Something More | Randy

chapter twenty-two | fragile

I sped down the hall after him, ignoring the shocked faces I left behind in the kitchen. 

"Rye! Stop!" I called after him. 

Silence. His back remained turned, he didn't acknowledge me as he walked towards his room. 

"Rye, come on."

No response.

I jogged to catch up to him and wormed my way past him, blocking the entrance to his room.

"Babe, will you let me explain?" I pleaded, gripping his arms to hold him in place. Rye flinched at the pet name, but still wouldn't give me an answer. He simply used my hold on him to gently manoeuvre me out of the way so he could enter the room. A tear pricked to my eye when he grabbed a duffel bag from the top of his bed frame and moved over to the wardrobe. 

"Rye, this is crazy-"  

Rye finally broke his silence, spinning around to address me.

"How long have they all known, Andy?" 

"It's hard to explain," I began as he began shoving clothes into the duffel, "where are you going?"

"I'm going home for a while," Rye muttered without looking at me, "I need some space to think about this."

My head spun. How had we gone from 'I'm so in love with you' to this in such a short space of time? I couldn't physically adjust to the idea that I might be losing him right after I finally felt like we were safe and solid.  

"Why are you so mad?" I was more confused than anything else, not yet ready to consider any of the pain that might be about to flood in. 

Rye's face was a mask; emotionless, blank. He just kept packing his bag. I'd never been more frustrated with his stupid coping mechanisms before. 

"Can you stop shutting me out and just tell me why you're mad? I think I deserve that much from you at least," I snapped at him. 

Rye stopped to look at me, caught off guard by my change in tone. 

"You promised me time," he stated simply, "and then you lied about it and made me look like a mug."

His accusations stung me. Sure, I had wanted the others to know. But I had never intentionally betrayed him. 

"I didn't tell them." I seethed.

"Well they all seem to know, Andy," Rye shot back, "and it definitely didn't come from me. Do the maths." 

"I told you Brook already knew!" I countered, hating his cruel tone. 

"He knew we kissed one time. You clearly told him about all the... other stuff," he fumbled, "and Jack and Mikey too by the looks. So I've been lying like a mug to my best mate." 

"Mikey doesn't know anything! And Jack only guessed because believe it or not it's hard to have a secret relationship when you live on top of three other people! This is why I wanted to be open in the first place." I ranted. 

"Well you got your wish." Rye spat, storming past me to the bathroom. I followed him as he started collecting his toiletries. I tried to calm myself, searching for a logical solution. He just needed to realise I hadn't betrayed him. That things could actually be better now we couldn't hide.

"Please stop packing, babe. It's out now, isn't it better if we just deal with it together?" I reasoned. 

"I'm going to go home, and deal with the fact that I can't trust my boyfriend." 

That was the first time he called me his boyfriend. It should have been music to my ears. I should have been smiling and kissing him, celebrating the milestone. But he had stolen that moment from me, and made it something ugly. Instead of crinkling in a smile, my eyes welled up, a tear finally spilling over.