Boys Will Be Boys *Ryden*

Hey Jealousy

This time, as they took their bow at the end of the show, Brendon didn't immediately drop Ryan's hand. Instead, he held on for a few seconds too long, squeezing so hard that Ryan's knuckles crunched together painfully. This time Ryan was the one to yank his hand away.

As soon as they were offstage, Spencer and Jon started whooping it up, laughing, high-fiving and slapping Brendon on the back in appreciation. "Holy shit, dude, you just knocked it out of the park!! Why didn't you ever do the speech that way before?" Spencer asked.

Brendon shot him a devilish grin and said, "Well, I guess you could just say that I was inspired by Ryan here --" he cuffed Ryan on the shoulder hard enough to make him flinch "--and his tale of blowjob-less woe."

Spencer and Jon guffawed at this, while Ryan rubbed his sore shoulder and collected another mental dime.

*****

Later that night Ryan was reading in his bunk while everyone else sat in the lounge, drinking beer and playing cards. It sounded like things were getting rowdy, which Ryan didn't think was a great idea seeing as they had an afternoon show the next day.

He was taken by surprise when Brendon suddenly poked his head around the curtain that separated the lounge area from the bunk area. "What are you doing, Ry? Come play poker."

Ryan was still for a minute. Then he set his open book down on his chest and looked at Brendon. "Why would I want to do that?" he asked slowly.

"I'm not mad at you anymore," Brendon replied simply, as it that was the only reason Ryan was staying away.

"Oh, really? You're not mad at me? Wow, how did I get so lucky?"

Brendon frowned at his sarcastic tone. "I got back at you, so now I'm not mad. Come play cards."

Ryan was speechless. He couldn't believe Brendon's arrogance. He stared at him for a minute, then slowly lifted his book back up and started to read again.

"The hell's your problem?" Brendon asked, annoyed.

Without lifting his eyes from the book, Ryan answered, "Did it ever occur to you that maybe I'm mad at you?"

Brendon came fully into the room and crossed his arms. "Oh really," he said dryly. "And what reason do you have to be mad at me?"

Ryan shut his book and slammed it down on his bed. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because of that little act you pulled onstage. Or how about, maybe because you took off for an entire night, made everyone worry, and kept me from sleeping the whole time."

A small smile spread across Brendon's face. "Awww," he said. "You were worried about me? That's cute."

"Yeah, really cute. I didn't fucking sleep all night."

"Were you jealous?" Brendon asked, putting on a sexy voice. "Wondering who I was with?"

"Fuck no," Ryan lied.

"You were jeaallloouuusss," Brendon singsonged. "What would bother you more? If I was with a girl? Or if I decided to try my hand at blowing someone?"

One more mental dime in the bank. Ryan wanted to punch him. "Fuck off, Brendon," he said. "Go away, seriously. I'm trying to read."

Laughing, Brendon turned and went back to the lounge area.

*****

They began driving at 1:00 in the morning. Their next show was in Tucson, Arizona, and it was going to be at least an 8 hour drive.