The next at school, Brendon did his best to keep away from Ryan, but after yesterday's apparent victory, all anyone was talking about was the team which sadly included the frequent use of Ryan's name. Brendon walked with his head low. He just needed to get to his locker undetected. Reflexively, he looked up to the sound of his name being called. He gave an internal groan when he saw Ryan waving to him.
The small group that was around Ryan turned to see who he was calling for. Brendon saw a few people turn and whisper to each other. Ryan pushed his way through the crowd causing a panic to go through Brendon. He decided he didn't need to grab his math book and turned to walk the other direction.
"Brendon, wait up." Brendon tried to speed up but flinched when a hand grabbed his elbow. He hesitated before looking up to see Ryan's uneasy smile. "Is everything alright?" Brendon pulled his arm away.
"Everything's fine," he murmured. He wasn't angry at Ryan, he just felt the need to be on guard. None of this was Ryan's fault, he just couldn't get what those girls said out of his head.
"You're not wearing my jacket." It was easy to hear the disappointment in his voice. Brendon looked down at his sweater and shrugged. He glanced over to a see a couple girls looking at Ryan, giggling to themselves. His self confidence dwindled thinking about how they were more in Ryan's league than he was.
"Good job on the game last night."
"Oh, um thanks." They didn't speak for a moment until Ryan spoke up. "Brendon, you can talk to me if so-"
"I have to get to class." Brendon hurried off without another word. Ryan found himself getting frustrated with the situation. He just wanted to understand what was going on. Ryan grunted when someone smacked his back hard.
"Trouble in paradise?" He turned to see Pete grinning up at him.
"I'm not sure. I thought things were going fine."
"You haven't forced him to do anything have you? I'll break you face if you hurt him, don't test me." Ryan let out a nervous chuckle.
"I haven't done anything. I don't know what happened. Everything was fine, but after the game," he cut off with a sigh. "I just want to know if he's okay." Pete eyed Ryan, noticing the concern as he continued to stare where Brendon just was.
"I'll talk to him, see what's up." Ryan turned to him with hopeful eyes.
"You'd do that for me?"
"Yeah, why not? You guys make an odd couple, but I'm rooting for you two. You make him happy." Ryan looked down with a smile paired with a blush.
"Thanks Pete."
