“Under one condition,” Ryder said. Andrew raised an eyebrow and stared at him. “You have to kiss me.”
“At school? Ryder—”
“No, idiot. Right now.” Ryder rolled his eyes, amused, and slipped his arms around his waist. Andrew responded naturally, his own arms settling across his shoulders for a moment as they kissed. He pulled away and tried to step back, but Ryder held him in place.
“Ryder, I gotta go. My sister’s going to come in—” He broke off as Ryder’s lips met the skin on his neck and brushed soft kisses there. He shivered and shoved him away, a little uncomfortable with his body’s instantaneous reaction. “I’ve gotta go,” he repeated. He didn’t give him more time as he bolted from the house and climbed into the truck.
“What’s wrong?” Andrea asked. “Where’s the book?”
“I left it at school.”
“We had homework, Andy!”
“I know! Ryder said we could borrow his tomorrow if we pick him up early.” He glanced back at the house and saw Ryder in the window as he backed down the driveway.
“Great. What would you do without Ryder?”
Andrew was beginning to wonder the same thing.
Chapter Fourteen
With Christmas just around the corner, students crammed for tests and tried to finish projects before the break. Every day after school, Andrew, along with his sister and their two friends, went to Ryder’s place to study. Sarah and Charlie had been spending time together without the presence of their mutual friends, and when Charlie asked her to the Winter Semi-Formal, she said yes. When Sarah relayed the information to Andrea, she added that he’d asked her to dinner before the dance and she’d said yes to that as well.
It was finally official. They were dating.
Andrew couldn’t have been happier. His best friend wasn’t harassing his new friend—no, boyfriend—anymore. He had no reason to. As for his relationship with Ryder, they’d been officially, exclusively—if secretly—dating for over a month. For their first-month anniversary, which Ryder insisted on celebrating even though Andrew felt foolish, they went to a movie and had dinner at a modest, family-owned restaurant just outside of town. Even though they couldn’t do anything as audacious as hold hands in the bright restaurant, they both felt happy and that was enough.
Sometimes Andrew wondered what it would be like if he told his sister. How would she react if she knew about him? How would his parents react? Or Gram and Pop? At least he knew Andrea treated Josh Grayson well enough, and he was the one student in their school who everyone knew was gay. Though he’d never admitted it, he’d also never denied it. Maybe Andrew could tell Josh. Maybe Josh wouldn’t tell anyone, Andrew thought…and then changed his mind instantly. No. Not until he knew for sure Josh was gay. Andrew had never treated Josh poorly, but it’s not like he helped him either. Josh could use the information against him, and Andrew wasn’t willing to risk it.
The Winter Semi-Formal took place the Saturday before Christmas vacation. The cafeteria had already been decorated for it, and students were getting excited. Nearly the entire student body bought tickets. Andrea had gotten a date with Michael, one of the soccer players from Andrew’s team. Ryder had talked to Andrew about going to the dance, but Andrew flat-out refused to go with him. That wasn’t something he could do, and, after his initial disappointment, Ryder agreed. But he still wanted to go, so they found their own dates and agreed to meet at a restaurant before.
Ryder had his pick of girls but settled on a quiet junior, Melissa Jenkins. He had met her in art class, and she had thin-framed glasses that sat on a button nose and hid hazel eyes. Her mousy brown hair hung straight to her shoulders. Overall, she was pretty cute, Andrew figured, though he’d had a difficult time deciding which girls were cute and which weren’t since he had started dating Ryder. No one registered on his radar anymore.
Andrew’s date was another senior, Karina Hill, from the girl’s track team and his first-period history class. He’d known her since the sixth grade and thought she would be fun. She agreed to go with him when he said he would drive.
Of course, they couldn’t go looking like slobs, so Andrew and Ryder went shopping in Utica the night before the dance.
“What do you think? Khakis or black pants?”
Ryder frowned at the choices Andrew held up. “Black, I think. It’s a semi, right? The khakis are kind of too dressed down. Go with the black.”
“All right, fine. What color shirt, oh master of fashion?”
Ryder handed him a bright blue button-down. “This. It’ll make your eyes pop.”
“Do I have to wear a tie?”
“Absolutely.”
Andrew glared at him and waited for him to settle on a different style of pants with an emerald green shirt. Held up against him, his eyes nearly glowed.
“Hey, just who are you trying to win over?” murmured Andrew, looking around to make sure they were alone.
“Oh, I don’t think I need to win anyone over. I’ve got you.”
Flushing, Andrew quickly walked away from him to look at the different ties. He finally settled on a darker blue that went well with the shirt. Ryder grabbed one as well and they went to pay.
Before they went home they decided to make a detour to grab something to eat. The Roadside Diner was nearly deserted so they stopped there for a quick bite. Looking like a large can tipped on its side, the outside had been repainted recently and shone a bright red beneath the gleaming metal of the roof. Booths lined the wall facing the street, affording patrons a view of the road and parking lot. Along the other wall stood a long counter with stools spaced every two feet for single diners, and the grills in plain sight so everyone could watch their orders being made. A tall man in a white T-shirt and apron stood at the grills, cleaning them off. A cheerful waitress in a bubblegum pink, smock-like dress named Shelly sat them in the booth in the corner that gave them a view on two sides. Once they were seated with a glass of water each, Ryder stretched out, letting his long legs brush against Andrew’s.
Andrew felt his face heat and frowned a little, glancing around. “Ryder…”
“Oh come on, no one will see,” Ryder argued. “Barely anyone’s even here,” he added, looking pointedly around. “So is this place any good?” He pulled his legs back a bit, resting just his knees against Andrew.
“Of course. We come here all the time. We just got here before the dinner crowd.”
The waitress returned and handed them menus. She took their order for drinks and disappeared to fill them and tend to the rest of the patrons while they browsed the menu.
“So,” Andrew started after a long pause. He set his menu down, having decided on the classic burger and curly fries. “Are you excited about the dance?”
“As excited as I can be for going with some girl I don’t know and don’t like.”
“She seems nice enough.”
“Yeah, she really is. I mean I like her, but I don’t…like her. I don’t want her like that. I just hope she doesn’t think that’s what this is about. I tried to make it clear.”
“She seems really quiet. I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
Ryder shrugged. “Nah, you’re probably right. What about you?”
“What about me?”
He looked up from his menu. “Are you excited?”
Andrew thought about it and shrugged as well. “Yeah, I guess I am. I always liked the dances before; don’t see why this would be any different. It’ll just be weird, you know?”
“How so?”
“Well…” He hesitated and fidgeted with the edge of the menu. “I was always dating the person I went with before, and we would leave early together. Go back to her place, usually. Or somewhere.”
Ryder watched him, the look in his eyes far from innocent. “Well, we could always leave the dance early and go back to my place.”
Andrew scowled, though the suggestion did intrigue him. Shelly approached and set down their glasses of soda. “What’l
l it be, boys?”
“Classic burger with curly fries.”
“And I’ll have a cheeseburger with sweet potato fries,” Ryder added.
“Sure thing, be ready in ten.”
Shelly took the menus and disappeared behind the counter. The boys leaned a little closer to talk.
“Do you want to?”
“Want to what?” Andrew asked, feigning ignorance while knowing very well what Ryder wanted. He looked down at the Formica tabletop and scratched at a water mark on it.
“Come back to my place after the dance.”
“I don’t know, Ryder. I mean, your aunt and uncle will be there.”
“So?”
“And that’ll just look weird if I go back to your place afterward. I don’t know,” Andrew said. He shifted in his seat and glanced around again. For the first time he noticed a small group of students from school sitting on the far side of the diner. He didn’t know their names but recognized them from the hallway. One of the boys, a sophomore, he thought, looked over and nodded, giving him a small wave. Andrew returned the gesture.
Ryder probably figured by the uncomfortable silence that Andrew was not ready for this topic because he steered it back to safer ground, which Andrew was grateful for. Maybe once they were alone, he’d be able to open up more. “What are you doing over Christmas break?”
“On Christmas Eve we always visit my dad’s parents in Buffalo. We have dinner there and open the gifts from that side of the family. Then on Christmas Day my mother’s parents come down to spend the day with us. It’s pretty quiet, but it’s fun. There’s a lot of food, but not as much as at Thanksgiving.”
“That was a lot of food.”
“Always is.”
“So, what else.”
“Let’s see…after we open presents and eat, we watch movies all day. Old Christmas movies and some newer ones. And if there’s snow on the ground, we go sledding at the hill down the road.”
“Sledding?”
“Yeah.” Andrew laughed. “You’re probably thinking that we’re too old for that, huh? But I swear it’s a blast. Sometimes Charlie and Sarah come out with us if they can’t deal with their families anymore. But it’s great when it’s just the six of us. My grandfather tries to steer his sled to run us over. He acts like he’s five years old.”
They enjoyed a moment of laughter and Ryder leaned forward on an elbow, chin propped up in his hand. “Sounds like a lot of fun.”
“Yeah. What are you going to do? Did you hear from your parents yet?”
“They said hello, but they’re going to be busy over there, I guess. I’m not sure what my aunt and uncle are doing. I think they usually go to my aunt’s family farther upstate, but I don’t really know any of them. It’ll be weird, I think. But I don’t want to keep them from going just because of me.”
“You might have fun. Maybe there’s someone your age?”
“No way. All the kids in the family are way younger. I’m talking like ten years between the oldest and me. And my aunt said they have this tradition, that if you’re a married couple, you sit at the ‘adult’ table, and if not, even if you bring a date, you’re still a kid and sit at the ‘kid’ table. Which means I’ll be stuck with God knows how many screaming brats.” He affected a shudder, which got a small chuckle out of Andrew.
“Sounds horrible.”
“It does, doesn’t it?”
They broke off the conversation when the waitress arrived with their plates of food and set them down on the table. “If you boys need anything, you just call me over.”
“Thanks,” they said in unison.
They dug into their meals and ate quietly for a few minutes. Andrew stole some of Ryder’s sweet potato fries, and in retaliation, he stole some of Andrew’s curly fries. They both worked through their meals quickly.
“You’re right, this place is good,” Ryder agreed around a mouthful of his cheeseburger.
“Told you.” Andrew set his burger down and picked up an extra-tightly-curled fry and started to play with it, stretching it like a slinky. “Maybe you could come spend Christmas at my place,” he finally offered, studying the fry intensely.
Ryder’s mouth was full of fries so it took him a moment to answer. “You mean that? Thanks, Andy, but I don’t know how your parents would take it. I mean, you have your own traditions and stuff, you know? Wouldn’t want to ruin that.”
“I can still ask.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m going to anyway,” Andrew argued, and finished the fry he’d unsuccessfully stretched out. Ryder glared at him a little before finishing his food. Andrew took a little longer. They sat and finished their drinks before paying and leaving their waitress a tip. She smiled and waved as they left, inviting them to come back soon.
“You know,” Ryder said thoughtfully as he climbed into the passenger side of Andrew’s truck, “I really would love to spend our first Christmas together. I mean, I would understand if your parents said no, but it would be nice to spend the day with you.”
Andrew glanced over at him as he turned the key in the ignition. First Christmas. He’d never had a first Christmas with anyone. He’d never had a first holiday with anyone. He smiled to himself as he backed out of the space. If we have a first Christmas, are we going to have another first holiday?
Chapter Fifteen
Andrew arrived at the dance with Karina at seven thirty. He had picked her up at six and headed to the Italian restaurant in the center of town and met everyone else there. It seemed like half the school population decided to go there before the dance because hardly any seats remained open. They couldn’t find ten seats together, but they were close enough that they could lean over and talk without interrupting too many people around them. Even then, half the time the other tables got into their conversations anyway. Relief flowed through Andrew when they all got up to leave for the dance.
Karina looked beautiful in her knee-length, cream-colored dress. Held up with three thin straps on each shoulder, it went well with her darker skin. She’d pulled her hair up high on her head and a few curls escaped to frame her face. She was thin and tall, nearly his height, and most of it leg. Holding out his arm like a gentleman, he gave her a goofy grin and led her into the dance. She laughed and shook her head.
“I’m glad I said yes. I would be missing a hell of a party,” she said, and Andrew agreed.
Though the cafeteria had been decorated before, it looked completely different without the harsh white lights on. The long tables had been packed away, and only a few of the round ones remained around the edges of the dance floor. Against the wall were chairs for students to sit on when they decided they’d had enough dancing. A strobe light reflected above the DJ, throwing bright patterns on the floor. The snowflake motif repeated in cut-outs and banners around the room. A few groups of chaperones were huddled here and there around the floor, keeping a close eye on the students.
An arm wrapped around Andrew’s shoulder and he looked up to see Ryder grinning widely. “So this is how y’all party up here, eh?”
Melissa stood next to him in a simple black dress that went just past her knees. It had a small sash around the waist that tied in a bow at the back. She looked around a bit nervously, with Ryder’s other arm secure around her waist. Andrew noticed she wasn’t wearing her glasses.
“Contacts?” he asked, and she blinked up at him in surprise.
“Oh, yes,” she said so softly Andrew had to strain to hear her.
“I love your dress,” Karina said with a gentle smile. Melissa returned it and they moved off to the side to talk to each other.
“Guess they know each other,” said Ryder with a shrug. Andrew nodded.
The music changed and soon the girls dragged them onto the dance floor. Andrea and her date, along with Charlie and Sarah, popped up next to them seconds later. They all moved to the music, their bodies close and swaying together with the beat. Melissa’s discomfort faded quickly with Ryd
er, and she livened up, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and letting him rest his hands at her waist or on the small of her back. Karina and Andrew danced apart for a while, until she turned, fitting her back against his chest. Because of Andrew and Karina’s nearly identical height, the girls traded partners, eliminating the awkward difference.
“Maybe I should have come with Ryder,” Karina teased. “You short boys are seriously lacking.”
“I’m wounded,” Andrew replied jokingly, holding on only tighter to Melissa, who visibly blushed even in the low lights.
The four of them danced through three more songs with a techno beat, the girls dancing between the boys. Every so often Andrew caught Ryder’s gaze and held it. Ryder’s eyes were heated, but he continued to dance, entrancing Andrew even more. His movements were fluid, just like when he rode Cobalt. I wonder where else he can move like that, Andrew wondered and had to stop that train of thought quickly. Even though he was starting to sweat from the heat in the room, his face flushed for other reasons.
When the music turned slow, the girls switched back to their original dates and danced with them. As Andrew moved in a slow circle with Karina, his hands secure around her waist, he caught a glimpse of Ryder watching him. As their eyes met, his expression turned serious once again, almost burning through him. Andrew held his stare when the song ended. With a barely perceptible movement, Ryder nodded toward the door. Andrew flicked his eyes over to confirm it and stepped away from Karina.
“Where you going?” she asked.
“I’ll be back in a few. I’ve gotta get some air.” He reached up to wipe his sweaty forehead and she wrinkled her nose. She and Melissa were soon lost in the crowd when he stepped toward the doors leading into the school hallways.
Andrew and Ryder waved to the teacher standing watch at the door and slipped off down the hall. They could still hear the music, and it echoed in the dark, empty corridors. When they reached the end, Ryder grabbed him and pulled him into the shadows, pushed him against the wall and kissed him hard. Andrew returned the kiss just as eagerly, forgetting for the moment that they were in the school and just a few feet away were all their friends and classmates.
Andy Squared Page 11
