bad boy | shyland ✓

four

. . .

ryland's pov

i waited for shane by my locker, unable to keep the smile off my face. he arrived after a few minutes with his brown, leather shoulder bag slung over his shoulder, still in his leather jacket. i hadn't seen him since english and i didn't eat with him, drew and garrett today as i wasn't invited and didn't want to intrude.

after putting my bag in the hold next to his satchel, i climbed on behind shane and wrapped my arms around his waist, this time feeling slightly more comfortable. i ignored the stares and people talking as shane revved his engine louder than usual, driving out of the school. after five minutes of driving and me talking into his ear as my head rested against his back, my eyes fell onto his neck.

he had a tattoo.

there it was, a few centimetres under where his hair line stopped, a black heart. it wasn't coloured in, just the outline of a heart shape. it was about one centimetre tall and wide.

"you have a tattoo." i stated, taking a hand off his waist and tracing the shape with my finger. i suddenly realised how weird that was and pulled back, holding back onto him.

"oh, yeah. i got it on saturday." shane laughed, focussing on the road. we turned a sharp corner and i tightened my grip on him. he explained the meaning of it and it was kind of... deep, i guess.

he told me that the heart was empty at the moment because he wasn't in love, and never had been, and that because people say that when you're in love, your heart is 'fulfilled' and complete. so the day he falls in love, or as soon as he can, he'll get the heart filled in because at one point in his life it was fulfilled and complete.

i noticed that he hadn't said "when i fall in love with a girl". everyone assumed that shane was straight due to all the girls he hooked up with but i wasn't so sure. maybe he was bisexual? he'd never hooked up with a guy before but i just had a feeling. and plus, garrett mentioned that he thought shane fancies me, which of course isn't true but the fact that he could fancy a guy according to garrett meant something.

shane finally pulled up in the parking lot to the big woods near his house, grabbed our bags from the bag and told me to follow him. i tried not to jump around in excitement and walked behind him, unable to take my eyes off the tattoo on the back of his neck, feeling kind of obsessed with it. we finally reached the house and it was breath taking. there was fairy lights strung on the branches of the big, thick oak tree, a rope ladder to climb up to the wooden house and a door which had a padlock on.

"this is amazing, shane." i admitted, in complete awe. "did you do all this yourself?"

i watched a blush creep up on his cheeks, which he quickly shook way by laughing it off and running a hand through his hair. "no, no, i built the house whilst drew and garrett did the lights and decorations inside. i'll show you, c'mon."

he grabbed my hand i felt a jolt as our skin touched, which i put down to the motorbike. shane stared at our hands for a few seconds before climbing up the ladder and pulling me towards him. he grabbed a key from his pocket and was about to open the door, but he stopped and turned to look at me.

"promise you won't tell anyone about this? only me, drew and garrett know it's here." shane asked, frowning a little. i squeezed his hand.

the jolt occurred again. "i promise." i whispered and blushed a deep red.

he opened the door and my jaw fell open in shock. the room had been carpeted, there was a box tv, lights and places to charge your phone, beanbags and a sofa which pulled out into a bed. a mini fridge was in the corner, and on top was bags of chips and snacks. the walls were plastered with posters from singers like britney spears and some other artists i didn't recognise, and then some paintings and pictures they'd drawn themselves.

"i love it. this is amazing." i murmured, walking in and heading straight to the light switch. i pressed it on and fairy lights lit the room with a yellow glow. shane turned the tv on and walked to the fridge, grabbing us diet cokes. he cracked them both open and passed the can to me. thanking him, i sat down on the sofa and looked around in shock.

"this place genuinely is so cool." i repeated and shane smiled at me.

shane stared down at his shoes, looking like he was thinking through his reply. "thanks. i come here a lot. my dad's not around anymore and my mum is so busy with my brother, it's a nice escape to be honest."

his auburn hair fell in front of his eyes and he shook it away. "you didn't eat lunch with us today." shane stated, looking into my eyes. his were a sharp turquoise contrast against my dull blue ones but our eye contact held.

"i wasn't invited." i told him, quirking an eyebrow. "miss me?"

shane bit his lip and chuckled. "yeah, sure. you don't need an invite. we like you. i wouldn't of shown you the tree house otherwise." i blushed and smiled back at him, leaning into the plush fabric of the sofa and relaxing.

we spent most the afternoon watching programmes or messing around with the filters on snapchat, until it hit seven o'clock and it began to get really cold. my curfew was eight (ridiculous for a sixteen year old, i know, and my mother wasn't even there half the time) which meant i'd have to leave soon. i started to shiver a little and shane immediately noticed, grabbing a blanket from one of the beanbags and passing it to me.

"i wish i didn't have to go." i groaned half an hour later, snug under the fleece blanket i'd been given as we watched an episode of friends. "i'm gonna get the shit beaten out of me by my mom the second i walk through the door."

shane looked at me for a few seconds, before replying, "so don't go. stay. i'll be sleeping here anyway so you won't be alone. i don't mind if you crash here. garrett, drew and i do it all the time."

i thought about it. i'd showered this morning so i didn't have to worry about being clean, and i had a spare sweater in my locker which i could change into once i got to school so no one would notice i was wearing the same clothes. the only repercussion would be that my mum would get even madder than she already is. but really, if you think the options through, the answer is obvious. you can either sleep in the same room (possibly same bed/couch thing?) as the hot bad boy from your english class (who you think is pretty cute), or you can go home and get yelled at. you'd be crazy to choose the latter.

shane smirked. "we'll have to share the sofa bed," he looked at me cheekily, "i'm not complaining though."

fuck it. excitement. i grabbed my phone and quickly composed a text.

mum: staying at a friends. don't call.

"okay, sure. i'll stay."