Sequel: If Only Until Morning

Pictures on Silence

Chapter 56

When the doorbell rang, I ambled to the door and eased it open. No need to rush. It was only Brendon. And Spencer, grinning next to him, apparently. Without a word, he tackled me in a hug and swung me around, my feet flailing for a moment in the air.

I made a gagging noise. "Hello to you too, Spence," I greeted once he let go of me. Brendon was leaning against the couch, laughing too hard to speak. Rolling my eyes, I kicked his supporting arm and sent him into a loud heap on the floor. Who's laughing now?

Ryan came running down the stairs a second later, wrapped in a towel. "What the hell was that?" he asked frantically.

The other guys groaned loudly, covering their eyes. I merely crossed my arms and looked away silently, trying with all my might to keep my face from bursting into flames and setting off the fire alarm. "Ryan! Put on some damn clothes!" Brendon ordered blindly waving an arm at him.

Spencer smirked at me. "If you guys were busy, we could have come later."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "I was about to take a shower, dipstick."

"Yeah, after you guys had hot hot sex."

"As charming as this dialogue is," I injected in a bored tone, still looking at the ceiling, "I requested your presence for a reason, which was not to ridicule and insinuate the existence of any authoritatively illegal coital activity between Ryan and myself."

The three of them stared at me blankly, and I sighed. "Stop joking about the sex we didn't have and take me to Brendoni's house so I can retrieve my clothes." These guys graduated high school?

Brendon grinned. "Why didn't you just say so?" I shot him a you're-an-idiot look and rolled my eyes. "Then come, fair still-a-maiden. Let your burly knights whisk you away from here!"

Spencer laughed. "You're burly like Siska is normal," he remarked.

"Well, you make Gary Busey look like Dr. Phil," Bren retorted.

While the two of them started arguing about their respective brawn (and the lack thereof), I sidled up beside Ryan and cleared my throat. He smiled weakly. "Usually I would quip something about indecent exposure," I began, "But as this is your residence, I shall merely remind you to shut your curtains."

He laughed and gave me a kiss on the cheek, catching the attention of our two companions. "You guys aren't going to be one of those disgustingly cute couples who hold hands and smooch all the time and call each other stupid pet names, are you?" Spencer asked cautiously.

"Of course not," I replied incredulously. "What a ridiculous notion. I thought you knew me better." I turned to Ryan and sent him an alluring smile. "See you, loverboy."

He kissed me on the lips. "Bye, dollface," he said, smiling. Both of us laughed when Brendon gagged luridly.

Two hours later, I was in Brendon's room searching through my bag for probably the seventh time. I let loose a loud growl. "Oh ye gods! Where the fuck is it?" I shouted in annoyance.

Seconds later, there was a knock at the door. "Pen? Are you okay?" Bren asked through the door.

With a sigh, I swept my still-wet hair out of my face. "Yeah, man, I'm fine," I replied. The doorknob turned, and I kept it shut by hoisting my leg up, almost shoulder height, to jam a foot on it. "Don't come in, I'm not dressed." At the bottom of my bag, I spotted something red and black and breathed a grateful vote of thanks.

After a pause in which I tugged the dress over my head, he said, "So, wait. What's to stop me from coming in?" I rolled my eyes and opened the door. Brendon looked down and up at me. He stuck out his lower lip. "Liar."

Tying the belt in place, I gave him a skeptical look. "At the time, I wasn't." He shrugged, walking past me and sitting on his bed. Brendon picked up my Matches t-shirt and studied it. "You really like my clothes, don't you?"

He nodded, smiling a toothy grin, and I couldn't help but laugh. "You look nice," he commented, and I smiled thankfully before picking up my arsenal of makeup and sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor. Neither of us said anything for a time whilst I put on my make-up. "You really don't need all that, you know."

"Says you," I replied shortly, twirling the mascara cap. Brendon was leaning back on his elbows, giving me the impression that he'd be watching me the whole time. That kind of weirded me out. I glanced at him. Yep, staring. Get a picture off the Internet; it'll last longer.

"Ryan's a lucky guy."

A thought wormed its way into my head from that comment. Slowly I put down my mirror and looked at him. "This isn't the scene where you confess that you've liked me this whole time, is it?" I asked seriously. "Because that would make this moment, date, day, and trip entirely too awkward."

Brendon laughed and shook his head. "Yes, it would," he agreed, getting up and sitting across from me. "And no, it isn't. I'm just stating a fact."

"Alright." I applied a coat of lipstick that matched the cherries on my dress. I'm a big fan of red lipstick. Once finished, I zipped up my make-up case. "Okie dokes. Now..." Bren smiled expectantly. I leaned back on my hands. "We wait."

He sighed. "I hate waiting," he said sadly. Suddenly he brightened. "Let's go play Halo!" And thusly, seconds later, I was being tugged through his house, protests falling on deaf ears.

"Aah! You slut!"

"Stop yelling at yourself, Brendon," I snickered.

"What the hell!" he exclaimed, tossing his controller on the floor and sitting back into a pout. "You said you'd never played before."

I smiled sweetly. "I never said I didn't play other first person shooters," I cooed. He stuck his tongue out at me, and I gasped and pretended to cry. Luckily the doorbell rang so he didn't get the chance to come up with something topping that.

Brendon grinned maliciously at me. "I'll get it!" he shouted, even though we weren't even three feet apart. My eyes widened, and we both scrambled up, trying to get to the door first.

"No fair," I contested as he opened the door. I stuck my lower lip out.

"Perfectly fair!"

"You ever try running in a dress? Actually, don't answer that. I don't want to know the answer." Ryan cleared his throat, either covering his laughter or detracting our attention from ignoring his presence. Instantly, I turned away from Brendon and smiled widely. "Hi."

Without thinking, I gave him a quick once-over: shirt and tie, jacket, nice pants (not as tight as usual), and fancy shoes. Ryan had a penchant for fancy shoes. I like his fancy shoes. They're pretty. Though, I find it weird that he's more interested in shoes than I.

...I'm rambling about a boy's shoes. Someone smack me.

"Hey," he replied, producing a red rose from behind his back. Dammit, I'm blushing, I realised as I took it. Stupid boy and his thoughtful gestures. Ryan glanced now and smiled. "Nice shoes."

See? Told you.

I grinned sheepishly at my holey Converse. "They're the only ones I brought," I admitted.

"That's okay," he replied. "You look amazing." I smiled nervously. The voices in my head were all squealing girlishly, if they hadn't fainted like fan-girls already. "Ready?"

I nodded and took his arm. He picked up my bag, sitting by the door, and led me off the porch. As we walked towards his car, I heard Brendon yell, "Make good choices! Get her back in one piece!"

Ryan rolled his eyes at me and I shook my head. "You want to do the honours, or should I?" I inquired.
"By all means."

"SHUT UP, BRENDON!" I shouted, not even bothering to turn around.

Laughing, Ryan opened the door for me, helped me in, and stowed my bag in the back. I smiled at the interior of the car. I'm a sucker for a gentleman with a nice set of wheels. He swung into the driver's seat, buckled his seat belt, smiled at me, and back out of Brendon's driveway.

"So where are we going?" I asked childishly as we drove. He shot me an amused look, but said nothing. "It's a secret, isn't it?" He nodded and I let my head loll back against the leather headrest. "Boys and their secret date locations."

The 'secret' turned out to be a quaint little Italian place with a nice view of the city. I stared out the window as Ryan talked to the host and only snapped out of my artsy reverie when Ryan's hand appeared on my lower back, leading me to our table.

Over the top of my menu, I looked at him: reading his menu for a few moments, shutting it, and gazing out at the twinkling lights. A smile formed on my lips, despite the queasiness in my stomach. Happy queasy, trust me. Ryan made me nervous asfuck hell.

No swearing. I'm supposed to be a lady.

When I shut my menu, Ryan turned his attention to me and smiled. "Have fun with Brendon?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "We played Halo," I informed him flatly. "I would have rather spent the time being nervous." Ryan laughed quietly, eyes glowing. My heart was pounding in my throat as we looked at each other in silence.I'm completely in love with you.

As we ate our food, we continued talking and laughing. I forked a bite of tortellini into my mouth and shook my head. "I just don't understand it," I said, "Whenever I stick it in, it makes this really weird noise."

"What sort of really weird noise?" Ryan asked over his glass.

I put down my fork and looked up in thought. "It's... it's this sort of squelching noise." He made a face, at which I laughed slightly. "I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure it isn't supposed to do that. But it's new, so I don't know what could be wrong."

"Are you sure it's not on?"

"Of course, Ryan. I think I would be able to tell if it's on or not. You might send my vital organs into a flutter, but my senses aren't that off." We both laughed.

"Excuse me, but this is a family restaurant," the woman at the next table said angrily. We looked at her, sitting with her two kids and husband, who was also glaring at us in disgust. "Your conversation is completely inappropriate for public, especially in the presence of children."

I shot Ryan a bemused look; he shrugged slightly, and I turned back to the woman. "I'm... sorry," I said, not entirely insincerely. "But I happen to disagree, and it isn't really your business, anyway."

She made an appalled noise, and her husband frowned darkly at me. An elderly lady at the next table over shook her head at me. "You teenagers," she declared. "No respect for your elders. Didn't you ever think that they might not want their kids to hear about... that!"

"It's never too early to start," Ryan defended calmly. "I mean, I started when I was probably only a little older than their daughter there."

The first woman gasped. "That's disgusting!" she exclaimed, fanning herself with her napkin.

I blinked at Ryan, who raised an eyebrow at me. After a little telepathic communication, I turned to them and arched an eyebrow. "We're talking about guitar equipment," I stated slowly. Ryan stifled a snicker with his hand when their eyes widened. I laughed silently as I watched them look at each other in embarrassed horror. "What did you think we were talking about?"

It's amazing how fast the family picked up and left. And without answering the question. "How rude," I joked, both of us laughing. I glanced back at the elderly woman, still glaring at me, and smirked at Ryan. "How do you think she'd react if I jumped over the table and manhandled you?"

He rolled his eyes, still grinning. "Let's not cause any heart attacks, Rhi," he advised. Ryan licked his lips. "Although, that dress certainly is a turn on."

"Don't get any ideas. The one way it'll end up on your bedroom floor is I'm incredibly lazy when I go to bed tonight."

"Please, I never give it up on a first date," Ryan retorted in mock indignance.

I snorted, but shot him a suddenly wary look. "'Reeeeeeeeeeeeeee'?" I repeated, thrumming. Sipping his cherry coke, he nodded candidly. I narrowed my eyes at him, leaning forward. "I thought you hated pet names. Especially uncharacteristically cute ones. Cute is no, Ross." Ryan smiled clandestinely and after a moment, I sighed softly, disgusted with myself for relenting. "You do realise this make us Ry and Rhi, right?"

"Too much alliteration for the dinner table, my dear," Ryan chuckled, forcing another bite of food into my mouth.

~Ryan~

Back at my place, Angie... Rhi and I finished watching 'V For Vendetta', curled up on the couch, probably as close as could be. We'd spent another hour or two after dinner sitting on the trunk of my car, watching the world, so by the time the credits rolled, both of us were almost asleep.

"You wanna go up to bed?" I asked through a yawn.

She mimicked me and let her head roll back onto my shoulder. "I'm sleeping here," she mumbled definitely. "You go up if you want."

I looked at her in mild disbelief. "You're passing up a nice bed for a couch?"

"A bed in which a certain young man might not be sleeping for a couch on which I know I will." Not even bothering to make an attempt at getting undressed, Angie lifted herself off me and flopped sideways onto the pillow against the arm of the couch.

Admittedly disappointed at her rationale, I lay a blanket over her, kissed her goodnight, and headed upstairs. After all the necessaries, I hopped into bed and turned off the light. But it just wasn't the same knowing I could not be alone up here.

No matter how I positioned myself I couldn't get comfortable. Whenever I closed my eyes, I saw Angie sleeping peacefully on the couch downstairs, completely oblivious to my state of awake up here. This night would never end.

The knob clicked noisily in the silence, and the door opened slowly, the light dimly brightening. I glanced at the alarm clock, seeing only twenty minutes had passed. A shadow stood cautiously next to the half-open door, holding something delicately in its hands. So she decided to change after all, I thought ironically.

"I can't sleep," Rhi whispered admittedly.

I scooted over and opened the covers, and after a moment, she silently crossed the room and crawled in beside me. I meant to keep a good distance, so she wouldn't get the wrong idea, but Rhi stretched out beside me, manoeuvred my arm to drape around her shoulders. Reaching a hand up, she adjusted the white headphone in her ear.

"What are you listening to?" I asked softly, fingers running gently along her bare skin.

She shifted closer, nuzzling into my shoulder. "Explosions in the Sky," she whispered. Even in the dark, her eyes gleamed. "Do you want to listen? It's quite nice." I took one of the buds from her ear, thumb grazing over her cheek, and settled back to listen. Even as the song played, I began to drift off, feeling a sweeping calm come over me. In bed with my bravura girlfriend who had magnificent taste in music. Life was good.

The song ended, but Rhi didn't move. I glanced down at her: eyes shut, breathing almost too slowly and deeply to be discerned. Careful not to jostle her, I removed the headphones from our ears and gently placed the iPod on the dresser. As I allayed in the sheets, Angie nestled closer to her, hand resting heavily on my chest.

"I love you, Ryan," she murmured, lips moving against skin.

One of my eyes popped open and swivelled towards her. Yep. Talking in her sleep. I lightly kissed her hair. "I love you too, Angie," I breathed dismally. "But why can't you tell me awake?"