room 207 | shyland ✓

two

ryland's pov

it was impossible to determine when my feelings for shane shifted from briefly acknowledging him on the stairs to being unfathomably besotted by him. my brother had been best friends with him since before i could remember; they'd met in their freshman year of high school and for the last four years they've been inseparable. i couldn't see that changing, really, which made my heart ache because his mere presence somehow had the power to turn my mind into a turmoil.

the pivotal moment in which i realised that i had a serious problem on my hands was two summers ago, when i'd just turned fourteen and couldn't stop staring as austin and shane mucked around in the sea just metres away from me. my parents had taken us all to santa monica and told austin he could bring a friend if he liked, since his birthday was whilst we were visiting. gleefully, he had invited shane and the boy had been eager to join us on our travels.

i'd been lazing on the sand for a good half hour with my headphones blaring whatever music was popular at that time, paging through a cheap, tacky magazine, when shane began to yell as my brother kicked waves of water in his direction. his laugh filled the beach around us and my breath hitched, almost as though from that moment, i saw life through a different lens. one where shane was permanently engraved in my peripheral vision.

"ryland, get out here, the water's amazing!" he had yelled across to me, voice muffled from my headphones. i froze behind my sunglasses, watching his exuberant demeanour float amongst the sea salt and almost forgetting how to conjugate a sentence for a second.

taking one head phone out, i shakily smiled back and pushed my sunglasses into my hair, resting the magazine in my lap. "i'm okay, thank you." i managed to garble, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks. austin took pride in ignoring my presence whenever his friends were around (and whenever they weren't, to be honest), but shane somehow always paid me the smallest bit of attention that had the omnipotence to make my whole week. that kind of power was toxic, really, and from that day at the beach i began to depend on it.

at this point, my brother snuck up behind him and poured an ice cold bucket of sea water over his head, completely drenching the fifteen year old boy. shane screamed, slicking his sopping wet hair out of his face and rubbing the salt from his eyes. they almost blended with the ocean behind him, framed by long dark lashes that resembled such delicacy it was almost intimidating. in that moment i felt glued to the ground, panicking, repressing any emotion from flickering onto my face.

that was the underpinning event of my downfall, in essence; the day i allowed a single wavelength of "wow, he looks good" to crawl through my brain and since then it was a never ending tide of emotions that i failed to seize.

shaking my head warily, i forced myself out of the daydream i'd allowed myself to be succumbed in and brushed the hair out my eyes. i'd been staring at the ceiling for the last hour, drawing swirls and circles with my conscience, waiting to hear the sound of someone awakening. for the third time that morning, i stole a glance at my phone. 7:02am. on a weekend. austin had been playing on his playstation with shane till the early hours of the morning after watching the game, their loud voices commanding each other to kill this person and that zombie not daring to quieten until far past 2am. i'd slipped in and out of slumber since midnight, until finally giving up an hour ago.

with one last check of the time, i jumped up and rubbed my eyes, trying to erase any sleep i had with them and catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror. i looked crazy, eyes slightly bloodshot from lack of sleep and hair pushed up in all directions. taming my hair with tired hands as i walked, i pulled on the blinds until the shutters flickered open and allowed sunshine to dance across the carpet.

"i need coffee." i mumbled to myself after brushing my teeth in the bathroom, voicing my thoughts aloud for no apparent reason. the sun had already risen since september mornings were often bright and cloudless, the sky a pure painting of azure whispers, and i could feel the warm rays of light tanning my skin from the small port window above the sink.

as i made my way downstairs, i caught sight of myself again. all i had on were some grey jogging shorts, since nobody would be awake anyway and it was far too hot to wear any more in my sleep. i trudged into the kitchen, distracted by my phone and not even bothering to look where i was going, scrolling through instagram to see people's quirky "back to school xox" selfies that i could barely stand.

eyes still glued to the screen in front of me, i grabbed for the milk from the fridge - knowing it would always be at the edge of the side door - and double tapped on the dolan twins latest post. my fingers, however, grappled thin air and i tore my gaze away from my phone to see their was, in fact, no milk. frowning, i did a double take, knowing that my mom had bought some on her way home last night.

"looking for this?"

i jumped out of my skin, my phone clattering to the floor as i spun round to see shane swinging his feet from the top of centre island, milk bottle in his hand. he began to laugh quietly at my frozen state, watching as i bent down to pick my phone up.

"you're an asshole, you scared the shit out of me." i exclaimed with a hushed voice, not wanting to wake anyone up, shutting the fridge door and taking a shaky breath. here i was, topless with crazy bed hair, in front of the boy i've liked for the past two years.

shane smiled widely, eyes escaping to my bare chest for a few moments before they met mine. "sorry, sorry. woke you up though, right?" his voice was slightly deeper and huskier than normal, perhaps because he'd just gotten out of bed. whenever he stayed round i would usually get my coffee early and hide in my bedroom until he'd left, so i wouldn't even have to consider facing him.

i rolled my eyes, still in shock a little, ignoring his response and gesturing my hand out. he tilted his head back and took a swig from the milk bottle before handing it over to me.

"that's disgusting." i commented with a frown, turning around and pushing a coffee pod into the espresso machine my dad had gotten us all for christmas last year. perhaps i was just paranoid, but i could feel his eyes draining through my skin as i did so. the noise of the machine soon filled the room and i turned back around to face him, our silence covered by the soft whirring of coffee dripping into the mug.

"so, lose your t-shirt on the journey here?" shane sarcastically quipped, a grin appearing in achievement once he noticed my cheeks grow red.

a little flustered, i focused on pouring the milk into the cup before replacing it in the fridge. "no, did you lose your manners in maryland?" i mimicked, raising an eyebrow and not meeting his glance as i pulled out the ice tray from the freezer.

his laughter bounced off the kitchen walls. "what happened over summer? you're not a little kid anymore, huh? you're funny."

four ice cubes plopped into my drink and i forgot how to speak again. my heart was beating ridiculously fast and for a moment, i thought maybe he could hear it.

"you've grown up, ryland." he said with a smile, shaking his head and jumping off the counter before walking back upstairs and leaving me gormless.