I'm Just a Kid That Tried Too Hard

“I’m home. Come see me.”

My ringtone goes off nice and loud, waking me up from a lovely dream. I groan and look at the clock. “7:13 am” flashes back at me in a green light. This is still an ungodly hour for me on a Sunday morning. I lay there on my back staring at my ceiling for a moment before fumbling for my phone. I read the text that came from who must be the only person who must think it’s okay to text someone so early in the goddamn morning.

“Do you know what time it is?” I quickly type back. It’s a miracle I don’t mistype anything.

I can already feel myself falling asleep again. I’ve just about accomplished this when Tom DeLonge’s voice jars me awake…again.

“It’s 7:18. Were you asleep?” I decide to ignore his question and tell him to pick me up in 20 minutes if he wants to see me. I roll out of bed and throw some clothes on and brush my teeth. My hair is nicely waved so I choose to leave it be. Why am I getting up so early for him? I could just as easily have said “fuck you” and gone back to sleep. I quickly toast some cinnamon bread and butter it while my phone buzzes. I don’t even look at it, but instead look out the window to see Brad putting his phone in his pocket.

I exit my building still holding my almost finished piece of toast. He smiles at me. I almost smile back, but decide the there’s no need to gross him out with my half chewed lame excuse of a breakfast so I wave instead. I finish my last bite. “We could’ve gone to lunch you know. You’re more likely to find me awake and happy at that time.” He laughed, “I couldn’t wait! Are you not a morning person?” I take a step forward while grumbling, “I’m up, and so that counts for something. You must be pretty damn special.” He smiles at me, “I am. Let’s go for a ride.” He opens his car door for me and I crawl inside.

His car is similar to Tyler’s, but I can say that Tyler’s car was a lot cleaner. I throw a shirt that must’ve been his into the back. I put my seatbelt on and turn to face him to let him know I’m ready. He nods and puts the car into drive. I go to touch the radio but stop, “May I?” I gesture to the radio. He nods and I click through the stations. Then I notice he has an Ipod converter. I take mine out of my oversized bag and plug it in.

I scroll through my music quickly. I have no idea what he listens to so I go for something from Boston, so if he didn’t like them I had some claim to them. ‘Neverland’ by Bad Rabbits starts to play. I’m nodding my head to the song. If there is one way to wake up right, it’s to listen to this song.

I look over at him and he’s looking at me skeptically. I laugh, “What? They’re from Boston! Have some respect!” I keep bobbing my head and smiling. The weather’s surprisingly nice for so early in the morning. I roll the window down to share the music with the runners that we pass.

Brad shakes his head, “What else is on there?” I think for a moment then grab my ipod back up and scroll quickly to Eminem. “Without Me” starts playing and I start to sing along. After a few lines, Brad does to. That immediately causes me to stop and gape at him. He’s horrendous! He stops too, embarrassed, “Am I really that bad?” He’s turning red now.
I quickly try to cover up my shock, “No! It was just, uh, unexpected.” He smiles and he pretends to believe me. He reaches over and takes my hand. “Ok sure. Whatever you say.”

As it turns out, he takes me to eat breakfast at his apartment that he shares with Seguin. We walk in and the place actually looks really classy and nice. There was a lot of grey and black…and yellow. Brad leads me into their equally charming kitchen area. Their apartment is easily twice the size of mine with a much better view. I mentally swoon. It would be so cool if my kitchen looked anything like this.

He has me sit on a bar stool and opens the fridge. I notice that there are suit cases next to me. “You haven’t even unpacked yet?” He looks from me to the bags and rubs the back of his neck. “Actually, Segs brought my bags from the airport. I drove right to your apartment.” I just look at him. Is he for real? No guy would ever do that. This is a dream. I am now convinced I am dreaming because this is too good to be true. Little things like this go miles in my mind.

He comes over and stands in front of me. “Is that too much?” I smile sheepishly at him and shrug half heartedly. He laughs, “Oh, my bad. Ignore what I just said then.” Of course, it’s early. I am feeling loved by what he just said. I’m in a good mood. All of these must factor in to what I do next. I gently pull his face to mine and kiss him.

He’s obviously surprised but goes with it nonetheless. He takes one of my hands and places the other casually at my hip. I stand up so I can be closer to him. He tastes like toothpaste and coffee. I smile into the kiss. I can’t say how long we stood there like that, but Tyler comes out in a pair of boxers and a tooth brush in his mouth to interrupt us.

“Oh shit, sorry dude!” He shouts before hurrying back through the doorway he came from. We both look at each other and laugh. I lean my forehead into his chest. I can feel his chest vibrate with his almost silent laughter.

That felt right. It wasn’t fireworks like with what people described in books. It was more along the lines of a click. My lips haven’t touched his in not even a minute and I already miss their touch. It’s almost like something in my mind has been put at ease.
That probably doesn’t make sense but that’s the best I can do.

------

Brad made pancakes that weren’t actually that bad. Tyler came into the room and gave me a sloppy kiss on the cheek. I laughed as he sat next to me and stole some of my pancakes. Brad came around the breakfast bar and smacked him upside the head. The conversation flowed easily between the three of us. It felt like I had known them forever.
He dropped me off at my campus 45 minutes later. I ran around the front of his car and pecked him on the lips one more time before running to my art class. I think he enjoyed me as much as I did him.

I’m the last one to enter the art room, which is weird because I’m usually there even before the professor. Ross looks up and waves me over. I smile at him graciously for saving me a seat and my favorite easel. I looked over at him with a small smile, “So, guess who I just had breakfast with…” Ross takes a drink of his ever present coffee, and looks at me, “Was it a Bruin?”

I nod, hardly containing my excitement, “Two actually! Brad took me to his house where he made me and Tyler breakfast.” Ross looks at me critically. I sigh, “Ok, Tyler and I!” He gives a relieved smile. Yeah, he’s that guy. “So what’s the deal with that then? Are you all just in one giant relationship or…?” I laugh and smack his arm lightly.

“No! I…I’m not in a relationship...I kissed Brad though.” Without another word, Ross stands up and walks to the middle of the room. The easels are set up in a large circle so everyone can see him. He clears his throat and begins to speak, “Excuse me! I would like everyone to know something. You all know your fellow classmate Devin is not the most outgoing girl, BUT this morning she initiated a kiss with a guy. She was at his place. She has met his roommate. Can we all give our lovely Devin a round of applause?” With that, the class starts clapping, as does the teacher.

I am bright red. I can feel my skin burning. Ross is such a dick. I look around at the other kids in my class. Most of them are smiling at me, while a couple girls are glaring at me. Why? I don’t know. Ross comes back and sits on his stool. I turn back to my painting and start in on Boston’s B on the ice.