Radio interviews were fun, nearly half less threatening than TV interviews. Or that was Ryan’s particular opinion.

But that interview was beginning to get irritating. He didn’t outright leave because he wasn’t, truly, a rude person. If he were it would have been a long time ago since he would have stopped Daniel’s and Scott’s constant abuse with a punch or two to their faces. Perhaps abuse was a bit of a strong word…

The interviewer laughed at a text message he had just read aloud, one that asked a very curious question. “This is a good one. Tell us Ryan, where did the Cooties and Dandy nick names came from? Was it you who made them?”

Eh? No way, he wasn’t that creative. “Uh, no. They came from a phase Scott went through when everything had cooties. Not just girls.”

The man laughed again, and through his grey eyes he could see the sound man laughing in the cabin as well. He shrugged, not really seeing the hilarity in his comment.

“And Dandy came from a phase Daniel went through when everything was dandy,” Then he smiled in wry amusement at his memories, momentarily forgetting where he was. “I guess if he went through a peachy keen phase he would have been nick named as such.”

Was it just him or the interviewer’s laughter was becoming increasingly more obnoxious?

“And what about you? Do you have any funny pet names?”

Damn it. That was one question he didn’t like.

“No, not really…” His tentative voice turned a little menacing, “But don’t go giving them any ideas.”

Oh yeah, it wasn’t just him, he thought with a discrete roll of his eyes. The man was an ass-sucker all the way. Why did Henri accept to hold the interview? He’d have a complain or two later.

Then he squirmed, feeling a tad ashamed at behaving like a diva.

Chapter 13

There’s at least one time during the high school career when people don’t know where to sit. Yes, sitting in a certain table with particular people could very well bind you to them, in the eyes of others, no matter if you only wanted to eat sitting on a chair instead of standing up. Thus Louise couldn’t help but worry a little that she and Lily were standing up, straining their necks while trying to find an empty table that wasn’t too far in the back.

But then Lily had a grand idea, “C’mon, I found us a spot.”

And Lo, trusting her friend blindly in the middle of the moving, loud eating masses, suddenly found herself right behind Ryan and facing the very amused pair Scott and Daniel made.

“What can we do for you lasses?” As the blonde asked and the raven haired boy turned around, she could almost swear it was her sight what made him choke on his food.

Lily started whacking his back, and she was left to answer, “Erm, can we sit here? The place is packed-” But she needn’t finish when she was pushed by several arms to sit next to a now wheezing Ryan.

“No need to say more- Ry, baby, are you okay?” Daniel’s concerned face brought out his freckles even more.

“I’m fine and don’t call me that!” Damn them, it wasn’t enough that they forced Louise to sit next to him –and ensure his spontaneous combustion- but they also had to make fun of him in front of her!

Scott deadpanned, “Oh yeah, he’s fine now.”

“Fo sho,” The green eyed boy took a sip of his vitamin powered chocolate milk and patted his chest as he let out a silent burp, “So what was with all the courtesy asking if you girls could sit with us?”

Lily, who was seated on Ryan’s other side, seemed to be enjoying herself and her lunch very much, so a squirmy Louise said, “Err, well… It’s the first time we ever,” She waved a hand, “You know, sat together for lunch.”

The problem, to her, was actually more about the myriad of glares Lily and her were receiving. But she couldn’t very well say that, could she?

Ryan flashed her a look of those she could never decipher in all honesty. She could only think it referred to the very fact that she hadn’t had a clue about his existence from somewhere after elementary until the night she was hired to baby sit him not many months ago. And well, the reminder always made her cringe.

To her relief Lily did the one good thing of distracting all of them with a conversation God knew what about; in the meantime Louise was trying her best to eat because she felt oddly out of place and it was clogging up her throat. Surely she must seem the biggest hypocrite to be eating with them when not too long before if they had gone up to her and said hello she would have wondered where they came from. At least she hoped lately she had been righting her past actions.

But why would it bother her so? She thought frowning as she took a bite of her salad. Then she risked a glance at the boy next to her, and she had to stop herself from giggling at finding out his plate almost completely empty and his darkened grey eyes staring at everybody’s food with a hunger like no other she had seen before.

He was just endearing, and she was almost completely sure he didn’t know he was.

“Ryan,” She tried to ignore the way not only his face snapped up at the sound of her voice, but that their companions had almost immediately shut up, “Are you still hungry?”

His face flamed up and he stammered something incoherent while his two pals melted down in peals of laughter.

It was after it seemed they wouldn’t calm down –and that Ryan’s face was going to turn blue- that she couldn’t help herself from asking, “What’s so funny?” Tilting her head to a side in wonder. An obnoxious wavy strand of her chocolate hair fell over her glasses.

“This guy’s always hungry!” Daniel exclaimed, hiccupping.

And then the blonde put the cherry on top, “He’s the bottomless stomach of us.”

Needless to say Louise wasn’t really surprised when the poor teased boy half growled, half snarled, “Look who is talking! The two of you eat for a whole army!”

“Oh, come on, don’t be shy,” His two friends were giving him sly looks that did nothing to calm down his rising temper. Sure, it was amusing the heck out of Lo seeing that aspect of the introverted boy, but in a dark corner of her mind she was wondering if he’d lash out at them and at least conk one in the head of the annoying blonde as he continued his joking, “You were the only one last year who could place podium in the eating contest at the town’s fair! Second place, no less.”

“Scott!” The girls started to giggle at Ryan’s strained voice; surely his face couldn’t get any redder?

Oh, but it was nice, knowing he could occasionally be riled up. A change from his usual low key, nearly void demeanour. It was kind of cute, and at least she knew for sure now that he wasn’t a pretty mannequin.

Still chuckling she slid her tray towards him, “Here, we can share. I’m not too hungry either way.” Her sheepish smile turned into a cold shiver, not really by the penetrating pair of grey orbs that were fixed on her face, but more by the multiple glares she could feel piercing her unguarded back. Oh man, she’d be mobbed by his fans pretty soon.

She could actually see one girl give her the evil eye from not too far in front. Absently Lo pushed her chair a little further from Ryan.

“How nice of her, isn’t it?” She also didn’t notice the very wide grin Daniel was sporting. The boy was holding his head with one hand that was positioned close to his mouth, in case he ended up cackling as he wanted to, “Just accept! You don’t make a lady wait.”

“What lady?” Lily asked, laughing to herself, and it was all it took Louise to come out of her sudden scared state.

“Hey!” She reached out from behind Ryan to smack her friend, not consciously noticing how solid his back felt against her chest; she only wondered why her face felt strangely warm when she sat back.

His eyes, however, were at their widest. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down before he dared ask, “Erm, you really want to share?” Maybe he was hallucinating, and that really, those hadn’t been her breasts against his back.

“Sure,” She said easily, “You can have this,” And pushed a plate to him, “And this.”

Truth be told, he wasn’t really paying attention to what he was eating, only that it was her food, that she was flush close to him, and that a certain part of her anatomy had met one of his in a most bizarre situation. Ryan could hardly register the words spoken around him, berating himself, as he was in his mind, for reading too much on an innocent touch that didn’t affect the girl at all. It was unintentional; that was all. Besides, wherever she moved they moved so it was inevitable.

He had to take a big gulp of water because he was going to choke again.

“So I was thinking of getting one in my ear,” He vaguely heard Scott say as he placed his water bottle on the table.

With a still dry mouth he asked, “Get what?”

“Oi, just where was your head?” He didn’t fancy –at all- the I-know-so look on Daniel’s face, “Barbie blonde here is saying he wants to follow in your steps and get a piercing.”

“But the ear is too common,” Lily said before taking a bite of her dessert –a cake of questionable chocolate, since it was slightly more grey than chocolate should be, and it shouldn’t be grey at all-, pushing her sandy coloured bangs away from her dark eyes, “More so in the lobe.”

“Eh?” Ryan asked, feeling left back, “When did you decide to get a piercing done?”

The blonde waved a hand as he swallowed whatever was in his mouth, “I was thinking of getting it around the time we made you get yours. But I couldn’t decide ‘cause I was a little scared,” Then he grinned the evil smile he was so used to seeing, “And so Dandy and I made you get yours first, you know, to see how you faired.”

At once his previously elated thoughts moved away to be replaced by the imminent annoyance at being used so notoriously. “You son of a-” He started, but stopped himself in time by just a blink of Louise keen eyes. What if she didn’t like potty mouths? “Err, you bastard.”

His two friends’ eyes glinted.

“What do you think, Ryan?” Scott looked positively evil, “Your opinion is most important to me. Should I get one or not?”

Oh, but Ryan was seething. “I think you should get your lips stapled together. That’s what I think.”

Should he be happy that even Louise started laughing at his comment?

“Ah, well,” The blonde wiped a tear from his cheek, the red haired fiend was doubled over and pounding on the table in his laughter; it was a habit of his to smack things when he laughed. “I was thinking of getting one today, what say you?”

“I say you go-” Ryan hissed, stopping himself again, “To your home and leave me alone.” Then he munched on the bread Lo gave him, and the reminder was almost enough to make him smile himself silly.

“What do you girls say? We could go to the mall after school together to get my piercing done,” What was the glint in his honey eyes for? “We could go where Ryan got his.”

“A mall, huh?” Lily asked as she finished her cake, “I’m in.”

“Uh, sure. I’ll go too, if that’s okay.” Louise smiled and tucked some of her misbehaving hair behind her ear, and she tried hard not to laugh at Ryan as he choked again.

“I have a feeling we’re going to get killed tomorrow,” Lily said easily as she adjusted her backpack, sweeping a leisure glance around them at the nasty looks they were receiving. “You’re right, though, they’re completely oblivious.”

Her friend nodded and pushed her black rimmed glasses further up the bridge of her nose, “I considered telling them once, but I didn’t.”

“And why would that be?” Was that a hint of a smile on Lily’s lips? Why?

Louise shrugged, not quite able to get rid of the uneasy feeling in the pitch of her stomach, whether by Lily’s expression or the murderous glares they were recipient of, “I don’t know, one thing happened and then the other and I just couldn’t,” She bit her lip, staring at the back of the owner of an impressive pair of grey eyes, who was being pushed around by his two mates, “Besides, I have a feeling they really don’t care about that.”

“I don’t know of a single guy who wouldn’t kill to have girls swooning for him.”

“True,” Lo said, “But I think they care more about their music. Which makes me think they either haven’t fully reached puberty, or that they’re way past it and more into serious matters.”

Lily scoffed and slapped Lo’s arm playfully, “Don’t kid yourself. It’s neither this nor that; they’re just too dumb to notice they’re being ogled at.”

She shrugged admitting the possibility, but looking at the back of a black haired head she thought it was more than that. She had seen the way they dedicated themselves to their music and their gigs, how they gave themselves to playing their instruments. Could it really be that they only cared about music? And if so, why did it make her slightly sad?

They caught up with the boys and talked most of the time while they were on their way to the mall. As was usual Ryan fell to the back of the group, mute and guarded. His hands were stuffed in his blue jeans pockets, and his eyes were trained down on either the ground or his Converse, no one could tell.

Every time she saw him she wondered why he was like that. While not too long ago she had to make a heap of conjectures trying to decipher him, she now knew he was just a boy who couldn’t quite come out of his shell, unless he had a guitar hung around his shoulders and a microphone in front of him. Once they were taken away from him he ceased to be the attention sucking face of the Three Zeros to The Left and started being the secluded boy she had once mistook for an asshole.

In a second of not thinking she found herself in front of him, his somewhat surprised face leaning down to see her hand raising to his left pierced eyebrow, “Did it hurt when you got this?”

Should he try being a big macho and say it didn’t hurt a thing?

“A bit.” He blinked at her hand as one of her fingers poked lightly on the staple-like piercing. He gulped down thick saliva, “What are you doing?”

“Ah,” She withdrew her hand and looked apologetic, “Sorry, I’m just too curious for my own good and I had never really touched one.” Then her face turned completely red as her odd words registered in her mind; she cleared her throat and turned around. “C’mon, the others are leaving us behind.”

It had to be the most silent walk of his life, and all the while he was sweating and beating his fog induced brain for something to say. But he had never been one to start conversations; rather, he was always the first to leave them. And he never had attempted to do so with her, no less. It was always her who talked to him and usually he could only manage a few coherent words out. Just when he was about to start hyperventilating in nervousness they made it to the mall, and between Scott’s unstoppable chatter and Daniel’s jokes that were bounced back by Louise’s friend they made it to the piercing and tattoo parlour where his left eyebrow had been done.

“Oh,” Daniel exclaimed in the manner of a little boy in front of a candy factory, “They have a lot of variety.”

Scott stuck his face right against the crystal, making a greasy smudge on it when he pulled back, “I think a golden one would look okay; what do you say?”

“It’d go well with your hair.” Louise said absently, her eyes scanning the earrings section. The prices, however, weren’t very friendly to her purse. She made mental calculations, how many kids would she have to baby sit to buy the pair she liked?

“I think I’ll get it on my upper ear and not my earlobe. What do you say Ryan?”

“Yeah, fine by me.” He wanted to tell his friend to go fondle himself but he didn’t want to cause an even worse impression of himself with it. Besides, he still couldn’t think well; not only his eyebrow was tingling by her touch, but so was the rest of his face. He feared if he spoke more it would really burn up.

They got in after he had to drag Dandy by the collar of his t-shirt, and while Scott was talking to the bald guy, the same who pierced his eyebrow, Daniel had a sudden epiphany.

“I think I’ll get one too.” And his face glowed with a sort of self accomplishment.

At that point Ryan couldn’t help himself from smirking very darkly; so much, in fact, that everybody else was looking at him as though hands sprouted from his face and were the ones pulling his lips upwards, “Excellent,” He started, his low, deep voice tinted with a bit of malice, “You have to suffer too for making me get one in the first place.” It wasn’t as though he was desperate to get his skin pierced by a large, pointy needle!

His friends chuckled nervously but still followed the bald guy and disappeared behind a screen that had the store’s name in graffiti. Ryan didn’t know if it was his imagination but he could swear the bald guy was rubbing his hands.

After not too long he, Louise and Lily heard some screeches coming from behind the screen, and the two girls, one panicking and the other with wide eyes, turned to him.

“Aren’t you going to do something?” Lily asked him; she was the one with the wide eyes.

“Nop.” Ryan smiled placidly and folded his arms, missing that while doing so Louise was staring at him with her sharp eyes.

Not too long after two whining boys came out showing off their piercing with very pained faces.

“Damn, this hurts,” Scott touched his left upper ear, where a small golden ring hung; but the contact made him pull back his hand with a hiss, “I don’t think I’ll be sleeping on this side for a while.”

Daniel’s green eyes were as wide as they could go, and he had difficulty speaking since his small, also golden piercing was in the left lower corner of the union between his lips and cheek, “So much blood…”

And then they started in shock as Ryan cackled.

AG sighs: Ryan’s such a little boy… A friend of mine got a piercing done, witness say she fainted, and she said later that she saw a white light XD Beware of piercings, then. Thanks to titanncc, who liked Lo’s article, to XxAmanda Is A Jasper’s GirlXx, who has the award for most faithful reviewer ever, and to KiraLove, who feels for Ryan being stalked in the bathroom. As for news, I got a Forum (in the General section) called Fictionpress and The Works. So far it’s about my profile’s poll (which I’m closing soon), but it’s meant to be about anything you wanna talk regarding fictionpress, the writers and their works, so check it out!

The Characters Pics Poll’s status remains the same so far, please vote, for I’m coming to a decision this week! Which means character pics next weekend, yo.

Louise:
Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls)
Rachel Bilson (The OC) - 1
Mila Kunis (That 70’s Show) - 1

Scott:
Justin Hartley (Smallville)
Paul Walker (Fast and Furious) - 1

Lily:
Emma Roberts (Unfabulous)
Hayden Panettiere (Heroes)

AG Entertainment INC.