The Only Exception [BoyxBoy]

23 | cσмρℓιcαтє∂

Sometimes I get you
Sometimes I don't understand
Sometimes I love you
Sometimes it's you I can't stand

Chapter 23 ~ Complicated

Bobby Cooper

It was the sound of my phone buzzing beside me that jolted me awake the very next morning. My hands scoured the bed in search of the annoying thing without much luck, but even then I refused to open my eyes to find it. It was long after the vibration had stopped when I managed to pull the device free from under the pillow and bring it to my face, slowly cracking an eye open to stare at the lit screen.

Four missed calls from Liza.

I peeled my eyes open even further, wincing at the incoming light glaring through the naked square windows, and sucking in a breath once my eyes readjusted to catch a glimpse of Ryan's frame occupying the entirety of the bed. I was pressed against the wall while he was carelessly stretched out with his leg draped over the lower half of my body, sound asleep.

We had slept together, shirtless, in a twin bed after spending the late hours of the night kissing, cuddling, and doing a lot more than I had ever bargained for. Because as much as I liked being with Ryan in this way, it wasn't the way things were supposed to be. It was scary and frustrating how our friendship had morphed into something it wasn't over the course of this past month, and I wasn't welcoming to that idea of change. We were supposed to be best friends, best guy friends, not whatever this was.

Somehow mustering the strength to lift myself up from the bed, I carefully maneuvered over Ryan's very still and lifeless body so as to not wake him up in the process of trying to get the hell out of here. My plans were short-lived because as soon as my right foot touched the large vintage rug adorning the room, Ryan tossed in his sleep, sending me over the edge and onto the floor, face-first.

Ryan sat up, suddenly, and peered over the edge of the bed to look at me with a growing smile on his face. "Well, good morning, genius."

"You weren't sleeping, were you?"

He raked a hand through his tufts of messy brown hair. "Nope."

I turned onto my side, letting out an agonizing groan as I used my hands to get myself back to my feet again. The annoying smile seemed to be a permanent feature of Ryan's face based on the way he refused to stop looking at me like he had just conjured up an evil plan, so I turned away from him so that I wouldn't have to feel uncomfortable by being ogled by my best friend. It wasn't long before Ryan crept off the bed and made his way to me. My body froze the moment he wrapped his arms around my torso, intertwining his fingers just below my navel, and buried his face into the crook of my neck.