The
‘Journey’
By Jinx
Ryan sat
on the edge of his bed, eyeing the two tickets he held in his hands. One was for him and the other was for
Seth. The only problem was… he had yet
to ask Seth if he wanted to go. And that
was the question of the evening. Well,
actually, it had been the question of the past several weeks.
He had
decided to go a few months ago, and not wanting to go alone, he bought two
tickets… just in case. But he was
reluctant to ask Seth. He knew what the
answer was already. He knew what the
answer would be when he bought both tickets in the first place. But a small part of his brain told him to buy
both tickets just in case Seth surprised him and agreed to go with him.
But…
there was the whole asking-Seth thing.
He hadn’t
yet.
And the
date was getting closer and closer.
There wasn’t much time left. The
closer they got to the date, the more likely Seth would have made other plans
and Ryan really wanted Seth to go with him.
But it
was a big step, asking your pseudo-brother-best friend-turned boyfriend to do
this.
He’d
spent a lot of money for these tickets.
Plus there was no way that he could get any kind of refund.
He was
committed.
Of course
there was no question that he would be going.
He had made that decision months ago when he bought the tickets. He would go whether Seth went with him or
not, but… it would be just that much better if Seth would go with him.
They
shared so much with each other as it was.
And Ryan wanted to share this with Seth; he just wasn’t sure if Seth wanted Ryan to share this with him.
Every
night for the past two weeks, Ryan found himself sitting on his bed, agonizing
over the tickets. And every night for
the past two weeks, he was no closer to a decision than he was on that first
night.
The
frustration was slowly killing him. At
the very least, the frustration was making him more broody and short of
patience than normal. And, if he were
honest with himself, it was putting an actual strain on his and Seth’s
relationship.
He knew
he’d better come to a decision soon before Seth and he got into a real fight,
not just the small spats that were occurring more and more frequently as of
late.
Sighing,
he clutched the tickets in his fingers and stood up. He took a step towards the door and froze.
Maybe
tonight wasn’t the night to be doing
this. Maybe Seth had already made other
plans. Maybe he should think about this
for another night. Maybe… maybe he ought
to get off his ass and go ask Seth.
Taking
another deep breath, Ryan slowly walked out of the pool house and stopped short
in front of the French doors to the kitchen.
Maybe
he’d ask Seth tomorrow.
He was
just about to turn around when
“Uh… I
was just… um, going to…”
“Stare at
the wonderful craftsmanship of our lovely French doors?”
Ryan
pointed inside with the hand clutching the tickets. “See if Seth was home.”
“And
standing at the door is going to answer your question?”
“Um, no?”
Ryan
sighed and ducked his head. He was
officially committed now. Damn it!
He
trudged up the stairs, footfalls growing heavier with each step upwards.
Much
faster than he would have liked, Ryan found himself in front of Seth’s closed
bedroom door.
He raised
a hand to knock but then lowered it, changing his mind.
He stood
at the barred room and stared at the wood, heart beating faster than if he’d
just run up and down the soccer field several hundred times.
In fact,
that would be preferable than this agony.
He raised
his knuckles again and they hovered over the door for a few seconds before he
rapped them on his forehead instead.
His palms
were sweating and the tickets were getting damp, clutched tightly in his fist.
This was
such a bad idea. Why did he even think
that Seth would be agreeable to this? He
didn’t. Not at all. In fact, he knew that Seth would NOT be agreeable to this. Hence the minor breakdown he was having in
front of Seth’s bedroom door.
He gulped
a few breaths and then took a deep one before straightening up to his full
height and quickly knocked on the door before he could change his mind. He barely gave Seth enough time to get up
from his bed let alone open the door before he turned around to flee down the
stairs. Unfortunately for Ryan, Seth
either had extreme super-fast powers of speed or he had been standing close to
the door to begin with.
The door
opened and Seth stood on the other side, his lips twitching and his eyes
sparkling in mirth.
He leaned
against the door jam, folding his arms across his chest. “I wondered when you were gonna come up.”
Ryan
narrowed his eyes. “How did you know I
was here?”
Seth
grinned. “I saw you leave the pool
house, like, five hours ago.” Ryan
looked incredulous and Seth amended.
“Okay, more like ten minutes ago, but… still.”
Seth grabbed
Ryan by the shirt and pulled him into his room.
Closing and locking the door behind them.
Seth
moved to the bed and sat down, looking expectantly up at Ryan, who was standing
very unsure of himself pressed up against the wall and the desk. His fist was making the tickets in his hand
soon-to-be indistinguishable from papers in the trash.
Seth’s
lips twitched again before he stood up and snagged Ryan’s arm, dragging him
over to the bed. He pushed Ryan down so
that he, too, was sitting on the bed next to Seth.
“Is there
something you want to ask?” Seth inquired innocently.
That
question immediately brought Ryan’s head up and he looked at Seth
accusingly. “You know, don’t you?”
Seth
pressed his lips together to keep from laughing, but the merriment in his soft
brown eyes gave him away. “Yeah,” he
grinned.
“How
long?”
Seth
raised his eyes to look at the ceiling, tapping his index finger on his chin,
pondering. “Um, abouuuuut… a week.”
“A
week?!”
Seth
smiled playfully. “Yep.”
“How?”
“I found them
in your drawer when I was looking for a battery for my iPod.”
“What
were you doing looking for a battery in my room? There are plenty in the house,” Ryan demanded
coolly.
“Cuz I
was in the pool house when my battery died,” Seth reasoned.
“Oh.”
They were
silent for a few moments before Seth said, “I was wondering if you were ever
going to ask me.”
Ryan
turned cynical eyes towards Seth.
“Really,” Ryan said flatly. Seth
nodded. “Why? It’s not like you’d want to go anyway.”
Seth
looked at Ryan in genuine disbelief. “Of
course I want to go. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Oh I
don’t know,” Ryan snarked. “Maybe
because you’re always dissing my taste in music. Specifically them.”
Seth
gently pulled the mangled tickets from Ryan’s hand and tried to smooth out the
small rectangular pieces of paper. The
words were smudged from sweat, but still legible:
AN EVENING WITH
JOURNEY
RAIN OR SHINE
AT THE GREEK THEATRE
Seth
leaned forward and gently pressed his lips against Ryan’s. “I want to go, Ryan. Because you want to go. And because I’d be with you.”
Ryan
smiled into the kiss and the two boys fell back on the bed… the tickets
momentarily forgotten between them.
Finis
7/23/05