Ryan's mouth went dry and his hands started clamming up. He wasn't expecting his heartrate to speed up when the front door swung open. A woman with short, brown hair stood, giving a friendly smile to Ryan.
"Can I help you?" Ryan clenched and unclenched his fists, feeling weird not using his hand for something. He shifted on his feet and gave an unsteady smile.
"Hello. I'm Ryan, Brendon's friend." He watched the woman's expression change from confused to surprised then excited within five seconds. She reached forward, gripped his wrist and pulled him inside.
"Ryan? Brendon's mentioned you drive him home, but he gets shy when we try to ask more. I don't understand why though." Ryan let out a nervous laugh.
"I wouldn't know."
"Brendon, Ryan's here!" Ryan heard a loud thump followed by footsteps running around upstairs. The woman turned back to Ryan with a smile. "So Ryan, do you have a girlfriend?"
"Uh no. I-I don't."
"Are you gay like Brendon?" Ryan's face warmed at the question.
"I'm bi actually."
"Oh! Do your parents know?" Ryan looked up the stairs where the footsteps continued running back and forth.
"My dad doesn't mind and my mom's not around."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure that must be hard on you and your dad." Ryan shook his head.
"It's been like this for so long, I don't think either of us mind."
"Do you help your dad around the house with bills or groceries?"
"My dad wants me to focus on my school work and activities."
"You're a star player at school right? That's what I've heard Brendon say." Ryan nodded, glancing up the stairs again.
"Um yeah I guess so, but I wouldn't be where I am without my teammates. They're the real reason I have a chance at an athletic scholarship."
"Scholarship? You're going to college? Where at?" Ryan felt a sense of relief when he saw Brendon hurrying down the stairs. He winced when Brendon tripped on the last two steps, falling forward. He bounced back up before Ryan could offer him a hand.
"Ryan, you came faster than I thought," Brendon panted, out of breath.
"You knew he was coming and didn't tell me. I would've told your dad so he could meet him." Brendon grabbed Ryan's arm, pulling him to the stairs.
"That's why I didn't tell you. I think Ryan's been interrogated enough."
"I was just trying to get to know your friend," his mother said in defense. Brendon continued pulling him up the stairs, almost tripping for looking back at his mom.
"We'll be in my room."
"Leave the door open," she warned.
"I know, I know." She gave him a playful glare as the boys disappeared on the second floor. Ryan let himself get guided passed closed doors until he was pushed into a bedroom.
"I'm sorry about my mom. She didn't ask anything too inappropriate, did she?" Ryan shrugged and looked around the room. The walls were dark grey, desk against the wall, bed messily made. He smiled at the blue blanket covered with cars sitting on the bed.
"She asked about my sexual orientation." He moved to the shelf in the corner. He skimmed the line of CDs then moved down to the picture frames on the next shelf. Picking a frame up, he recognized a younger Brendon standing with six other people. Ryan briefly wondered how old the picture was. Brendon groaned and sat on the bed.
"Sorry. She doesn't have boundaries. I'm glad she didn't ask if you had STDs or something." Ryan turned to him and smiled.
"She wouldn't ask that." Brendon rose a challenging eyebrow. Ryan's mouth dropped open. "She would?"
"Imagine when her and my dad tag teaming you," Brendon laughed. "Don't be surprised if they managed to corner you into answering a bunch more questions." Ryan chuckled and went over to sit on Brendon's bed. His eyes continued to move over the tidy room.
"I'm surprised by how clean you keep things. I thought you would be the type to have clothes thrown everywhere." Brendon let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah, I couldn't live like that. I need things clean." Ryan looked over at Brendon who kept glancing up at the closet. With a smirk Ryan stood up and went over to the closed door. "What are you doing?" He grabbed the handle. "No! Don't open that."
Disobeying, Ryan pulled the door open, moving back when clothes and other random items came tumbling out. He turned to Brendon who was refused to look at him and the mess.
"You shoved all your stuff in the closet? That's so cliché."
"I didn't want you to see how messy my room was," Brendon mumbled and fidgeted with the bed cover. "It was actually one of my chores I needed to do today." Ryan shook his head with a wide smile.
"Well I did say I'd help you with your chores, so let's get this cleaned up quick so we can relax." Brendon smiled and nodded in agreement. He never had a cleaning buddy to keep him company before. He didn't think he'd actually be happy to clean before, but with Ryan there, he couldn't wipe the smile off his face.
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A/N:
So today, I had to drive my cousin to the dentist and was playing the song Perfect by Simple Plan and she had never heard it before. What you need to know about my cousin is that she focuses mainly on the lyrics when she listens to a new song. I could tell she was surprised by how "sad" the lyrics were so when the line "I'm sorry I can't be perfect" finally came on, she gave me this look with so much concern and it was hard not to laugh. Like sweetie most of my music has these types of lyrics lol
