Flipping Coins

A few torturous minutes passed before there was a tiny shuffling noise coming from behind me. Then came the loud sealing of a door, and everyone turned to see what the source of the unintended ruckus was. I mimicked their actions and wounded back, suddenly gasping to try and cover up the laugh that tried to escape.

There stood Ryan Ross, clad in only a puny, pliable, alabaster towel that was secured around his tiny waist. I could tell by his expression that he had intended to emerge from the bathroom in this condition, but he feigned embarrassment in the face of a slight contretemps. His light eyes scanned the room, flickering back and forth a couple of times before his face actually did bloom with a true blush. I automatically knew exactly what was going on.

Before Ryan could explain himself, Spencer hopped to his feet and scurried over to Ryan. He stopped about a foot away from Ryan, his face expressionless, while Ryan nervously eyed him, unsure of what was going to happen. Then, Spencer broke into a smirk, and he rapidly flung his arm forward before he darted to the door and howled his way down the hall, the door shutting out his immature cackles.

I didn't realize what happened, but merely observed everyone's amused and shocked expressions. What were they looking at? I followed Brendon's wide-eyed stare and then gasped.

Ryan was completely and readily naked, his hands blocking out his manhood while he angled his legs in an awkward stance to try and aid his hands in shielding out the inappropriate body part. Not only was his face beaming bright red, but his whole body seemed to blend into this maroon, sun-burnt shade. He seemed stunned with an unbelievable amount of humiliation, unable to run back to the confined bathroom, or to stutter out an apology to a surprisingly angered Brendon.

Realizing this was a job for the sarcastic girl who wallowed too much in her own self-pity, I jumped into action. I clutched Ryan's bony shoulders and shoved him into the bathroom, slamming the door shut on his still shocked face.

After I closed the door, I turned back to the silent audience and instantly warned Brendon, "Don't you dare explode on Ryan. This was not his fault."

Brendon's jaw clenched shut, and his nose flared with anger. He snapped back, "That's easy for you to say. What about me? How does he expect me to react when my 18 year-old girlfriend is witnessing a fully-grown man in the nude?"

I questioned with disbelief, "You think he wanted everyone to see him like that?"

Brendon scoffed. "He should have known that would happen when he pranced in here with only a rag hiding his package. I think we all know that that was totally planned."

"What's your problem, Brendon? Evelia is 18, for Christ's sake! I think she can handle a little skin. Why are you being so difficult?" I asked, confused.

This wasn't what I would have expected from Brendon. He was never overprotective or jealous. He would normally be giggling and teasing Ryan non-stop, maybe even beg for worthiness from Spencer for the classic joke. This just wasn't him.

At my words, Brendon got to his feet, clearly enraged. "Because Ryan practically gave my girlfriend a lap-dance! That's fucking why!"

"Brendon, you need to calm the hell down. I don't like this side of you."

Brendon looked at my lips, noticing that it wasn't I who spoke. Everyone's gaze drifted down to Evelia, who was glowing red as well and looking a bit ticked off. She continued bitterly, "Emie is right. You don't have to be so damn overprotective. You act like I'm 13. It's not like I haven't heard of or seen the 'P-word' before." She used the classic Doctor Evil hand-quotations and made a dumb expression while she said this.

Jon stifled a laugh and played it off by taking a swig of his Red Bull. Brendon took no notice and responded to Evelia, "Eve, please. You can't expect me to not be angry at Ryan for showing you his...his thing."

Evelia got to her own feet with much more grace than Brendon and answered, "Actually, no, I couldn't have expected that, Brendon, because you're not like that. You're never jealous or strict, and you always trust me. I really don't see how this one changes your rules."

Brendon struggled to come up with the right words, and, after several silent seconds of glaring, he finally threw his hands up in the air and stormed out of the room. He slammed the door behind him, causing everyone to flinch at the sudden bang.

I sighed and turned my eyes back to Evelia. Shocked, I found her emerald eyes glossy with tears and rushed forward to wrap an assuring arm around her small shoulders.

"Evelia, it's okay,” I quietly said. “Brendon's probably just going through a little jealous phase. I promise you, he's never like this. Maybe this is just a sign of how much he loves you." It was hard to spit those words out, knowing that I didn’t mean them one bit.

Evelia casted me a watery smile. "It's ok, Emie. I'm not too worried about it. I just---I tend to cry when I get angry. It's an annoying habit of mine."

"Oh," I responded, still not removing my draping arm. She still looked like she needed some comfort.

Ryan sheepishly reappeared minutes later, this time fully clothed. He fearfully peered from left to right before I assured him, "He's not here."

Ryan gave out a relieved sigh before he completely stepped out of the bathroom.

He then went stiff again and muttered with embarrassment, "I--um--I want to apologize for that. I guess I'll just go ahead and admit that I did intentionally dress like that, but not because I was trying to impress you guys or anything. And I definitely did not plan on Spencer taking my towel, believe me." His face was bright red again, and he kept his eyes locked on his shoes. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"No worries," I reassured him cheerfully. "I know it was for Fran."

"Fran?" repeated a curious Evelia.

"My girlfriend," informed Ryan, suddenly confident and happy. "But I'm going to try and keep her as secret as possible for as long as I can, so don't tell anyone. Especially Brendon."

Evelia laughed. "Yeah, I picked it up real fast that Brendon is a professional big mouth."

There was a tiny knock on the door, and we all yelled exaggerated welcomes. Fran appeared shyly in the doorway, her big eyes finding Ryan's immediately.

"Ryan!" she yelled, sprinting into his welcoming arms happily. "Babe, you did so well!"

Ryan caught her before she was able to trip on a stray guitar neck and chuckled. "Thanks, baby. That means a lot."

Fran laughed again and pulled away to give Ryan a confused expression. "Um--I hope you know that there are tons of crazy fans waiting to see you outside. One of them was a guy who seemed pretty upset about something. He kept muttering something like, 'Damn that Ryan Ross. Who does he think he is? Showing off his manhood for girls.' I personally think the dude was gay and hot for you."

Ryan went a little pale and quickly said, "Probably just some crazy stalker. Zack will take care of him. Um--how about we go out for dinner now? I'm starving!"

He shot me a look, and I immediately agreed enthusiastically, "Oh, yeah I’m hungry too! Let's blow this lame joint before that stalker dude gets his hands on Ryan and butt-rapes him."

I ignored Ryan's death glare and decided to strike up an animated discussion about llamas with Jon and Evelia.

X………X

Evelia wasn’t able to ride with us because she had to go find Brendon and make up. I was actually hoping that I could do that, but Evelia wouldn’t take it. She felt awful for yelling at him and said that she wouldn’t be able to get over it if she wasn’t the one to talk to him.

We found Grey on the way out, but he had to meet with his girlfriend, so he was unable to go out with us too. I hoped against hope that Brendon would show up at dinner. It would be one hell of a lonely night if he didn’t.

But, of course, neither Brendon nor Evelia showed up the entire night. Spencer and Gretel met us late into the dinner though. Ryan had a few ‘private words’ with Spencer in the men’s room, and Jon and I couldn’t help but to snicker to ourselves knowingly. That was about the most entertaining part of the entire night, aside from watching Fran numerously trip, fall, hit, and even break a few utensils.

At the end of dinner, they wanted to go out to a club. I refused and said I couldn’t because I had to work tomorrow, which was true, but I honestly could have lasted.

Once I got into my car, I pulled out my phone and saw that I had a missed call from Brendon.

Being the master multi-tasker I was, I was able to drive through the midnight Las Vegas traffic while I called Brendon.

Brendon answered on the fourth ring, a little breathless. “Hello?”

“Brendon? This is Emie. Did you call?”

“Huh? Emie? Oh yeah!” Brendon exclaimed with realization. “Yeah, yeah, I called you. I just wanted to say sorry for yelling at you earlier. Truth be told, I was PMSing.”

I laughed. “That sounds like you. So, was Evelia ever able to find you?”

Brendon laughed mischievously. “Oh yeah, she found me alright. Want to know something, Em?”

“Hit me,” I dared.

“We had a hot makeout session in a janitor’s closet,” whispered an excited Brendon. “She let me even go to second base! It was our first time, too!”

I gulped, trying to keep my voice steady. “That’s--that’s nice, Bren.”

Brendon laughed dangerously again. “Yeah, really nice. Really, really nice, actually! Anyways, I just dropped her off at her house, and now I have to get home. But I can’t drive with just one hand, you know. Wish I would have been blessed with that skill, but looks like it’s still only your talent, Em.”

“Yeah, sorry. I’ll let you go now then,” I hoarsely apologized.

“Thanks for calling me back. Hey! We should totally hang out again this weekend! Get a boyfriend so we can double date sometime!” Brendon ordered humorously. “Nah, I’m just kidding. Whoops! Gotta go! The neighborhood cop is giving me a weird look. Bye E---“ He was cut off by the dial tone.

“Bye Brendon,” I whispered miserably.

It was impossible; I was never going to win. Never.