The Punchline to the Joke Is Asking

After everyone fought over loving everyone else for a good hour (or three), we decided we all loved each other and signed a peace treaty, even forcing Ryan to sign.
Then we made everyone play Twister.
Patrick and Andy got themselves out on purpose, then went to play videogames, which made Joe scramble to follow them and knock Pete over, leaving Gabe, Bill, Ryan, Brendon, and me.
Then Brendon started playing dirty, poking Gabe until he finally collapsed, laughing. Brendon obviously hadn't thought it through, because Gabe landed on him and knocked him over, too.
Ryan, Bill, and I all exchanged unnecessarily competitive looks, then turned to Pete, who flicked the spinner.
"Right hand, green." He grinned wickedly.
I was too short to reach the green. That was so not fair. Then I realized I could reach for the green behind me.
I reached for it, now facing the ceiling instead of the mat, and put my right hand on green. Then Ryan reached over me, leaning across me as if her were laying on top of me, to reach the green that was too far away for me.
"Show off." I muttered, sticking my tongue out at him, and he laughed.
"Don't pretend you don't love me." He grinned, and I rolled my eyes.
Then Bill shoved his hand off the green dot and took it possessively, making Ryan fall on me, which sent us both crashing down.
"My spot." Bill glared, the only one left standing... or rather, contorted into an odd shape.
Ryan rolled off me, laughing. "Nice job, Bill."
"I so could've won that! Best two outta three!" I yelled at Bill, tackling him so he fell, too.
He wrapped his arms around me, keeping me on top of him.
"You're comfy." I remarked, cuddling up to him.
"What about me?" Ryan pouted, and I grinned at him, happy he wasn't as shy as before.
"You're comfy, too."
"You're really tiny." Bill remarked. "How are you so skinny?"
"How are you?" I challenged, and he laughed.
*
*
When I got home after chilling with the guys, I thought about them. I knew that at least Fall Out Boy, Gabe, and Bill had noticed the scars on my arms, but nobody said anything. I'd caught them looking, though. I was sure they didn't know about my semi-anorexia- it helped, when I was trying to get by on the street. I was doing fine, better than I had on the streets, without my medicine. It was supposed to help with the bipolar part of me, but it just made me want to die. I didn't need it.

One day, I was wandering around town when I found an adorable bookstore, almost completely hidden by the outlet chains around it.
I went inside, savoring the smell of coffee and new books, and drifted around, winding up by horror novels. It'd been so long since I'd gotten a good book I hadn't read.
As I skimmed the titles, I shifted down the shelf, unaware that someone was doing the same from the opposite end, until we gently bumped in the middle.
"Sorry." Mumbled a familiar voice, and I turned to see Ryan, looking down at me and blushing underneath his paperboy hat. "Oh. Hey, Cyn." He grinned.
"Hey Ryan." I hugged him, then went back to looking. "Didn't peg you for a horror person."
"Could say the same about you." He replied, both of us too absorbed to form complete sentences.
"Touché." I grinned, glancing at him out the corner of my eye. He was grinning to himself.
Just then, I spotted a good-looking book. 'Cell' by Stephen King. I reached for it, and Ryan apparently had the same idea.
Our hands brushed, and we looked at each other.
"Mine." Ryan said, grinning as he snatched the book. I just stuck my tongue out and reached for the other copy, on the shelf above it. Just out of reach. I stood on my tiptoes, stretching for it as Ryan watched with interest. I faked a glare at him.
"What?" He asked innocently, as I gave up reaching for the book.
"Fine, don't take he hint. I'll go find another guy to be my hero." I shrugged, and turned away, but Ryan put a hand on my shoulder.
I looked back at him, and he handed me the book. I know my face lit up- who wouldn't be psyched to be handed the latest novel by the master of horror?
"Thanks, Ryan." I hugged him, then we wandered around together, suggesting books for each other, insulting some of the lamer books. He laughed when I moved the Twilight Saga to the children's section and the Bible to the Fantasy shelves. Then he moved Star Wars to nonfiction, so I hugged him.
Then we were told to stop rearranging the store, so we got our books and left. "OMG, we should have a reading party!" I grinned at him, and he raised an eyebrow at me, amused. "No, really! We just sit there and read. I did it with my friends once. We had junk food, and really quiet music, and a million books and the three of us just read all day. Best party ever." I grinned, and Ryan laughed.
"That sounds fun."
"Awesome!" I grinned, then grabbed his hand and pulled him back to my place. I put on the acoustic station I'd found on my radio, and then we crashed on the couches, pulling out our new books.
Every now and then, we moved a little, and I eventually wound up with my feet propped up on Ryan's lap, leaning back on the armrest of the couch.
Then I glanced over the top of my book at Ryan, who was completely absorbed in the text, just as I had been when I read that part a minute ago. I decided to scare the shit out of him, because it was a freaky part of the book.
I whacked him with a pillow, making him jump about a mile and yelp. Then he glared at me, setting his book down and crossing his arms.
I just smiled innocently at him over the top of my book, until he whacked me back.
Then I dropped my book and tackled him, wrestling the pillow away from him and hitting him with it over and over.
He tried to get the pillow back, leaning over me, holding me down, but I held on for dear life, whacking him with it when I could. He finally gave up on my pillow and grabbed another, and we started trying to kill each other with them, laughing hysterically.

When we finally collapsed on the couch again, laughing and exhausted, we grinned at each other.
"Reading parties are fun." Ryan winked at me.
"I love them." I grinned back, then glanced at the clock. "Since when is it 1 in the morning?" I asked, astounded.
Ryan, too, looked at the clock, surprised. "Oops."
I giggled. "Reading sleepover?" I suggested.
"Sounds good." Ryan grinned, then yawned, making me yawn, too. I leaned into his side, cuddling up to him on the couch, and he put an arm around me as we both grabbed our books, picking up where we left off.

I guess we fell asleep sometime, because when I opened my eyes we were still sitting together on the couch, Ryan's arm around me and our books open to the same page.
I just smiled, closed my eyes, and went back to sleep.
The next time I woke up was because someone dumped very cold water one my head. I sat up with a yelp as Ryan gasped, both of us drenched.
We looked at our attacker.
"Bden, how'd you get in my house?" I whined, wrapping my arms around myself.
"Joe showed me how to pick locks." Brendon answered innocently.
"I never should've taught him that." I growled, and Brendon giggled.
"So, Ryan, how was your night?" Brendon asked wickedly, giggling.
Ryan rolled his eyes. "We read our books."
Brendon frowned at us. "You guys are boring."
"No, I'm soaked." I glared at Brendon, then had an idea.
"Hey, Cyn, what's with the look-" Brendon began nervously, but I tackled him.

After Brendon took Ryan away, I showered and changed into my favorite My Chem t-shirt, and a pair of skinny jeans. It was almost time to meet the guys at the studio to record my first single.
When I breezed into the studio, the guys were all grinning in a way that made me stop and eye them warily.
"What'd you booby-trap?" I asked slowly.
"We didn't do anything." Pete replied mildly. "Brendon just told us you and Ryro had fun last night."
I facepalmed, groaning. "We had a reading party."
"What?" Joe asked, confused.
"We stayed up late with junk food and the new Stephen King book. It's fun for anybody who likes reading." I explained.
"Why wasn't I invited?" Patrick pouted.
"Well, I didn't really plan this one. I walked into a random bookstore and found Ryan, and then we got kicked out so we decided to-"
"Wait, Ryan Ross got kicked out of a bookstore?" Pete asked, shocked, but starting to look almost... proud.
"Yeah. My bad." I grinned, rubbing the back of my neck.
"What did you do?" Andy laughed.
"We put Twilight with the kids stuff, the Bible in Fantasy, and Star Wars in Nonfiction." I grinned.
"I love you." Joe latched onto me, and Andy high fived me.
"Ok, we're just doing the vocals today, cool?" Pete asked, looking at me. "I know it's backwards, but we need to get a feel for how you record."
I nodded and went into the booth, ready to sing the day away.