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-Brendon’s POV-

I intently stared at the table, my thoughts overwhelming me. What was going on? I barely knew this kid, yet I felt a need to help him – an undying need to be around him. That same awkwardness from the other night crept into the room, probably because I was thinking too hard, as usual. And why did he choose me to have a little “crush” on?

I just sat there, not moving at all, barely breathing, only thinking. I felt my mind sink deeper and deeper into thought when I was suddenly brought back to the surface by the sound of his voice. It made me nervous, but I didn’t know why.

“Hey… are you okay?”

“Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking.”

“About what?” He asked, curiosity and confusion plastered on his delicate face.

“Oh… I don’t know… just stuff… It’s not important.”

More silence filled the room; that horrid feeling crept over me. I felt so nervous around him.

He stood up for a second, waiting for me to speak, but I said nothing. I couldn’t quite get my voice to work. I could tell he wanted to escape this – we both did.

“I think I’m gonna go shower and like, clean myself up.” He said. Relief washed over me, and his expression gave away the fact that he most definitely noticed this. Not another word was said as he left his empty plate at the table and walked back to the room.

I was left alone to ponder what was going on, realizing an emptiness that overflowed my mind the second he walked away. The silence was almost eerie. Why did he confuse me so much? I sat there not even thinking. My mind was idle; I didn’t even budge.

I must have been like this for some time because in what felt like a split second, Ryan was back, showered and all dolled up. Why?

“What’s with the fancy getup?” I bit my lip in confusion.

He shrugged at me, smirked, and said, “I got bored.”

He got bored. The boy gets bored, so he dresses himself up like a doll? I began laughing, almost hysterically. I had only somewhat composed myself when I looked up to see an eyebrow raised at me. “S-sorry, I don’t know why I thought that was funny.” I was still laughing just a little, and in all honesty, I really didn’t understand why.

-Ryan’s POV-

He was seriously beginning to piss me off. Last night, he was kind and sweet. He made me feel at home. Today he was just making things more awkward than hell, and I couldn’t figure out why. He had been acting weird all day, avoiding me whenever he could. What was going on in his mind?

I wish I could understand him. I wish I could just get over him. The one thing I knew I needed to do, though, was get out of his house for the time being.

“Hey Brendon?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I’m gonna go get more of my stuff. I only brought a few days’ worth of clothes and things.”

He just nodded at me with absolutely no words whatsoever. I sighed, walking out the door to my car. I put the key in the ignition and drove to what used to be my home. Once I got there, the only feeling inside was an empty depression, haunting me. The house was completely empty and lifeless.

The door was unlocked, so I invited myself inside, naturally. The whole place just felt creepy and lonely. I didn’t like this at all. I wanted to get out as quickly as possible. I glanced up on the shelf in the entry way and saw there was a message on the phone. The caller ID said it was from my aunt. That was odd. We hadn’t talked in years.

I decided, reluctantly of course, to call her back. I dialed the number and listened to the ring. I waited, and finally she picked up on the forth ring.

“Ryan?” I heard her ask.

“Hey.” I said, “Why did you call before? Sorry, I’m kind of staying at a friend’s house so…”

“It’s alright, I understand.” She said.

It started off as small talk, as it usually does, but she started talking about my father’s will. He had a will? I was unaware of this. The fact that he took the time to even write down such a thing baffled me. He was always too busy getting drunk and telling me how much of a fuck up I am to do anything else.

She continued, telling me what was on the will. “Well, it seems like he gave pretty much everything to you.” My jaw dropped. I didn’t know what to say or how to respond. She just kept talking, saving me from having to think. “Apparently the house and his car are completely paid off, too.” This shocked me even more. How did his low-paying job handle that? I don’t even want to know, nor did I care.

She went on and on about how lucky I am to be receiving all this. Though he had very little money in the bank account, there were absolutely no debts to pay off, and I just automatically owned everything. I felt lucky, yet at the same time, being in this empty home creeped me the fuck out. I could still feel his presence, even though it was gone, as if he was haunting me or something. Fuck, I don’t know.

We said our goodbyes after a while, and I just sat down on the couch, completely stunned at what just happened. Everything was… mine? I assumed he would have given everything to my aunt, his sister, because she wasn’t the “fuck up of the family.”

I got lost in my thoughts, just completely lost. Why did he give it all to me? I didn’t understand. I felt myself begin to cry again. What if he actually did love me, and all that anger was just something he couldn’t control? No, I’m crazy.

I decided I wasn’t going to tell Brendon anything about it, yet. I grabbed a suitcase from my closet and just grabbed everything I could fit in there and shoved it all in. I hastily left the house, not wanting to sit in that loneliness a second more, and proceeded back to Brendon’s.