room 207 | shyland ✓

fifteen

ryland's pov

i stayed holed up in my room for the rest of the weekend and didn't invite andrew and garrett for dinner, instead watching the new series of how to get away with murder whilst living off of the long text conversations i held with shane. austin's words had infuriated and embarrassed me to the extent where i couldn't even be in the same room as him. every time we had one of these arguments, my confidence surrounding coming out would be dampened and minimised even further, and after friday night i could barely imagine ever being comfortable enough to admit that i was gay whilst we still lived under the same roof.

on monday morning, his suspension was the talk of the school, and i kept my head ducked into the grey hoodie shane had given me on friday. it warm and smelt of coconuts and aftershave, which was all i focussed on as i arrived early that day.

"holy shit!" garrett exclaimed when i sat down at our usual table in the cafeteria, jumping out of his seat as i pushed back the hood and ran a hand through my hair. "who the fuck gave you that?" andrew began laughing hysterically as his boyfriend spoke and placed his forehead down on the table.

it took a moment for me to calculate what on earth garrett was on about, until i realised his eyes were fixated on my neck and the hickeys shane had given me a few days ago were undoubtedly visible despite fading.

"i— no one. now, what did i miss over the weekend?" i diverted, pulling the hood back over my head and tightening the draw strings a little.

the pair rolled their eyes at my reluctance to disclose anything about my love life, before beginning to fill me in on what had taken place between katie and chad. apparently absolutely nothing, and that her caption of their instagram post together had been completely innocent. somehow i struggled to believe this, but when chad confirmed that nothing had happened the gossip had seemed to of fizzled out into the pure fact that my brother was not returning to school until thursday.

just as andrew was about to explain the way chad's face had looked when he saw him at tacobell yesterday, his eyes widened and fell to the table in front of him. garrett narrowed his vision and as he did so, i felt a tap on my should. i turned around to see shane stood behind us, a sheepish smile on his face.

"mind if i borrow ryland quickly?" he asked andrew and garrett, making the blonde raise his eyebrows.

"you can join us if you like." garrett offered and shane smiled brightly.

"thank you, but i have extra trig in five minutes. i just have to talk to ryland about his brother." shane politely answered, placing his hand on my back. i tried not to visibly react and ignored the tiny electric shock sensations that shot through my body. the two boys nodded happily and went back to discussing chad, and i grabbed my backpack before following shane out the lunch hall.

"extra trig?" i imitated with a giggle as we walked onto the playing fields outside and shane grinned. "no offence but you suck at math."

"hey! not everyone can be smart like ryland adams." he sarcastically retorted, shaking his head as we finally reached the back of the football sheds, completely out of sight. "i missed you." he whispered before tilting my chin up and kissing me gently.

"i missed you too. you look nice today." i quietly spoke, tucking a few messy strands of hair behind his ear and making him beam. "garrett saw what you left on my neck. he nearly died of excitement that i'm actually seeing somebody."

he laughed and smiled widely. "i've got a surprise planned for you tonight. i can't change the fact that your brother's a passively-homophobic asshole, but the least i can do is cheer you up after your shitty weekend."