should've said something | shyland

Chapter Seven

The days – hell, even weeks – following Shane and Garrett's breakup was harder on Ryland than it was on either of the boys involved; although, that was mostly because they avoided each other at all costs, skipping every class they had together and eating lunch in separate, empty classrooms. Ryland tried countless times to get them to talk to each other, but Shane was certain Garrett hated him, and Garrett only glared at Ryland every time he brought it up.

Shane's black eye disappeared about a week earlier, though Ryland kept an eye on him, scanning his body for bruises every chance he could. He never found any, but with each passing day, Shane grew quieter and more reserved. He tried asking about Shane's home life, if his mother had gotten back from visiting her own parents, if she still planned to divorce his father, if they were going to move away from him, but Shane never answered his questions.

Still, he trusted Shane would tell him if something was wrong. So, a couple days later, when he was awoken to the whispered sounds of crying, he was confused. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness surrounding the edges of the room, he noticed it was the middle of the night, the moon dancing up against the curtain of his window, casting shadows across his walls. At first, he thought the crying was coming from his sister. Morgan hadn't crawled into bed with him in a while, but he remembered her nightmares, and Austin always told her he was too old to have his sister sleeping with him.

As he swung his feet over the side of the bed, sure to find her at the end of it, his toe smashed into something hard – or rather, somebody. "Ow!"

"Fuck," The figure immediately sat up, their hand covering their nose – where Ryland was sure his foot had hit. As he furrowed his eyebrows, he recognized the green eyes he was staring into, and he scoffed, jumping up to turn on the light. As the room glowed to life, Ryland turned to face the figure settled on the floor, hands rubbing his eyes and his voice weak as he protested, "I can explain."

"What are you doing here?"

It wasn't that he didn't want Shane there, really. But, after putting up with Garrett and Shane for the last two weeks, his room was the only place he felt like he was actually at peace. He didn't understand why his best friend was on the floor, curled up into a makeshift blanket, with tears running down his face, but he was too tired – emotionally and physically – for that to be his first question.

"I—"

"How did you get in?"

"Your backdoor's unlocked," Shane explained weakly. "I'm sorry, Ry – I couldn't sleep at home, and I usually go over to Garrett's when I can't sleep, but I—I realized I couldn't go to Garrett's, so I came here, but I didn't want to wake you up, so I stole one of your blankets and tried to sleep here. But, it's not comfortable, and I don't—" His eyes welled up again. "I miss him."

Ryland groaned. "Shane—"

"I know you're tired of dealing with this, and I'm sorry, Ryland, because it's not fair to you, that every time I show up at your door in the middle of the night, it has something to do with Garrett, but how—how could he turn and walk away? He choked out a sob, his head falling into his lap. "How—He—I thought we were going to work out."

"Aren't you the one who said you thought the relationship was over before he broke up with you?" He asked harshly, though he didn't intend his tone to come out like that. "It wasn't meant to be."

"But, I—I wanted him to fight for me."

Ryland's eyes softened, and he settled himself on the floor beside Shane, placing a hand on the taller boy's back. "Shane, he's hurting too, okay? Everybody grieves differently. Even if you weren't meant to fall in love and be together, it doesn't mean you weren't meant to be friends with him. He loves you so much, you know he does, and he cares about you, and this—it's not—let this play out the way it needs to, and then you guys will be friends again, okay?"