Don't Hold Your Breath

"Ryan! We are going to have so much fun!" She ranted on while driving me from the air port. "I haven't seen you since you were a little boy!"

"You mean since they sent you to--" 

"Vacation!" she cut me off. "It was nothing more then an extended vacation." She "corrected." me. Vacation my ass. More like psychotic rehab. 

The rest of the drive was pretty silent. 

Ha. 

I wish. 

Let me rephrase that. 

For the rest of the ride I was silent. She wouldn't shut up for the whole ride. 

It wouldn't have been so bad if she wasn't talking about the devil the whole time. 

We drove up and I turned to the trunk to get my suitcase. 

"Wait Ryan don't touch that!" she exclaimed smacking my hand away. 

"Ow! What?" 

"I haven't sprayed it with holy water yet!" God . . . What the hell?

She threw it on the lawn, pulled out a spritz bottle with a cross on it, then proceeded to spray it down. 

I just sat there with my mouth open. I didn't think she was that crazy. 

Guess I was wrong. 

"There. It's safe now." She gave a satisfied sigh, and made her way into the house. 

"I sighed and brought it into the house. The sooner I get my shit together, the sooner I can call Brendon. 

I brought my bags into the house, throwing them on a random couch. I glanced around and was taken aback by how perfectly clean everything was. Everything was white and set perfectly in place.

"Ryan! Your room is down the hall, second door on the left.!" She called from the kitchen. 

I made my way down the hall and came to a bedroom that matched the rest of the house. I threw the suitcase on my bed and pulled out my cell. I was greeted by Brendon's smiling face. 

I hit speed dial and brought the phone to me ear. 

It rang all of about twice. I could tell he had been waiting by the phone. 

"Well it's about time." he muttered from the other line. He sounded depressed. 

It kinda brought me down. 

"I loved the playlist sweetie." I said collapsing on the bed next to the suitcase. 

"I miss you." he mumbled again.

"I know. I miss you too. But moping around won't do any good. Why don't you cheer up?" I tried. I heard him sigh on the other line.  

"Its not that easy when your boyfriend is two thousand miles away." 

"Brendon" I whined. "I feel like crap too. But I need to hear you at least pretend to be happy. Bren, your my boyfriend, and I love you. . ." I felt my face heat up. I wasn't used to words like that. But it also kinda felt nice.

"I love you too." I could almost hear the smile in his voice. There was a bit of a silence as he thought of something to say. "So... How is Alabama?" I could almost hear the snicker in his voice this time. 

"Its humid, smells like cow shit, and my aunt is insane. I hate it." 

"Come on, she can't be that bad. " he tried. 

"She sprayed holy water on my suitcase, and put a cross around my neck, telling me that if I took it off 'the devil will get his hands on me'" I said using air quotes even though he couldn't see me. 

I heard nothing but laughter from the other line.

"Its not funny!" I whined. Even though it was good to hear him laugh. 

"It is too, because I'm not the one it's happening to." Okay now he's just being plain mean. 

"Well I-"

"RYAN! WILL YOU COME HERE PLEASE!" my aunt yelled from the main room. 

I sighed. "BE RIGHT THERE!" I yelled back covering the phone so I wasn't yelling directly in Brendon's ear. 

"Ugh. I have to go. Aunt Amy Is calling me. I'll call you back in a little bit. I love you. 

He sighed. "Love you too. Bye." 

"Bye." And I hung up. 

I walked into the dinning room to find her sitting at the table with her arms crossed. 

"Ryan." She said sternly. 

"Yes..?" 

"Who were you talking to?" She said staring me in the eye. 

"Erm, my f-friend... On the phone..." I stuttered not because I was bad at lying, but because she was kind of intimidating. 

"What was his name? Brendon?" she asked nonchalantly. Oh crap. She was listening. No, no, no. "Tell me. Do you call all male friends your Boyfriend and tell them you love them?" 

"You were eavesdropping on my conversation?" I asked in disbelief. 

"Well I heard you talking to someone, and I had to make sure you weren't conversing with the dark side." 

I just stared at her agape in disbelief. 

"Ryan, give me your phone." She held out her hand. 

"What! Why?!" I got defensive now. 

"I can't have you talking to that boy. He's under the devils influence." 

"Well if he is then so am I!" I exclaimed. 

"No, because I purified you. Now give me your phone. You can have it back when you stop being so stubborn." 

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and slammed it down on the table. 

"There! Take it! Ruin my life! Everyone does!" I yelled throwing my arms in the air and storming out of the house. I slammed the door as hard as I could and began storming down the sidewalk. I had no idea where I was going, or where I was really, but I was so angry my face was red. And I was so preoccupied with myself I didn't notice the girl sitting on the sidewalk right under my feet. 

Needless to say I tripped over her and ended up on my face. 

"Ow. What the hell?" She said looking over at me picking myself up off my ass. She didn't seem to have a southern accent. Weird. "Dude, are you all right?" she asked my helping me up. 

"Yeah I'm fine." I grumbled rubbing the back of my head. 

"Where are you going in such a hurry anyways?" she asked sitting back down in her original place. 

"No where in particular. I just had to get away from the crazy house." I said pointing towards my aunts house. 

"You mean you live there? With crazy Amy? Man I'm sorry." she said. 

"Yeah me too." I said sighing and sitting next to her. "Mind if I join you?"

"Nah go ahead. It may not he much of a party though." She seemed down. Although I didn't know her very well, she just didn't seem to have a very high energy. 

"What were you doing out here anyways?" I asked making conversation. 

She sighed. " Not to different from what you are. I had to escape. I just got in a fight with my parents." She mumbled. 

"I see. Well if you need to talk about it. I could make a pretty good therapist." I added nonchalantly. I don't know why I was being so nice. I guess there was just something about her I liked. 

No not like that. 

I'm gay remember? 

"Are you hitting on me?" She asked with an eyebrow raised. 

"What? No! Of course not! That's just.... No." She looked at me, amused. "No, no, it's not that you're not attractive, er, no I mean..... God I'm an idiot."

"Gay right?" She put bluntly. 

"I-um....what?" I stuttered. Why is she not disgusted, or screaming, or running...?

"Am I wrong?"

"N-no" I sighed in defeat.

"Knew it." she smirked to herself. 

I raised my eyebrows at her. "Excuse me?" 

"I grew up in sanfrancisco. I know more gay people then I do straight people. So.... I have an amazing gaydar." She smiled. 

"Then why did you ask if I was hitting on you?"

"Because I like making people uncomfortable." 
Ha. Figures. 

"Ha. Figures." Oops. Didn't mean to say that out loud. 

"What?" great. Now I get to explain. 

"Well, I mean, you don't exactly look like you belong here. Here. Homophobic. Religious. Conservative. Crap town." I ranted on. 

"I see. Well you don't exactly look like you belong here either. Most guys wouldn't wear skinny jeans in public for fear of being ridiculed. "

"Yeah well I don't belong here. I was forced to move here by the man, leaving my boyfriend behind. Do you know how crazy Amy is? She took away my my cell phone so I can't call him. " I vented. 

"I'm sorry. How long are you here for?" 

"Until I turn 18." 

"And that is....?" 

"August." I sighed. 

"Wow... Well... I do happen to have a cell phone... And oh look! Full battery..." she said pulled her cell out of her pocket. She then surreptitiously threw it on my lap.

"N-no I couldn't. I wouldn't want to run up your bill." I reluctantly handed her her phone.

"Unlimited minutes." she sang tossing it back. 

Well I guess it couldn't hurt....

I gave her a quick hug. Grabbing the phone. 

"Thank you so much!" I exclaimed. I would have immediately dialed his number if I could have figured out how to use the damn thing. It was some fancy touch screen thing. Nothing like my ghetto phone. 

"Um....." I fumbled with it a little before she grabbed it from me pushing a bunch if random buttons bringing me to a key pad. "ha. Thanks." I dialed the familiar number and brought it to my ear. 

"My name's Kaela by the way."