The Calendar

Brendon woke up to an empty house, but that didn't bother him too much. Jon probably had guitar lessons that morning or something, and both Mr. and Mrs. Walker were at work. But when the seventeen-year-old stepped into the wide kitchen, another boy was perched in one of the swivel chairs around the island.

"Um, hi," Brendon said slowly, making Ryan jump then blush.

"H-hi- sorry- um- Spencer had stuff to do today so he sent me over here. Sorry."

“Why are you sorry?” Brendon watched his shoes, trying to hide a smile that he got when Ryan was around. He only got the smile sometimes like when Ry was being cute as he was being then.

"Because- um…" The blushing boy gestured at Brendon, who glanced down at himself to find he was still in just the boxers he slept in.

"So?"

"I-I don't know- um-" He coughed a few times, then ducked his head. Then, and Brendon thought it random to say, Ry asked, "Has Spencer told you guys I'm um. I'm gay?"

With a slight raise of shoulders Bren replied, “I'm pretty gay, but not entirely.”

“Not entirely.” the taller one chuckled, nodding like it was something not completely moronic and didn’t make any actual sense.

"Well- I mean, I have a girlfriend-"

"Oh." Ryan bit his lip, and Brendon pretended he wasn't staring.

"Yeah,” was the taken teenager’s response. He opened the fridge and looked inside. “Have you had breakfast yet?”

“And lunch.”

“Why?”

“It’s almost one o’clock.”

“No,” Brendon gasped and laughed at the same time, closing the refrigerator dramatically. “It’s not that late.” The numbers on the microwave didn’t lie though. It was five minutes after one. “Why’d no one wake me?”

“Eh,” Ryan shrugged.

Brendon shrugged a 'whatever' and opened the cereal cabinet. Lucky Charms are always good late-lunch food. "So," he started, as an attempt at casual conversation, "Why're you staying with Spin for the summer?"

Ryan swallowed. "Um, well, you know how I kind of... Freaked out that one time when you guys were drunk?" He took a heavy breath and Brendon nodded for him to continue. "And Spencer's rules? A-about t-t-touching?"

The other frowned but kept nodding. "Yeah?"

"Um... my dad's kind of going to an alcoholic rehab thingy until August. For, um. Hittingmearoundwhenhesdrunk."

"Oh." That's all he can say. "Oh. So... He-?"

"Please don't ask," Ryan whimpered, slouching farther into his chair, then pressing his face into Brendon's chest when the shorter walked around the kitchen island to hug him, careful to avoid his fragile wrists.

"I won't."

They stayed like that until a few feet away Ashly's name lit up on Brendon's phone.

“Do you have to answer it?” Ryan asked quietly. He didn’t want the hug to end just yet.

“I do. You don’t want an angry girlfriend coming over wanting to kill me do you?” He meant it as a joke, but it was hard for Ryan to find it funny. Brendon answered the phone. “Heyyyy, girlllly. Yeah of course I’m still at Jon’s.” There was a pause and Brendon eyed the boy he still had one arm around. “I’m sorry. I can’t. It’s a guy day.”

Excitement simmered in Ryan’s stomach. He knew he shouldn’t get his hopes up, but there was nothing stopping him from kicking his feet and grinning.

Brendon put his phone away and hugged Ryan again. “So, what do you wanna do?”

“Well first, you should put some pants on.”

“Lammmeeeee,” he sighed, but walked out of the room and came back with pants on.

"And maybe a shirt, too," Ryan added, cheeks flushing light pink again.

"Or we could just go swimming."

The taller shifted his weight in the chair. "I'd rather not."

"C'mon, Ryro," Brendon pleaded, suddenly away from the kitchen door and inches away from his companion, making Ryan's breath catch in his throat for a moment.

"Um-"

"You have no valid reason to not go swimming because it's a hundred degrees outside and this is Las Vegas."

"We could just stay inside. Because its a hundred degrees."

"Laaaammme! Think of another excuse! I dareth thee!"

Both giggled at Brendon's terrible fake accent before Ry turned thoughtful.

"Um... Well, I spent over an hour on my face this morning. And I don't have a swim suit!" He grinned triumphantly. "HA! Two good reasons!"

Brendon pushed his forehead against Ryan's and grinned back. "Over an hour?" He fluttered his eyelashes and pretended to be swooning. "I can't believe you took an hour on your makeup just because you knew you'd be spending the day with me!"

Ryan pretended his new friend wasn't 100-percent correct.

"Oh, and also? You can just borrow like, Spencer's or Jon's probably."

"I still don't want to go swimming. Can't we just sit around and watch Tim Burton movies? Please?" Ryan whined, trying to ignore how fucking close Brendon is.

Not like it wasn't viceversa for Brendon.

"After you go swimming with me!"

“Okay. But only five minutes.”

Brendon giggled and ran out of the room. Ryan shuffled to Jon’s room and borrowed his suit. When he got back into the kitchen Brendon was jumping up and down like a five year old. He ran out to the backyard where the swimming pool was and jumped into the sparkling water.

Ryan had left on a shirt because he was too insecure about his body- what would Brendon think about how his ribs kind of showed? Or how his hips stuck out? Not worth the risk. Most of the make-up was washed off because he didn’t want it running into the pool.

“You still have a shirt on,” Brendon did snicker as Ryan just sat at the edge of the pool with his feet in the water. “At least get in the pool.” Brendon was tempted to pull him in but didn’t want to break any of the rules. “Please?”

After an eye roll the teenager got into the water and was soon splashed. “Stop.” He glared at Brendon who was just trying to be playful.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Not sorry,” he whispered under his breath.

“Can we go inside yet?”

“It’s only been like two minutes! I get three more!” He splashed Ryan again and swam away as Ryan tried to get him. “You can’t catch me, Ross,” he giggled, swimming backwards to get a look at the skinny boy but as he turned around he didn’t see Ryan. “Oh my god,” Brendon stood up thinking that Ryan had drown. “Shit. Spencer is going to be so pissed.”

“I got you,” Ryan whispered, backwards hugging the guy he had a small crush on. “Can we watch movies now?” His breath graced Brendon’s ear and gave him a few goose bumps.

“Yeah.”