One of those mornings. {Open}

[jace]

The smile that seemed to flow across his face didn't exactly help my blush, perhaps only made it worse. I look down at the table with another shrug at Ryan's statement. Yeah, I knw, but it was.. a shock, perhaps? Yeah, that I wasn't the only one in Gerede. I mean, it was just.. surprising. "Uhm, latte with milk." I reply, letting him stick the cigarette between my fingers. "Wait a second." I add, watching him go, wanting to facepalm- hadn't I jsut told Ryan I'd get my own? Oh, well, whatever. Free coffee would never hurt someone.
I turn back forward and glance around, feeling conscious of the cigarette poking out from between my finger; afraid someone I knew would walk by and be like 'what the fuck, Jace smokes?'. And then, of course, word would get to my parents, and then I'd be in for it. I'm relieved when Ryan comes back and pick the cup up in my hand as he slides it across the table to me. "Thanks." I say happily, a small smile forming across my face.
I take a sip of my new coffee and roll my hazel eyes as he goes on that he didn't mean to rag on my mom. "I know, I was kidding. I have a terrible sense of humor, but its there." I reply, chuckling softly at myself. If someone didn't know me, they could think I was being serious about soemthing I was totally joking about- that's why I usually stayed quiet around strangers; though Ryan was making hard to be quiet.
"Its Katie. She doesn't seem to get I'm not going to the party tonight and that I'm not fucking attracted to her at all." I explain in a rush, my words melding together. Whenever I was angry or annoyed I tended to speak really fast and not think about what I was saying; which could sometimes get me into deep shit.

[jack]

Ah, the standard friend wanting you to go party situation, he knew that all too well. Usually it was because he was studying, or just really couldn't be dealing with the hangover the next day. "Well, if that's the case you want to just be straight up with her, you know?" He began, then took another sip of his coffee, swallowed, "I mean, tell her you've got your eye on some other girl, assuming you have." He finished with a slight shrug of his shoulders, then took a toke of his cigarette and began leaning on the table in probably the most masculine fashion possible. He couldn't help it, sure, he had his 'gay tendencies', but they were usually just his love for shopping and his terrible taste in television, apart from that, it was almost impossible to guess that he was into the guys.

When Jace had said about his sense of humour being there, he knew what he had to do, it would take a while to get him out of his shell with it and he knew it would take some working on, but what else was he going to do? He wasn't about to just let him disappear back into the system and never talk to him again, not now he had bought him coffee anyway. "Well, if your sense of humour is there, we need to see a bit more of it," He teased a bit more. Pushing his buttons. "WHO'S THE BOYFRIEND THEN RYAN?" The oh-too-familiar voice of his father. What was it? Bump into your parents day? "Fuck off, dad, shouldn't you be at work or something?" "No, looking for your mother, do you know where she is? Me and her were meant to be going out for lunch" Ryan lost it. He lost his shit. spat his coffee everywhere and began howling with laughter, which gained him a few looks from passers by.

How was he supposed to break it to his father that his mother had gone to work just to avoid him? It was all too clear now, she had enough of him. "Oh my God, this is just too good. Dad, ring the ER, you might find your answer, hahahahahaha!" He laughed in his dad's face, something he usually contained and he didn't do, but this time he just lot it. Quickly, his dad got out of Ryan's face, leaving a laughing Ryan and Jace once again on their own. "I guess this means I can throw my own party tonight, seeing as dad's about to cop like there's no tomorrow and probably stay out," He exclaimed, almost shouting it. Loud and obnoxious at times was one way to describe Ryan, with a bit of a messed up family. "And there is my sense of humour, this is all too good." He laughed a bit more, taking another gulp of his coffee, wiping his mouth and scrubbing away at his t shirt a bit where coffee had landed on him, then looked at Jace to apologise in case any coffee had gone on him.

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[jace]

I shake my head slightly as he goes on about how I should just be 'straight' with her. Wasn't that exactly the thing- I wasn't straight. That was the whole reason behind me attempting to fend off her advances. "Girls; that's the whole problem." I mutter darkly to myself, taking a sip of my coffee. I jump as a guy's voice reaches us and my face reddens at his words and I raise my eyebrows as Ryan yells back at his father. I stay silent during the exchange, but can't help but feel bad to for dad- who deserved to be laughed at like that?
"If I spoke to my parents like that I'd get grounded." I say as Ryan turns his attention back to me and I shake my head in surprise. Maybe my parents were old-fashioned? Or maybe his were just lenient, but whatever, everyone had a different style. "I'll come if you're throwing a party." I exclaim, laughing. "Get me out of the other, too, and a party never hurt no one." I go on, shrugging my narrow shoulders innocently. I take naother sip of my coffee, watching as he rubbed frantically at his shurt where he had spit coffee on himself- luckily none had gotten on me. That would be nasty.

[jack]

Ryan raised an eyebrow when Jace said that girls were just the whole problem, had he been fucked over by too many? Not confident enough? "How do you mean?" He asked inquisitively, taking another sip of his coffee. As he waited for a reply, he sent out a mass message on his phone to all his friends telling them about the party tonight. It was happening whether or not his dad did end up going out; it had been too long since he threw one and his parents were more like friends to him than parents; they didn't care as long as nothing got broke or stolen. "Well, yeah, I guess some parents are strict, but mine are stupidly laid back about everything." He explained, then shrugged.

As Jace said he'd go to the party, Ryan smiled. Finally, he was getting somewhere. "In that case, lets grab our coffees and get you something to wear tonight. You're not coming in that" He teased and stood up, grabbed his hoodie and threw it over his arm, then proceeded by flicking his cigarette away onto the side walk and began heading down towards the shops on the high street; he wasn't going to allow Jace to turn up to his own party in just anything, he had to look real good if he was going to come and get drunk. Look good when he turns up, look absolutely terrible when he left. Usually it would be a bring your own drink party, which people somehow didn't seem to have a problem with, but Ryan wasn't too sure about whether or not Jace could get hold of some.

"Oh, while we're out, I need to get a few things for the house which we can drop off then disappear back to town if you want, or we can get them on the way back and begin moving the house around for tonight, up to you." He explained as he walked along next to him, then his attention got diverted towards a shop with a huge sale on. One of his favourites, too. "Sorry, but we need to go on here, see if there's anything decent in the sale. Love a good sale to be honest" He chuckled while dragging Jace into a store where everything seemed over-priced and the things in the sale had come down to a reasonable retail price.

[/blockquote]

[jace]

"Just, like, physically." I reply, shrugging lamely. What could I say? Burst out 'I'm gay'? No; I would never have the balls to do something outgoing and courageous like that. In a way, I had to admire Ryan- coming clean and honest with a stranger like me. It was surprising, maybe it was in his DNA with his family? I didn't know, but whatever. "I can tell." I add, chuckling.
Suddenly Ryan ha stood and is walking down the street. I scramble to my feet and snatch my hoodie off the back of my chair and trot after him, soon falling into step beside him. I take a sip of my coffe, glad I hadn't left it back on the table. "We can just get it on the way back so we don't have to make two trips, if that's good with you." I reply, my light hazel eyes flicking around as I window-shopped. We passed a cafe, a small boutique and a hardware store before Ryan pretty much drags me into another store. I raise my eyebrows; stuff was overpriced, except what was on clearance, that stuff was pretty much normal retail. "Saving money is always good." I agree. "Hold this." I add, handing him my coffee to slip my jacket back on- it was sorta cold in here and now that we weren't sitting in the sun it was cooler. I take my cup back and rock back on my heels before standing normal again. Maybe that was a reason my mom always got my clothes- I hated shopping, it was totally boring.

[jack]

Physically? What did that mean? Was she ugly or was he not attracted to girls? He had to dig deeper; way too nosey about things like this. He knew that there were other gay and bisexual guys in the school but most of them were in the closet or stupidly flamboyant about it, something he couldn't deal with. "Well, if she's ugly, then yeah, or if you just don't do girls, then tell her. She won't hate you." He chimed in nonchalantly as if what he had just said was nothing at all. He was good at doing things like that, if he threw things into conversation out of the blue, he found he usually got the response he wanted.

He was surprised when Jace pushed his coffee into Ryan's hands, it was almost as if he had suddenly got more comfortable around him. Never a bad sign, especially seeing as Ryan was planning on getting him absolutely obliterated this evening to the point of violently vomiting and passing out everywhere; it's not a good party unless that sort of thing goes down somewhere, and you know you had a good night if you can't remember it the day after. "So, what's your drink then?" He asked, trying to make conversation. He knew full well the worst thing that Jace could do was ask the question back, Ryan would drink just about anything and everything he could get his hands on. He began to rip through the clearance racks and picked a few items of clothing out for himself, then noticed how bored Jace looked. "Come on, you need to get something to wear tonight, you're doing yourself up tonight geeza." He chuckled as he made his way to the checkouts to pay for his own goods.

[/blockquote]

[jace]

My face reddens and I decide not to reply to Ryan. What could I say? Nothing. I wasn't going to admit to either of them, but I did think about it. Would Katie hate me? Some of my friends would abandon me, that was for sure. But, if they couldn' accept me for who I am, what kind of friends were they? Not very good ones. what was that saying? I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not? That was it, and it totally applied in this scenario.
I raise my eyebrows as Ryan asks what my drink was. "I don't know. I know that sounds totally lame, but I'm not exactly the life of the party. I'm usually one of the losers sitting in the corner playing chess." I reply teasingly, managing to keep my face totally serious. I take a small step forward to flip through the racks, picking out a grey and black plaid shirt- it was nice. I take it off and look some more before turning to follow Ryan- what was wrong with the pants I had on now? I get in the check out line behind him, taking a sip of my latte as I people-watch.

[jack]

It didn't take long for the queue to die down and for Ryan to finish paying up for the clothes he had just purchased, having company definitely did help when it came to things like this, even if the company didn't seem all that big on the whole idea of shopping. His eyes flickered towards Jace, then he looked away again and began walking towards the door, gesturing with his head that he was leaving and getting ready to head out back to the streets. Once again, his phone began buzzing. Where are you? I'm dying for a smoke. His brother. Again. Fuck sake, come meet me outside the shop and I'll get you them, be quick, I'm with someone. He slapped in the reply as quick as he could then began to head right out of the shop towards the busy town centre. "Sorry pal, we're going to have to meet my knobhead brother, he wants his smokes." He growled.

It didn't take long to reach the next store where he dashed in, bought two packs of twenty sterling superkings, then headed out. One for him, one for his brother. The staff in the store weren't stupid, they knew what was going on, but it was more a matter of that they didn't care at all. It didn't take long for his brother to arrive, where the standard banter quickly began. "Alright dickhead." "Gayboy." His brother replied with a nod of the head, at which point Ryan handed over the cigarettes, took the money off his brother, like a drug deal, then pocketed it. "House party at ours tonight, you boozing with us?" He asked, gesturing towards Jace, at which point his brother nodded, then handed him more money. "Vodka again?" At which, once again, his brother nodded. "Yeah, I'll see you tonight, bro, I'll get a fair few of the guys and girls from my grade as well, can't be mixing with your lot all night" Those sweet words made Ryan's whole entire day. As much as he got on with his brother, he couldn't stand the idea of simply getting drunk with him and no one else. "See you later, nice to meet you mate" They said their goodbyes and once again it was just Ryan and Jace.

It then sprung on Ryan, what did he even want to drink? He could get his hands on just about anything, but did he want to have a nice chilled out beer night, or did he really want to hit it hard and get absolutely smashed on the spirits. Then, if he did want the spirits, did he want something like vodka or did he want to mix and get off his trolley and wake up in the ER with his dad standing over him again? He had a few hours to think about it still, but his main priority at this moment in time was to get the food his parents wanted him to go and get, if he didn't then he knew his party would be off for good and he wouldn't be able to have a decent night. "Right, here's a small list of things I need to grab while we're out, probably get most of it in the big store down the road, it's just things like food really, then we can drive back and begin to pre-game." He smiled, then began heading down to the other store. He was in the game zone.

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[jace]

The line went down quickly and soon Ryan was checking out and I handed the girl my shirt and then the appropriate cash. I take the proffered plastic bag and change, stuffing the latter into my pocket before following after my companion, soon catching up with him. "I'm just meeting all the family today, aren't I?" I ask, raising my eyebrows at him though a smirk flitted across my mouth for a second.
I flip my hair out of my eyes as we walk back outside, and I stood outside the store as Ryan dashed in- no way was I going to get involved in illegal shit. I didn't care if I could get into big trouble or small trouble- no trouble was my best policy. Besides, my parents would probably murder me on the spot if they heard about it. Soon a guy -whom\ I'm assuming is his Ryan's brother- is approaching, and the exchange of words boggles my mind. Did all siblings act like this to each other? If so, I was suddenly glad that i was an only child.
I take a sip of my latte, my hazel eyes following his brother's retreating back before flitting back to Ryan. He was obviously thinking about something, and I wasn't going to interrupt. "Oh, joy, walking." I say sarcastically, but nod and shift on my feet. I liked grocery shopping way better than clothes shopping, for some odd reason.

[jack]

Ryan couldn't help but chuckle when Jace made a sarcastic comment about walking. He was right though, Ryan never bumped into his whole entire family in one day, today was just odd, but he didn't think too much of it. He had a party to prepare for. As he dived left into a shop and picked up a few things for his mother, he turned to Jace "Won't be long, just got to go get booze and we'll be heading back to the house." Then he quickly exited the shop and headed back to the same corner shop he went to before to get cigarettes, without even asking Jace if he wanted anything, he waltzed in, his hands quickly finding three big bottles of vodka, sourz, a bottle of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum and a crate of beer.

He walked to the counter, the woman behind just smirked and mentioned something about a good night ahead of him, to which Ryan nodded and gave her a smile, then paid up, trying to hurry out of the store before she clicked on that she should have asked for ID. "Right then, Jacey boy, mind holding this bag?" he asked, passing to him the sourz and two bottles of vodka, as he carried the crate and a smaller bag with the rum and the other bottle of vodka in it, and began walking towards his car. It was his baby, it may not be the flashiest car around, but the sound system kicked the living shit out of most of the cars he has been in before that were owned by his friends and his brother.

It didn't take him long to throw his shopping and his parents' groceries as well as the illegally bought alcohol in the boot, then nodded towards Jace to throw the rest of the alcohol in the boot and his shopping if he wanted to. "You want to swing by yours first or you coming straight back to mine? I don't know if you need anything," He began, then unlocked the rest of the car. "It's just that I definitely will be too drunk to drive you back later, so you might want to crash at mine" He finished explaining, then jumped in and put his seat belt on, then began playing the waiting game for Jace. Ryan wasn't going to bullshit about his driving; he drove like a madman on the roads, quite often hitting speeds of up to 70 on normal main roads if they were quiet, and if they were busy, hitting around 50-60. He knew how to work his car, and was quite often grateful for the amazing brakes his car featured.

Although Ryan was a smoker, he refused to smoke in his car; he liked the clean car smell, which was obvious if you looked in the glove box in the front, it was filled with unopened air fresheners, a bottle of Febreeze and a classy unopened lube sachet and condom, never know when it might come in handy, as he always said. Buzz. Someone had text him. He almost groaned when he saw who it was from and what it said. 'Sup bro, you throwing a party tonight? Your brother said you were! He quickly whacked a reply back saying yes and that they could come, but he knew he'd regret it. It was one of the guys on the football team who couldn't handle his alcohol and Ryan quite often had to end up looking after him. "Well, that guy's my brother's responsibility tonight." He mentioned to Jace, then as he put his seatbelt on, he hit the gas and they almost took off into the main road. "Mind whacking on some of the tunes? But keep your finger on the volume down button 'cause it will blow your ears out when it first turns out, not got a clue why it does, but it always does it." He knew his words of advice and warning would be much needed with the sound system he had in his car; the sub in the boot could quite easily make the whole entire car shake.

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[jace]

Soon Ryan darts back out of the store and I follow him to a store and cross my arms over my thin chest, raising my eyebrows after he comes back out with bags and a crate- obviously alcohol. I never had to prepare for a party before, so maybe that's why the amount was mind-boggling? I obediently take the bag from Ryan before we head to his car. It was a cute little thing. not the flashiest ever, but I didn't even have a car- so how would I be in any position to judge cars?
I add both the bag of bottles and my new shirt into the trunk of his car before closing it. I pause to check my phone as Ryan climbs into the driver's seat. A message from Katie. I purse my lips, turn my phone off, and slip it down into my pocket before walking forward and opening the passenger side door to climb in. Almost a split second after I close the door after me, we jump forward and onto the road. Holy shit. Ryan was a madman, or had a death wish.. or both.
"Okay." I say simply, turning my hazel eyes towards the radio. I place a finger on the 'on' button and then put it on the volume down and jump slightly as it turns on. Even with it down, it was this loud? Woah. After a couple seconds to get my ears used to it, I hesitantly click the volume back up a few times before turning to look out the window.

[jack]

After a few near misses, which were mostly Ryan's fault, and a lot of flying around corners and disapproving looks from other drivers as his music blasted out of the car, they managed to make it back to Ryan's house in one piece; your typical large home from the outside and a lot of unnecessary rooms on the inside. "Right, lets get going." The words came from him so nonchalantly, it was obvious he was used to hosting parties and it seemed a few people had already got there to help set the house up, mostly people in his brother's grade and one or two of the senior jocks on the football team. 'Ryan you lad!' Let's get slaughtered!' The words gave Ryan a smirk, he nodded then closed his car door and opened the boot of the car revealing the stash of everything.

It soon occurred to him he was probably stinking out, it was warm out and he had been wearing some not exactly heat friendly clothes, he needed to shower, do his hair, move the house around, pre-game, work out a cleaning plan, everything. "Right, there's more than two showers here so feel free to use one, 'cause I'm going to go dump this in the kitchen," He began saying then picking up a few of the things in the car, "And I can show you where you'll be sleeping and where to shower and stuff, tax the bedroom now before he does." He finished off, nodding towards one of the other guys that he couldn't stand but his brother insisted on inviting him to every single one of their parties. "That guy, he's a knob. He'll be passed out by eleven and probably in a pile of his own vomit somewhere." He mentioned as he began to walk into the house, assuming Jace was going to follow him.

It didn't take him too long to find something wrong with where things were being placed, but he chose to just ignore it for now and not to worry about it for now, he just moved on forward towards the kitchen giving a small shake of the head, making sure his brother could see. He then grabbed two glasses after placing down a crate, the bags of booze and his cigarettes on the kitchen island counter. His kitchen was probably the biggest room in the house; it was obvious was his parents loved to cook and make food, a bit too much, probably. He quickly launched double measurements of vodka into the glasses and then he topped his up with coke, pushed the coke towards Jace and gestured towards it. "Feel free to shot it, but shots are coming later as well." He winked.

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[jace]

The drive to his house was quite terrifying, I was almost sure that we were going to be pulled over, but we weren't. I open my door and clmaber out as we park, going to the back of the car to grab the crate out of the trunk as Ryan got the bags. I sling my new shirt over my shoulder and follow him in, nodding slightly as he went on about a shower, rooms, and how bad the one guy was.
I set the crate down once we're inside, pushing my sandy brown hair out of my face and following Ryan into the kitchen like a lost puppy. I felt out of place. I'd gone to parties before, but never helped set up, and I'd practically just met him. I take the coke and glass, pouring things into things before taking a sip.

(this totally sucks, but, its something.. right?)