Rewrite Your Happiness (A Ryan Ross Fanfiction)

We Sure Are In For A Show Tonight

With fake IDs in hand, we walked down the boulevard and watched as the sky got darker and the neon signs started to flicker brighter. The theaters, casinos, and bars were as showy as ever, begging for an onlooker to notice their presence first. I know Ryan's dad once worked as a craps dealer in one of these casinos, so I couldn't help but wonder if he had been a part of those miserable "bring your kid to work" days. I also hadn't properly walked down this way since Lyle forced me to participate in winning slot games in my early to mid teens, so walking around here was setting off small uneasy memories.

Still, neither of us liked this part of Las Vegas for being so bright and basic, but were soon-to-be college students so weren't going to not misuse our privileges and IDs to wreck curfew for nothing.

"So," I spoke loudly as the wind of traffic floated past us, "what have you been up to over the summer?" Ryan clicked his tongue. "Not too much. Just enjoying the calm before the storm...I actually haven't been out here in a while." Before I could stop myself, a sudden question sprang from my lips. "Why's that?" Stupid, Elise. This shouldn't be the focus of the conversation. It's probably not something worth talking about. Ryan exhaled unhappily. "After you left, my dad insisted on cheering me up...so he took me to a strip club."

I frowned, ashamed. Damn it, I should have known leaving him with his dad was a bad move on my part. He even made a point about not wanting to be caught dead in one of those places so I couldn't help but blame myself. "Oh." Was all I could manage to get out, embarrassed for bringing it up. Ryan tsked, "As much as I hated it, my dad was trying to cheer me up...and that's how he does it..." I could hear it in his voice. He didn't want to give his dad gratification for the most unpleasant of experiences. Not gonna lie, Las Vegas strip clubs are the most vulgar of any in the country.

I made a mental note to hit my head with something hard later. I saw Ryan bite his cheek hard before speaking again. "But aside from...that, I've been writing songs, preparing for college, and...posting on LiveJournal."

What the fuck was LiveJournal??

(A/N: Fun fact of the day: LiveJournal was the next best thing after MySpace. It was actually the site where Pete Wentz received the first Panic! demos. Ryan also preferred it more than MySpace and wrote great poems there. They were so well written, they brought tears to my eyes after reading them out loud...and poetry rarely does that for me, so that's a sign for someone who reads and writes about YA Lit and Sci-fi genre. So I highly suggest you read his poetry if you want more RyRo content before Z Berg's 2018 Christmas Show. #themoreyouknow)

I didn't know what the hell he was talking about, but like any other person who doesn't know shit about what they're talking about, I continued like I did. "That's cool. What did you end up writing?" Ryan chuckled, embarrassed. "I may have written a handful of songs and badly attempted to make an album out of them." I patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, there is no bad album if you and Brendon are writing together. Especially with Spencer and Jon." I said with a smile.

"Well...that last song you heard was the most recent write...Brendon and I wrote it at the overpass." Ryan said, trying to keep a straight face as I stopped him in amazement. "Really?You and Brendon went to the overpass and wrote I Write Sins in the late evening??" I asked. He nodded. "Let me start off by saying he took ME there so, no homo." We both laughed as we continued forward.

We walked for a while longer before buying tickets to see Cirque du Soleil: Quidam. Like all stories of this entertainment, it was deep, fast paced, and reminiscent of creativity. There were highs and lows during the show as some of it was for adult amusement and entertaining children. Indeed, moments where laughs were audible, tears were shed, and mouths dropped in disbelief. Ryan had his eyes glued to the stage almost the entire time...but he did tense up as I hugged arm leisurely in the middle of the show. Without a doubt, it was the greatest show.