Far Away Love ࿐ Ryden

5

hi everyone it's raining which sucks and midterms week is... this week and i'm not at all excited BUT. i am seeing this band destroyer tonight and i'm SUPER excited for that because i love concerts and this band has the nicest, vibiest music and it's gonna be a good time. anyways enjoy this chapter. 

5 -- [0128]

i really wanna tell you that love is like a furnace that burns in and out of purpose

Turns out, Ryan's parents did notice and care greatly that their son hasn't been home for the past two nights. He hasn't expected them to at all and his reappearance at home isn't exactly taken well by them.

His mom cries. She cries often about little things and gets worked up almost every single day except Ryan hadn't seen her at all yesterday, a welcome break, and now she's crying even more. On about how he's her son, doesn't matter if he's seventeen or seven, he has to be home every night or else tell them where he's going, how she called Patrick's dad to see if Ryan had been there and when the answer back had been no- well. Ryan doesn't exactly figure out what happens after that because she dissolves into even more tears and he watches her with a sort of half disgusted, half blank look on his face.

His dad gets mad. Ryan's family is ridiculously predictable and it's even easier to tune the shouts of his dad out except if he gets physical, throwing things or trying to start a damn push fight with Ryan. Which he doesn't, this time, he just yells. Ryan tunes him out and ends up in his room, not sleeping again.

He sits next to the window, cheek pressed against the freezing glass. His cheek is ice against it and his breath fogs up. He counts the stars and Patrick's voicemails as they build up on his phone. Neither of them matter too much, and Ryan can't fall asleep for the life of him. It hurts too much at four in the morning, and he finally calls Patrick back with tears freezing on his face.

"I'm sorry." Is the first thing Patrick says when he picks up, and Ryan can hardly breathe.

"I am too."

"My dad is fucking crazy," Patrick breathes, and his voice shakes so hard over the line.

"Where are you?"

"Hamilton." Patrick chokes out, naming one of the parks in their town. Ryan looks out at the night sky that isn't even beginning to warm up with the sunshine.

"Come over." He says, moving out of the stiff position that he's spent all night in. He's sore from running earlier, just shows how little physical activity he gets, and starts pacing circles around his room. He always does it while he's on the phone. It's like he has to.

"Can I?" Patrick asks, and his voice is so desperate. Ryan knows that he didn't call for Ryan to provide a place for him to stay tonight. Ryan knows that he called because he's a good person. More mature than Ryan, in a way, and Ryan thinks down the phone.

"Of course."

"Thank you, thank you, Ry." Ryan doesn't reply to that, doesn't know why, and nods as if Patrick can see him.

"I'll see you soon."

--

Patrick's shaking when he shows up at Ryan's house in only jeans and a t-shirt, and he wipes hard at his eyes when he steps inside. Once in Ryan's room, he crashes on a beanbag chair that had been donated to Ryan by a family friend who had gone off to college. It's become Patrick's chair, and he sinks down into it while Ryan throws a blanket at him.

Ryan perches on his bed, the same places they always take, and watches Patrick. Ryan's never seen him this worked up before.

He's mad, Ryan can tell that, but he's not mad enough to say anything about it. Just the way that he sits, shaking, and not from the cold anymore. Maybe because he's scared, maybe because he's mad, but he's so silent and Ryan doesn't know what to do to break it up.