It was late, maybe around midnight, and the boys were still out. They had a chilled day at Ryland's, playing board games with the family and watching a few tv shows, but now it was their time to be alone from everyone else and spend time with each other.
They lived in a secluded neighbourhood where everyone knew everyone, so there was never any worry about being out too late and getting in harm's way. That's what they liked most about living here; especially when they were younger. They could play out on their bikes for as long as they wanted and they never felt afraid of anything. Everyone was so nice and friendly here and they all looked out for one and other. Like one giant family.
They weren't doing anything particular, just wondering round the streets, hand in hand. Ryland stopped walking when they got to a specific streetlight. "Why'd you stop?" Shane asked, looking over at Ryland with a confused look. "Remember this light? A few years ago?" Ryland asked, trying to jog Shane's memory. Shane just looked at him even more confused. What was he talking about?
"This is where we had our first 'real' kiss!" Ryland exclaimed. Shane gasped lightly to himself and a small smile started appearing on his face as he remembered. "Oh yeah," He giggled. "Wow, that was so long ago..." He mumbled, looking up at the aluminous white light above them. "It was around this time of night, wasn't it?" Shane asked, looking back at Ryland, who was also looking up at the light.
"Mhm. It was nearly one in the morning; I couldn't sleep- had too much on my mind. I needed you but I knew you would be sleeping seeing as we had school the next day. But I needed you so bad so I had to call you. I felt bad at first, hearing your tired voice. I was gonna hang up but you said it was fine- you didn't mind waking up for me. I told you I was scared, that I needed you with me- that I didn't want to be alone anymore. I was crying, so much, and you started to panic. That made me feel even worse. I didn't want you to worry about me. I regretted phoning you. I told you that I was fine. You didn't believe me. I didn't believe me either.
You told me you would be there as quick as you could and hung up. You found me here, sitting on the floor, sobbing. You didn't say anything- just sat down next to me and hugged me as tight as you could. After a while I finally stopped crying. You still had no idea why I was such a mess. You were probably just as confused as I was. I told you I had a bad dream- that something bad had happened to you and that's why I needed you with me. I knew you didn't believe me, but you didn't question anything. You just nodded your head and hugged me a little tighter. You knew that I would tell you when- if- I was ready. Even if it did take a few months.
There was no way I could have told you I was falling in love with you. That would have been crazy- especially if I didn't even know if that was true. I was so confused. You were my best friend. I shouldn't have felt like that about you. But I did. And it scared the shit out of me. We sat in silence for a while. You were physically exhausted and I was emotionally exhausted. We needed to sleep, but we stayed up. We looked up at the stars and at the moon. It was a nice night. I liked it. I never wanted it to end, but of course, everything comes to an end. It must have been at least three am before we decided to get up from the floor. You looked at me; I looked at you. We stared at each other in silence. I had never felt nervous around you before. You always made me feel so calm, but that night was different.
I felt like I was going to throw up. I couldn't breathe properly. I was shaking. I wasn't sure if it was because I had just had a breakdown or if in that moment I realised how beautiful you were and how much you really meant to me- I don't know. But you took my face between your slightly shaky hands and you stepped closer to me. I could feel your heart beating against my chest and I'm sure you could feel mine. We both knew what was about to happen. We had done it before, sure, but it was nothing like this. It was normally a friendly kiss- a 'you mean a lot to me' kiss. But this- this was a 'you mean everything to me' kiss. I knew that I was in love with you after that. That was the end of my confusion; but only the start of yours."
Shane stood there in silence. He had no idea how to reply to that. "I- I'm just glad you called." Was all he could muster out. "Me too," Ryland whispered, tightening his grip on Shane's hand. "Me too."
