Sugarcane Chronicles Volume I: One and Lonely (ryden)

Ryan's Smoking (Hot)

I woke to the sound of an unfamiliar heartbeat.

I stretched slightly and looked up at the person I was laying on.

Mikey blinked surprisedly at me and I blinked sleepily back.

"H-Hi," he said.

"Heeeyy," I sighed, burrowing my head back into his chest.

"I-I don't mean to be rude," he stuttered, "but cou-could you g-get off me?"

"But I'm so coommmffyyyyy," I said, trying pull him closer in attempt to disappear in his warmth.

"But I-I," he started, then whispered, "I have to pee."

I groaned. "Mmmmfine." I rolled off him and pulled the blanket up to my chin.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes before grabbing his glasses off the side table and standing up. He quickly walked to the bathroom and closed the door.

I was about to fall back asleep when I heard footsteps and felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey," Mikey whispered as I turned around. "How do you work your coffee machine?"

I sighed and sat up. It seemed like I would never be able to go back to sleep.

I showed him to the coffee pot and how to use it (translation: I asked Mom and she showed him how). He started a pot and we went back into the living room where the gang was fighting over which cartoon to watch ("...Come on! Do you know how often they show episodes of Jimmy Neutron? Never!").

We calmed them down and decided on the new version of Tom & Jerry on Cartoon Network.

A few minutes in, the front door opened and I looked up expecting Dad, but saw Ryan instead. I smiled at him, standing up.

"Hey!" I said as he returned the smile. "Where have you been?"

I hugged him as he said, "Just went for a walk." He leaned down and kissed me, but I backed away, barely missing his lips.

"You didn't just 'go for a walk'. Nobody goes 'just for a walk'." I let go of the hug, knowing definitely by the smell on his skin what he had walked for. "How many cigarettes did you smoke? Five packs?"

"No," he said. "I only had two." He pouted slightly. "Your mom stole my last pack."

"Well, she was right to," I argued, folding my arms. "Do you know how deadly those things are!"

"Yes! Yes, yes, I've heard this lecture three times today, I don't need another from you." He rested his hands on my waist. "Let's just get over this. Come on." He leaned down to kiss me, but I turned away.

"No," I said. "I won't kiss you until you go take a shower or something. Get rid of that smoke smell."

"Please," he said. "Just one kiss." He leaned down again, but I took a step back.

"No. Not until you take care of this."

"Fine." He turned on his heel and stormed off to the bathroom. I heard him lock the door behind him as I sat back down on the pulled out couch.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up. It was Mikey (of course it was).

"You ok?" he asked quietly, barely heard over the television.

I nodded and shrugged, looking down at my hands. "I guess. He can just be such a drama queen sometimes." I looked at him. "Ya know?"

"Yeah, Ray gets like that all the time," he said.