"What do you think of these?"
"Huh?"
"These suitcases"
"..I don't see any suitcases"
"Right here, Ryan. The suitcase right here," said Mark, pointing to the large brown suitcase nearly 3 feet away.
"Why do you need a new suitcase anyway? We have some at my house somewhere," said Ryan. "Besides, these are so expensive."
"Please, I'd rather have a suitcase newer than 1983, and I thought now would be a good time to buy a new suitcase, since I'll be using it soon and all." Mark stated.
Ryan smirked. He began to think of how much he didn't want Mark to go on his trip to Portugal in the first place. He would then be gone for a month, and a month could be crucial to their relationship.
Over the last year and a half the relationship/friendship had been on and off, and in the amount of two or so weeks Mark had completely changed his mind about Ryan. First, he thought he could be with Ryan for a long time. Two weeks later, he decided that he was speaking in the heat of the moment and decided to move on. The relationship had been an equal mixture of sweet and sour ever since.
One of the more bitter times, Mark had gotten back together with an ex, just because he didn't want to be alone at that point in his life. This actually angered Ryan, because he thought he meant nothing to Mark. He did find out later, though, that Mark had been having family trouble, and thought he shouldn't have talked to Ryan about it. They had made it clear that from now on if they were having problems they'd be open and honest.
When Ryan had come back from his memory, he had found that Mark had picked out a suitcase that retailed six hundred fifty dollars. He was astounded that anyone would pay more than one hundred dollars for something that holds about six pairs of pants and eight shirts.
"Is that the most expensive suitcase they have?" Ryan questioned, still amazed at the price.
"Nope, they had one for eight fifty. That is too much for my pocketbook" Said Mark.
Ryan rolled his eyes as they trudged around the store. Twenty minutes later, he was delighted to see the checkout counter in the distance. As Mark looked around a bit more, Ryan kept saying things to get him to hurry along, so that they could get outside of the seemingly confining walls of the store.
After a few more minutes, they finally arrived at the register, the clerk being a friend shared by both Mark and Ryan. Ryan found him more of a friend, though. First of all, because they had known each other longer, and were best friends, second of all, because they would each talk to each other about their relationship woes, especially while angry with either of their 'partners.'
"Did you guys find everything all right, today?"
"Yeah, it only took Mark forever to find a suitcase for his trip" Ryan said, "Brady, when you find a guy, make sure he doesn't spend 2 weeks of pay on a SUITCASE."
"Oh, don't worry, I've sworn off boys" Brady stated as he scanned the merchandise.
"Come on girls, you can talk about me said other time" Mark said cockily.
"Please, like you're all we talk about" Ryan said to Mark, and while Mark was distracted, Ryan mouthed to Brady "I'll call you later!"
As Brady finished the scanning, he totaled the items and the amount came to $1012. Mark looked reluctantly at Ryan and he eyed him back. Ryan then looked at Brady, and being the good person he is, he decided to use his employee discount card, which took about ten percent, or 101 dollars off of the total. Both boys then gave a sigh of relief and thanks. Then Mark wrote a check and they were out of there. They said their goodbyes, and they were off.

Chapter 1: All is fair in love.
The car ride to Mark's house was one filled with many instances of silence. Their lack of communication had given Ryan the memory of times when they couldn't talk about anything. This was also another one of those times where the relationship went south. Although they had gone through so many problems before, almost all of them had been resolved. Ryan decided it was enough of thinking about the bad times they had had in their relationship and focus on the good.
"What song is this?" Ryan said, suddenly paying attention to the radio. He had known the name of the song and the artist, but he was just trying to start conversation.
"Oh, that Hoobastank song, the one that they play constantly."
"Oh yeah, that's right."
Mark hesitated. "Is everything okay?"
"Oh, oh, yeah its fine. Everything is fine." Ryan tried hiding his insecurities, which he did well.
"Honestly? If you have something on your mind you can tell me. We did say that we would do that, after all" Mark stated.
"Okay." Ryan sighed, "Okay. do you really want to know what's wrong?"
"Yeah."
"It's just. I'm kind of apprehensive about your trip."
"Why?"
"I'm just afraid that when you get back, you'll be sick of me, just like all the other times, and I couldn't stand that happening again. A month is a long time to be apart."
"Don't worry about it. Honestly. Nothings going to happen, especially in Portugal."
"All right."
"And just so you know, you're kind of acting like a baby right now."
Ryan was set aback "Why am I being a baby? I'm just concerned. I don't want this 'time' to end like all of the others."
"Why would it end like all the others?!" Mark said, getting angry.
"I'm not saying it wouldn't, I just don't want it to." Ryan explained. "You change your mind so much, I don't know what you want."
"Then what are we doing now?" He asked.
"'t know."
"Do you want to end this?"

"NO! Of course not! I was just concerned about your trip, sorry." Ryan shut up.
Mark attempted to say something else but decided to be quiet as well.

The rest of the car ride was filled with the same awkward silence they had occurred before. Mark just told Ryan a block away from his house that if his mom were to ask, not to mention the price of the suitcase.
Ryan let out a partial laugh. He knew how much of a character Marks mom was. She used to be very intimidating and hateful, until Mark came out to her. Then she tried to be as supportive as possible from then on. She then became the kind of quirky that was joked about later, when she wasn't around.
They had arrived at the house, got out of the car, and started unloading things. That is, until Mark's mother, Sheila, came out of the house, with her Chihuahua in arm. Cigarette hanging out of her mouth.
"Whatcha' kids doin'?" She asked, with her cigarette dangling at each movement of the mouth.
"Just unloading the stuff that we bought today," said Mark, hoping she wouldn't become too nosey.
"Where'd ya go?"
"Just to the local Walmart." He lied; he didn't want his mother to know of his 'spree' that had taken place in the expensive store out of town.
"If ya only wen' to Walmart, what are all these other bags?" she questioned.
"Oh, those are mine" Ryan aided with the lie. "I needed to buy things for my vacation."
"Where ya goin?" Sheila said as she lit her cigarette. "San Francisco? That's where all the homos are."
Ryan chuckled "No, I'm going to New York City. It's mostly so that I could look at a college, we decided just to stay for a couple weeks, while Mark's in Portugal, it should be."
He noticed that Sheila had lost all interest in his story so he ended there. "Have a nice day, Mrs. Robinson!"
She mumbled something as she went back inside.
"That was close" Mark exclaimed. "Thanks."
"No problem, I love your mom,"
Mark finished unloading his newly bought belongings, "If you love her so much, why don't you marry her?"
He pulled Ryan close, putting his hands on his hips
"Well," He said smiling, knowing that an inevitable kiss was coming, "I would if I didn't like her son so much"
Mark smiled, and behind the red Ford Escort, with the trunk opened, they shared a kiss. After the kiss they just stood there, pressed up against each other, staring into each other's eyes. The time to kiss came once again, when they heard Sheila in the background "If you're going to do that, at least go into the house!"
They broke away from one another and smiled, but it was the kind of smile where they couldn't care. They decided to go inside though, for the sake of the other people in the neighborhood.
They made their way to Mark's bedroom and Ryan immediately sat on the corner of nicely made bed. Mark put a few belongings away, and then went into the next room and retrieved his laptop computer. By the time he came back into his bedroom Ryan was lying down, almost ready to sleep, so he sat down on the bed in front of him. Ryan then began to rub his back as he logged onto the Internet and checked various websites, after a few minutes Ryan had stopped and began to fall asleep.