He Loves Me

Chapter Four

Ryan's POV
I get home at 10pm. I invite my best friend, Grant, over for a late night dinner. He also works at the same place I do. He lives in the room across from me. We used to live together before Grant got his own apartment room. He's been my best friend for years. We met when I was in kindergarten and he was in 2nd grade. We had this weird thing called 2nd Grade Buddies and I was paired with Grant. He and I became best friends real fast. We never stopped talking. We've been best friends ever since.

"Hey man. How you doing?" Grant says as he comes into my apartment room.

"Hi Grant. How was school today?" Grant is a senior in college majoring in criminal law. He plans on going to law school after college. He one day hopes to be an attorney. His mom, dad and grandfather are all attorney's. He wants to follow in their footsteps.

"It was alright. All that stuff we're covering in class is really kicking my ass. It's a lot to keep up with but thankfully I grew up around attorneys and know what the fuck I'm doing. How was work today?" He asks me.

"It was ok. Same old thing. Evan was there and he looked so adorable today" I say blushing slightly.

"Did you tell him how you feel about him?" He asks me.

"Grant you know I could never do that. He's straight" I say back.

"How do you know for sure that he's straight?" Grant asks me.

"Because as he was leaving he said he was going to a movie with his roommate who is a girl. I'm pretty sure that means she's his girlfriend" I say.

"Roommate doesn't always mean girlfriend, Ryan. They could be close friends. Roommate could mean anything" Grant says.

"God I hope they're just friends. Anyway, what do you want for dinner? Pizza?" I ask him.

"Yeah pizza would be awesome" Grant says.

I get a pizza out of the freezer. Grant and I bake it. We sit at my kitchen table talking about life and work. I'm so glad that I have Grant to talk to. He knows the secrets I could never tell. He's not homophobic at all and supports my love for Evan. I came out to him when I was 16 and he gladly accepted it. He actually fights for same sex marriage. If there's a pro-LGBT event anywhere near us, he'll be there. The pizza is finally ready and is delicious. We sit at the table and eat. We talk about life and random stuff going on with us.

"Do you work tomorrow, dude?" Grant asks me.

"Yes I do. 7-9. When are you on carts again?" I ask.

"I'm on carts again all next week and on Saturday. I don't work on Sunday. I haven't cashiered at all lately. I'm mostly on carts now. Ok with me though. I hate cashiering anyway. It's so boring" he says.

"Do you like cart running?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I really do. I'd rather be cart running. I hate just standing in one place all the time. I really like to be walking around and be all over the place" he says.

"That's all that I do. I can't for the life of me figure out how to use a cash register and I'd rather chew broken glass than be a bagger" I tell him.

"Yeah bagging looks like hell" he says back to me. We eat more of the pizza and talk.

"I work from 4-9 tomorrow. Wanna do something tomorrow night and the next day? I work until 9pm and you have off on the weekends" Grant says.

"Sure. I'd love that. What do you wanna do?" I ask.

"You wanna do something crazy? You wanna go up to Hiker's Top? Maybe look at all the stars? Just talk about life and stuff. You can see the entire town from there at night" he says.

"You know what, Grant, that sounds amazing. I'd love that. We'll get a bunch of food and take it there with us. We'll have the nights to ourselves" I say.

"Sounds awesome. Saturday night we can watch Disney+. We can do a midnight dinner too. You and me, man" Grant says with a smile.

"People might think you're gay if you're seen with another guy at dinner, dude" I tell him.

"Ryan, me being the huge LGBT supporter that I am, do you think I care if people think I'm gay?" he says with a laugh

"Yeah, you're right. I really need this for us. It will really help take my mind off of Evan" I say.

"Ryan sooner or later you really should tell him how you feel. If you like him that much he deserves the truth" he says.

"Yeah I should tell him. Maybe I'll tell him on the day of the employee celebration thing on Sunday if he goes. Are you going to that?" I ask

"No. I have no interest. But you should go" he says.

"I don't want to go if you're not going. I'd rather hang with you. I have no reason to go to that thing anyway" I say back to him.

"Ryan you deserve some fun for working so hard. I really think you should go. Plus Evan might be there" he says with a smile.

"Ok you talked me into it" just hearing Evan's name is enough to get me to go anywhere he might be. My God I really need to tell him how I feel about him.

"Thanks Grant. You're the best. I'm glad I can talk to you about anything. Can't wait for tomorrow" I say with a smile.

"Anytime, man. You know I love you like a brother" he says. Grant and I watch a little bit of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody on Disney+. We share a bucket of chocolate ice cream. We do this once a week. It's how we hang. I don't get to see Grant as often as I would like since he has class all the time and works on the weekends sometimes. The Saturdays or Sundays he doesn't work we usually hang. It's now 11:30.

"Alright, man. It's almost midnight. Get to bed now. You worked all day today and you work all day again tomorrow. And early. I'll see you tomorrow. We'll get food for us after you're done working. It's gonna be an awesome time. Just the two of us on Sunday. Just think of that to help with the rest of the work week" he says to me with a smile.

"Sounds good. Thanks Grant. Love you, bro. Goodnight" I say giving him a bro hug

"Goodnight, Ryan. Love you more, man. I'll see you tomorrow" he says as he hugs back and heads back to his apartment room.

I shut and lock the door. I turn all the lights off and walk to my bedroom. It's awesome having a best friend like Grant. I think to myself as I put my pajama bottoms on. I get into bed and go to sleep. I then have the most beautiful dream about Evan that night. I really need to tell him how I feel about him. He's the love of my life and I need to tell him sometime. At least I'll see him the next day.