Ryan winced in pain from the tight grip of Cain hand around his arm. He frowned, pouting as he glanced at the boy’s hand and looked back up at the senior. It had been about five minutes since the two left the grocery store. Cain walked ahead, pulling Ryan along the streets near the park. The blond boy remained quiet as he watched the senior, but his mind was anything but**** as he wondered what was going through Cain’s mind.

“Where are we going?” He breathed out, asking him again.

“You’ll see,” Cain mumbled.

Ryan swallowed and averted his eyes, feeling slightly annoyed by the lack of actual answers from Cain. Cain couldn’t be that angry with him, could he? He wasn’t sure why he thought he was getting punished for avoiding the tall boy in front of him, but for some reason, Ryan’s mind loved being extreme and he hated himself for it. He bit his lip and glanced at the back of Cain’s head, stopping in his steps and pulling the senior back to an abrupt stop. Cain turned to him, eyes dark and narrowed.

“Can you let go of my hand then? You’re hurting me,” Ryan grumbled and Cain’s hand opened as if on impulse, releasing him.

The senior gulped, his eyes moving over him slowly as the boy rubbed his arm gently. He hadn’t meant to grab him so forcefully but it was the only way he knew to get Ryan to stop running. “Sorry,” he said softly, lifting his eyes until they met Ryan’s curious gaze. As if by default, Cain’s stopped and stared into them for a minute, somehow curious as to how a person could look so innocent. It didn’t make sense. Nothing did.

“It’s okay,” Ryan sighed, rubbing his hand gently which was still warm. “Can you tell me where we’re going? It’s kinda late and my dad’s gonna look for me.” He breathed out, stretching his arms and putting them on his waist.

The tall boy watched him for a moment, as if trying to figure him out. And if he had to admit, there wasn’t much about Ryan to figure out. The boy was an open book. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, his face… his eyes. Cain pinched his nose, his lips turned up slightly and he composed himself as he ran his hand through his hair, messing up the middle part but it bounced back perfectly anyway. Turning to face Ryan fully, he put both hands on the boy’s shoulders, leaning in so their faces were mere inches apart.

Ryan shivered. He gulped, tried to take a step back but Cain kept him still, like an anchor keeping a ship steady.

“Just… walk with me for a bit. No talking. That okay?”

Ryan’s brows knitted into a frown as he tried to make sense of the situation. He wanted to say no, to go back home where he was safe and not at the mercy of someone who knew his secrets, but for some reason, he found himself nodding. Cain smiled at him… it was a quick one. Ryan wouldn’t have even noticed if he hadn’t already been staring at the senior’s face, but it was there.

He can smile? The blond boy scoffed, shaking his head as he followed Cain who had now put his hands in his pocket instead of grabbing Ryan like before. He watched him… there was a lot going on here that Ryan couldn’t make sense of. And it wasn’t like he didn’t try to figure it out. Cain was just… a mystery.

“You gonna stop staring at me?” The tall boy questioned out of the blue without looking back. “I feel like you’re trying to stab me in the head with your eyes.”

“Uh… sorry.”

Cain scoffed. He nodded and bit his lip. He blinked, his heart raced and he gulped.

Ryan took out his phone to send a text to his father. And mostly because he had been caught looking and he wanted to anything but that. I’m with a friend right now. See you later. He sent the text and put his phone on airplane mode. Before he knew it, he and Cain had walked all the way from the grocery store near the park to the mall which was about a twenty minute walk.

“Like Tacos?”

Ryan stopped walking and looked up, realizing that Cain had stopped near a taco stand. He shrugged. “I don’t mind them.”

The tall boy nodded. “I like Tacos,” he whispered and went to the front of the stand. “Dos tacos. Sin tomates y chile en uno.”

“I didn’t know you spoke Spanish,” Ryan said when Cain came to stand beside him after giving their order.

The tall boy turned to him, expressionless. “I’m from Spain.”

“Oh…” Ryan nodded, surprised that he didn’t know that. Then again, there was no way he could’ve known. He didn’t exactly make it a point to look up details about Cain like Nora did. Ah fuck! He groaned inwardly, hating himself for thinking about her. The blond boy took in a deep breath and shook his head. He didn’t know why Cain brought him here, but it was by far better than staying in bed and brooding over Nora and Drew as he had been doing. Instead of focusing on his best friend’s love life with the guy he was in love with, Ryan looked up at Cain. “When… when did you move here?”

“I was nine,” he answered. He didn’t explain further and Ryan wanted to ask, he wanted to know more about Cain and why he was helping him… no matter how weird the situation was. But he could feel that the guy before him didn’t like to speak about himself, or speak much for that matter. He remained quiet and waited as Cain went to pick up their tacos before the two found a table to sit at.

Tacos on Thanksgiving, Ryan thought to himself with a sad smile as he bit into the food. He lifted his eyes to Cain, unable to keep himself from staring at the boy with a gray strand in his pitch black hair. He had never seen anyone with hair like that. The way the gray strands fell over Cain’s green eyes seemed to bring out the colour even more. He watched Cain eat as the senior scrolled on his phone, extremely focused on whatever it was that he was reading. Twitter, Ryan figured. A lot of kids in their school used the app as Ryan himself did. But it wasn’t the fact that Cain was more focused on his phone than the food that stood out to Ryan. It was the way his brows knitted together, the way he pursed his lips and they way his eyes widened ever so slightly when he came across something seemingly interesting. It was the curious gaze in Cain’s eyes that stood out to the blond boy. It was fascinating how Cain, who always seemed to have a resting bitch face, could look so animated and at ease when in his comfort zone.

And it made Ryan wonder if being with Cain meant that Cain was comfortable with him.

“Done?”

“Hmm?” Ryan blinked.

“Are you done eating?” Cain’s eyes went down to Ryan’s empty plate and back up.

Following his line of sight, Ryan instantly realized what Cain was asking. “Oh… yeah,” he said and stood up from his seat when Cain did. After throwing their disposables, the two continued their walk through the mall.

“Do you want water?” Cain asked after a long moment of nothing but silent breaths and loud mall music between them.

“Not really,” Ryan whispered, but somehow Cain heard him over the loud music and nodded. Ryan focused his sight on the tall senior as the latter walked ahead of him. He didn’t fail to notice when Cain took out a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his jacket, putting a stick into his mouth and lighting it. The blond boy stopped abruptly, almost missing his step and stumbling. His surprise didn’t fade when Cain turned to him as he blew out a puff of smoke.

“You okay?” The senior asked.

“Ye- yeah,” Ryan said, nodding. He didn’t know that Cain smoked. It had never occurred to him that the senior did that sort of thing, but it did make sense with how hoarse Cain voice sometimes was now that Ryan thought about it. He wasn’t sure why he remembered the sound of Cain’s voice as if it was something he was so familiar with.

“Come on then!” Cain exclaimed, leading the way to an ice cream bike stand just outside the mall. The senior stopped by the stand. “Two strawberry ice cream cones,” he ordered.

“You like strawberry?” Ryan blurted out before he could stop himself.

Cain brow lifted, the corner of his lips turning up slightly. He said nothing to that and turned back to the ice cream man, leaving Ryan with a raging burn on his cheeks as the blond boy glanced sideways, somehow shy. Once the cones were done, Cain gave one to Ryan and both went in at the same time… in sync.

“It’s better right?” Cain asked.

“Better than?”

“The bar.”

Ryan thought about it for a moment, trying to figure out what Cain meant as he took another bite. And then it hit. “Oh…” Blue eyes widened as the realization hit him. “Isn’t that your best friend’s shop?”

The tall boy shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I can’t have good ice cream elsewhere.”

Ryan smiled to himself, shaking his head. He had to admit, it was indeed better and somehow, that felt incredibly good. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

***

Cain's growing on me, I won't lie. What about you guys? Do y'all like him? Think he's up to no good? What about Ryan? Is he dealing with heartbreak well? I'd love to know.

Thank you all so so much for reading!