By All Means, Fear [AJR]

Chapter 1

I wake up a bit confused and uneasy, thinking about the trip. That's when it hit me: the cruise was for my birthday. Which was today. Here. Now.

I briskly sit up and grab my hat, throwing it on before running into the kitchen. I immediately stop in my tracks.

"Hey-hey, morning, sunshine!" Ryan greets me. "Happy birthday! How's it feel to be twenty-two?" I shrug. "About the same," i said. I sniff the air. "Where's Adam?" There's a knock at the door, and Ryan smiles. "There he is."

I go over to open the door, and Adam smiles at me. "Happy birthday!" he exclaims. "I brought your cake!" He shuts the door behind him and puts the cake in the fridge.

"I was just finishing breakfast," Ryan tells him. "The apron suits you," Adam joked. Ryan pouted his lips. "I borrowed it from Gladis," he muttered.

"The mix," Ryan scoffs, "was a waste." I roll my eyes, recalling our cringy old day-in-the-life webisode. "So was you borrowing that shitty apron from Gladis," i shot back. Ryan chuckled and kissed the top of my head.

"Go sit down and watch TV," Ryan instructed me. "Adam, put on a movie for him." Adam saluted him. "Yes, sir!" he joked. The two of them laughed, and Adam followed me to the living room.

"What shall we watch, o great king of today?" Adam asked me. "Let's watch The Princess and the Frog," i suggested. "I kind of just want to watch it for some reason." Adam nodded. "A very wise choice, sir!"

Twenty minutes into the movie, Ryan served us biscuits and gravy. He sat down with us, and we made comments here and there. Finally, it ended, and Adam had just finished washing our breakfast dishes.

"What do you want to do today?" Adam asked me. "Gosh, i don't know," i admit. The apartment went silent as i thought for a minute, wondering where we could we go. "Can we go to Central Park?" i finally asked.

Ryan yanked me up on the couch. "You'd better get dressed first," he told me. I looked at what i was wearing: a white T-shirt and jeans. "I'm dressed?" i said. "Duh! I was joking!" Ryan exclaimed.

We all headed downstairs and climbed into Adam's car. He then drove to Central Park.

"Hey, look, there're your friends!" Ryan said. He pointed by a tree, where Steve, Tom, Shawn, and Dan all stood. They were dressed in an odd variety of clothes. Their siblings weren't far away; they were sitting at a nearby bench, chatting and laughing.

I went over to my friends, and my brothers went over to their siblings.

"What the fuck is going on?" i demanded.