Andy Squared (14 page)

Andrea huffed and started the truck to warm it up, but waited while her brother ran inside. Ryder held the door open for him and then shut it once he was inside.

“Forgetting something?”

“Yeah, my history book,” Andrew said, looking around where their bags had been.

“You didn't take anything out of your bag, and it wasn't in the stack. I don't think you had it with you,” Ryder said, and pulled him close. Andrew frowned but stretched up to kiss him.

“Are you sure? It's not in my bag.”

“I'm sure. Maybe you forgot it in your locker?”

Andrew winced. “We have homework due tomorrow, too.”

“Does Andrea have her book?”

“No, she leaves that one at school and uses mine.”

“Well then, come get me early tomorrow and you can copy my homework.”

“Really? You're a lifesaver. Thanks!” Andrew sighed in relief.

“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.

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'll 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.”