Stick Boy and Match Girl

Being the powerful age of 11, life was tough and I hadn’t reached the preteen era of my life yet. I sat on the porch of my house watching Brendon who I thought wasn’t going to hang out with me and Ryan anymore, I figured he would get tired and move on but no that wasn’t the case. I don’t know how to describe Brendon Urie nicely, he was like that annoying cartoon show that everyone loved and once you decided to get give it another chance to rock your world it turns out to be a repeated episode that made you dislike the show in the first place. He just didn’t have me jumping for joy and to top it off he was the same age as me.

I watched as Brendon and Ryan were in that daredevil phase so at the moment I watching them attempt to ride a skateboard with no helmet or pads. With two guys and one girl there was that whole, ‘Boys rule and girls drool,’ kind of thing happening, even though Ryan didn’t support it he sure didn’t mind laughing at the stupid jokes that Brendon would throw my way. I was able to handle so much teasing before I would break down right in front of him, like I mentioned I’m still sensitive. Once the tears were streaming down my cheeks Ryan was the first to put Brendon back in his place.

Ryan had kept the promise of keeping me protected, fighting off the bullies like my dad asked, even in school. I haven’t seen my dad in a while, the last time I saw him was at my 10th birthday party, it was hard to ignore the screams that were coming from upstairs when a group of kids where gathered in the living room staring at me. I was growing worried and scared; Ryan was there to comforting me the best he could.

Still my dad would call every chance he got, he still tested me with the cootie sickness, I’ve been clean for 4 years. I missed him terribly, all I wanted was to have him back so our family could be happy once again, but those were all wishes.

I flinched and closed my eyes tightly at the sound of the skateboard landing hard on the pavement and Ryan’s knees hitting the ground along with that girly scream. I covered my eyes stopping myself from looking, I heard the repeated ‘Eww, Eww, Eww,’ coming from Brendon. I finally allowed myself to peek through my fingers and saw Ryan’s pants cut up and red liquid surfacing and drenching some his pants.

“ANNA!!” He screamed and looked over to me; I could see the tears reach the rim of his eyes but not slip out. It wasn’t that manly to be crying at 12 years old.

I got up quickly and ran over to him; I brought him to his feet and wrapped my arm around his waist as he held onto me for support. Brendon stood there with wide eyes just staring.

“You mind helping?” I asked annoyed, he grabbed Ryan’s legs as we started to head for my house. He got the door open and we wobbled all the way to the kitchen and helped him onto a chair. I called out for my mom who rushed down the stairs and started to panic at the sight of blood.

I couldn’t move even if I wanted to, Ryan had a death grip on my arm and his head rested against it. I looked away quickly as my mom started to apply the rubbing alcohol to Ryan’s cuts, his grip on my arm only tighten along with a small cry. I looked at Brendon who stood off to the side staring off into space. I let my eyes roll and looked down to the ground.

Ryan was now done and finally let go of my poor arm, I bent my arm looking over it seeing Ryan’s slim bright red finger prints, I looked at him easily forgiven him as he stared at me with those red eyes and a weak smile.

I walked over to the kitchen and opened the freezer grabbing three ice cream bars, I handed one to Brendon and passed on to Ryan. I stood in front of him I give him the ice cream and kissed his messy hair. I made a small face. “You still smell weird,” I said and looked down at him with a smile.

He grabbed the ice cream and laughed, “I need a bubble bath huh?” He asked and started to open his ice cream carefully.

“You need two of them,” I answered and opened my ice cream carelessly and bit into it. It’ll probably take 5 more years to come to realize that, that smell I always smell on Ryan is just his natural scent. That I would be addicted to it and I would find it the most comforting scent in the world. But right now he was just a boy that needed a lot bubble baths.

We sat around the table pigging out on ice cream until our stomachs ached. It was getting darker but we hardly noticed until my mom said there was worried mother outside yelling for Brendon, he quickly ran out saying quick goodbyes. I looked at Ryan and smiled softly to him it was only moments later that his dad was calling for him knowing exactly where he was. Ryan hugged me tightly before rushing off in a weird way due to his scrapped knees.

My mom told me to take a shower and to get ready bed it was still rather early but I didn’t fuss she didn’t look too happy. I walked up the stairs to my bathroom and got my pajamas and everything else ready for a shower. Almost an hour later I was done and had tossed my clothes into the hamper, I walked over to the edge of the stairs hearing my mom yelling into the phone; it must’ve been my dad.

Once she was off the phone I walked down and acted like I wasn’t standing on the top stairs eavesdropping. I looked over to my mom and headed for her as she held her hand. “Are you okay mom?” I asked nervously and bit down on my bottom lip.

“No, I’m not okay.” She hissed. “Were you listening into our conversation? How many times do I have to tell you about that Anna?” My mom’s voice rose louder than it had on the phone, before I knew I was slapped across the face. “Get out!” She yelled and pointed to the stairs.

I felt my breathing getting caught in my throat, I rushed out of the room and ran up the stairs in tears to my room and slammed the door closed scared. I was breathing heavily and swallowed hard, the tears taking over. I brought my hand to lip and wiped the tears they were red, I touched my lip over and over again to see that it wasn’t tears and that it was blood.

I cried harder not too sure on what I was supposed to do, I looked over to my window and noticed Ryan’s light on. I turned off my light and got some socks on and walked over to the window. I opened it up and carefully climbed out. I grabbed onto the branch of the tree and climbed out. It was hard to see with the tears blocking my vision, I got to the ground. I rushed over to Ryan’s house on the side and brought up the ladder that came in handy from time to time.

I quickly climbed up not a care in the world that I could possibly just slip right down it. I knocked on the window and waited, wiping my eyes and the blood with the back of my hand. Ryan opened his window up with a wide smile that soon faded in worry.

“Anna, wow… what happened to you?” he asked concerned and pulled me into the room. I tripped over some cords and crashed into Ryan’s chest and we were now sitting on his floor. I curled up into his chest and arms, my arms tightly gripping onto his slim waist.

“She was… on the phone and I knew it was my dad and she was yelling she knew I was at the top of the stairs and I couldn’t help it Ryan. And well I went down to ask if she was okay, but she flipped out on me and slapped me across the face and I bit my lip.” I explained scared.

I jumped a little as Ryan started to clean my lip with his shirt; I closed my eyes and cuddled into him more. He didn’t say anything for a while probably waiting until the blood stopped. He wrapped his arm around me and brought me closer.

“I know, it’ll fade… she’s just upset and she can’t control it. I know what you’re feeling because I’ve lived it… still kind of do but I have you now, so it’s okay.” Ryan confessed.

I looked up at him and brought my hand to his cheek and sighed, I closed my eyes. I didn’t know that the two of us would be living kind of the same life. We ended up in his bed just like it was the same old thing; it sort of became a normal thing. Ryan would sneak into my room when he felt alone and I would do the same. I needed him.