Support Hotline (Ryden)

Post Paronoia

Waking Brendon up for school gave me guilt. I should have let him ditch. We could have just sat around and watched TV without a care in the world, just for the day.

I gave him a reassuring nod just before he got out of the car and walked through the gate. My stomach sunk as thoughts of him being beaten again flashed through my head.

I never got a text or call from Brendon during work, which could be good or bad. That was the only thing on my mind.

Once my shift ended I was in a rush to get to the school.

"Ryan, wait." Pete yells from his office. I step backwards into the plainly decorated room.

"What happened yesterday?"

"Oh, my friend just got hurt." I simplify the situation.

"Okay, just making sure you're alright." He says with slight concern in his voice. Pete is a nice guy, a little weird, but still nice.

"Everything's fine. Thanks." He smiles and nods. I smile back and walk out. I drove anxiously to my old high school. When Brendon walks to the passenger door in the pick up lane with a smile an internal sigh of relief runs through me. He turns around and waves before stepping into the car.

"How was it?"

"It was actually pretty good. I hung out with Josh and his friend Tyler." I smile.

"I can drop you off at the shop on my way to work, if you don't want to sit around and watch me bite my tongue while dealing with hot headed customers." He laughs slightly and shakes his head.

"I can wait. I want to go with you." He says shyly.

"Are you sure you don't just want a free taco?" I try to shake off the unintentional awkwardness.

"Well, there's that too." He chuckles.

This time, I found him a much cleaner table for him to sit at as I worked. As I walk by I set a taco on the table slyly and he looks up at me and smiles. I try to wink slightly and I'm almost positive it didn't look as smoothly as I wanted it to, I can tell because Brendon giggles and looks down at his hands.

"So, new boyfriend, Ross?" A soft voice says from the kitchen as I stand behind the register. I assume it's Patrick because of the tone. If it wasn't Patrick, then someone was making fun of me.

"Uh, I don't know yet." I answer truthfully. I turn around to make sure I'm not answering to someone's joke,

"So it's one of those complicated things, huh?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Well, best of luck to you."

"Thanks." I glance over to see Brendon eating his taco. He looks up and realizes I'm looking at him and pulls away from his food, covering his mouth with one hand and trying to swallow the food in his mouth. I laugh and shake my head and he uncovers his mouth after swallowing and smiles.

When I finish my shift we walk out. Brendon curtsies when I hold the door for him and I roll my eyes.

"So, you're hanging out with Josh and his friend now?" I ask as we get into the car.

"Yeah. It was pretty nice, they're both cool."

"So there was no problem with Dallon?" I ask to make sure.

"Not today. I don't even think he was there. If he was I didn't notice." He shrugs.

"Good. Do you want to go to the shop?"

"Honestly, not really. I kinda just wanna hang out."

"We can go back to my apartment."

"Well..." He says suggestively and wiggles his eyebrows to show that he's joking.

"So back to your house it is." I nod.

"No no no." He shakes his head with roll of his eyes.

"What, you don't miss your mommy?"

"You're an asshole. Take me to your apartment."

"Okay okay."

When we get to my apartment I hold the door open for him again. Hands push my shoulders against the door when I turn after closing it. A rush flashes forward and his lips are met with mine.

My heart rate slows down from the first shock of movement and begins to start a new rhythm. Slower and deeper as my eyes flutter shut. His hands move from my shoulders to the back of my neck while mine move to his waist. 

He pulls away and lets out a sigh.

"I'm gonna be honest, I've wanted to do that since I got in the car."

"Why didn't you?" I smirk and kiss him quickly before I plop onto the couch.

"I'm a sinner." He mocks and sits down next to me.

"You've said that before."

"And I'll say it until I don't have to." He scoots closer to me.

"When will that be?"

"When I get out of here."

-A/N: Okay, so this was short, but it did reach the minimum limit, so it's publishable. I'm guessing by the time you're reading this, this will have 1k. And I want to say thank you! Holy fuck this hit 1k faster than any of my other stories ever have before. I hope that shows I'm growing as a writer. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading.