If I Told You I Loved You, How Far Would You Run?

Kissing Pete is nothing like kissing Ryan. Ryan had soft, gentle lips with the lingering flavor of chocolate and snicker-doodles. Pete tastes of saliva and stale cigarettes and his lips feel rough against mine.

When he pulls away from me, still clutching my face, I’m breathless, overwhelmed, and I say the first thing that pops into my head: “You smoke?”

Pete cracks up. “I just kissed you, Brendon, maybe your first kiss, and all you think of is my smoking?” he says. “You’re a funny guy.”

“You weren’t my first kiss,” I mumble uncertainly.

“Okay fine, first kiss from a guy,” Pete says.

“You weren’t my first kiss from a guy either,” I say with more confidence. “Ryan kissed me.”

Pete looks shocked and amused. “Then all the more reason to win him back,” he says decisively. “So don’t forget I’m your boyfriend now.”

“I doubt you’d let me,” I mutter and Pete grins.

“See? We’re off to a great start already!”

He insists on coming back to the apartment after school, dragging Patrick and William with him, much to Spencer’s displeasure.

“I don’t care that you're friends with him, but inviting him back to our place?” he fumes as we drive home. “You know I can’t stand him!”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” I say apologetically. “But it wasn’t my idea; Pete sorta demanded upon it.”

Spencer grips the steering wheel tighter and ignores me the rest of way home, where we meet up with Pete, Patrick, and William outside the building.

Once inside our apartment, Spencer shoots me one last dirty look and runs off to his room, probably to hang out with Jon.

“I don’t know why I’m here,” Patrick says quietly as we grab seats around the dining table. “I think Pete just made me come ‘cuz I ride with him.”

“Yeah, basically,” Pete says. “Why don’t you run along and hang out with Spencer?”

Patrick gladly takes his suggestion and I direct him down the hall to Spencer and Jon’s room, since the three of them get along well, leaving Pete, William, and I at the table.

“I heard about you and Pete,” William says in a dry voice. “Congratulations.”

“Uh, you do know that it’s a ploy to make Ryan jealous, right?” I ask cautiously, wondering what Pete might have told him.

“Well duh,” William says. “I’m glad you’re finally working hard to get him. It was so painful to watch the two of you play cat-and-mouse games for the past year or so. Not that you’ve quite stopped that yet.”

I blush; I guess it was pretty obvious how in love with Ryan I am. That is, to everyone but Ryan himself. “And why are you guys here again?” I ask.

“To help you get ready to make Ryan jealous,” William says excitedly. “You know, I almost feel sorry for the boy.”