayed up until 3 writing this cause im just quirky like that you know
hope you enjoyed that lmao