Son of a Rouge

Firsts [°10°]

[Ryder's POV]

We walk up to the door of the IHOP and people rush to open the door for me. Aaden tells them thank you. I guess that's normal behavior for people. People open the door for each other all the time. We walk through the door to spot a line of about 5 people waiting to be seated. I guess quite a few people wanted a bit of a late breakfast. We are instantly moved to the front of the line by a waitress and nobody complains. I hate being treated like I'm someone famous, I'm just a normal kid. "Just a booth for 2, Alpha?" She asks. I discreetly put a finger over my mouth trying to tell her not to call me "Alpha". She nods. "Yes, just for two." I say. She smiles at us and leads us to the right side of the restaurant. She hands us two menus, "I'll be back in a couple minutes to take your orders." She walks away back to the line to get the other people who were waiting seated. I look over to Aaden who is already looking at the menu. I guess I should just start looking too, so this can be quick, I'm staving. I figure out what I want and slide the menu to the end of the table. Aaden is already done and is just playing with this hands on the table like he's nervous.

"Ade, are you alright? How do you feel about this so far?" I ask him, because he doesn't seem alright. "No, I am nervous..." he says back quietly. I raise one eyebrow, "Why?". He lowers his head, "I just feel uncomfortable and nervous. I feel as if people are staring and judging. I don't like it here." I sigh gently, "I don't want to force you to be here when you feel like this, how about we just take our food to go and eat back at home? I think that might be a bit better for you." He nods at that idea. The waitress comes back and I give her both of our orders, "Can you just put it in two to-go containers? We don't want to stay for too long." She nods, "Yes Alpha." she walks away.

I quickly move over to Aaden's side of the booth and interlock his hand with mine. He uses his other hand to cover his face. I see people pull out their phones from the corner of my eye. I hope they don't post pictures of this anywhere. "Aaden.. It'll all be alright, we're about to leave any minute now." He just slowly nods, I'll take that as a response. The waitress brings us back our food in two little black take out containers in a plastic bag. "Here you go Alpha." She really didn't listen when I told her not to call me that. "Thanks.." I say. I grab the bag using the hand I'm not using to hold Aaden's. We both get up and I pull him along with me, he's steady covering his face and people begin to take pictures. I hope nobody assumes we're dating, that'll just be embarrassing to disprove. Unless I don't have to. All I hope is that Aaden didn't see the people taking pictures. I would have a lot of explaining to do. I'm not ready to explain yet, it's too much.

We make it back to the car and I open Aaden's door for him and he gets in. I get in my seat and place the bag of food in the back seat. "I'm so sorry that I put you through that, I didn't know all that would happen." He shrugs, "It's fine, all I know is that I don't want to do it again, I don't like the public..." I nod, "I'm totally okay with that, I won't force you." I start the car and we head on our way back to the house.

Aaden clears his throat, "Ryder-". I hum in response. "Sorry if I was acting awkward and being embarrassing. Just went we walked in, people started staring at me, I don't know why, and it just ruined everything. I thought we would go unnoticed." I'm trying to come up with something to say but nothing smart comes to mind. "It's fine, your actions were understandable, I would've felt weird if people were staring at me too." I say. "But they were?" He says back. I shrug, "I guess I didn't notice them. I was too focused on you."

We pull up in front of the house, many other cars are here. I assume my dad is having a meeting again. I turn off the car and grab the food out of the backseat. Aaden opens his door himself so I don't end up opening it for him. We walk into the house to have what felt like a million heads turn towards us and stare. I didn't mean to interrupt, I didn't know he was holding a meeting today. A tall strong looking figure standing closest to the door stares us down the most. "Hello Ryder," my father says giving a nod. "Hi dad.." I say back quickly, grabbing Aaden's hand and pulling him up the stairs behind me. My dad never approved of me liking boys, so he always makes assumptions when I bring a guy friend into the house. I just hope those pictures didn't make it into the media, or I'm done for. I will lose my father's respect. But did he really have respect for me in the first place?